Jewish (Yiddish) Language Federations
Earliest Radical Jewish Organizations and Press in the United States
The First Congress of the Second International, held in Paris in 1889, included among its delegates a representative of the Jewish socialist movement in America. Organization among the Jewish workers had begun to blossom by 1890, when the first Yiddish language socialist newspaper in America was established in New York, the Arbeiter Zeitung.
For seven years, a group called the Jewish Agitation Bureau served as a center for various independent socialist groups. The Jewish Agitation Bureau had neither adequate funding nor sufficient authority amongst the various groups, however, and it was unable to establish a truly united federation of Jewish socialist groups.
The Jewish Socialist Agitation Bureau
After the 1910 Congress of the Socialist Party of America, a "Jewish Socialist Agitation Bureau" emerged. This organization was essentially a central clearing house for Yiddish-language Socialist Party Branches, maintaining communications and coordinating the production and sale of Yiddish-language leaflets and pamphlets. The individual Yiddish branches were organized as part of the regular state and county party structure, paying full dues to those party organizations and differing from English-language branches only in the language in which they conducted their business.
By the May 1912 Convention of the SPA, the Jewish Socialist Agitation Bureau counted about 80 Yiddish-language branches in 30 states with which it was in communication.
[fn: J.Panken: "Report Submitted in Behalf of the Jewish Socialist Agitation Bureau" in Proceedings: National Convention of the Socialist Party, 1912. (Chicago, IL: The Socialist Party, n.d. [1912]), pg. 244.]
The Jewish Federation of the Socialist Party
1. Convention of Jewish Socialist Party Branches -- Patterson, NJ -- May 30 - June 2, 1912.
A convention of Jewish Socialist Party branches was held in Paterson, NJ, from May 30th to June 2nd, 1912. It was there decided to form the Jeiwsh Socialist Federation, which would then affiliation with the Socialist Party in accordance with provisions made for Language Federations at the 1912 SPA Convention at Indianapolis. On July 31, 1912, the Jewish Socialist Federation came into formal existence. The National Executive Committee of the SPA was quick to grant the new group affiliation, but it insisted that the group's Secretary, J.B. Salutsky, come to Chicago to work in the National Office as Translator-Secretary. This move was not possible until after the fall presidential campaign. Therefore, it was only on Nov. 20, 1912, that the Jewish Federation had a Translator-Secretary in Chicago.
At the time of its affiliation, the Jewish Federation was composed of 24 branches, with a total membership of about 800. The next 8 months saw dramatic growth, with a total of 68 branches standing as of April 1, 1913, with some 1,993 members in good standing and another 700 on the rolls as members in arrears.
The Jewish Federation began publishing propaganda in Yiddish its first year, including 100,000 copies of the Socialist Party Platform, two leaflets by SPA Presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs, and a translation of "Your Growing Grocery Bill," by allen Benson. The Federation also published 10,000 copies of a 24-page May Day magazine.
[fn: J.B. Salutsky, "Report of the Jewish Translator-Secretary," leaflet printed for the National Committee, SPA, ([Chicago]:{Socialist Party of America], [1913]), pp. 1-2.]
2. First National Convention of the Jewish Socialist Federation -- New Haven, CT -- Xxxxx XX, 1913.
3. Second National Convention of the Jewish Socialist Federation -- Philadelphia, PA -- May 28, 1915.
There were 75 delegates to the 2nd National Convention of the JSF, held in Philadelphia in May of 1915. Seventy of these delegates were men and five women; of these 43 were shop workers and 44 were American citizens, with an additional 20 having taken out their first citizenship papers.
[fn: Melech Epstein, The Jew and Communism. (New York: Trade Union Sponsoring Committee, 1959), pp. 59-60.]
This group continued its pattern of rapid growth, quickly becoming one of the SPA's largest Language Federations, with a claimed membership of about 5,000 in 1915. The group published a weekly newspaper called Naye Welt [The New World], edited by Jacob Salutsky from 1914, and a quarterly magazine, The Time.
[fn: I.B. Bailin, " Socialist Activities Among the Jews" in The American Labor Year-Book, 1916. (NY: Rand School Press, 1916), pp. 138-140.]
4. National Conference (Third National Convention) of the Jewish Socialist Federation -- (New York?) -- March 11, 1917.
The March 1917 conference called by the Jewish Socialist Federation seems to have been a multi-party affair on the question of the European war. The National Workers' Committee and the United Hebrew Trades both endorsed the Conference, which passed a resolution stating "We ar e against war not because we side with this or the other camp of the belligerent countries. We are against war generally. We are not pro-German or pro-Ally. We are pro-proletarian."
[fn: Melech Epstein, The Jew and Communism. (New York: Trade Union Sponsoring Committee, 1959), pg. 61]
The first Jewish Left Wing Socialist group was formed early in 1919 in New York City. Five people were present at the creation, all men in their 20s: Frank Geliebter, Harry Hiltzik, Lazar Kling, William Abrams, and Ben Solomon. The group met in a basement restaurant on the corner of Jefferson and Madison Streets and called their group the "Left Wing of the Jewish Socialist Federation." The group had only weak ties to the broad Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party but did meet regularly and gained adherents among young Jews of their age. The group circulated a letter accusing Naye Welt of "chauvinistic social patriotism" for that paper's move towards embracing the Wilsonian "14 Points."
Other Left Wing Jewish groups sprang up in Boston, New Haven, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit.
On Feb. 16, 1919, a Left Wing Yiddish-language organ was born, a weekly called Der Kampf, edited by Philip Geliebter and Hertz Burgin. Burgin, a former member of the editorial staff of Abraham Cahan's Daily Forward, later went on to work for many years for the Soviet-American Trading Company, Armtorg.
[fn: Melech Epstein, The Jew and Communism. (New York: Trade Union Sponsoring Committee, 1959), pp. 67-69.]
Conference — New York, NY — May XX-XX, 1918.
According to Harry Hiltzik, the leadership of the Jewish Federation held a national conference in New York city in May 1918 to repudiate the St. Louis resolution of the Socialist Party and to endorse a social-patriotic position on the war. The conference voted 25 to 19 to suport the Wilson administration's war effort.
[fn. Speech of Harry Hiltzig to the National Left Wing Conference, New York, June 1921, published in The Revolutionary Age, Aug. 2, 1919, pg. 16.]
6. Fourth National Convention of the Jewish Socialist Federation -- Boston, MA -- May 29-June 1, 1919.
The 4th National Convention, held in Boston from May 29 to June 1, 1919, saw the split of the Jewish Socialist Federation into Left and Right wings. The meeting was attended by 136 delegates, representing branches in 26 states. Parallel delegations were sent by a number of branches, resulting in numerous contests and a great deal of bitter debate. The majority, loyal to the SPA, was led by Moissaye Olgin, J.B. Bielin, and Jacob Mindel; the minority Left by Alexander Bittelman, Meyer Lunin, and Harry Hiltzik. There was sharp division on the question of the organization's tactics and program, with the Left advocating an immediate split with the SPA and a program calling for the dictatorship of the proletariat. In the test, the majority resolution received 74 votes, the Left's resolution 38 votes, with 17 abstentions.
The minority split from the Jewish Socialist Federation to form what was first called the "Jewish Left Wing Federation of the Socialist Party." On June 27, 1919, a new Yiddish-language publication called Der Kampf [The Struggle] became the weekly organ of this "Jewish Left Wing Federation."
[fn: Melech Epstein, The Jew and Communism. (New York: Trade Union Sponsoring Committee, 1959), pp. 69-72; speech of Harry Hiltzig to the National Left Wing Conference, New York, June 1921, published in The Revolutionary Age, Aug. 2, 1919, pg. 16.]
The departure of its Left Wing did not terminate the Jewish Socialist Federation. The organization stayed within the SP through its period of decline until in 1921, when in the aftermath of the SP's Detroit Convention (June 25-29), a majority of the JSF's Executive Committee voted to leave the Socialist Party. A special convention was called for September 1921 in New York to act on this recommendation.
7. Special Convention of the Jewish Socialist Federation -- New York, NY -- Sept. XX-XX, 1921.
The September 1921 Special Convention was attended by 77 delegates from 43 branches. Of these, 41 voted for the break with the Socialist Party of America and 33 voted for continued affiliation. Upon the vote for disaffiliation, there was an immediate bolting of the convention by the minority group, which assembled in another room of the same hall and formed the "Jewish Socialist Verband of the Socialist Party." Nathan Chanin was elected General Secretary of this new organization. A week later the group began to issue its own Yiddish-language weekly organ, Der Wecker [The Awakener]. The apparatus associated with the Daily Forward went with the new Farband, while most of the prominent intellectuals and practical workers of the organization stayed with the disaffiliiated JSF, which styled itself as a new political organization, the "Workers Council."
[fn: Melech Epstein, The Jew and Communism. (New York: Trade Union Sponsoring Committee, 1959), pp. 92-97.]
The Socialist Party continued to have an affiliated Jewish Federation throughout the decade of the 1920s and beyond, with the organization maintaining a membership of approximately 590 members in 1927 and 1928 -- roughly 5.2% of the total party membership. This made the SP's Jewish Federation the 3rd largest of its 5 Language Federations.
[fn: Letter of National Executive Secretary Willam H. Henry to the NEC of the SPA, Nov. 24, 1928. Original in Bob Millar collection.]
The Jewish Federation of the (old) Communist Party of America
1. First Convention of the Jewish Communist Federation — Philadelphia, PA -- Oct. 9-12, 1919.
The former Left Wing branches of the Jewish Federation, bound together as the "Jewish Left Wing Federation of the Socialist Party," held their own Convention in Philadelphia from Oct. 9-12, 1919. Forty-five branches from 20 cities, claiming a membership of 3,000, were represented at the meeting. The gathering was attended by Nicholas Hourwich and Maximilian Cohen on behalf of the old CPA, both of whom addressed the assembled body. The Convention voted unanimously to affiliate with the CPA, adopting the name Jewish Communist Federation. The gathering adopted the CPA program in its entirety.
The Jewish Communist Federation selected an 8 member Central Executive Committee at the October 1919 convention including Alexander Bittelman, Halpen, Harry Hiltzik, Klintz, Benjamin Lifshitz, Meyer Lunin, Plotkin, Winick.
[fn: C.E. Ruthenberg, " The Party Organization," in The Communist, new series v. 1, no. 5, Oct. 25, 1919, pg. 7.]
The illegal underground organ of the JCF of the CPA in the Yiddish language remained Der Kamf [The Struggle], which had first appeared at the end of June, when the "Jewish Left Wing Federation" was first emerging.
2. Second Convention of the Jewish Communist Federation — (city???) -- June 5-12, 1920.
The Jewish Communist Federation was one of the smallest Language Federations of the old CPA. Its paid membership in Feb. 1921 was for only 144 members. May 1921 showed a dues stamp sale of 198, including current and back dues. There were an additional 12 members who were exempt from dues payments, for a total of 210. Comparable figures for June 1921 were 252 paid, 2 exempt, for a total of 254.
Branches of the Jewish Federation of the old CPA were limited to the cities of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Los Angeles, Toronto, Paterson, NJ, Boston, Roxberry, MA, Chicago, St. Paul, and Hartford, CT in mid-1921.
Morris Kushinsky ["M. Hoffman"], later the Philadelphia District Organizer for the unified CPA, was the Sedretary of the Jewish Federation of the CPA in February 1921. By May, he was replaced by "B. Stevens."
[fn: Comintern Archive: f. 515, op. 1, d. 75, l. 21-22; 24.]
The Jewish Federation of the United Communist Party of America
The departure of Ruthenberg and his allies to unity with the Communist Labor Party at the first Bridgman Convention, held May 26-31, 1920, was marked by the splitting of the Jewish Communist Federation. A number of Jewish branches and members followed Ruthenberg into the UCP. The young dentist Louis Hendin was put in charge of the Jewish Section of the UCP.
[fn: Melech Epstein, The Jew and Communism. (New York: Trade Union Sponsoring Committee, 1959), pg. 79].
The illegal organ in the Yiddish language published by the Jewish Section of the UCP was called Der Komunist.
There were surprisingly few Yiddish language primary party units in the UCP. In December 1920, party records indicate that only 37 of 673 groups used Yiddish, a smaller total than those speaking South Slavic (Croatian, Slovenian), Russian, English, German, and Latvian.
[fn: DoJ/BoI Investigative Files, NARA M-1085, reel 940, doc. 501 -- downloadable below.]
The Jewish Federation of the (unified) Communist Party of America
An Arrangement Committee consisting of 3 Jewish Federationists from each the former UCP and the old CPA met on June 24 and 26, 1921, to discuss the details of a merged Jewish Federation in the unified CPA.The group split along party lines over an Editor the name of the press organ of the Federation. Ultimately the name Proletarisher Kampf (Proletarian Struggle) was chosen and a four member Editorial board was chosen. Division remained over the naming of the paid editor, however, with each side favoring its own candidate. The issue was resolved irresolutely, by approving two paid editors for the publication. Even this clumsy solution was sabotaged, when the ex-UCP editor stated that he would not work with any but "professional writers" on the project, a reference to the ex-CPA paid editor. The situation was left up to the Central Executive Committee of the unified CPA for resolution -- itself a body split down the middle along (former) party lines.
[fn: Comintern Archive: f. 515, op. 1, d. 75, l. 27-32, passim.]
Both the Jewish Federation of the old CPA and the Jewish Federation of the former UCP made farcically high membership claims during the unification process in July 1921 -- 339 for the old CPA (which had an actual May/June paid+exempt average of 232) and 340 for the ex-UCP.
[fn: Comintern Archive: f. 515, op. 1, d. 75, l. 33.]
During the 4 months from August to November 1921, the unified Communist Party's Jewish Federation had an average monthly paid membership of 428. It was the 7th largest of the 10 Language groups in the party.
[fn: Comintern Archive: f. 515, op. 1, d. 75, l.47-50.]
The Jewish Federation of the Workers Party of America
The Jewish Federation of the Workers Party of America was created via the merger of the predominantly Jewish Workers' Council group, a faction led by Moissaye J. Olgin, with the historic Jewish Federation of the unified CPA, a faction headed by Alexander Bittelman.
The Jewish Federation began to publish its organ, Freiheit [Freedom] on April 2, 1922. The publication was edited by Shachno Epstein and M.J. Olgin.
There was an extreme factional struggle pitting the WC-Olgin and JCF-Bittelman factions during the first year of the WPA. The Executive Committee of the Jewish Workers Federation was initially split 50-50 betweent the Olgin and Bittleman factons, with 9 members of the EC hailing from each of the two groups. For the former Workers Council group were: J.B.S. Hardman [Salutsky], M.J. Olgin, Zivyon, Paul Yuditz, Jacob Mindel, Rubin Salzman, Ab. Epstein, David Siegel, and A. Wiener. For the former JCF were: Shachno Epsteind ["J Berson"], Alex Bittelman, Kalmen Marmor, Louis Hendin, Morris Holtman, Meyer Lunin, Hymen Costrell, Noah London, and Taubenshlag.
The 9-9 gridlock on the EC was broken when Noah London (Executive Secretary of the Federation) and Shauchno Epstein began to side with the Olgin group, resulting in a working majority. The Olgin group sought to consolidate its position by rushing a convention in December 1922, to be held before the 2nd National Convention of the WPA rather than after, and in this manner to present the national organization with a fait accompli. This decision came in opposition to the direction of the Central Executive Committee of the WPA and brought about a stinging rebuke of the Olgin group from Ruthenberg for their undisciplined and un-Communist "centrism." Expulsion of the Jewish Bureau was called for and a split of the Jewish Federation seemed likely.
The German Federation sought to prevent a split and immediately intervened, bringing about a meeting between WPA Executive Secretary C.E. Ruthenberg and a committee of three representing the Jewish Bureau (Moissaye Olgin, Meyer London, George
Wishnak). Negotiations continued from Friday, Nov. 17 to Thursday, Nov. 23, in which certain conditions were set upon the Jewish Bureau, including the turning over of controlling ownership of the Freiheit to the party, specific rules for factional agitation and publications, and the immediate reimposition of a 50-50 division of the Jewish Bureau between the Olgin and Bittelman factions. The parties were unable to come to an agreement on these terms and the WPA's Administrative Council, with Ruthenberg in the front seat, imposed its terms. The details of these negotiations from Ruthenberg's point of view were written in a letter to the German Bureau on December 1, 1922.
The Comintern weighed in on the matter, and the head of the CI Zinoviev sent a cable to Ruthenberg and the Workers Party in New York. This cable condemned the antics of the Olgin group as a "frivolous breach of discipline" against the Administrative Council of the Workers Party "perpetrated by [a] group which did not even attempt inform its representatives in Moscow" about the object of their conflict and "did not await decision of court of last resort as was their right as well as their duty." Using this cable as additional ammunition, an agreement was brokered between the two factions of the Jewish organization prior to the scheduled Dec. 16, 1922, start of the wildcat convention.
Further emergency negotiations were conducted between the Jewish Bureau and the Administrative Council of the WPA immediately prior to the scheduled wildcat convention of Dec. 16, 1922. An agreement was brokered calling for election of a new Federation Executive Committee consisting of an equal number of members from the Olgin and Bittelman factions, with an additional member chosen by the CEC of the WPA. The Bureau of the Federation was to transfer the ownership of the Federation's official organ, the Freiheit, to the CEC as soon as ownership was similarly transfered to the CEC by other federations. In addition, the new Bureau was to pass a resolution declaring its duty to submit to the discipline of the Central Executive Committee.
1. First Convention of the Jewish Workers Federation — [city???] -- Dec. 16-17, 1922.
2. Second Convention of the Jewish Workers Federation — [city???] -- "Jan. or Feb." 1924.
3. Third Convention of the Jewish Workers Federation — [city???] -- Sept. XX-XX, 1925.
Downloads
1908
MAY
Report of Committee on Foreign Speaking Organizations to the National Convention of the Socialist Party, May 17, 1908. Committee report to the 1908 SPA Convention in Chicago, delivered by S.A. Knopfnagel. The Committee advocated the acceptance of all foreign language organizations seeking affiliation with the Socialist Party, subject to 5 conditions: (1) They are composed of Socialist Party members only. (2) Any foreign speaking organization having a national form of organization of its own be recognized only if all the branches composing this organization having been chartered by the national, state, or local Socialist Party organizations, and pay their dues to the respective Socialist Party organizations. (3) No foreign speaking organization asking the Socialist Party for recognition shall issue their own particular national, state, or local charters. Same to be issued only by the respective organizations of the Socialist Party, as the case may require. (4) All foreign speaking organizations affiliated with the Socialist Party must and shall conform in every respect with the Socialist Party national, state, and local constitutions, platforms, and resolutions. (5) They should function only as agitation, education, and organization bureaus of the Socialist Party. Includes an amendment made from the floor but not published in the SP's Official Bulletin (probably due to incompetence rather than malice) prohibiting the refusal of admission to the SPA on account of race or language.
Report Submitted in Behalf of the Jewish Socialist Agitation Bureau to the Socialist Party National Convention, May 1912, by Jacob Panken.Prior to its 1912 establishment as a formal Language Federation of the Socialist Party, Yiddish-speaking socialists were organized in a Jewish Socialist Agitation Bureau, which maintainted contact between the various branches and helped coordinate the production of Yiddish-language leaflets and pamphlets. This is the report of the Jewish Bureau's delegate to the 1912 SPA Convention, Jacob Panken. Panken counts about 80 Yiddish branches in 30 states with which the Jewish Bureau was in contact and provides some statistics on the number of meetings held and the production of socialist literature.
1913
MAY
Report of the Jewish Translator-Secretary to the National Committee of the Socialist Party of America, May 1913, by J.B. Salutsky. The Jewish Federation of the Socialist Party established itself in the summer of 1912 and had sent its Secretary, Jacob Salutsky, to serve as Translator-Secretary in the SPA's National Office on December 20. Over the next nine months the group nearly tripled in size, to a paid membership of nearly 2,000 in 68 branches. This is Salutsky's report to the 1913 plenum of the SPA National Committee, detailing the history and growth of the Jewish Federation.
1917
“Dr. M. Goldfarb Will Return to Work in Russia: Revolution Has Opened Way for Him to Continue Work for the Bund, Halted in 1913 by the Romanov Autocracy– He is Member of ACW of A.” (news article in Advance) [May 18, 1917] News story from the American labor press detailing the return to his homeland of radical Russian Jewish activist Max Goldfarb, better known to history by his later Comintern pseudonym of “A.J. Bennett.” Goldfarb was brought to America in the summer of 1913 to lecture the Jewish Federation of the Socialist Party of America, the article notes, and was now returning to revolutionary Russia as part of a group of 20 to 30 expatriates at the expense of the Provisional Government. The article indicates that Goldfarb entered the revolutionary movement through the Bund in the town of Berdichev in 1902, that he emigrated in 1903 to study in Paris, and that he had returned during the 1905 revolution to fight for Russian freedom on behalf of the Bund. After the failure of the revolution, Goldfarb had served 3 months in prison, before going abroad as a delegate to the 5th Congress of the RSDLP in London in 1907. Goldfarb had returned to Russia, where he gave measured public lectures between 1910 and 1913, attempting for election to the Duma on behalf of the Bund. Goldfarb had been imprisoned once more at the end of 1912 before being sponsored in America as a speaker and organizer for the JSF and the American Clothing Workers of America.
1920
JUNE
Impressions of the Convention, by 'R. Newman' [published June 22 & July 15, 1920]. An alternative account of the May 26-31, 1920, Bridgman Unity Convention that joined the Ruthenberg minority wing of the CPA with the CLP to establish the United Communist Party of America. The author, R. Newman, was a left wing Jewish Federationist associated with the CPA caucus and he describes the proceedings from the perspective of the 10 member CPA left group. The consistency and radicalism of the program was of central concern to this group, which managed to have inserted explicit revolutionary clauses related to mass action, the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the necessity of armed force in the transition from capitalism. Ruthenberg is portrayed as caring more about jobs than matters of principle and his decision to resign from the CEC as soon as the delegates associated with the former CLP were won 5 of the 9 positions is cast as a blatantly hypocritical act. The CPA left group were disappointed with the leaders of the party, with their conduct. They were indignant about Damon [Ruthenberg], who used his position to force his demands on the convention, Newman states. This document originally appeared in the Yiddish language edition of the UCP's official organ and was translated in the Sept. 1, 1920, edition of the CPA majority group's official organ as a means of undercutting the interpretations of Ruthenberg and Ferguson of the convention.
DECEMBER
United Communist Party -- Groups According to Language: As of December 1920. This is based upon an internal document of the United Communist Party captured by the Department of Justice's Bureau of Investigation in the April 1921 raid on UCP National Headquarters in New York. The UCP prided itself on having largely eliminated the federation-based form of organization which typified its rival, the Communist Party of America. Groups (Primary Party Units of between 5 and 10 members) were nevertheless based around language as well as geography and statistics tabulated by the organization. This snapshot from the midpoint of the UCP's one year of existence surprisingly shows more South Slavic (Croatian and Slovenian) language groups than any other (144), followed by the Russian (136), English (121), German (61), Latvian (49), Yiddish (37), Lithuanian (34), and Finnish (31) language groups.
1921
SEPTEMBER
“Jewish Group in Party Will Convene Today: Federation, 500 Weak Now, Thought Certain to be Destroyed, No Matter What Action is Taken: Once Numbered 5,000: Organized as Autonomous Body in 1912, Its Officials Have Fought Party Since Albany Trial.” (NY Call) [Sept. 3, 1921] From Sept. 3-5, 1921, a special convention of the Jewish Socialist Federation was held to decide the question of that organization’s future affiliation with the Socialist Party of America. The Executive Committee of the JSF sought to sever ties with the parent organization, in favor of some sort of affiliation with the Third International—although there was very little support remaining within the Federation for the underground tactics of the CPA (the Left Wing of the organization having already departed in 1919-20). This is the first of 4 reports in the Socialist Party’s New York daily detailing the proceedings of the JSF special convention. The loss of the JSF is seen as a foredrawn conclusion by the reporter, who notes that with the 1921 convention “an important chapter in the Socialist movement comes to a close.” The importance of this change is minimized, the unnamed reporter noting that from a peak membership of 5,000 to 6,000, the JSF had fallen to barely 500 dues-paying members. The history of the Jewish Federation is detailed here, from the organization of the “Jewish Agitation Bureau” by Benjamin Feigenbaum, Meyer Gillis, Max Kaufman, and others in 1908; to full Federation status in 1912. The Federation’s turn to a “nationalistic viewpoint” is blamed on Max Goldfarb [A.J. Bennett], a former member of the Bund who returned to Soviet Russia in 1917. The decisive turning point is said to have occurred in 1920, with the trial of the 5 Socialist Assemblymen by the New York Legislature, an event which was denounced as obsequious parliamentarism by the Left Wing of the JSF, headed by Jacob Salutsky.
MAY
CPA Condensed Cash Statement, Feb. to May 1921, Including Federations, But Not Including Payments to and from the National Office and the Federations: Presented to the Joint Unity Convention, Woodstock, NY - May 15, 1921. This is a very esoteric budget document, but specialists in the history of the early American Communist movement will probably immediately recognize its import. For me, at least, this document has led to a fundamental rethinking about the nature of the old CPA, for it shows that the organization truly was a federation of federations. Five of the old CPA's 6 Language Federations possessed assets at least twice the size of the National Office of the organization. The same 5 possessed printing plant in excess of the National Office. Three of them retained substantial real estate holdings. Three of them spent more money than the National Office on literature production, and a fourth spent approximately the same amount as the National Office. These were clearly fully functioning political organizations in their own right, not tiny social groups of members speaking a common language. It is little wonder that the Federation Issue stood so large on the landscape as the primary issue impeding merger efforts between the UCP and the old CPA for so long and fueling the Central Caucus split that erupted in late November of 1921.
“Jewish Group Seats Enemies of Party Unity: Loyal Delegates Beaten in Every Fight Against Executive Committee—Move for Split: Kahn Flays Bolters: Some Leaders Charged at Opening of Federation Congress with Being Supporters of World War.” (NY Call) [Sept. 4, 1921] This is the 2nd of 4 reports in the Socialist Party’s New York daily detailing the proceedings of the JSF special convention, called to determine the JSF’s future relationship to the Socialist Party of America. In this unsigned article, it is intimated that the secessionists had successfully won control of the convention at the first day’s sessions, as in the evening “the Credentials Committee and the Convention was seating every contested delegate who had expressed a desire to see the Federation withdraw from the party and unseating every contested delegate who was loyal to the party.” Two slates had vied for seats on the Credentials Committee, with the Left Wing supporters of the Executive Committee defeating slate of the the insurgent party loyalists by about 40 to 25, with all delegates—even those under challenge—permitted to vote. “At the time of going to press the loyal party delegates were still fighting every anti-party delegate, but, realizing that, with the contesting delegates voting on their own cases, and with a Central Office eager for the withdrawal plan, it was hopeless to expect to carry the convention,” the reporter indicates, adding that the decision on affiliation was the sole item on the agenda of the special convention. Otto Branstetter had previously addressed the convention on behalf of the National Office of the SPA, stating: “There is no other party in the world in any of the great countries that stood so true to international Socialism as did our party. In other countries, minorities stood straight. In America, the official position of the party was straight. What have the Communists done? They went out of the party; they said they were going to organize the workers and make the revolution, but to date they have done nothing except to weaken the Socialist Party. And much as they want all the honor for this, they must divide that honor with the American Legion, with the Department of Justice, and with the Chambers of Commerce.”
“Loyal Jewish Socialists Quit Seceding Body: Federation Convention Votes, 41 to 34, to Leave Party—New Group is Immediately Organized...: Bigger and More Active Movement Promised by Those Who Refuse to Bolt Organization.” (NY Call) [Sept. 5, 1921] This is the 3rd of 4 reports in the Socialist Party’s New York daily detailing the proceedings of the JSF special convention, called to determine the JSF’s future relationship to the Socialist Party of America. This installment notes the result of the final vote on affiliation after 6 hours of debate on Sept. 4, won by the withdrawal forces over the SP loyalists, 41 to 34. The main speech for the secessionists was delivered by Jacob Salutsky, while Nathan Chain of the United Hebrew Trades made the opening speech for the loyalists. Upon the decision, the 34 loyalists bolted the convention, meeting in another room of Forward Hall. Speeches were made to the loyalists assembled by Jacob Panken; J. Baskin (General Secretary of the Workmen’s Circle), Alexander Kahn of the Forward, and SPA Executive Secretary Otto Branstetter. A committee of 9 was elected to draw up plans for the Jewish Federation loyalists, to report back on the ensuing day.
“New Alliance is Created by Jewish Group: Loyal Socialists Organize in Opposition to Seceding Federation with Endorsement of Labor Unions...: United Hebrew Trades Secretary Assures Delegates of Support in Movement for Strong Party.” (NY Call) [Sept. 6, 1921] This is the 4th of 4 reports in the Socialist Party’s New York daily detailing the proceedings of the JSF special convention, called to determine the JSF’s future relationship to the Socialist Party of America. This installment reports the formation of the Jewish Socialist Alliance (Verbund) of the Socialist Party by the bolting minority delegates. Nathan Chanin was elected General Secretary of the new organization. Meanwhile, the JSF majority voted 43 to 3 to affiliate with the Communist International, despite their misgivings about the institutionalized underground tactics of the Communist Party of America. The organization prepared for a period of independence, setting its dues at 50 cents per month. (The secessionist JSF soon merged with the “Committee for the 3rd International” in the SP to establish itself as the Workers’ Council).
“Cahan Says the Forward Supports the Party: Editor of Great Jewish Daily, Back from Europe, Declares Seceders Will be Fought—Praises Germans and Scores Communists Abroad,” by William M. Feigenbaum [Sept. 11, 1921] On Sept. 11, 1921, the powerful and widely respected editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, Abraham Cahan, returned to America after a 14 week stay in Europe, centered in Berlin. There Cahan had exchanged views with a wide range of leaders of the European Socialist movement, including representatives of the Soviet government. Upon his return, Cahan was met at the docks by about 75 prominent Jewish-American leaders, who sat together in a luncheon at the Hotel Brevoort in New York. In his address to the gathering, Cahan declared in no uncertain terms that “no man can write against the Socialist Party and remain on the Forward... I am sorry that we must lose some of our best people,but if they are against the party, that settles it. No one who is against the party can be on the Forward. The Forward was established for the party, not the party for the Forward. Some of the intellectuals want the Third International. For an American to speak of the Third International is a sign of absolute idiocy—if not of a police spy. In Europe, people know that the Third International is an absolute failure. It is a joke. Lenin would like to get rid of it if he could. No one takes it seriously any more. The Third International has done 1,000 times more damage to the Socialist movement than good.” Cahan noted the vitality of the Social Democratic Party in Germany and stated that “the Communist there amount to nothing.... The leading Communist members of the Soviet government that I spoke to admit that the whole Communist movement, and the hope of a world revolution, on which the Communist International is based, is done for.”
1922
DECEMBER
Administrative Council Outlines Negotiations with Jewish Bureau, States Present Position: Letter of C.E. Ruthenberg to Louis F. Wolf, Dec. 1, 1922. [Published Dec. 16, 1922] An extremely valuable primary source document, a letter by WPA Executive Secretary C.E. Ruthenberg to Louis Wolf, Executive Secretary of the WPA's German section, recounting the crisis in the Jewish section of the WPA in close detail. A day-by-day review of the meetings of November 17-23, 1922, held between Ruthenberg (representing the Administrative Council of the WPA) and various representatives of the Jewish Bureau is provided, including the specific demands of the CEC -- 50 percent ownership of the Olgin-edited Freiheit, a specific system for election of delegates to the Dec. 16 national conference of the Jewish section, and reestablishment of a 50-50 division of the Jewish Bureau between the Olgin and Bittelman factions. Ruthenberg interestingly notes that the split of the Bureau was negotiated away by the Administrative Council, but the Jewish Bureau insisted on additional concessions, which eliminated the Administrative Council's concession as the two sides moved to impasse.
Cable to the Workers Party of America in New York from Grigorii Zinoviev in Moscow, December 1922. In 1922 the Jewish Federation of the Workers Party of America was racked by an internal split, pitting the historic leadership of the Jewish Federation dating back to Socialist Party days, headed by Alexander Bittelman against the Jewish component of the Workers' Council group, headed by Moissaye Olgin. The Federation Executive Committee was initially divided down the middle between these two factions, but over the course of 1922, several members of the Federation Executive Committee began to vote with the Olgin faction, resulting in a working majority for the militantly anti-underground Olgin group. Although the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party insisted upon parity on the Federation Executive Committee prior to the WPA Jewish Federation's 2nd Convention, the Olgin group sought to consolidate its position by calling a convention of the Jewish Federation for the first half of December, prior to the 2nd Convention of the WPA -- intent on presenting the national organization with a fait accompli. This is a cable from Moscow signed by Zinoviev condemning the antics of the Olgin group as a frivolous breach of discipline against the Administrative Council of the Workers Party perpetrated by [a] group which did not even attempt inform its representatives in Moscow about the object of their conflict and did not await decision of court of last resort as was their right as well as their duty. Using this cable as additional ammunition, an agreement was brokered between the two factions of the Jewish organization prior to the scheduled Dec. 16, 1922, start of the wildcat convention.
Comrades of the Jewish Federation! Stand by the Party! Statement by the Central Exeuctive Committe of the Workers Party, Published Dec. 9, 1922. In 1922 the Jewish Federation of the Workers Party of America was racked by an internal split, pitting the historic leadership of the Jewish Federation dating back to Socialist Party days, headed by Alexander Bittelman against the Jewish component of the Workers' Council group, headed by Moissaye Olgin. The Federation Executive Committee was initially divided down the middle between these two factions, but over the course of 1922, several members of the Federation Executive Committee began to vote with the Olgin faction, resulting in a working majority for the militantly anti-underground Olgin group. Although the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party insisted upon parity on the Federation Executive Committee prior to the WPA Jewish Federation's 2nd Convention, the Olgin group sought to consolidate its position by calling a convention of the Jewish Federation for the first half of December, prior to the 2nd Convention of the WPA -- intent on presenting the national organization with a fait accompli. This was regarded as a severe breach of party discipline, bringing this fierce rebuke of the Olgin faction as non-Communist centrists intent upon splitting the Jewish Federation.
All Party Federations Condemn Breach of Discipline by Jewish Federation Bureau. [Published Dec. 16, 1922] In December 1922 a full-scale factional war erupted in the Jewish Language Section of the Workers Party of America, pitting the Workers' Council group, led by Moissaye J. Olgin, against the Jewish Federation of the unified CPA, headed by Alexander Bittelman. The Olgin group sought to consolidate its position by rushing a convention in December 1922, to be held before the 2nd National Convention of the WPA rather than after, and in this manner to present the national organization with a fait accompli. This decision came in opposition to the decision of the Central Executive Committee of the WPA. This is the text of a resolution signed by representatives of all the WPA's other Language Sections condemning the position of the Olgin group-dominated Jewish Federation Bureau and endorsing the position of the CEC, which called for a Jewish Bureau evenly divided between the Workers' Council-Olgin and Jewish Communist Federation-Bittelman factions.
Jewish Federation United: Statement to the Party by the Administrative Council. [Published Dec. 30, 1922] Facing the possibility of a split of the Workers Party's Jewish Federation, emergency negotiations were conducted between the Bureau of the Federation and the Administrative Council of the WPA, resulting in the agreement summarized here. The forthcoming Dec. 16, 1922, Convention of the Jewish Federation was recognized as official, the membership of the new Federation Bureau was to be evenly split between the historic Jewish Socialist Federation faction (Bittelman group) and the historic Workers' Council faction (Olgin group) with an additional member to be named by the CEC of the WPA, ownership of the official organ of the Jewish Federation was to be transferred to the CEC of the WPA as soon as one other daily and weekly were transferred by other WPA Federations, and the new Bureau was to agree to submit to the discipline of the CEC of the WPA, with only violation of party principles and discipline to be grounds for removal from that body.
Membership Series by Language Federation for the Workers Party of America. 'Dues Actually Paid' -- January to December 1923. Official 1923 data set of the Workers Party of America, compiled from a document in the Comintern Archive. This series shows a great numerical dominance of the WPA by its Finnish Federation, accounting for a massive 42.8% of the average monthly paid membership of the organization (6,583 of 15,395). The total of the English language branches is the 2nd strongest amongst the federations (7.6%) followed by the South Slavic (7.5%), Jewish [Yiddish language] (6.9%), and Lithuanian (6.0%) Federations. In all, there were statistics kept for 18 different language groups of the WPA in 1923, including the English and the barely organized Armenian sections.
Initiation Stamps Sold by Federation for the Workers Party of America. January to December 1923. Official 1923 data set of the Workers Party of America, compiled from a document in the Comintern Archive. This series once again (repeating the previous published 1924 series) shows a schizophrenic pattern of stamp sales among language groups . Some federations clearly did not collect the initiation fees called for in the WPA constitution at all (Jewish, German, Latvian) while at the same time the quantities sold via the English branches are ridiculously high. Over 53% of the initiation stamps sold for the entire WPA were credited to the English branches -- nearly three times as many initiations than there were average duespayers in those English branches! Even assuming a significantly higher than average membership churn rate for English branches, there is clearly some other unexplained phenomenon at play in these English branch initiation stamp sale figures...
undetermined date
Membership Series by Language Federation for the Workers Party of America. 'Dues Actually Paid' -- January to December 1924. Official 1924 data set of the Workers Party of America, compiled from a document in the Comintern Archive. This shows a continued numerical dominance of the Workers Party of America by its Finnish-language federation, averaging a paid membership of 7100 (41% of the entire organization) for the year 1924. Impressive growth is shown by the Yiddish-language (Jewish) federation, which moved to the third largest language group in the WPA in 1924. The English branches comprised the second largest language group in the WPA, but still remained just 11% of the overall organization. The South Slavic federation (predominately Slovenian and Croation) was the 4th largest language group in the WPA, topping the Russian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian federations.
Initiation Stamps Sold by Federation for the Workers Party of America. January to December 1924. Official 1924 data set of the Workers Party of America, compiled from a document in the Comintern Archive. An extremely interesting monthly series in which two unexplained anomalies are apparent: (1) The failure of at least 8 of the WPA's 18 language sections to make more than a token effort to collect the $1 initiation fee and obvious similar behavior (to lesser degree) among branches of other language groups; (2) A preposterously large sale of 5,264 initiation stamps to English branches, which averaged a paid membership of just 1909 over the course of the year. Either there was a revolving door in the English branches that was entirely dissimilar to the situation in any other language group of the WPA; or there was some sort of effort to collect initiation fees among English workers without organizational follow up; or there was some sort of strange accounting practice used by the WPA in which miscellaneous sales of initiation stamps were lumped into the English category (or some combination of these explanations). A perplexing question in raised, with further archival research clearly necessary.