Socialist Labor Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | July 15, 1876 |
| Preceded by | Workingmen's Party of the United States |
| Headquarters | Mountain View, California |
| Newspaper | The Weekly People (1891–2011) |
| Membership (2006) | 77[1][needs update] |
| Ideology | Socialism Marxism Impossibilism Lassallism (until 1899) De Leonism (after 1899) |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| Colors | Red |
| Website | |
| slp.org | |
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| Socialism in the United States |
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The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)[2] is a political party in the United States. It was established in 1876, and was the first socialist party formed in the country.
Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of the United States, the party changed its name in 1877 to Socialistic Labor Party[3] and again sometime in the late 1880s to Socialist Labor Party.[4] The party was additionally known in some states as the Industrial Party or Industrial Government Party.[5] In 1890, the SLP came under the influence of Daniel De Leon, who used his role as editor of The Weekly People, the SLP's English-language official organ, to expand the party's popularity beyond its then largely German-speaking membership. Despite his accomplishments, De Leon was a polarizing figure among the SLP's membership. In 1899, his opponents left the SLP and merged with the Social Democratic Party of America to form the Socialist Party of America.
After his death in 1914, De Leon was followed as national secretary by Arnold Petersen. Critical of both the Soviet Union and the reformist wing of the Socialist Party of America, the SLP became increasingly isolated from the majority of the American Left. Its support increased in the 1950s and into the early 1960s, when Eric Hass was influential in the party, but slightly declined in the mid-1960s. The SLP experienced another increase in support in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but then subsequently declined at a fast rate with the party last nominating a candidate for president in 1976. In 2008, the party closed its national office and the party's newspaper The People ceased publications in 2011.
The party advocates "socialist industrial unionism", the belief in a fundamental transformation of society through the combined political and industrial action of the working class organized in industrial unions.
- ^ Minutes, Reports, Resolutions etc (PDF). Forty-Seventh National Convention, Socialist Labor Party. 14–16 July 2007. p. 22.
- ^ "The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of the Constitution of the Socialist Labor Party of America adopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 2001, 2005 and 2007) (cited February 18, 2016).
- ^ Socialistic Labor Party. Platform, Constitution, and Resolutions, Adopted at the National Congress of the Workingmen's Party of the United States, Held at Newark, New Jersey, December 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 1877. Together with a condensed report of the Congress Proceedings (Ohio Volks-Zeitung: Cincinnati, Ohio, 1878), pp. 26–27.
- ^ While the 1885 constitution and platform uses the term "socialistic" in the party name, the 1890 constitution and platform uses the term "socialist" in the party name. As both of these sources appear to be scans of original documents, it is safe to assume that this second name change necessarily occurred somewhere between 1885 and 1890. Unfortunately, the other sources provided by the SLP are not original scans and must be taken with a grain of salt. The Report of the Proceedings of the Sixth National Convention of the Socialistic Labor Party, Held at Buffalo, New York, September 17, 19, 20 & 21, 1887 (New York Labor News Company: New York, September 1887) would seem to indicate that party was still calling itself the Socialistic Labor Party in that year. While the majority of the .pdf is not an original scan, the cover page is. Yet, the 1887 platform (which is in no part an original scan) would seem to indicate that the party was calling itself the Socialist Labor Party by 1887. Likewise, the 1889 platform (reported in this non-scan copy of the Workmen's Advocate on October 26, 1889) employs the name Socialist Labor Party.
- ^ 20th Convention, section on Minnesota indicates that it was known as the Industrial Party in Minnesota from approximately 1920 to 1944, when the name was changed to Industrial Government Party. This lasted until the apparent dissolution of the Minnesota affiliate after the mass defection into the New Union Party in 1980. Additionally, the name Industrial Government Party was used in New York from approximately 1944 to 1954.