The Communist Labor Party of America During 1919, the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party of America carried on an active campaign to win a majority of the SPA's governing National Executive Committee. It ran slates of candidates in each of the six electoral districts and sought those branches and locals committed to its program to vote solidly for its slate. National Executive Secretary Adolph Germer and the outgoing NEC cried foul against bloc voting by Left Wing branches and made the claim that the Left Wing Section was a "Party Within the Party." A series of suspensions and expulsions followed. The outgoing NEC invalidated the results of the 1919 SPA election and set about electing a slate of delegates to the forthcoming National Emergency Convention in Chicago who were loyal to it. The Left Wing Section split in half over how to respond to these gross violations of party legality by the outgoing NEC. One faction, dominated by the suspended Language Federations of the SPA, sought the immediate formation of a Communist Party in America. This group became the (old) Communist Party of America. Another group, headed by the "invalidated" National Executive Secretary-elect Alfred Wagenknecht and a number of prominent Left Wing SP members, sought to win over the National Emergency Convention -- and, only upon failing at that, to take as many "firendly" delegates as possible away from that gathering into a new Communist organization. This group tried and failed to win over the (stacked) National Emergency Convention of the SPA and duly consituted themselves the Communist Labor Party of America (CLP).
1. -- "Founding Convention," Chicago, August 31 - September 5, 1919 The Founding Convention of the CLP named Alfred Wagenknecht as National Executive Secretary, a position which he held for the entire 8 months that the organization existed. The CLP campaigned ceaselessly for unity between the two Communist Parties -- on the basis of party equality, a system which would give the members of the CLP representation in excess of their actual organizational size. The CLP's entreaties were repeatedly rebuffed by decision-makers in the old CPA.
Items of possible interest available here include downloadable Minutes of the Left Wing Caucus to the 1919 Convention of the SPA, Minutes of the Founding Convention of the CLP, and a web page listing delegates to the convention.
The CLP established its initial headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, but at the decision of the NEC pulled up stakes and moved to New York City in November of 1919.
The (old) Communist Party of America The members of the Left Wing Section of the CPA who had given up on "winning" the Socialist Party altogether prepared a founding convention for a new Communist Party to be held in Chicago at the same time as the Socialist Party's gathering.
1. -- "Founding Convention," Chicago, September 1 - XX, 1919 The Founding Convention of the old CPA was attended by approximately 125 delegates. The group was divided into three caucuses, the Russian Federation group (about including Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Ukrainian, and Jewish Federation members and headed by Alexander Stoklitsky, D. Elbaum, George Ashkenudzie, Nicholas Hourwich); the National Left Wing Council group (about 30 adherente including prominently Charles Ruthenberg, Isasc Ferguson, Louis Fraina, John Ballam, and Maximilian Cohen); and the Michigan group (about 20 adherents including Dennis Batt and John Keracher).
The Convention drafted and approved a Constitution and Program and established an organizational framework in which the convention elected a Central Executive Committee of 15, as well as an Executive Secretary and Editor. Five members of the CEC living in the headquarters city of the organization (New York) plus the Executive Secretary and Editor were to constitute themselves as the Executive Council, the day-to-day governing body of the group.
A stenographic report seems to have been kept of the meeting; it was never published and to date a copy of this document has never surfaced.
2. -- "Second Convention," New York, July 13 - 18, 1920 The Second Convention of the CPA was held in conditions of extreme secrecy due to harsh repression of the radical movement that was then taking place across the country. A total of 24 delegates and 5 members of the Central Executive Committee attended the gathering. The Convention was chaired by Louis Schapiro ["Lawrence Bain"], who was subsequently elected Executive Secretary of the organization at a meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the CPA on July 20, 1920.
3. -- "Extraordinary Third Convention," Brooklyn, NY, February XX - XX, 1921 The Extraordinary Third Convention was also held in conditions of extreme secrecy. The gathering lasted 10 days and was attended by 30 delegates and 7 fraternal delegates, who adopted a new party program and reaffirmed that future unity with the United Communist Party was to take place only on the basis of proportional representation -- a system which would assure that decisive authority would be vested in the hands of the former members of the (old) CPA.
The Extraordinary Third Convention adopted a Program and Constitution for the CPA.
[fn. Date and location here are from Highlights From a Fighting History, pg. 491.] Dues in the Communist Party of America were 60 cents per month. The Language Federations collected dues and remitted a portion of collected funds to the center, retaining 20 cents per member per month to cover their costs of operation.
The United Communist Party of America On April 18, 1920, C.E. Ruthenberg resigned as National Executive Secretary of the (old) Communist Party of America and, together with Jay Lovestone, I.E. Ferguson, and a circle of largely anglophonic supporters, departed to constitute themselves as an independent group in preparation for unity with the Communist Labor Party. This "Minority Group" took with them the bulk of the CPA's funds and went so far as to publish their own version of the party's organ, "The Communist," using the same volume and issue numbers as the CEC Majority Group. On May 26, 1920, delegates of both the Ruthenberg Minority Group of the CPA and the Communist Labor Party arrived at Bridgman, Michigan, and conducted their own preparatory caucus meetings. The next day, May 27, these two "mini-conventions" joined into one large body, where it constituted itself as the United Communist Party of America (UCP).
1. -- "Joint Unity Convention," Bridgman, MI, May 26 - 30, 1920 Note: There seems to be some disagreement about the dates of this convention as Highlights of a Fighting History has this as starting May 15, 1920.
2. -- "Second Convention," Kingston, NY, January XX - XX, 1921 The Second Convention of the CPA was called to ratify the decisions of the Second Congress of the Communist International in Moscow.
Dues in the UCP were 75 cents per month, collected by group captains and remitted to District Organizers.
The (unified) Communist Party of America Faced with loss of recognition by the Communist International in Moscow if they could not find a way to bury the hatchet and unite, the UCP and the (old) CPA found themselves forced into a marriage, which finally took place in May of 1921. It was this gathering that should be regarded as the founding convention of the American Communist Party, akin to the 1901 Unity Convention held in Indianapolis that is heralded as the moment of birth of the Socialist Party of America.
1. -- "Unity Convention," Woodstock, NY, May 15 - 28, 1921 The Joint Unity Convention was attended by 60 delegates, 30 each from the United Communist Party and the (old) Communist Party of America. The delegates haggled over details of merger, a constitution, and a program for two weeks before finally coming "to a unanimous agreement on every essential point." There was a great deal of unanimity on programmatic issues, but negotiations over the constitution to establish the form of the organization were met with a series of party-line votes. Eventually, a negotiations committee consisting of five members from each side, worked out a compromise, the formation of a Central Executive Committee containing five members from each party -- to which were deferred the bitterly divisive matters of the district structure and paid party organizers.
[fn. Official Bulletin of the Communist Party of America (Section of the Communist International), no. 1 [May 1921], pg. 1]
2. -- "Bridgman Convention," Bridgman, MI, August 17 - XX, 1922 The Bridgeman Convention of 1922 was an absolute debacle, held in a state with a strict "Criminal Syndicalist" Law, the gathering was sensationally raided by police, with a cache of documents uncovered and numerous arrests of CPA principals ensuing.
3. -- "Merger Convention," New York, NY, April 7 - XX, 1923 The April 1923 Convention was the final gathering of the "underground" CPA.
The Workers Party of America Left Sectarianism was one of the big problems in the world communist movement, according to Lenin, Zinoviev, and other principle figures in the Comintern. This was used by those favoring an open, mass Communist Party in America as a pretext for formation of a parallel "legal" organization, the Workers Party of America (WPA). The decisive majority of the Founding Convention came from the ranks of the CPA; delegate nominations for this gathering came from the various District Organizers and which were approved by the Central Executive Committee. The Founding Convention of the WPA was organized and conducted in conditions of semi-secrecy.
1. -- "Founding Convention," New York, December 23 - 26, 1921 2. -- "Second National Convention," New York, December 24 - XX, 1922 The Second National Convention of the WPA adopted an extensively revised program.
3. -- "Third National Convention," Chicago, December 30, 1923 - January 2, 1924 The Third National Convention of the WPA continued with the previously existing program of the organization without making any changes to its content.
4. -- "Nominating Convention," Chicago, July 10 - XX, 1924 The Workers (Communist) Party of America With the demise of the the parallel "underground" party, the 4th Convention of the Workers Party of America approved the change of the group's name to the "Workers (Communist) Party." The organization continued to be known as the "Workers Party" through the middle of the decade,
4. -- "Fourth National Convention," Chicago, August 21 - 30, 1925 The Fourth National Convention was marked by extreme factionalism, pitting the Ruthenberg/Pepper/Lovestone and Foster/Bittelman/Cannon groups. The Foster group secured the allegiance of 40 of the 61 delegates ultimately accredited.
5. -- "Fifth National Convention," Chicago, August 31 - XX, 1927 6. -- "Nominating Convention," Chicago, May 25 - XX, 1928 7. -- "Sixth National Convention," Chicago, March 1 - XX, 1929 The Communist Party, USA A plenum of the Central Committee was held March 31-April 4, 1930, to prepare a thesis on the economic situation and various resolutions for the 7th Convention of the CPUSA. Resolutions were adopted on Building TUUL, on Matters in District 8 [Chicago], on Party Work in the South, on the Organization of Factory Nuclei, on Party Fractions, on Language Work, and on Keeping New Members. This thesis and resolutions were published in book form by Workers Library Publishers in 1930.
8. -- "Seventh National Convention," New York, June 20 - XX, 1930 The 7th National Convention was attened by 306 delegates -- 102 regular, 64 alternate, and 140 consultative. Party leaders William Z. Foster, Robert Minor, and Israel Amter did not attend, serving jail time which resulted from their March 6th arrest on the steps of New York City Hall where they had attempted to present the demands of the unemployed to Mayor Walker.
