Language federation
Language federations were formed in the late 19th and early 20th century by immigrants to the
Historical overview
The Language Federations also served as an important cultural resource for immigrants, allowing them to maintain contact with political developments in their homelands and providing a gathering place for strangers in a strange land. Many groups had their own halls for dances and social gatherings which still exist, in name if not in function, in America's largest cities of the
Each Language Federation arose at different times, as members of those national, ethnic or religious groups arrived in the United States. In addition, they typically sprung up at the grassroots level, affiliating with other local groups to form national federations before attaching themselves to political parties. They often resisted attempts by the parties to which they were affiliated to bring them into line with the aims or platform of the group as a whole; indeed, at some points the various Language Federations made up such a large portion of socialist groups as to make top-down dictation of a uniform policy very difficult.
The SPA had a vexed relation with language federations: while it began recognizing them in the first decade of the 20th century and incorporating them within the party in the decade that followed, the party had often veered in the direction of
The SPA's executive committee formally expelled seven of these language federations in May 1919 when it became clear that they favored the left wing in the impending split within the party. The expelled federations formed the bulk of the membership of the new Communist Party of America led by
The CPUSA, then named the Workers Party, tried in 1924 to disband the federations and reorganize the party on the cell structure that the
Although the SPA went into decline in the 1920s, it still drew a large part of its base from the foreign-born in these years. The old Language Federations within the SPA nearly all disappeared, however, by the early 1930s.
List of American language federations
The following groups formed the most significant Language Federations:
Finnish Federations
Arising first in
In 1919 the Federation split: a large number of
German Federations
Hungarian Federations
Hungarian language political groups first appeared in the 1890s and affiliated with both the SLP and the SPA in the following decade. Some federations affiliated with the SLP later migrated to the Industrial Workers of the World. Most ended up with the SPA; relatively few left to join the CPUSA.
Italian Federations
A socialist
Jewish Federations
- Main articles: Jewish Socialist Federation and Jewish Socialist Verband.
While
Latvian Federation
The Latvian Federation within the CPUSA, with a high proportion of forestry workers, was the third largest within the party in 1921.
Lithuanian Federation
The Lithuanian Socialist Federation, founded in 1905, grew rapidly with an influx of members who had come to the United States to escape repression after the 1905 Revolution. The organization suffered splits, however, when anarchist and more strictly nationalist elements left and lost nearly half its members when it affiliated with the SPA in 1914. It published a number of weekly newspapers and a monthly journal while affiliated with the SPA. The SPA suspended the Federation in 1919, when a large number of members left for the CPUSA, where the Lithuanian Federation was one of the largest constituents.
Polish Federations
The Alliance of Polish Socialists in America was formed as an emigre group, dedicated to making revolution in Poland, rather than the United States. It merged with the Polish Section of the Socialist Party in 1913. It published a daily newspaper in Chicago and two weekly newspapers. It formally disaffiliated from the SPA in 1916, although a minority remained with the party. A few hundred members joined the CPUSA.
Russian Federations
A formal Russian Federation within the SPA was not created until 1917. It claimed more than 5,000 members in 1919, and largely went over to the CPUSA that year. It lost a number of members to deportation in the Palmer Raids that followed.
The SLP had an early
Slovak Federation
The Slovak Socialist Federation, founded in Chicago in 1904, remained an autonomous organization until 1913, when it affiliated with the SPA. It continued to grow after affiliation, publishing several newspapers and maintaining more than twenty chapters.
South Slavic Federation
This federation, which consisted mostly of
See also
- Non-English press of the Socialist Party of America —Annotated list of Socialist Party publications — official, subsidized, or inspired — in languages other than English.
- Non-English press of the Communist Party USA —Annotated list of Communist Party publications — official, subsidized, or inspired — in languages other than English.
Canadian equivalent
- Ukrainian Social Democratic Party (Canada), and Association of United Ukrainian Canadians
- United Jewish Peoples' Order
- Federation of Russian Canadians
Footnotes
External links
- Auvo Kostiainen, The Finns and the Crisis Over 'Bolshevization' in the Worker's Party, 1924-25.
- Foreign Language Federations (1890s–1930) Early American Marxism website. Retrieved February 2, 2010.