"The National Committee Meeting"

by Tom Clifford

Account of the annual meeting of the National Committee of the Socialist Party of America, held in Chicago from May 11-16, 1913. The National Committee met annually during years in which there was no National Convention of the Socialist Party and served a similar function as the larger National Conventions.

Clifford recounts the effort of the Left Wing Minority of 13 delegates to bring charges of inefficiency and misadministration against the moderate-dominated National Office and, in particular, to level charges of unconstitutional activity against Morris Hillquit and his close friend, former Executive Secretary J. Mahlon Barnes, for illegally delaying SPA Referendum 1912-C, the recall of Barnes from his position as 1912 party Campaign Manager.
Also notable was an effort of the left wingers to eliminate Article 2, Section 6, which mandated the use of electoral methods and called for the expulsion of those advocating sabotage or illegal methods -- a provision which had lead to the removal of William "Big Bill" Haywood earlier in that same year.

Article was published in the Cleveland Socialist, v. 2, whole no. 83 (May 24, 1913). No copyright in original publication, public domain. Hand-typed from the original by Tim Davenport, with silent corrections of grammar and style throughout. Additional explanatory footnotes by Tim Davenport.
Published by 1000 Flowers Publishing, Corvallis, OR, in September 2010. Non-commercial reproduction permitted.

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