SOCIALIST PARTY

a political party of the United States, organized in 1900 by Socialists di atisfied with the narTow Marxian views of the Socialist Labor Party. It has a dues-paying membership, grouped into ‘locals,’ the locals being subordinate to the state organizations, each of which has an annual convention and an executive committee and a secretary. Above these stands the national organization, whose affairs are governed by national conventions, now held annually. Important acts of the convention are submitted to a referendum vote of the general membership. The Socialist Party represents the more liberal Socialists of the country, who have deviated somewhat widely from the original principies of Marxism, which forbade political action and emphasized revolution, if not by force of arms, then by the ma strike, these ideas being now embodied in the various communist parties. The Socialist Party program demands almost pure state socialism, demanding the nationalization of industries through political action mainly. From a membership of 16,000 in 1903 the party grew until in 1912 it had a membership of nearly 119,000. Its anti-war attitude during the war against Germany, however, brought about serious disruption, but an even greater lo of membership has resulted from the withdrawal of the more radical members, excited by the apparent succe of communism in Ru ia. At the annual convention of the Party, held in New York in 1923, the membership of the national organization was reported to be only a little over 12,000. The party has one representative in Congre , Meyer London, representing a New York constituency, and has elected numerous local officials and members of state legislatures, most notable being the Socialist mayor of Milwaukee, Wis. In the Presidential campaign of 1904 it had a popular vote of 402,400; in 1912 it carried 897,- O11 votes; in 1916 the vote was 585,113, and in 1920 it polled 919,799, part of this being probably a protest against the imprisonment in a Federal prison of Eugene V. Debs, the party candidate.