The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-05-14

|STEDMAN'S REDRAID

meet the requirements of its modern
growth. /
The prohibition law had caused
many beer halls in Detroit to be
vacated and offered for sale. One of
these was Schiller Hail." splendid
building on Gratiot Avenue, con-
tanning big auditorium, several
smaller meeting halls, offices, big |
barroom and well equipped restaur-
ant. Under the depression of prohibi-
tion this building had been offered |
for sale for $4,000. The members
of the Socialist Party of Michigan
in Detroit bought it. $4,000 had to
be raised for the first payment, and
workingmen and women busily sour
ried around, working hard until they
obtained $l1,50O for the purchase.
The party moved its headquarters
into this hall, establishing thriv-
| ing educational center such as is
seldom seen among Socialist organi-
cations of America. The hall was
crowded night and day with classes
and meetings.
| But under the law of Michigan a
political party cannot, as such, own
property. To overcome that techni-
cality Of the law the Detroit So
cialists formed corporation, through
(which to hold the clubhouse proper
ty, called "The Workers Educational
Association" and put into the char
ter of the corporation a provision
that none but member of the So
cialist Party of America could be a
member of the Association, and that
none could be an officer of it unless
he had been continuously member
of the Socialist Party of America
for at least the three preceding
years. W
i Questions of the Revolution.
i Questions brought out in Socialist
thought by the Russian Revolution
, were discussed with acute attention
questions of tactics for working
class conquest of power, questions
as to the nature of the State, ques-
tions of the dictatorship Of the pro
; letariat, and of the building Of {
Socialist International. Very early
the trend began clearly to show itsel1
, as toward Left Wing orientation
! Michigan and the city of Detroi
: became part Of the Left Wing O.
the Socialist Party Of America. Thei,
e district continued for a time to b,
represented in the National Commit
E tee of the Party by the "Righ
Wing" leaders, Victor Berger, Johl
2 M. Work and Seymour Stedman, mel
e hostile to the radical tendencies o.
g the Michigan Party.
: Right Wing Leadership.
e AS you know, the Socialist Part,
t of the United States had been unde,
e the control Of the "Right Wing
: leaders for many years. The contro
of these leaders was notable in Ma,
r 1912, when "Section 6, Article q
n withholding party membership iron
any one advocating any tactics con
: trary to the laws of the Unitet
v States, was put into the Party Con
S stitution. The party was in Ma.
{ 1912 at its highest tide of member
? ship with about 10000 members il
{ good standing. In the summer O
n 1912 it lost $4,000 members. TIL
a membership continued to decline
with fluctuations, until it shows nov
a net lost of 100000 since 1912.
s Two years ago, in May 1919, tn
e American Socialist Party SCENE,
t about to be revived by the stimulat
: ing intellectual and spiritual effec
e of the founding Of the First So
e cialist Republic. The referendum vot
t for National Executive Committee
men aroused energetic participation
g throughout the party ranks. Most o
:, the members of the National Exc
n cutive Committee had shown them
j. selves hostile to the new spirit an
y opposed to the tactical measure
e brought to prominence by the Rus
i sian Revolution. 1t became apparen
! that the Fright Wing" leaders wer
% in danger Of being defeated in tn