The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-11-13
MARKHAM Club Socialists
Editorial Committee:
KATE S. HilLIARD.
E, A. 8ATTElL.
roy E. SOUTHWICK.


1855. We have given these details
since they are necessary to the un-
dertaking of the following official
communication lately received from
the Third Ward Branch of Local
Denver. which we regard as being i'm
| portant enough to deserve full con
sideration and discussion:
To the Membership Of the
Socialist Party Of America
Whereas. 1t has for some time been
apparent that the Socialist party of
the United States is not a revolution
ary organization of the working class,
based on the principles of SCIENTIFIC
! SOCIALISM. but is merely a stamp
| ing ground for faddists, careerists and
notoriety seekers bent upon obtaining
pelf and power at the expense of an
already over-burdened class, and
| Whereas. Practically all of the Of
fetal positions in the organization
have been uSurped by as conscience
less q crew of bourgeois buccaneers
as have ever practiced piracy on the
high seas of Liberty. Equality and
Fraternity, and
Whereas, This cockroach element
| tOuIDuStu VI WITHOUT DUl'
pits. lawyers without clients. doctors
without patients. storekeepers with
out customers, disgruntled political
coyotes and other riff raft, through It's
Self-appointed leadership. has relegat-
! ed the real proletarians TO the rear;
| and
| Whereas. In their mad scramble
for votes, these muddle-headed ma.
rauders of the middle class have seen
| fit TO foist upon the Socialist party
| in the name of the working class. such
| lnfamies as Graft Unionism," Anti
| immigration, State Autonomy" and
a series of ludicrous and Illogical I'M
mediate Demands" and
Whereas. The final act. the climax,
| the elimination of these and other
| prostitutions came when the Socialist
! party by referendum vote decided to
drop SOCIALISM from It's platform
| and adopt In its stead an emasculated
| form of the late lamented Single Tax;
be 1t therefore
Resolved, That we, the fifty.fiye pro-
lctarian members In good standing OF
the Third Ward Branch OF Local Den
yer. Socialist party of Colorado do
re-ahlrm our allegiance to the prin-
ciples of SCIENTIFIC SOCIALISM
and to the cause OF OUR class, and
do hereby withdraw from the organi-
zation falsely called "The Socialist
Party of the United States; and be
1t further
Resolved, That a copy of these res
olutionS be sent to the State and Ma
tional officials of the party and TO the
Socialist and Labor Press of the Unit
ed States
Third Ward Branch OF Local Den
yer, Socialist Party of Colorado, by
Herbert Graham, 1852 Chanpa. Philip
Englc, 1880 Champa Walker c.
Smith 115 w. llth Ave, committee
Dated at Denver, Colorado. Septem-
Der %. 1909
In publishing these resolutions. We
do not lndorse the view OF the Denver
comrades that proletarianS should de-
sert the Socialist Party as hopelessly
middle-claSs. We believe there is
some measure OF truth in the indict-
ment but we can see a definite eco
nomic cause for the predominance Of
the middle class in the party up 10
this time, and economic reasons also
why we should hope for a radical
change TO proletarian tactics on the
part of the Socialist Party i'm the near
future. Craft unionism Is survival
from conditions Of but yesterday. con-
ditionS under which il was the logical
form of working-class organization.
True, the rapid march of Industrial
progress has made 1t as obsolete as
the spinning wheel and the stage
coach, but 1t always takes people some
time TO adjust their ideas and institu.
tions to new conditions Most of the
proletarian members of the Socialist
Party thus far have been members of
craft unions for the very good reason
that such membership was for them a
necessary condition for holding their
jobs. This membership naturally made
thom reluctant 10 antagonize craft
unions. and this reluctance is reflect
ed In the platforms and resolutions
of the Socialist Party. Apart from
trade unionists. our membership thus
lar has been mainly recruited from
the small producers and professional
men. who as b E Nilsson points our
on another page of this months Re
view, are not In daily touch with the
great industrial processes as prole.
tarians are. and can exercise control
over these processes only through the
political state. Thus it is not In the
least surprising that the Socialist
Party In the past has placed undue
emphasis on voting and law-maklng.
Nor on the other hand is 1t surprls-
Ing that with these tactics we have
scarcely touched the great mass of the
proletariat
But forces stronger than ourselves
are pushing us on. The great CAPT
talists have built up system OF or
eanized industry beside which the
political state is pIgmy. In the
course of this process they have been
Systematically crushing out the old
conservative trade unions. On their
ruins Is already rising new type of
union, revolutionary as Marx himself