SECTION II AMERICAN CONDITIONS-AN HISTORICAL SKETCH INTRODUCTION In the preceding section of this report an analysis has been given of the revolutionary movement in the various countries of Europe in order that a more complete and comprehensive understanding may be had of the revolutionary movement in the United States. Conditions in Europe inevitably have a reflex action upon the people of the United States. So long as the Communist elements are in control of the masses of Russia and remain a force to be reckoned with in the other countries of Europe, so long will they continue a menace to the institutions of the United States. As an illustration of the effect of European movements upon the United States, we may make reference to the influence which the Jacobin Clubs of the French Revolution had upon the malcontents in the United States in the latter part of the eighteenth century. The Whiskey Rebellion of Western Pennsylvania was the outgrowth of agitation carried on by so-called democratic societies acting under the guise of protectors of civil liberties, which received their inspiration from the French revolutionary societies. The power of these agitators continued to grow until Robespierre was brought to the guillotine, and the political power of the revolutionary clubs of France was destroyed. In referring to this condition, John Marshall, in his "Life of Washington," published in Philadelphia in 1832, says on page 353: Not more certain is it that the boldest streams must disappear, if the fountains which feed them be emptied than was the dissolution of the democratic societies of America, when the Jacobin Clubs were denounced by France." In this section of this report the Committee will outline the history and development of the various quasi-political groups having revolutionary objectives which represent in this country various branches of the revolutionary movement in Europe. The Socialist, Communist, and Anarchist movements in this country, as well as the industrial organizations which are the outgrowth of their propaganda, are not spontaneous expressions of unrest brought about by critical economic conditions in this country, but are the result of systematic and energetic propaganda, spread by representatives of European revolutionary bodies. The agitation was begun many years ago largely among the elements of foreign workmen who had come to this country, and was carried on almost exclusively by alien agitators. But with the increasing number of aliens and the renewed activity of agitators the propaganda has spread from alien groups, so that today it permeates all classes of society in this country. It is the purpose of this section to describe the history of each of the quasi-political revolutionary parties, to show their relationship to the world movement, and the effect of the propaganda in its attempt to destroy the conservative organizations of labor, as well as its further attempt to substitute therefor industrial unions having the same revolutionary objective and seeking the same revolutionary goal. SUB-SECTION I SOCIALIST MOVEMENT IN AMERICA CHAPTER I Historical Sketch In its widest aspect the Socialist movement in the United States today includes the activities of the Socialist Party, the newly created Communist Party of America, the Communist Labor Party, and the Socialist Labor Party. The inspiration afforded by the success of the Russian Communist Party in setting up a Soviet regime in Russia, however, has in addition to giving impetus to the revolutionary movement throughout the world, modified the tactics of each of the organizations named, so as to make it difficult to distinguish one from the other in their economic ambitions and tactics. The present Socialist movement in the United States must be distinguished from the early experiments in Utopian ideals, represented by the sectarian communities such as the Shakers, or the experiment in Communism made by the Owenites, or the Fourierists and the Icarian communities. The modern movement of organized Socialism may be dated from the formation of the Social Party of New York and Vicinity which was organized in January, 1868, in the Germania Assembly rooms on the Bowery. The membership of this organization was recruited solely from the German labor circles, and its policies and platform were in accord with the principles then set down by the International Workingmen's Association. In 1868 this party nominated an Independent ticket, but the number of votes which it secured was negligible. The organization did not survive this defeat, but in the same year some of the leading spirits of this organization organized what has been termed by Morris Hillquit "The first strictly Marxian organization of strength and influence on American soil," which was known as the Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiter Verein. In 1869 this organization was admitted to the National Labor Union as Labor Union No. 5 of New York, and in the following year joined the International Workingmen's Association as Sec |