Social Democratic Federation dues stamps were applied continuously to regular SPA dues booklets in 1936 & 1937.
The Social Democratic Federation of the United States of America(SDF) was a political party in the United States, formed in 1936 by the so-called "Old Guard" faction of the Socialist Party of America. The SDF later merged again with the Socialist Party in 1957 to form the Socialist Party-Social Democratic Federation (SP-SDF).[1]
Social Democratic Federation leader Louis Waldman noted in his memoirs that while the official split of the Socialist Party that resulted in the creation of the Social Democratic Federation took place in 1936, "the crucial events occurred at the party's national convention in Detroit in 1934."[2] It was at this national gathering that the ongoing factional war between a youthful "Militant" faction favoring aggressive advocacy of revolutionary tactics and joint action with the Communist Party won the day and pushed through a new Declaration of Principles, leading the SPA's right wing faction, known as the "Old Guard" to abandon the organization. Throughout the 1930s the Socialist Party had achieved moderate growth, its paid membership returning to the 25,000 level and its candidate for President of the United StatesNorman Thomas polling nearly a million votes in the election of 1932.[2]
Waldman recounted the main points of departure between the radical youth of the party and the staid older elements:
It all began with the formation of groups in the Socialist Party that wanted to commit it to
trade unions, a tactic which smacked of quasi-Communist tactics to the members of the Old Guard faction.[2]
"Old Guard" splits
The Socialist Party of New York issued its own dues stamps for several months during the first half of 1936.
The "Old Guard" faction was further provoked by the adoption of a policy document known as the "Declaration of Principles" by the Socialist Party's 1934 national convention, held in Detroit. The 1934 Declaration of Principles was merely the result of a long process, in the view of the Old Guard leadership, its call for the "development of the dictatorship of workers and peasants" particularly galling to the faction's anti-communist sensibilities. In closing the debate on the matter for the Old Guard at the Detroit convention, New York state party chairman Waldman had condemned the Declaration in no uncertain terms, accusing the Declaration of advancing "dangerous, provocative proposals" which advanced an "anarchistic, illegal, Communist doctrine."[2]
After the passage of the Declaration of Principles and the closing of the convention, the Old Guard returned home. On behalf of the Socialist Party of New York, chairman Waldman immediately issued a statement disavowing the actions of the Detroit convention:
We repudiate the essential features of the Declaration of Principles adopted at the Socialist National Convention insofar as they depart from the traditional socialist position and commit the Socialist Party to the use of violence and extralegal means. As between the program of orderly, peaceable, constructive, and intelligent political action and the
George Goebel of New Jersey, and Mayor Jasper McLevy of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Louis Hendin was engaged as Executive Secretary of the faction, which had already in 1934 taken the form of a "party within the party."[5]
In his 1944 memoir, Socialist Party of New York State Chairman Louis Waldman freely acknowledged that he and his New York Old Guard comrades disregarded the authority of the 1934 National Convention and immediately attempted to lock up party assets in his faction's control:
Back from Detroit, I was immediately confronted with a problem which involved millions of dollars of property controlled by subsidiaries of the Socialist Party. In New York alone there were such institutions as the Jewish Daily Forward, the leading Jewish newspaper in the world with a circulation running into hundreds of thousands and with reserve funds amounting to millions. There was The New Leader, a weekly newspaper published in English; there was the Rand School of Social Science which, together with Camp Tamiment, had enormous property value, not to speak of their importance as propaganda and educational instruments. Control of the Forward alone also meant probable control of fraternal and labor organizations such as the
Workmen's Circle, with its millions of dollars in property and tens of thousands of members throughout the United States... After Detroit it was obvious that the militant Socialists controlled the Socialist Party. I saw that all they had to do in order to gain control of the valuable property in New York was to revoke the New York State charter and expel all state organizations controlled by the Social Democrats or the Old Guard. Since there was always a minority of militant Socialists in each of these corporate institutions, these properties involving millions of dollars in property value and cash reserves would quickly fall into the hands of the militants... All during 1935 and the early part of 1936 my office was converted into a meeting place for the various committees and members of the organizations threatened by the militants. Constitutions and bylaws were modified in such a way as to prevent control falling into the hands of Norman Thomas' super-revolutionists.[6]
Establishment of the Social Democratic Federation
Louis Waldman, c. 1944
It was not until January 1936 that the National Executive Committee finally revoked the charter of the Old Guard-dominated Socialist Party of New York and reorganized the state under the leadership of an alliance of forces loyal to Norman Thomas and members of the Militant faction.[2] The marriage had already broken up long before this divorce was finalized, however.
In the interim, the "Old Guard" socialists organized themselves as the People's Party of New York and affiliated for electoral purposes with the American Labor Party, which retained a ballot line in New York state.[7] This continued until the decision was made to disband and reorganize as an "educational organization for the dissemination of socialist ideals" at two-day convention was held during the weekend of March 27–28, 1937, at the Rand School of Social Science in New York City.[7] This new organization was to be known as the Social Democratic Federation of the State of New York.[7][8]
The SDF went on to formally organize itself on a national basis at a convention held in
The SDF chose to seek international affiliation immediately with the Socialist International, over the objections of some delegates like William Karlin of New York, who urged his fellows to wait the short time until "the Trotsky Communists who call themselves the Socialist Party" joined the Fourth International before seeking admission.[9] This theme of communist influence in the Socialist Party from whence they sprung was echoed by Louis Waldman, who declared to the press than Norman Thomas had come under "communist influence" and that "rather than lose our identity as Americans, we left the party."[9]
The Social Democratic Federation was not organized as an electoral political organization but rather as an interest group seeking to establish connection with the
Executive Secretary of the SDF was August Claessens, who later served as National Chairman of the group until his death in 1954.[10]
Reunification with the Socialist Party
Reunification with the dissident Social Democratic Federation was long a goal of the Socialist Party regulars, with initial attempts beginning as early as 1937.
Nazi-Soviet Pact
of 1939 revealed the threat of a coalition of two totalitarian states. The threat revealed by this pact reduced the influence of pacifists in the Federation, the Socialist Party, and the labor movement.
During the years of World War II through the first half of the 1950s, the SDF's paid membership drastically declined. Its influence on New York politics and labor unions similarly dropped. These declines corresponded with a general decline in the prestige of socialist organizations in the Cold War period, as well as the growth of Americans for Democratic Action and other liberal organizations, which tapped the SDF's support among sympathetic progressives. This decline made the SDF more amenable to reunification with the Socialist Party, which lost members while maintaining its opposition to communism and critical support for the U.S. policy of containment.[13] After several years of negotiations, a merger was finally accomplished in 1957 to form the Socialist Party-Social Democratic Federation (SP-SDF). A small group of holdouts refused to reunify, establishing a new organization called the Democratic Socialist Federation.
Publications
The SDF published a monthly, Social Democrat edited by Algernon Lee, August Claessens and
Liston Oak. It ran from Vol. I #1 July 1944 to Vol XII #5 December 1955.[14]
^The Crisis in the Socialist Party: The Detroit Convention: Appeal by the Committee for the Preservation of the Socialist Party. New York: Committee for the Preservation of the Socialist Party, n.d. [1934]; pg. 1.
^ abcAssociated Press, "Hoan Quits Office in Socialist Party: Unwilling to Endorse CIO, He Leaves Executive Committee After Ten Years," New York Times, March 29, 1937, p. 5.
New York Times
. March 27, 1937. p. 13.
^ abcdLewis Conn, "Elect McLevy to Head Party of Old Guards," The Socialist Call, vol. 3, whole no. 116 (June 5, 1937), pg. 11.
^Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, "Guide to the August Claessens Papers, 1911–1955." "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-27. Retrieved 2009-02-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Tamiment Library Staff, "Guide to the Social Democratic Federation of America Records, 1933–1956." New York: New York University Libraries, 2003. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-04. Retrieved 2009-02-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Norman Thomas, Socialism on the Defensive. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1938; pp. 287–288.
^"Guide to the Social Democratic Federation of America Records, 1933–1956."
^Goldwater, Walter Radical periodicals in America 1890-1950 New Haven, Yale University Library 1964 p.45
