Frank Bohn (socialist)
Encyclopedia
Frank Bohn was an advocate of industrial unionism
who was a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World
. From 1906 to 1908 he was the National Secretary of the Socialist Labor Party of America
, before leaving to join forces with the rival Socialist Party of America
. After World War I
his politics became increasingly nationalistic
and he left the labor movement altogether.
revolutionary who emigrated to the United States following the failure of the Revolution of 1848
.
Bohn served as a soldier and non-commissioned officer
in the Spanish-American War
. He later claimed that the graft, corruption, and mismanagement that he witnessed as a soldier was the experience which made him a political radical
.
Bohn attended the University of Michigan
and obtained a Ph.D. degree
in History in 1904.
In 1904, Bohn was a national organizer for the Socialist Labor Party of America and the party's industrial union offshoot, the Socialist Trade & Labor Alliance. It was in this capacity that Bohn sat as one of 22 invited radical political and labor leaders attending a "secret conference" held in Chicago
on January 2, 1905, to discuss the prospective formation of a new general industrial union — the Industrial Workers of the World
. This three day conclave thrashed out their disagreements and issued a set of 11 principles and an Industrial Union Manifesto. It issued a call for a convention to be held in Chicago on June 27, 1905, to launch the new general industrial organization.
After formation of the IWW, he worked for a time as an organizer for that organization, touring the United States and Canada speaking on their behalf.
From 1906 to 1908, Bohn served as National Secretary of the Socialist Labor Party. In this capacity, he was named a delegate to the 1907 Stuttgart Congress of the Second International
. Bohn broke with the SLP decisively in June of 1908, however, publishing an article in the non-party press lamenting the lack of unity of the American socialist movement caused by the position of his former party. Bohn saw the Socialist Labor Party as a failure, despite what he considered its basically-correct political orientation since 1900, because of the party's studied self-isolation and harsh treatment of newcomers:
Upon departing the SLP, Bohn enlisted himself in the ranks of the rival Socialist Party of America
, a group which he acknowledged "is not what we might desire." Nevertheless:
During the 1909/10 academic year Bohn was a lecturer in history, economics, and politics at Columbia University
and the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. The content of his lectures proved too radical for the Columbia administration, however, and he was not returned to the university.
After leaving Columbia, Bohn went to work as State Organizer for the Socialist Party of New York. He was also named as an assistant editor on the International Socialist Review
, published in Chicago
by Charles H. Kerr & Co..
transacted no business of real importance. Turnover was enormous in the organization. Vincent St. John noted in a letter to Paul Brissenden that the organization had issued 60,000 dues books in the previous 18 month period, but only about one in ten, or roughly 6,000 of these, remained members in good standing. In this October 1911 letter St. John claimed a total membership for the organization of 10,000 individuals in good standing.
This stalling of the IWW's growth lead Bohn and others to the perspective that the organization suffered from a serious or even fatal sickness. Bohn contributed an article to the July 1911 issue of Charles H. Kerr's International Socialist Review
entitled "Is the IWW to Grow?" in which he placed the blame for the organization's stagnation squarely upon the anti-political faction which had won control of the organization. He accused the IWW's mixed locals and propaganda locals of having driven away "real" industrial unionists from the organization, leaving those he disparagingly characterized as "hot-air social revolutionaries." He felt that the anti-political "fanatics" threatened the survival of the IWW:
against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire was a decisive turning-point for Bohn. In the fall of 1916, Bohn contributed to the Preparedness Movement
by contributing articles to The New York Times
condemning German militarism
as a menace to world peace.
The staunch and unflinching anti-militarist line of the Socialist Party of America established at the party's 1917 St. Louis Convention put the organization at odds with Bohn's views. After keeping his criticism within party ranks for half a year, in the fall of 1917 Bohn decided to break decisively with the SPA, writing an open letter to the Secretary of Local Bronx, his own chapter. This letter, published in the New York Times on September 26, 1917, declared:
Following his departure from the Socialist Party, Bohn contributed to the war effort by writing a propaganda
pamphlet for the American Alliance for Labor and Democracy
, an effort of the Wilson administration
to mobilize pro-war forces in the American labor movement in support of the European war effort. Thereafter Bohn went to work for the Committee on Public Information
in France and Switzerland, aiding in the production of pro-war propaganda targeted to the labor movement.
He joined the National Non-Partisan League
and was a delegate to the 1st National Convention of the Labor Party of the United States
in November 1919.
Bohn apparently worked as a journalist during the inter-war years. He also headed an organization called the German–American Congress for Democracy during the early years of World War II
.
In 1941 he wrote a report for the newly established Foreign Nationalities Branch of the State Department entitled "The German-American Population in the United States." In this report Bohn warned against equating the 19th Century German immigrants, who were rapidly Americanized, with 20th Century newcomers, who were influenced by German nationalist
propaganda and represented a potential pool of support for the Nazi enemy on American soil.
He is best remembered today as co-author with Big Bill Haywood of the influential pamphlet Industrial Unionism, a short work which helped fuel the American syndicalist
boom of 1912-14.
Industrial unionism
Industrial unionism is a labor union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union—regardless of skill or trade—thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in bargaining and in strike situations...
who was a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
. From 1906 to 1908 he was the National Secretary of the Socialist Labor Party of America
Socialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party of America , established in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has...
, before leaving to join forces with the rival Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
. After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
his politics became increasingly nationalistic
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and he left the labor movement altogether.
Early years
Frank Bohn was born September 26, 1878 on an Ohio farm. He was the son of a GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
revolutionary who emigrated to the United States following the failure of the Revolution of 1848
Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, also called the March Revolution – part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many countries of Europe – were a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions in the states of the German Confederation, including the Austrian Empire...
.
Bohn served as a soldier and non-commissioned officer
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
in the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
. He later claimed that the graft, corruption, and mismanagement that he witnessed as a soldier was the experience which made him a political radical
Political radicalism
The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...
.
Bohn attended the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and obtained a Ph.D. degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in History in 1904.
In 1904, Bohn was a national organizer for the Socialist Labor Party of America and the party's industrial union offshoot, the Socialist Trade & Labor Alliance. It was in this capacity that Bohn sat as one of 22 invited radical political and labor leaders attending a "secret conference" held in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
on January 2, 1905, to discuss the prospective formation of a new general industrial union — the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
. This three day conclave thrashed out their disagreements and issued a set of 11 principles and an Industrial Union Manifesto. It issued a call for a convention to be held in Chicago on June 27, 1905, to launch the new general industrial organization.
After formation of the IWW, he worked for a time as an organizer for that organization, touring the United States and Canada speaking on their behalf.
From 1906 to 1908, Bohn served as National Secretary of the Socialist Labor Party. In this capacity, he was named a delegate to the 1907 Stuttgart Congress of the Second International
Second International
The Second International , the original Socialist International, was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. At the Paris meeting delegations from 20 countries participated...
. Bohn broke with the SLP decisively in June of 1908, however, publishing an article in the non-party press lamenting the lack of unity of the American socialist movement caused by the position of his former party. Bohn saw the Socialist Labor Party as a failure, despite what he considered its basically-correct political orientation since 1900, because of the party's studied self-isolation and harsh treatment of newcomers:
"It failed, first, because it attempted to sever the veteran revolutionary element from the forces which were developing to that position. Nor is this all. It strove to draw about itself the veil of absolute sanctity. It was supposed by certain of its leaders to have attained what the Salvation Army calls 'Holiness'; therefore it durst not hold conversation with the unclean; therefore it refused to so far trust the working class’ mind as to risk its fundamentally correct principles in the rough and tumble of a united movement. The scientific truths at the bottom of the revolutionary upsweep were made over into the mumbled litany of a sectarian clique. And thus Truth lost its beauty and saving power.
"The SLP failed, second, because of its wrong methods of propaganda and organization. Men and women who will develop into revolutionists worthwhile to the movement are sure to demand respect and decent treatment from their teachers while they are learning."
Upon departing the SLP, Bohn enlisted himself in the ranks of the rival Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
, a group which he acknowledged "is not what we might desire." Nevertheless:
"It would have been all that the clearest and most ardent revolutionist might have hoped for, had the whole revolutionary element united to form it in 1901 and learned to use decent and educational methods in propagating their correct principles. A developing class-conscious proletariat will yet make it what it ought to be — the political organization of a class which is as firmly united industrially as political."
During the 1909/10 academic year Bohn was a lecturer in history, economics, and politics at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. The content of his lectures proved too radical for the Columbia administration, however, and he was not returned to the university.
After leaving Columbia, Bohn went to work as State Organizer for the Socialist Party of New York. He was also named as an assistant editor on the International Socialist Review
International Socialist Review
International Socialist Review may refer to:*International Socialist Review *International Socialist Review *International Socialist Review...
, published in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
by Charles H. Kerr & Co..
Turn from the IWW
The IWW atrophied to the point where it was unable to even hold a national convention in 1909, and its 1910 gathering in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
transacted no business of real importance. Turnover was enormous in the organization. Vincent St. John noted in a letter to Paul Brissenden that the organization had issued 60,000 dues books in the previous 18 month period, but only about one in ten, or roughly 6,000 of these, remained members in good standing. In this October 1911 letter St. John claimed a total membership for the organization of 10,000 individuals in good standing.
This stalling of the IWW's growth lead Bohn and others to the perspective that the organization suffered from a serious or even fatal sickness. Bohn contributed an article to the July 1911 issue of Charles H. Kerr's International Socialist Review
International Socialist Review
International Socialist Review may refer to:*International Socialist Review *International Socialist Review *International Socialist Review...
entitled "Is the IWW to Grow?" in which he placed the blame for the organization's stagnation squarely upon the anti-political faction which had won control of the organization. He accused the IWW's mixed locals and propaganda locals of having driven away "real" industrial unionists from the organization, leaving those he disparagingly characterized as "hot-air social revolutionaries." He felt that the anti-political "fanatics" threatened the survival of the IWW:
"The people we mean are those who make of anti-politics a fetish. They see in the Socialist PartySocialist Party of AmericaThe Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
a number who are opposed to the IWW. 'Therefore,' say these fanatics, 'as some of the Socialist Party members are against us, that is sure proof that all of them are against us. The greatest enemy of the working class are these advocates of unsound doctrine — of political action. Let us destroy them. That will emancipate the working class.'
"The experience of the five years just past has proven conclusively that the best way for the members of the Socialist Party to develop anti-politics in the IWW is to attack it. Likewise, the desertion of the party by IWW membes, and their opposition to it, has greatly strengthened the position of the reformist and compromising wing of the party. Each of these groups has helped nurse the other along. * * *
"The fanatic is a person who sees or think he sees but one thing. Whether the thing he sees is there or not is of secondary importance. The anti-politics fanatics in the IWW see the Socialist Party and nothing else. What they think they see in the Socialist Party is usually expressed in a vocabulary of vituperation... In hating the Socialist Party they forget why they hate it. They forget industrial unionismIndustrial unionismIndustrial unionism is a labor union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union—regardless of skill or trade—thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in bargaining and in strike situations...
. They forget the class struggle. * * *
"The anti-politics agitation is not a movement. It cannot develop an organization of its own. It is not industrial unionism. It cannot be revolutionary because it is not positive. It is purely negative and it ends in nothing.
"Is this chair-warming sect now the leading element in the IWW? Is it in a majority? If it is, the IWW is not dying. It is dead."
Later years
U.S. entry into World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire was a decisive turning-point for Bohn. In the fall of 1916, Bohn contributed to the Preparedness Movement
Preparedness Movement
The Preparedness Movement, also referred to as the Preparedness Controversy, was a campaign led by Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt to strengthen the military of the United States after the outbreak of World War I...
by contributing articles to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
condemning German militarism
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
as a menace to world peace.
The staunch and unflinching anti-militarist line of the Socialist Party of America established at the party's 1917 St. Louis Convention put the organization at odds with Bohn's views. After keeping his criticism within party ranks for half a year, in the fall of 1917 Bohn decided to break decisively with the SPA, writing an open letter to the Secretary of Local Bronx, his own chapter. This letter, published in the New York Times on September 26, 1917, declared:
"The position of the Socialist Party of New York, as voiced in the present [electoral] campaign, makes it a plain matter of duty on my part to resign my membership at once. The party is opposed to the conduct of war. I am whole-heartedly supporting the cause of the Allies against Germany. It was my hope that the party might not make the war a primary issue here or throughout the nation; in that case I might have honorably retained my membership. But the campaign here is to be waged directly and solely upon the issue of the war..... The social ideals I have had the privilege of advancing among you are now more precious to me than ever before. But I am positive in my belief that even a partial victory of German militarism would institute militarism and the servile state throughout the world and thus make an end of political democracy and of the great hope he have of industrial democracy in our generation."
Following his departure from the Socialist Party, Bohn contributed to the war effort by writing a propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
pamphlet for the American Alliance for Labor and Democracy
American Alliance for Labor and Democracy
The American Alliance for Labor and Democracy was an American political organization established in September 1917 through the initiative of the American Federation of Labor and making use of the resources of the United States government's Committee on Public Information...
, an effort of the Wilson administration
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
to mobilize pro-war forces in the American labor movement in support of the European war effort. Thereafter Bohn went to work for the Committee on Public Information
Committee on Public Information
The Committee on Public Information, also known as the CPI or the Creel Committee, was an independent agency of the government of the United States created to influence U.S. public opinion regarding American participation in World War I...
in France and Switzerland, aiding in the production of pro-war propaganda targeted to the labor movement.
He joined the National Non-Partisan League
Non-Partisan League
The Nonpartisan League was a political organization founded in 1915 in the United States by former Socialist Party organizer A. C. Townley. The Nonpartisan League advocated state control of mills, grain elevators, banks and other farm-related industries in order to reduce the power of corporate...
and was a delegate to the 1st National Convention of the Labor Party of the United States
Labor Party (United States)
The Labor Party is an American social democratic political party advocating workers' interests. Membership at one point reached about 5,000....
in November 1919.
Bohn apparently worked as a journalist during the inter-war years. He also headed an organization called the German–American Congress for Democracy during the early years of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In 1941 he wrote a report for the newly established Foreign Nationalities Branch of the State Department entitled "The German-American Population in the United States." In this report Bohn warned against equating the 19th Century German immigrants, who were rapidly Americanized, with 20th Century newcomers, who were influenced by German nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
propaganda and represented a potential pool of support for the Nazi enemy on American soil.
Death and legacy
Frank Bohn died July 29, 1975, at the age of 96.He is best remembered today as co-author with Big Bill Haywood of the influential pamphlet Industrial Unionism, a short work which helped fuel the American syndicalist
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
boom of 1912-14.
Works
- Industrial Socialism. With Big Bill Haywood. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1911.
- The Catholic Church and Socialism. With Thomas McGrady. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., n.d. [1912].
- No Compromise with Germany. New York: American Alliance for Labor and Democracy, n.d. [c. 1917].
- Boulder Dam: From the Origin of the Idea to the Swing-Johnson Bill. New York: Joint Committee of National Utility Associations, 1927.
- The Great Change: Work and Wealth in the New Age. New York, T. Nelson and Sons, 1935.
External links
- Frank Bohn, "The Failure to Attain Socialist Unity," International Socialist Review, v. 8, no. 12 (June 1908), pp. 752-755.