Labor Party of the United States

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the Labor Party in the United States from 1919 to 1920. For other Labor parties in the United States, see Labor Party (disambiguation).
Labor Party of the United States
Elections

The Labor Party of the United States was a short-lived political party formed by several state-level labor parties upon the encouragement of Chicago Federation of Labor leader John Fitzpatrick.[1] It was formed in the immediate aftermath of World War I, due in large part to deterioration in the condition of the country's workers due to the imbalance between static workers' wages and rapidly escalating prices for necessities and consumer goods.[2]

The party quickly sought to unify the forces of the country's industrial workers with the

Farmer-Labor Party
.

History

Background

The aftermath of the

Poles, Finns and Irish, which had been subject to centuries of domination by the great powers. Even the greatest empire on the face of the planet was unable to escape the socioeconomic effects of the War and its aftermath, as the United Kingdom's entire political system was turned on its head when Labour superseded the Liberals as the official opposition to Conservative
government in 1922, and ascended to form a government themselves by 1924.

The

Depression of 1920–21
.

Against this backdrop, the farmers and industrial workers of America were beginning to respond to the pressures which they had been forced to shoulder. Beginning as early as 1915, the

International Association of Machinists in Connecticut was evolving to create the American Labor Party and the Chicago Federation of Labor was leading the charge to organize the Labor Party of Cook County in Illinois.[2]

Over the course of the next year, the Labor Party of Cook County and the Illinois Federation of Labor joined forces to help form the Labor Party of Illinois, while workers in New York City established the American Labor Party of Greater New York, which quickly evolved into the American Labor Party of New York State. By August 1919, labor parties had been established in seven states, including Minnesota, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Kansas, Ohio, and South Dakota. By November, labor parties would exist in all 48 states.[2]

Formation

On August 18, 1919, representatives of the seven labor parties convened the

British Labour Party, among others, would each be entitled to send one fraternal delegate. The Conference elected a temporary Executive Committee with former AFL presidential contender Max S. Hayes as its chair, and adopted Robert M. Buck
's The New Majority as the party's official newspaper.

The convention met, as planned, on November 22, 1919. Around one thousand delegates attended, representing the original seven labor parties, as well as labor unions and new labor parties from throughout the country.[6] The convention quickly elected Hayes as permanent chair of the party, John H. Walker as vice-chair and Frank J. Esper as national secretary-treasurer. The keynote address was given by Chicago Federation of Labor leader John Fitzpatrick, who had been absolutely instrumental in the development of the party. The convention also adopted a declaration of principles (which was patterned heavily on the Labor Party of Cook County's earlier 14 Points of Labor) and a party constitution, both of which ultimately ended up surviving the Labor Party itself.

Among the things demanded in the declaration of principles were the complete repeal of the

convict labor and foreign labor to undercut American workers' wages, a maximum work day of 8 hour and a maximum work week of 44 hours, and full employment.[7]

Merger

It was, however, clear from the beginning that, at least at this particular time, the interests of urban workers and rural farmers were so intertwined that they had really become one and the same. Moreover, the Labor Party, which was formed from the labor movement (and thus had significant overlap with the industrial democratic tendencies of the Socialist Party of America), had a particular affinity for the idea of a cooperative commonwealth. All of these concerns fed into the establishment, on February 12, 1920, of the Cooperative Congress.[2]

Composed of members representing the Labor Party, the

cooperative
movements, the Cooperative Congress was the first step toward the unification of the forces of labor, agriculture and cooperation. It elected, from among its quorum, a twelve-member All-American Farmer-Labor Cooperative Commission, which would concern itself with the task of paving the way for such a unification.

In July, both the Labor Party and the Committee of 48 assembled their respective conventions in

Farmer-Labor Party of the United States. As a symbol of ultimate unity, the convention nominated a presidential ticket comprising Parley P. Christensen, the chair of the Committee of 48 convention, as the nominee for President and Max S. Hayes as the nominee for Vice President.[8]

Conventions

Convention Location Date Notes and references
1st National Convention Chicago November 22–25, 1919
2nd National Convention
Also 1st National Convention of the FLPUS 		Chicago July 11–14, 1920 Merged with
FLPUS
.

Officers

See also

State affiliates

  • Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-717-80652-2
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e "Labor Party/Farmer-Labor Party (1918-1925) Organizational History". Early American Marxism: A Repository of Source Material, 1864-1946. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  3. ISBN 9780765626455
    .
  4. ISBN 0-252-06964-1
    .
  5. ISBN 0-8166-4636-8
    .
  6. ^ Carm, A.S. (6 December 1919). "The Labor Party Convention" (PDF). The Weekly People. New York. p. 1. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  7. ^ "Declaration of Principles of the Labor Party of the United States" (PDF). The New Majority. Chicago. 6 December 1919. p. 1. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  8. ^ Buck, Robert M. (17 July 1920). "The Farmer-Labor Party Convention" (PDF). The New Majority. Chicago. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 18 March 2013.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Labor_Party_of_the_United_States&oldid=1214361573"