Socialist Party USA

{{uspolitics}}
The '''Socialist Party USA''' (SPUSA) is a [[political party]] in the [[United States]] that holds as its primary position the realization of democratic [[socialism]].  The party envisions socialism as, "a new social and economic order in which workers and community members will take responsibility for and control of their interpersonal relationships, their neighborhoods, their local government, and the production and distribution of all goods and services."

The party was formed in 1973 from members of the Socialist Party of America (SPA) who opposed the SPA turning into the ''Social Democrats, USA''.  Among various grievances, they were opposed to the SPA/SDUSA ceasing to run candidates for political office under a socialist party ballot line, something the SPUSA still does but other SPA splinters don't. 

While SPUSA runs candidates in its capacity as a political party, it thinks of itself as a party of activists, rather than a party of bureaucrats.  Additionally, it has performed terribly in every presidential election it has participated in since its founding, virtually always getting around 5,000 nationwide votes or less unless they share a ballot line with a larger party.

The party may not be the absolute weakest among the among electoral socialist organizations in the United States (that prize may belong to the Peace and Freedom Party which seppukud itself by running Roseanne Barr years ago) But among those who run their own candidates, the SPUSA may, in fact, be dead last as of 2024.  The [[Democratic Socialists of America]] is a wider known "party" which also splintered from the SPA decades ago and doesn't run their own candidates.  SPUSA typically trails behind the authoritarian communist supporting party named "PSL" for some reason.

==History==
===Pre-history - Socialist Party of America (SPA)===
The party it split from was initially formed as the Socialist Party of America in 1901 by the reformist 'kangaroos' such as Morris Hillquit of the Socialist Labor Party opposed to De Leon, who were forced to leave the SLP in 1899 after attempting a violent coup of the SLP, and then formed the right-wing of the Socialist Party of America by merging with [[Eugene V. Debs]]' Social Democratic Party.<ref>[http://www.deleonism.org/cgi-bin/text.cgi?j=99070001 Record of the 'Battle of June 10']</ref> Debs, while starting out as a reformist, turned into a socialist after reading [[Marx]]'s works, somewhere, ironically, along the lines of [[De Leonism]].

Historically the Socialist Party of America was a notable third party with its heyday from the 1900s-1910s and again briefly in the 1930s, and had sporadic success electing politicians on its ballot line such as two U.S. Congressmen (Victor Berger and Meyer London) and the mayors of Milwaukee and Schenectady. Its strongest showings in U.S. presidential elections were Eugene Debs (who ran from jail) in 1912 and 1920 and Norman Thomas in 1932.

As with many other left groups at the time, it received significant domestic oppression from the Democratic Party due to its opposition to U.S. entry into [[World War I]]. The Democrats even invented a whole law, partially to throw the lot of them in jail, called the espionage act.  Victor Berger was prosecuted under the Espionage Act and denied being seated for a second term in the U.S. Congress, and Eugene Debs was prosecuted for "sedition" for speaking at an anti-[[conscription|draft]] protest and imprisoned (for the second time; his first time being imprisoned was for his role in instigating a railroad workers' strike in 1894.)  Socialist newspaper editors and writers associated with the party were also imprisoned.  Physical party locations were also illegally raided by the government multiple times.

Writers Upton Sinclair and Jack London were notable members. Upton Sinclair would later win the Democratic Party [[primary election|primary]] nomination for governor of [[California]] in 1934, sending the state's business establishment into [[headless chicken mode]] trying to stop him out of fear his E.P.I.C. (End Poverty In California) platform would turn California into a big socialist commune. Sinclair was defeated in the general election by Republican incumbent Frank Merriam, and many analysts date the origin of today's sophisticated [[swiftboating|media smear tactics]] to that election.

The SP's decline can be attributed to many reasons: domestic repression during World War I, losing some members to [[Communism#Leninism|the Soviet style of communism]] following the success of the [[Bolshevik Revolution]], the SP throwing its support behind the Progressive Party presidential candidacy of Robert LaFollette in 1924 rather than run their own candidate. At the same time, the party benefited from the weakening of support for Soviet Communism following the show trials of the late 1930s and the 1956 invasion of Hungary.

After the [[New Deal]], [[World War II]], and the second [[Red Scare]] of [[McCarthyism]], the left changed again with the emergence of a social-democratic, anti-Communist, and pro-labor union and civil rights tendency aligned with the [[Democratic Party]]. However, there was tension between socially conservative labor unions and more socially liberal anti-war, gay rights, and feminist campaigners. Notable among the new strain of Socialists were writer {{wpl|Michael Harrington}} and former [[Trotsky]]ist turned social democrat {{wpl|Max Schactman}}, who, while remaining within the SP, argued that they should work within the Democratic Party instead of running their own candidates.

Disputes over closer ties to the Democratic Party and over the [[Vietnam War]] caused the SP to split into Social Democrats USA, the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (today they are known as Democratic Socialists of America), and the Socialist Party USA after its 1972 convention. The first two groups supported working within the Democratic Party and divided over their response to the Vietnam War (SDUSA, the most conservative of the three and the most closely aligned with AFL-CIO leadership, endorsing the status quo and a negotiated settlement in Vietnam, putting it ''to the right'' of Democratic nominee George McGovern on that issue; DSOC supporting an immediate ceasefire and U.S. withdrawal).

===Modern history - SPUSA===
====1970s - founding====
SPUSA, the furthest left of the three Socialist Party splinters, split from DSOC in 1973 and sought to organize as socialists instead of working with the Democrats. The current name Socialist Party USA dates from that time.  The SPUSA's founder was David McReynolds.<ref name="visual history">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxvawgtKDfs History of the Socialist Party USA]</ref>

====1980s====
The SPUSA's first national party chair<ref name="visual history" /> and first presidential candidate<ref name="SPUSA history">[https://spmichigan.org/history/ A Century of Struggle: The History of the Socialist Party - SPUSA Michigan]</ref> was former three term mayor of Milwaukee Frank Paul Zeidler.  He was also instrumental in helping form the SPUSA.<ref>https://socialistcurrents.org/?p=4096</ref> Zeidler was also a prior chairperson of the SPA in 1956.<ref>[https://spartacus-educational.com/USAzeidler.htm Spartacus Educational - Frank Zeidler Biography]</ref>

Their presidential nominee in 1980, David McReynolds may have been the first openly gay presidential candidate.  This is also a subject of controversy. The dispute lies in whether or not John Hospers was gay, a presidential candidate who preceded David.  John Hospers' family "strenuously denied that [Hospers] was gay" after his death.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/13/john-hospers-obituary</ref>

During 1984 they declined to run their own candidate and instead joined a coalition of small parties to endorse the Citizen's Party ticket of Sonia Johnson, who also held the Peace and Freedom Party and Consumer Party nomination of Pennsylvania.<ref name="visual history" />

During 1988, the SPUSA nominated writer and teacher Willa Kenoyer for president.<ref name="SPUSA history" /><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/09/us/writer-and-teacher-to-head-socialist-s-ticket-for-1988.html Writer and Teacher to Head Socialist's Ticket for 1988 - New York Times]</ref>

====1990s====
During 1992, J. Quinn Brisben was nominated for president by the SPUSA and union organizer Bill Edwards for Vice President.  Edwards died during the race, being replaced by playwright Barbara Garson.<ref name="SPUSA history" />

In 1996, the SPUSA nominated special education teacher Mary Cal Hollis for President.<ref name="SPUSA history" />

====2000s====
Their 2008 presidential race, wherein they nominated Brian Moore, was arguably their most nationally publicized.  Moore was featured on CNN, Comedy Central, and Fox News during his run.<ref name="anniversary" />  In a 2008 interview with Neil Cavuto from Fox News, Moore argued that America's housing crisis would become so dire as to collapse American capitalism and transform America into into a socialist country.  He also argued capitalism primarily only creates opportunities for those with wealth and power.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R07Uk_lrip8 Brian Moore Interview with Neil Cavuto Fox News]</ref> Moore clarified on the ''Colbert Report'', that he didn't believe this process would occur immediately electorally as he thought then Democratic Presidential nominee [[Barack Obama]] was not at all a socialist, and instead a capitalist.  He argued Obama's bank bailout plan was substandard and that instead of being bailed out, America's banks should be nationalized.<ref>[https://wildcat.arizona.edu/143587/uncategorized/socialist-accusations-unfounded/  Socialist accusations unfounded - The Daily Wildcat]</ref>

===Timeline===
This shows some of the mergers and splits that constituted the Socialist Party of America and Socialist Party USA.
*1897 '''Social Democracy of America''' formed from American Railway Union (president: Eugene Debs), with Debs chairman of the Executive Board.
*1898 '''Social Democratic Party of America (Chicago)''' founded by Victor L Berger from part of Social Democracy of America.
*1899 '''Social Democratic Party of America (Rochester/Springfield)''' splits from the Socialist Labor Party (the oldest Socialist organization in the US), changing their name to indicate an intention to join the Chicago SDP.
*1901 '''Socialist Party of America''' forms from a merger of Chicago and Rochester/Springfield SDP. Prominent members include Eugene Debs, Victor L Berger.
*1919 Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party splits from SPA, later helping to form '''Communist Party of America''' and '''Communist Labour Party of America'''.
*1921 Finnish Socialist Federation splits from SPA.
*1934 Upton Sinclair was expelled from SPA when he runs as Democrat.
*1936 "Old Guard" (less militant members) expelled from SPA; they form the '''Social Democratic Federation'''.
*1936 Workers Party of the United States (a [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] group) disbands and urges its members to join the SPA; half do.
*1937 Trotskyist "Socialist Appeal" faction expelled from SPA.
*1937 [[Stalin]]'s show trials and [[Spanish Civil War|events in Spain]] destroy any prospect of an alliance between SPA and Communist Party.
*1956 Numbers are bolstered by ex-communists following [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] invasion of [[Hungary]].
*1957 SPA merges with most of Social Democratic Federation to form the '''Socialist Party-Social Democratic Federation'''; a rump of SDF members establish '''Democratic Socialist Federation'''.
*1958 Party is joined by Independent Socialist League (led by Max Shachtman).
*1972 Socialist Party changes its name to '''Social Democrats, USA''' intending to work more closely with the [[Democrat Party]]; its left-wing leaves and forms the '''Union for Democratic Socialism'''.
*1973 Union for Democratic Socialism becomes the '''Socialist Party of the USA'''.
*1973 Michael Harrington resigns and forms '''Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee'''.
*1975 The {{wpl|Socialist Human Rights Party}} merges with the Michigan branch of the SPUSA.
*1984 The DSOC merges with New American Movement to form '''Democratic Socialists of America'''.

==Recent candidates==
Their presidential candidate for the [[2012 U.S. Presidential Election]] was Stewart Alexander.  He received 4,405 total votes for president.<ref>https://www.thegreenpapers.com/G12/President-Details.phtml</ref>

For the 2016 presidential election, the late Emidio "Mimi" Soltysik (notable for having a badass name) and Angela Nicole Walker were nominated for the candidacy. They performed terribly, even for fringe left-wing party standards, they received 2,689 total votes nationwide.<ref>https://www.thegreenpapers.com/G16/President-Details.phtml</ref> The [[Party for Socialism and Liberation]] trumped them by a factor of 28 and the Greens by a factor of 568. They did notably do good in [[Guam]], as being the only third-party who bothered to get ballot access gave them 4% of Guam's popular vote, all despite Emidio "Solysk" not getting his name spelled right on the ballot.<ref>http://ballot-access.org/2016/09/25/socialist-party-is-only-party-besides-republicans-and-democrats-to-file-for-guam-advisory-presidential-vote/</ref>

In 2020, a member of SPUSA party, Howie Hawkins, won both the SPUSA and the Green Party nomination for president, and so ran under both parties. Angela Walker was again the nominee for Vice President.<ref>https://www.thegreenpapers.com/G20/President-Details.phtml?v=c&p=SPUS</ref>  He received 405,799 votes.

After leaving the Green Party, the SPUSA ran a candidate alone for president in 2024, William P. Stodden, and performed exponentially worse, receiving 324 (yes you read that correctly) total votes nationwide.<ref>https://www.thegreenpapers.com/G24/President-Details.phtml?v=c&p=SPUS</ref>

==Prior officeholders==
SPUSA's history of electoral wins appears to be not much more than a dozen or so electoral victories ever.  Additionally, Wikipedia is keeping more of a tally than SPUSA's own website (or indeed any website), and attributes all their victories to non-partisan elections.  Meaning, the SPUSA may have "ran" the candidates, and considered them official SPUSA candidates, but the voters likely did not see the Socialist Party name on the ballot before any of SPUSA's electoral victories.

Their first electoral win (and arguably their largest electoral win) was their election of socialist-feminist and activist Karen Kubby to Iowa City Council in 1989, who served for 11 years until year 2000.<ref name="anniversary">[https://socialistparty-usa.org/anniversaryjournal.pdf Socialist Party USA Anniversary Journal]</ref>

Co-founder of the SPUSA chapter<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20130313163107/https://socialistpartymoc.org/</ref> Socialist Party of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, 19 year old Pat Noble was elected to a school board in New Jersey.<ref>[https://www.nj.com/monmouth/2013/01/19-year-old_socialist_takes_seat_on_red_bank_regionals_board_of_education.html 19-year-old Socialist takes seat on Red Bank Regional's Board of Education]</ref>  At some point he was also the Co-chair of the entire Socialist Party USA.<ref>[https://www.fosters.com/story/news/2017/07/16/socialist-party-of-maine-holds-founding-convention/20248486007 Socialist Party of Maine holds founding convention]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Democratic Socialists of America]]
*[[LLama]]
*[[Socialism]]
*[[Social democracy]], a system often advocated by the right-wing of SPUSA.
*''[[Schenck v. United States]]'', a Supreme Court case involving them.

==External links==
*[http://socialistparty-usa.org/ Socialist Party USA's official webpage.]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{USPoliticalParty}}
[[Category:United States political parties]]
[[Category:Socialism]]
[[Category:Socialist political parties]]

Categories: United States political parties, Socialism, Socialist political parties