 SocialismSee also the Socialist Labor Party Platform and "Reform or Revolution," Daniel De Leon's speech in Boston, January 26, 1896. American socialism was in transition in 1896. In a complicated election, socialists made a variety of choices. The Socialist Labor Party Convention, held July 4-5 in New York City, nominated Charles H. Matchett of New York for President. The party had been founded in Philadelphia in 1876 andwas led by the fiery Daniel De Leon, a prickly Marxist who rejected any alliance with Populists or other "reformers." The SLP's small voter base was concentrated in a few cities, primarily in the Northeast. Thousands of other Americans called themselves socialists despite disagreements with the SLP. Some emphasized local concerns--like Victor L. Berger of Milwaukee, whose "gas-and-water socialism" focused on government ownership of municipal utilities. One of the nation's most popular socialist newspapers, The Coming Nation, was published from a utopian colony in rural Tennessee. Julius A. Wayland, founder of the colony, was a follower of the English philosopher John Ruskin. Soon after the 1896 Populist convention, the paper's editor, Alfred Edwards, declared for straight-ahead socialism. Shocked by the condition of laborers and the misery of the depression, some middle-class Americans declared themselves "Christian Socialists" during the 1890s. Prohibitionist leader Frances Willard and novelist William Dean Howells were among these. Though influenced by many of the same writers and thinkers as SLP members, these socialists as yet had little agreement on organization. Many present and future Socialists worked for Bryan in 1896. In Chicago, Democrat John Altgeld had appointed socialist Florence Kelley as a factory inspector, and she campaigned for his re-election. In New York, Populist Mary Lease endorsed socialism in a speech at Cooper Union Hall. Bryan acknowledged none of these allies, who made up a tiny portion of his overwhelmingly Democratic voting base. Eugene Debs, radicalized by the Pullman Strike and his subsequent six-month imprisonment, was the most important future Socialist who maintained Populist loyalties in 1896. As a leader of the American Railway Union he declined to run for any office but represented the Union convention's endorsement of Populism. Debs was deeply disillusioned by Bryan's defeat. On January 1, 1897, he declared his official conversion to socialism. In June 1897, six months after McKinley's victory, various socialists created a new coalition, the first step toward foundation of the Socialist Democratic Party in 1900. Debs ran as its presidential candidate that year and in 1904, 1908, and 1912. At peak, in 1912, he won 6 percent of the national vote. In the wake of World War I, during the anti-communist "Red Scare," Debs was imprisoned for giving an anti-war speech in Canton, Ohio (the hometown of William McKinley, then dead for 17 years). From prison, Debs ran for president on the Socialist Party of America ticket in 1920 and won 3.5 percent of the vote. He died in October 1926. Our Future Course. New occasions make new duties; time makes ancient good uncouth; They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of truth... The people's party is not a party for all of the people, but for some only.... Its entrance into the arena of politics was hailed with the acclamations of thousands and to the advocacy of its principles a multitude of self-sacrificing men and women have loyally devoted their abilities and their means. To most of these earnest people the party has proved a disappointment.... While THE COMING NATION has never been a partisan paper, it has cordially supported the platform of the populist party so far as the principles therein contained were socialistic.... It has believed that the party stood for the abolition of industrial slavery, and found justification for this belief in the undeniable fact that a large proportion of the active, non-office-seeking element of the party sincerely desired and labored for the triumph of the fundamental ideas of social reconstruction contained in the platform. This sincerity of purpose has been woefully lacking in the leaders, who, ... have by subtle dissimulation and a resort to the commonly accepted methods of politicians generally, eliminated from the platform the basic principles above quoted... Our course is as clear and well defined now as that of the managers of the people's party has been devious and crooked. THE COMING NATION will no longer "favor Socialism within the people's party," or any other party. We have made the discovery that Socialism is bigger than any political party yet has capacity to hold. But we shall favor Socialism, and desiring the comradeship of all who labor for the Co-operative Commonwealth, extend greeting to the Socialists and the Socialist press of the world. With all the ability and resources at its disposal, THE COMING NATION will continue to wage battle against a system that sanctifies property and crucifies man. --The Coming Nation, August 4, 1896 |
|
"How I Became a Socialist"
|
Homepage
© 2000, Rebecca Edwards, Vassar College
![[Eugene Debs]](Debs2.gif)
