Scope and Contents

The Socialist Party Minutes, 1900-1936, are organized into 14 subject files primarily relating to various conventions and committees of the New York City local of the Socialist Party. This collection also contains minutes of the Socialist Labor Party convention of 1900 (the "Kangaroo" convention), New York State conventions and committees, Jamestown (New York) local, and the Socialist Party's National Executive Committee. The minutes are arranged in chronological order within each subject file. Each subject file has also been assigned a frame number and has been cited in the complete reel list which follows this description of the arrangement of the collection. The researcher should also note that an error was made in the targeting for this collection. On each frame, the word "Series" appears adjacent to the frame number. This term should actually be interpreted as "Collection".

Of special interest in this collection are the minutes of the Socialist Labor Party convention of 1900, the New York City Central and Executive Committee minutes, and the Socialist Party's National Executive Committee minutes. The Socialist Labor Party convention minutes of 1900 (VI:l) pertain to a meeting in Rochester, New York, which was called by Morris Hillquit and other moderates of the party for the purpose of disassociating themselves from the autocratic and doctrinaire rule of Daniel De Leon. These moderates, known as the "Kangaroos", discussed a number of proposals which supported a merger with the Social Democratic Party. The "Kangaroos" also nominated Job Harriman for President and Max S. Hayes for Vice President. Before the convention adjourned, the delegates passed several resolutions condemning De Leon, protesting the police and military actions in the Coeur d'Ailene mining district of Idaho, and recommending further study on the issue of uniting with the Social Democrats. It should be emphasized that the minutes contain both handwritten notes and typewritten transcripts of the convention proceedings. For each convention session, the typewritten transcript was filmed first and the notes were filmed second. This file also, contains correspondence and telegrams.

The New York City Central (VI:9) and Executive Committee minutes (VI:10) offer the scholar a unique and in depth view of the issues and conflicts which culminated in the Socialist Party schism of 1936. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, the New York City local was possibly one of the most ideologically divided branches within the Socialist Party. The various factions, whether they were the entrenched "Old Guard" or the young and restless "Militants", held strong opinions about the relationship between socialism and labor, the socialist attitude toward the Soviet Union and the "popular front", the distribution of power within the Socialist Party, and the socialist response to fascism. By the mid 1930s, the differences between these factions were so great that the Socialist Party ultimately split.

This intense struggle between the "Old Guard" and the "Militants" is also reflected in the Socialist Party's National Executive Committee minutes (VI:14). The National Executive Committee served as the policy making unit of the Socialist Party. As such, the committee members were responsible for preparing various position papers on issues affecting the party, undertaking organizing drives and speaking tours, and financing major party political campaigns and protest demonstrations. During the early 1930s, this committee, like the New York City local, was unable to function properly because of the disputes between the various party factions. The minutes in this file reflect this dispute and its effect upon Socialist Party policies and the national leader ship. For this reason, it is recommended that the National Executive Committee minutes be used in conjunction with the New York City Central and Executive Committee minutes.

Among the items which were not filmed in this collection are the proceedings of the Socialist Unity Convention of 1901, and the Socialist Party Conventions of 1913, 1919, 1920, 1924, 1932, and 1934. These proceedings are contained in the microfilm edition of the Socialist Party of America Papers, 1897 1964 (series I, Part D Convention Proceedings), published by Microfilming Corporation of America.