MIA : Early American Marxism : Proletarian Party of America Download Page
The Proletarian Party of America
(1919-1930)
Document Download Page
Jump to the The Proletarian listing
1919
“Confidential Circular Letter of the CPA’s “Proletarian Club” Minority to its Supporters.” [circa Oct. 15, 1919] A split of the Communist Party of America between its rather incongruous “Federationist” and “Marxian Educationalist” factions seems to have been in the cards from the date of the organization’s establishment, owing in large measure to the latter group’s certainty of its ideological correctness and revulsion for the idea of compromise. This document, preserved by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation, moves back the origins of the split which lead to the formation of the Proletarian Party of America back into early October 1919 — mere weeks after the formation of the CPA in Chicago. On October 5, 1919, a joint session of the (interlocking) Board of Control of the Proletarian University and Board of Directors of The Proletarian was held to determine the future course of the Keracher/Socialist Party of Michigan/Educationalist faction. A split was clearly in the offing: “It was the consensus of opinion at our meeting that the time is not ripe for the lunching of a new party embodying our views; it appears to be advisable to defer action until such time as the issues was forced upon us, or until we had developed sufficiently in strength to make the venture a success. In the meantime, the intention is to proceed with the work of strengthening and unifying the groups now in existence, and organizing and assisting groups.” The time of the forthcoming split was carefully planned: “The question then arises: When will be the most fitting time to launch a party such as we favor? Should it happen that the issues is not forced upon us prematurely, it appears that the ideal moment would be immediately preceding the national convention of the present parties. This would mean that we should be prepared to act in May 1920. This allows ample time for preliminary organization; so that we may have the framework of the new organization prepared, and have on hand funds necessary for carrying on propaganda and organization work on a national scale.”
1920
“Minutes of the Founding Convention of the Proletarian Party of America: Detroit, MI — June 27-29, 1920." After six months of uneasy alliance followed by six months of factional squabbling, the Michigan-based “Proletarian University” faction headed by Scottish-born radical John Keracher formally established itself as a rival political party at a three day convention in Detroit late in June 1920. This file publishes the minutes of that gathering for the first time. The convention was attended by 11 voting delegates from 10 towns and cities (only two locations from outside of Michigan), as well as by three non-voting fraternal delegates. Interestingly it appears that this organization was established as a political adjunct of a parallel Proletarian University organization. “Temporary organizer" Keracher did not run for and was not elected to either a place on the group’s governing National Executive Committee of 7 members or as National Secretary, with Dennis Batt elected to that latter post following Keracher’s withdrawal. Nor does Keracher seem to have initially cast himself in the Daniel DeLeonesque role of Party-Editor-Without-Portfolio, with Batt at least formally assuming that position as well. Details about the relationship between the new PPA and the Proletarian University organization (presumably headed by Keracher) were left to be negotiated between the executives of these two institutions. The Proletarian was named the official organ of the new party, pending establishment of a weekly newspaper. A constitution, program, and organizational manifesto were hammered out and approved by the convention, with these documents to be sent out to the membership of the new group for formal ratification via a referendum vote. Initial membership, based upon generally optimistic delegate reports, appears to have been just under 100, with Detroit, Chicago, and Rochester, New York the primary centers of organizational activity.
“ Organization Proclamation of the Proletarian Party of America." [circa March 15, 1920] One of the earliest official documents of the Proletarian Party of America. This typewritten document, dated from internal content, declared the intention to form a new political party based upon “the principles of revolutionary socialism which have been propagated in the state of Michigan for the past number of years.” The constitution of the Socialist Party of Michigan is to remain loosely in operation and acting State Secretary of Michigan Dennis Batt to serve in a similar capacity until such time as a convention can be called. An ideological requirement that individuals and local groups joining must maintain “a complete recognition of the Class Struggle, the Materialistic Conception of History, and the Labor Theory of Value and Surplus Value” is specified. John Keracher’s monthly magazine, The Proletarian, is specified as a tentative official organ, the office of that publication in Detroit is named as national headquarters, and “Proletarian Party of America” is submitted as the working name for the new group, until such time that a convention can make a formal decision.
1921
“Letter to the Comintern by the Representative of the Proletarian Party of America," by Dennis E. Batt”. [First half of 1921] Dennis Batt, former member of the National Left Wing Council, was the Executive Secretary of the PPA at the time this letter to the CI was written. In it he asks for a ruling on the PPA’s application for affiliation. Batt offers an analysis of the American situation startlingly close to the actual course of events: an explicit statement that "America has not been, is not, and will not be for a considerable time on the verge of revolution" and a strong recommendation that revolutionary rhetoric be terminated. He also advocated the immediate formation of "an organization that functions openly and propagates Communism as far as that is possible... This open organization should be controlled by the underground movement and would function as a recruiting ground for same." The letter was fully translated into Russian and may well have played some role in decision to move forward with the parallel legal-WPA/underground-CPA structure that emerged in the winter of 1921.
Third International Events in America, by A.J. McGregor [March 1921] Commentary on the underground Communist Party of America and United Communist Party from the pages of the official organ of the Proletarian Party of America. McGregor states that unity negotiations between the CPA and UCP were said to be moving forward slowly, although other communist groups (such as the PPA) were not invited to participate in the negotiations. Given all the secrecy, McGregor notes that “It is far easier to follow the developments of the movement in far off Russia or Armenia than to know what is going on at home. Of course, if one were a police-spy it might be different.” McGregor cites Lenin in support of the assertion that any sound principle taken too far can be transformed into absurdity, which is exactly how he views the CPA/UCP mania for underground organization. When “the entire work of a party must at all times be conducted in secret; and that in order to be truly revolutionary a communist party must of necessity be an outlaw organization, then the principle is transformed and made absurd,” McGregor states. Anticipating the course of events in the CPA by nearly 2 years, McGregor argues that organization of the communist movement as an underground organization with camouflaged legal work means disaster : “To adopt such a plan of organization means simply that we would sever our connection with the general working class movement and turn the workers over to the gently nursing of the reactionary Socialist Party.” Instead, primary party organization and function should be open, with the secret parallel organization called for by the Comintern to consist of “only the tried and experienced members” functioning alongside the open organization. McGregor additionally observes that “it would be the height of folly to advertise that such an organization existed.”
The Third International Congress, by Dennis Batt [Nov. 1921] Proletarian Party of America representative to the 3rd Congress of the Comintern Dennis Batt (a guest rather than a delegate) outlines a number of policy positions of the CI—each of which is said to support the long-standing position of the PPA—in contrast to the contrary positions of the Communist Party of America. These included the assertion that successful revolution implies the winning of the conscious support of a majority of the working class and other toilers; the necessity of maintaining an open organization; the importance of making use of every means to win support for communism, particularly parliament and parliamentary elections; and the need to enter existing mass unions and thus “by virtue of their activity and devotion to the cause of the workers, to convince the membership that Communism is the only solution for the endless struggle in which they are engaged.” In each of these instances, Batt indicates that the position of the Proletarian Party was closer to the current Comintern line than that of the Communist Party, the membership of which was said to be “ too stupid and ignorant of the proper Communist position” on legalization, adherents of a “silly semi-syndicalist attitude” on participation in elections, and continuers of a 25 year old policy of attempting to organize “pure” unions and then try to smash the AF of L.
“Stedman’s Red Raid,” by Robert Minor. [May 1, 1921] Full text of a pamphlet produced by the UCP’s Toiler Publishing Association detailing a particularly disgusting footnote to the 1919 split of the Socialist Party. Minor indicates that in the immediate aftermath of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s anti-red raid of January 2, 1920, Socialist Party attorneys Seymour Stedman and Lazaras Davidow attempted to expropriate the assets of the Socialist Party of Michigan under the flimsy pretext that as ”Communists” the expelled Michiganites of the party’s holding company were participants in a criminal organization which ”advocated the overthrow of the government by force and violence.” At bottom of this scheme was a Detroit headquarters building owned by the Michigan party, represented by Minor as having approximately $90,000 of equity. Stedman issued a Bill of Complaint paralleling the criminal charges of the state against the unfortunate Michigan party members already jailed for alleged violation of the state’s Criminal Syndicalism law. He then red-baited the members of the legitimate holding company on the stand in an attempt to have the property awarded to a hastily gathered and miniscule Michigan “organization” retaining ties to the national SPA. Minor states that when they were at last confronted about their uncomradely behavior by concerned Socialist Party members, Stedman and Davidow thereafter lied and mislead their inquisitors as to their actions and had a further smoke screen laid by SPA National Executive Secretary Otto Branstetter with a fallacious news release of his own to the socialist press. A sordid tale of greed, deceit, and foul play...
1923
“Letter to C.E. Ruthenberg, Executive Secretary of the Workers Party of America in NY from John Keracher, Executive Secretary of the Proletarian Party of America in Chicago, March 3, 1923." Ultra-esoteric cover letter accompanying correspondence between the National Executive Committee of the Proletarian Party of America and the Central Executive Committee of the Workers Party of America regarding a unity appeal by the former to the latter. Adds minor detail to the chronology of the exchange of communiques.
“Letter to O.W. Kuusinen, Secretary, Executive Committee of the Communist International in Moscow from John Keracher, National Secretary, Proletarian Party of America in Chicago, May 26, 1923.” Formal reply of the Proletarian Party of America to the Feb. 19, 1923, request of Otto Kuusinen on behalf the Communist International that the PPA liquidate its organization and join the ranks of the Workers Party of America. Keracher indicates that the Comintern is seriously misinformed about the situation in America—that neither the Proletarian Party nor the Workers Party itself was in any way a mass political organization of the American proletariat. “Far from having achieved influence in and having gained control of any portion of the labor movement, the WP is following a course which, if unchecked, will add to the discredit of the revolutionists within the organized labor movement of America,” Keracher remarks, adding that “If members of the Proletarian Party have “attacked” some leaders of the Trade Union Educational League, it has been because they disagreed with the tactics of these individuals. If the Proletarian Party has withdrawn its support from the Trade Union Educational League, it has done so after mature consideration.” Keracher emphatically states that “While being desirous of cooperating at all times with the work of the Communist International in the struggle against world capitalism, the steps urged upon the Proletarian Party in the communication [i.e. liquidating itself and joining the CPA/WPA] are so out of harmony with the requirements of the revolutionary movement in America that the Proletarian Party can not bring itself to an acceptance of this unsound proposal.” Keracher closes with a call for “COMMUNIST UNITY,” which he characterizes as an amalgamation based upon “full knowledge of conditions here, and this knowledge can only be obtained by a thorough investigation and study of conditions as they exist in America, as well as the principles of the different revolutionary groups here” rather than through external fiat.
“Minutes of the National Convention of the Proletarian Party of America: Held in Chicago, Illinois — Sept. 2-4, 1923." These are minutes to the 3rd convention of the Proletarian Party of America, an organization by this date headquartered in Chicago. A total of 17 voting delegates from 12 locals were in attendance, joined by 5 non-voting fraternal delegates and 2 ex-officio officers of the party. The gathering re-elected John Keracher as National Secretary and elected a 15 member National Executive Committee. Minutes are terse and do not shed light on the group’s organizational situation. The newly launched weekly newspaper The Labor Digest, while lauded by Keracher for expanding the party’s influence among the working class seems to have been an enormous financial drain from the start, with barely 1/3 of the paper’s targeted financial nest egg successfully raised and the organization’s cash flow pushed into negatives by the paper’s ongoing expense. The convention affirmed the NEC’s rejection of unity proposals from the Workers Party and passed a resolution prohibiting party members from membership in or adherence to the discipline of the Trade Union Educational League. The Dennis Batt case was considered and it was resolved that any PPA member endorsing an electoral candidate not approved by the organization (as apparently had Batt) would be expelled. The group’s independent existence was carried forward by a resolution which declared the PPA would “maintain its separate existence from other working class parties...except at such time that a crisis may arise in the working class movement which necessitates the combined unity of the working class. At such time it will be the duty of the Proletarian Party to cooperate with other working class parties.”
1929
Full text of a pamphlet produced by the UCP’s Toiler Publishing Association detailing a particularly disgusting footnote to the 1919 split of the Socialist Party. Minor indicates that in the immediate aftermath of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s anti-red raid of January 2, 1920, Socialist Party attorneys Seymour Stedman and Lazaras Davidow attempted to expropriate the assets of the Socialist Party of Michigan under the flimsy pretext that as "Communists" the expelled Michiganites of the party’s holding company were participants in a criminal organization which "advocated the overthrow of the government by force and violence." At bottom of this scheme was a Detroit headquarters building owned by the Michigan party, represented by Minor as having approximately $90,000 of equity. Stedman issued a Bill of Complaint paralleling the criminal charges of the state against the unfortunate Michigan party members already jailed for alleged violation of the state’s Criminal Syndicalism law. He then red-baited the members of the legitimate holding company on the stand in an attempt to have the property awarded to a hastily gathered and miniscule Michigan "organization" retaining ties to the national SPA. Minor states that when they were at last confronted about their uncomradely behavior by concerned Socialist Party members, Stedman and Davidow thereafter lied and mislead their inquisitors as to their actions and had a further smoke screen laid by SPA National Executive Secretary Otto Branstetter with a fallacious news release of his own to the socialist press. A sordid tale of greed, deceit, and foul play...
“Letter to O.W. Kuusinen, Secretary, Executive Committee of the Communist International in Moscow from John Keracher, National Secretary, Proletarian Party of America in Chicago, May 26, 1923.” Formal reply of the Proletarian Party of America to the Feb. 19, 1923, request of Otto Kuusinen on behalf the Communist International that the PPA liquidate its organization and join the ranks of the Workers Party of America. Keracher indicates that the Comintern is seriously misinformed about the situation in America—that neither the Proletarian Party nor the Workers Party itself was in any way a mass political organization of the American proletariat. “Far from having achieved influence in and having gained control of any portion of the labor movement, the WP is following a course which, if unchecked, will add to the discredit of the revolutionists within the organized labor movement of America,” Keracher remarks, adding that “If members of the Proletarian Party have “attacked” some leaders of the Trade Union Educational League, it has been because they disagreed with the tactics of these individuals. If the Proletarian Party has withdrawn its support from the Trade Union Educational League, it has done so after mature consideration.” Keracher emphatically states that “While being desirous of cooperating at all times with the work of the Communist International in the struggle against world capitalism, the steps urged upon the Proletarian Party in the communication [i.e. liquidating itself and joining the CPA/WPA] are so out of harmony with the requirements of the revolutionary movement in America that the Proletarian Party can not bring itself to an acceptance of this unsound proposal.” Keracher closes with a call for “COMMUNIST UNITY,” which he characterizes as an amalgamation based upon “full knowledge of conditions here, and this knowledge can only be obtained by a thorough investigation and study of conditions as they exist in America, as well as the principles of the different revolutionary groups here” rather than through external fiat.
1924
“Lenin,” by John Keracher [February 1924] Short eulogy by the head of the impossiblist Proletarian Party of America saluting the recently-deceased leader of the Russian Revolution, V.I. Ulianov (N. Lenin). Keracher calls Lenin “the greatest tactician of the actual living class struggle – the man of action” and places him beside Karl Marx, “he greatest theoretician and philosopher of Proletarian Revolution.” He credits Lenin for recognizing the necessity of state power to defend the revolution and a willingness to set aside “fine phrases about liberty, justice, freedom of speech, and democracy.” Although Lenin’s death is regarded as an “immeasurable loss to the Russian Revolution and to the international movement of the working class,” nevertheless Lenin’s “life and work should prove a example and source of inspiration to every true revolutionist,” Keracher declares. The word “Leninism” does not enter Keracher’s discourse at this juncture.
1932
Socialist Party Convention: Opportunism and Petty Bourgeois Reform Mark Outstanding Traits of Convention and Standard-Bearers, by “J.W.” [events of May 21-24, 1932] Brief account of the sometimes stormy 1932 National Convention of the Socialist Party of America, held in Milwaukee, by a member of the Proletarian Party of America who was in attendance as an observer. The Proletarian Party activist notes ironically the way that Morris Hillquit’s keynote speech against the timidity, superficiality, and phrasemongering of the liberals was at least as applicable to the Socialist Party itself. The organization’s attempt to offer official support for the “Soviet experiment” while at the same time condemning the effects of the dictatorship of the proletariat is loudly criticized, with the dictatorship of the proletariat lauded as “the one thing that makes success possible.” The “healthy sign” of emergence of a left wing labor movement within the SPA is noted, although “even this militant section” is said to have “a long way to travel before it will become Marxian in its understanding and revolutionary enough in its political activity to constitute any real danger to the petty bourgeois makeup of the Socialist Party.” The SPA is characterized as a reform party during a phase of capitalist development in which reforms are no longer possible, critically and seemingly insurmountably hampered by its petty bourgeois social composition.
1933
“Formation of the Proletarian Party of America, 1913-1923: Part 1: John Keracher’s Proletarian University and the Establishment of the Communist Party of America,”by Tim Davenport [May 2011] Setting the table for the first republication of Proletarian Bulletin this month is a short article on the establishment of the Proletarian Party of America written by me in the summer of 2010 following a visit to work the PPA papers at the University of Michigan. This was originally published in May 2011 and will eventually be expanded and polished. Linked here for convenience.
Proletarian Bulletin[January 1933] Extremely rare internal bulletin of the Proletarian Party of America. Includes a brief report on the NEC meeting of Dec. 31 1932 to Jan. 3, 1933, held in Detroit. The PPA ran candidates in the Nov. 1932 Michigan elections, it was reported, receiving about 300 votes each. Membership is said to be slightly up from the previous year, but income down since “so many unemployed comrades are on Exempt Stamps”— a new “Penny-A-Day Fund”is announced to continue the previous “Campaign and Expansion Fund”forward as a new “Expansion Fund.”A money-making opportunity is announced in which members are called upon to sell 6 subscriptions to the party’s official organ, Proletarian News, for 50 cents each, turning in $2 of the $3 to the National Office. Physical production cost of the paper is revealed as 2 cents per issue for the current size, quality, and print run. New Charles H. Kerr & Co. reprints are announced for The Communist Manifesto, Mary Marcy’s Shop Talks on Economics, and Paul Lafargue’s The Right to Be Lazy. A convention is called for May 27, 1933 in Detroit. Although delegate travel funds are not guaranteed, a convention fund is announced for delegates traveling from the Atlantic or Pacific Coasts. In conjunction with this, an internal discussion period is announced for Feb. 1 to May 1 in which “any sort of change can be advocated at the Local meetings, or through writing to the Party Bulletin,”although discipline remains in force for public events. The party’s finances are revealed to be very short, with a treasury balance of negative $50 as of Jan. 1, 1933. “Weekly taxation”of Locals per the constitution is reemphasized: “If you can’t send dollars, send times, but send something. Even postal stamps are better than promises.”
Proletarian Bulletin [May 1933] Extremely rare internal bulletin of the Proletarian Party of America. As the NEC had postponed the forthcoming national convention from May 27 until Labor Day, pre-convention internal discussion was correspondingly extended to Aug. 1. In this connection, veteran party member Charlie O’Brien, now living in Los Angeles, bemoans the general lack of theoretical expertise in the party, pointing to a “mental poverty”of the current 15 member NEC and its Executive Committee, with only one member, Com. Bielskas, having contributed anything of substance to the pre-convention discussion and the rest seemingly having “nothing to offer”and seeking “to learn something from the members.”O’Brien advocates election of a new National Secretary and the election of party leader John Keracher instead as NEC member and party organizer. John Davis of Local Flint adds an article on “The Press and the Party,”in which he argues against changing the official organ, Proletarian News, to a lighter and more topical publication by reducing its theoretical content. Davis declares the paper’s deficiencies in size, content, and frequency reflect general weaknesses of the PPA, not weaknesses of the leadership. Another O’Brien article follows, “Our Party Leadership,”in which it is asserted that party leaders should be informed, experienced, consistent, theoretically able, and energetic. Since few have this full set of characteristics in a very small organization like the Proletarian Party, O’Brien advocates the reduction in size of the NEC from 15 to 7 members. A final article by William Heinhuis of Local Elkhart on “Immediate Demands”advises that the PPA stay its impossibilist course, declaring that “’Immediate demands,’ when they have for their aim reforms, have no place in a revolutionary party,”but instead represent a real danger by watering down the membership of the party. The Proletarian Party, as currently structured, could not even handle a large upsurge in membership, let alone function effectively in a revolutionary situation, Heinhuis asserts.
Proletarian Bulletin [June 1933] Extremely rare internal bulletin of the Proletarian Party of America. Financial reports show seven separate funds, the sum of which grew by less than $350 from late April 1933 through the first week of June. Active party locals (11) included: Chicago, IL; Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, and Jackson, MI; San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA; Rochester and Buffalo, NY; Boston, MA; and Elkhart, IN. Small locals (8) also existed in: New York City; Niles, Benton Harbor, and Mecosta County, MI; Hanover, CT; Danville, PA(?); as well as Milwaukee and Mishawaka, WI. Pre-convention discussion continues, with Leo Sherwood of Buffalo listing party shortcomings; R.J. Landgraf of Detroit calling for a training camp for prospective party members; C.M. O’Brien of Los Angeles on “The Negro Problem”; Isidor Tishler of Rochester on the party press; Stanley Novak of Detroit with a list of policy suggestions for the coming convention; three criticisms of other members’ articles by Charlie O’Brien; Al Renner of Detroit (soon to be suspended from the party for 6 months in a faction fight) on the need for more specialization and more frequent physical meetings of the NEC; and a short piece by Mary Wright challenging the previous convention’s endorsement of the Comintern, advancing the argument that “if the CP of A is rotten, then the CI is no more sound, for the errors we find in the CP of A are carried out under the guidance of the CP.”
Proletarian Bulletin [July 1933] Extremely rare internal bulletin of the Proletarian Party of America. Financial reports show the seven separate party funds increasing by about $390 during the last three weeks of June 1933 and the first week of July. Pre-convention discussion continues with an opening piece by Morris Prizant of San Francisco on the need to overcome individualism and isolationism in the party and to expand the party’s work among the “10 million native born Americans of the negro races.”Carl Babbit of Flint, echoes O’Brien’s May allegation of the “theoretical poverty”of the Detroit PP organization and defending the traditional refusal of the Proletarian Party to espouse ameliorative reform under capitalism. “The workers in their struggles to improve their conditions under Capitalism can never raise themselves above the level of bourgeois ideology and bourgeois politics,”Babbit insists. A major factional split with the Detroit local is foreshadowed in Babbit’s article. Babbit adds a second piece responding at length to a previous article by Detroit factional leader Wass. Anthony Bielskas of Grand Rapids offers opinions on the unemployment question, noting the growth and revolutionary potential of organizations of the unemloyed. F. Miller of San Francisco offers views on party discipline. Stanley Novak of Detroit defends the idea that the Proletarian Party has historically favored partial demands for such things as freedom of speech, press, and assembly, if not the reform of capitalism. He notes the Bolshevik use of the slogan “Bread, Peace, and Land”as an effective use of partial demands by a revolutionary organization and argues that similar, carefully chosen partial demands should be advanced by the Proletarian Party.
Proletarian Bulletin [August 1933] Extremely rare internal bulletin of the Proletarian Party of America. With the convention scheduled for Labor Day, no financial reports are presented; instead there is final pre-convention discussion. Stanley Novak of Detroit (an adherent of the reform faction) takes on views expressed in print by party regular C.M. O’Brien of Los Angeles, taking the latter to task for a lack of constructive suggestions in his criticism. Novak is also critical of National Secretary John Keracher, accusing him of failing to subjugate his actions to the direction of the National Executive Committee. There is “too great centralization of the Party’s work in too few hands,”Novak states. Anthony Bielskas of Grand Rapids repeats O’Brien’s refrain that the NEC is “a weak one,”calling out Novak by name and declaring that the party rank-and-file “should know who to keep as leaders and who to get rid of.”John Durbin of Detroit takes a shot at O’Brien for his accusation that the sitting NEC is exemplified by “mental poverty,”noting that O’Brien himself has contributed nothing of substance to the party press. Durbin also takes aim at Carl Babbit of Flint, declaring that he has make “plenty of noise”in criticizing Local Detroit, while being “strangely silent”with constuctive suggestions. M.A. Larson of Detroit paints O’Brien as a conservative defender of an undynamic and aging party. He further attempts to gain factional advantage with analysis of economic trends during the depression designed to undercut O’Brien as a theoretician. Party regular Carl Babbit of Flint publishes a lengthy piece on the “Detroit Merry-Go-Round,”criticizing the Detroit-based NEC members for failing to express their ideas for party reform in the Proletarian Bulletin and revealing the central factional dispute as a disagreement between National Secretary Keracher and the Detroit-based NEC members. “Because the National Secretary dares to have opinions and ideas opposed to theirs and has the courage to stand on his own feet, they recommend that the office of National Secretary as constituted at present be abolished,”Babbit writes, adding ominously: “I think that in the coming Convention these ‘babes in the woods’ will find out that the other locals in the party will have something to say about how the Party should be run...”Fred West and George Snider of San Francisco offer views on party official organ Proletarian News. They also criticize the policy views of regulars Novak and O’Brien. O’Brien and Novak return fire against their own critics. Jack Gardner of Boston opines on immediate demands. Anthony Bielskas of Grand Rapids offers views on the routing of party speakers.
1949
“Death of Al Renner,” by John Keracher [Sept. 1949] — Memorial obituary of Communist Party of America founding member Albert Renner (1887-1949) by National Secretary of the Proletarian Party of America John Keracher. Keracher recalls his longtime comrade from Detroit as a committed trade union activist, including time spent as President of the Michigan Federation of Hotel, Restaurant and Bartenders Unions (AFL). A member of the Socialist Party of America from before 1910, Renner served as a delegate to the party’s landmark convention in St. Louis, Missouri in the spring of 1917, at which a militant anti-war platform was approved. Keracher notes Renner’s role as a principle chair of the June 1919 National Conference of the Left Wing in New York City and as the unanimously-elected chair of the founding convention of the Communist Party of America in Chicago in September 1919. Keracher notes that about one-fifth of the delegates to the CPA founding convention were in opposition to the platform (his own interpretation of the strength of his own faction). He states that the cause of the 1920 split of the CPA to establish the Proletarian Party of America related to the refusal of the Michigan-based group to go “underground” following the Palmer Raids of January 1920. Keracher notes that Renner was an expert in parliamentary procedure and a popular lecturer who visited the Soviet Union in 1935 and later spoke observationally about his visit.
The Proletarian
The Proletarian, vol. 1, No. 1 [May 1918] (Graphic pdf, large file, 3.3 megs.) Best extant copy (extensive chipping with loss) of the first issue of the official organ of the Socialist Party of Michigan/Proletarian University faction headed by John Keracher. Editorial Committee: “The Policy of this Publication”; “The Political Activities of the British Labor Movement”; “The Month’s Events Reviewed”; “Working Class Education”; “Should Socialist Women Fight for Suffrage?”; “The Nationalist Party — A New Factor in American Politics”; “Scientific Socialism — The Theoretical Expression of the Proletarian Movement”; “The Political War in Wisconsin.”
The Proletarian, vol. 2, No. 1 [May 1919] Full issue of the official magazine of the Socialist Party of Michigan/Proletarian University faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: “Spartacan Sparks.” John Keracher: “May Day, 1919.” “Peace or Revolution?” Fred W. Hurtig: “The Mooney Strike.” Oakley C. Johnson, “Radicalism a la Mode."Breit (Carl Berreiter): “Lions, Lambs, and Other Animals.” John Keracher: “International Notes” (Germany, Russia, Great Britain, Canada, Poland, Italy). “Our First Anniversary.” “The Proletarian University of America.” Dennis E. Batt: “Right, Center, and Left.” John O’London (pseud.): “Grant Allen: A Tribute to His Scientific Work.” Robert Louis Stevenson: “The Woodman” (poem).
The Proletarian, vol. 2, No. 2 [June 1919] (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.4 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Socialist Party of Michigan/Proletarian University faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; “Spartacan Sparks”; Dennis E. Batt: “All in the Name of Liberty”; John Keracher: “Peacing Out the Pieces”; John Davis: “Don’t Be a Wooden Indian!”; Oakley C. Johnson: “’Babushka’”; John Keracher: “International Notes”(Russia, France, USA, Yugoslavia); “Left Wing Socialists Capture Party in Chicago”; “John O’London”[Keracher?]: “Revolutionary Political Action: The Road to Socialism”(Pt. 1); “Art Under the Bolsheviks”; Oakley C. Johnson: “A New Basis for Ethics”; “Long Live Our Celebrated Socialist Unity.”
The Proletarian, vol. 2, No. 3 [July 1919] Full issue of the official magazine of the Socialist Party of Michigan/Proletarian University faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; “Spartacan Sparks”; Dennis E. Batt: “The Parting of the Ways”; Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]: “Music Hath Charms to Soothe the Savage Beast”; John Davis: “Kicking According to Plan”; L.B.: “Science A La Clergy”; “The Socialist Forum”; John Keracher: “International Notes”(Russia, Canada, Germany); “John O’London”[Keracher?]: “Revolutionary Political Action: The Road to Socialism”(Pt. 2); “Michigan State Emergency Convention”; Earnest Reen: “Pogroms and Socialism.”
The Proletarian, vol. 2, No. 4 [August 1919] Full issue of the official magazine of the Socialist Party of Michigan/Proletarian University faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; “Spartacan Sparks”; Oakley C. Johnson: “Confusionists and Confusionism”; O.C.: “Tightening the Line of the Class Struggle”; Karl Romaine: “Art and Revolution”; “The Socialist Forum”; John Keracher: “International Notes”(Ireland, Russia, England, Mexico); “John O’London”[Keracher?]: “Revolutionary Political Action: The Road to Socialism”(Pt. 3); “Concerning Bad Books”; L.B.: “Capitalist Sociology”; F.A.S.: “Book Review: ’Bolshevism,’ by John Spargo”; F.S. Faulkner: “Our Job.”
The Proletarian, vol. 2, No. 4 [Sept. 1919] Full issue of the official magazine of the Socialist Party of Michigan/Proletarian University faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit. “Spartacan Sparks.” “Communist Party Convention,” by Editorial Committee. Oakley C. Johnson: “Race Riots in America.” Breit (Carl Berreiter): “Bolshevism is Dead — Long Live Democracy.” James Conlan: “Bourgeois Ideology vs. Revolutionary Action.” “The Socialist Forum.” John Keracher: “International Notes” (Hungary, Russia, Finland, England). John O’London (pseud.): “Revolutionary Political Action: The Road to Socialism” (Pt. 4). John Keracher: “The Proletarian University.” John Keracher: “Money Talks.” L.B.: “Book Review: ‘The Gospel for a Working World,’ by Harry F. Ward.”
The Proletarian, vol. 2, No. 6 [October 1919] Full issue of the official magazine of the Socialist Party of Michigan/Proletarian University faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; “Spartacan Sparks”; “Communist Party Convention”; Oakley C. Johnson: “’Vaudeville Socialism’”; L.B.: “Morals vs. Profits”; “John O’London": “The WIIU Editor Bumps His Head Against the Proletarian”; Oakley C. Johnson: “Shall Private Property Be Abolished in America?”; John Keracher: “International Notes”(England, Persia, Afghanistan, USA); “As You Like It”; “Correspondence”; “John O’London”[Keracher?]: “Revolutionary Political Action: The Road to Socialism”(Pt. 5); “Manifesto and Program: Minority Report of the Committee on Manifesto and Program at the Communist Party Convention.”
The Proletarian, vol. 2, No. 7 [Nov. 1919] Full issue of the official magazine of the Proletarian University CPA faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit. “Spartacan Sparks.” Oakley C. Johnson: “The Psychology of Militarism.” “The Big Strike.” Dennis E. Batt: “Minority Action.” L.B.: “Blurring the Class Lines.” John Keracher: “International Notes” (England, Bulgaria, Russia). “The Socialist Forum” ("Who Has the Voting Power?” “Does the Salesman Create Value?").John O’London (pseud.):"Revolutionary Political Action: The Road to Socialism” (Pt. 6). Frederick Engels: “The Materialist Conception of History.” “Suggestions for the Conducting of Study Classes.”
The Proletarian, vol. 2, No. 8 [Dec. 1919] Full issue of the official magazine of the Proletarian University CPA faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit. “Spartacan Sparks.” Dennis E. Batt: “Storm Clouds Gather.” Murray Murphy: “The Labor Conference.” M.M.: “Journalism — From the Inside.” L.B.: “Can the Workers Understand?” “The Abolition of Capital.” Dennis E. Batt: “Sarton Resartus” (anti-Mary Marcy in Gale’s Magazine). John Keracher: “International Notes” (Russia, Finland, England). John O’London (pseud.): “Revolutionary Political Action: The Road to Socialism” (Pt. 7). John O’London (pseud.): “Political Action and the General Strike.” “The Socialist Forum.” Frederick Engels: “Another Engels Letter” (Sept. 21, 1890).
The Proletarian, vol. 2, No. 9/10 [Jan.-Feb. 1920] (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.5 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Socialist Party of Michigan/Proletarian University faction headed by John Keracher. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; “Spartacan Sparks”; Dennis E. Batt: “A Year Gone By”; “Czarism in America” [Palmer Raids]; “The Collapse” [Coal Strike]; “John O’Groats” [Keracher?]: “Syndicalist Flaws”; “Freak Strikes and Unions”; “Notice” [On CPA severing connection with Proletarian University and Clubs]; Murray Murphy: “Sidelights on Historical Materialism”; John Keracher: “International Notes” (Russia, Germany, England, Japan); Frederick Engels: “A Retrospect”; “The Socialist Forum.”
The Proletarian, vol. 3, No. 1 [October 1920] (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.4 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Proletarian Party of America. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; “The Editor’s Corner” (Medical Relief for Soviet Russia, Where Iron Is, There is the Fatherland); John Keracher: “American Political Parties”; Murray Murphy: “A Note on Unity”; “Lenin to Pankhurst”; “Soviet Russia”; A.J. MacGregor: “Those Opportunistic Bolsheviks”; “Announcement!” (forthcoming content); John Keracher: “International Notes” (Great Britain, Turkey, Italy); “Casting Shadows Before”; “The Marxian Law of Value” (Pt. 1); “Manifesto and Program” (adopted at the organization convention of the Proletarian Party of America, June 27-28, 1920).
The Proletarian, vol. 3, No. 2 [November 1920] (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.4 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Proletarian Party of America. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; “The Editor’s Corner” (C.M O’Brien arrest, Yugoslavia); Dennis E. Batt: “In Triumph Still Waves” (Soviet Russia); Franc Conner: “The Return to Supernaturalism”; “Lenin’s Letter to the Austrian Communists”; A.J. MacGregor: “The Return to Normal”; Ern Reen: “Lenin vs. Kautsky” (Pt. 1); (Book Review) "The Great Steel Strike, by William Z. Foster”; John Keracher: “International Notes” (Italy, Poland, Ireland, India); “The Marxian Law of Value” (Pt. 2); Frederick Engels: “A Retrospect” (Pt. 2).
The Proletarian, vol. 3, No. 3 [December 1920] (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.2 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Proletarian Party of America. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; “The Editor’s Corner” (White terror in Hungary); John Keracher: “Oil is King”; A.J. MacGregor: “The Political Horizon”; J. Kiishila: “Berger on Socialism”; Murray Murphy: “Bertrand Russell on Bolshevik Theory”; (Book Review) "The Labor Revolt in India, by Basanta Koomar Roy”; John Keracher: “International Notes” (Russia, France, Egypt, Great Britain, Germany); “Our Pilgrim Fathers”; “Soviet Medical Relief”; A.C.: “Class Nature of Politics”; “The Marxian Law of Value” (Pt. 3); “Karl Marx Tried and Acquitted for Inciting People to Armed Resistance”; “Books Received”; Ern Reen: “Lenin vs. Kautsky” (Pt. 2); Slater: “Veblenism and Marxism” (Thorstein Veblen).
The Proletarian, vol. 3, no. 4 [January 1921] Full issue of the official magazine of the Proletarian Party of America. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; “The Editor’s Corner”; Nikolai Lenin: “’Left Wing’ Communism, An Infantile Disorder”; James Conlan: “The Next War”; John Keracher: “International Notes" (Asia Minor, Great Britain, Japan, Norway); A.J. MacGregor: “The Third International”; “The Marxian Law of Value" (Pt. 3); Murray Murphy: “Bertrand Russelll on Bolshevik Theory”; Ern Reen: “Lenin vs. Kautsky" (Pt. 2).
The Proletarian, vol. 3, no. 5 [March 1921] (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.2 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Proletarian Party of America. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; “The Editor’s Corner”; Dennis E. Batt: “The Carriers of Civilization”; John Keracher: “Education”; William Paul: “Lenin on Communist Tactics in England”; Murray Murphy: “Bertrand Russell on Bolshevik Theory”; John Keracher: “International Notes” (Russia, Turkey, Great Britain, Spain); A.J. MacGregor: “The Third International” (Germany, England, America); Franc Conner: “Exit the Villain”; J.A. McDonald: “The Middle Class”; C.M. O’Brien: “The Facts, Mr. Editor” (Open letter to the editor of the UCP’s The Communist); Review of The American Empire by Scott Nearing; John Ball: “Dogmatism”; C.M. O’Brien: “Bolshevism in Spain.”
The Proletarian, vol. 3, no. 6 [May 1921] (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.3 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Proletarian Party of America. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; John Keracher: “Labor Awakens”; John Keracher: “Reply to Albert Bell [pseud.], Member CEC, UCP”; John Keracher: “May Day”; Ern Reen: “America’s Reply to Soviet Russia”; H.M. Wicks: “Another SP ’Left Wing’ Develops”; E.J.M.: “Progress and Revolution”; John Keracher: “International Notes” (Asia Minor, Georgia, England); Murray Murphy: “Critics of Communism”; V.M. Breitmayer: “Mary Opens the Factories: A Farce in 31 Pages and A Prologue” (Polemic against Open the Factories by Mary Marcy); “Wages”; “UCP Minority Action.”
The Proletarian, vol. 3, no. 7 [June 1921] (Graphic pdf, large file, 2.3 megs.) Full issue of the official magazine of the Proletarian Party of America. This issue contains: Cover art by Breit [V.M. Breitmayer]; “Party Activities” (Chicago, Buffalo, Rochester, Los Angeles, Flint, Ann Arbor, Detroit); H.M. Wicks: “‘Super-Bolsheviks’ or ’Kautskyans’”; John Keracher: “Unemployment”; Murray Murphy: “What Are the Capitalists Doing?”; John Keracher: “International Notes” (Germany, Egypt, Japan, Great Britain, Syria, Norway, Turkey); Review of Communism and Christianism by Bishop William Montgomery Brown; H.M. Wicks: “Socialist Party History” (Against the New York Call); M.V.B.: “Machinery: The Master and the Liberator”; W.H.C.: “The Crisis in Russia”; F.A. Perry: “Anti-Labor Propaganda”; Julius Davidson: “Science and History.”