The I.W.W. and the Socialist Party

• Published in: Science & society (New York. 1936) 1967-01, Vol.31 (1), p.22-36
• Main Author: Conlin, Joseph R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Industrial (see also Industrialization, Industrialized); Industrial unions; Party/Parties; Political parties; Public opinion; Radical parties; Revolutionary parties; Socialism; Socialist parties; Socialist/Socialistic (see also Socialism); Third parties; Voting; World wars
• ISSN: 0036-8237; 1943-2801

It is stated that no successful socialist party has ever developed in the US. The closest to one was the Socialist Party of America (SPA) during the 1st 2 decades of the 20th cent. The history of the SPA is traced & the '3rd party thesis,' in terms of which the SPA's rapid rise & fall have generally beer explained, is criticized for having assumed that the SPA was nothing more than a reformist party which became redundant when the major parties expropriated its program. It is stressed that there had always been more to the, party than its immediate demands. The revolutionists in the SPA maintained that the labor union was the agency of revolution. They felt that the party's chief interest should be in encouraging & aiding the labor movement, is, the Industr Workers of the World (IWW). A brief history of the IWW is given. It was on the issue of the IWW that revolutionist & reformist wings of the SPA clashed, with the latter emerging victorious. After the electoral successes of 1910 & 1911, the reformists were convinced that they were on the verge of an era as a major office-holding party & that only the SPA's informal assoc with the Wobblies stood in their way. The repudiation of the IWW by the reformists & the subsequent rapid decline of the strength of the SPA are analyzed. It is noted that the reformis wing had misinterpreted the source of the party's membership & votes., They had concluded that, should the revolutionist aspects of the party's program be played down, more progressives would rally to their standard. This was not the case. The Socialist Party had done esp well in areas where the IWW was active. While Wobbly withdrawal from the SPA is stated not to have been the only cause of the post-1912 decline, Wobbly militance had won considerable support for the SPA from nonWobblies & the Mc before 1913. The union often won PO to its side. When reformists changed their minds about the IWW, it was too late to save the SPA. M. Maxfield.