Socialist Party of Michigan
Encyclopedia
The Socialist Party of Michigan (SPMI) is the state chapter of the Socialist Party USA
in the U.S. state
of Michigan
.
(SPA), established in the summer of 1901. During the late 1910s the organization came under the influence of a radical faction based in Detroit
headed by John Keracher
, which banned the advocacy of ameliorative reforms by party members, under penalty of expulsion. This brought the organization into conflict with the National Office of the SPA, which expelled the state organization in May 1919, "reorganizing" the state organization under more moderate leadership that same year. The state organization continued to exist through 1972 when the SPA changed its name to Social Democrats, USA.
early in 1918, which had the effect of putting a number of bars and beer gardens out of business. Meeting halls became comparatively cheap to rent and purchase. Late in April 1918, Socialist Party regular Maurice Sugar
and his friends helped to raise $10,000 through entertainments and raffles to pay for the down payment on a large building in Detroit
which was later christened “The House of the Masses.” A corporation consisting of members of Local Detroit Socialist Party was put in trust of the facility, which had a restaurant, game rooms, meeting rooms, and a large hall. With the establishment of a proper headquarters facility, membership in the Detroit Socialist organization increased dramatically, although fundraising to continue payments on the $70,000 facility also proved to be a burden for the local organization.
on Sunday, September 17, and Monday, September 18, and was attended by some 60 delegates. The gathering was called to order by State Secretary John Keracher
of Detroit. The report of the State Executive Committee showed an increase of membership in the party to about 4,000, although the organization remained on unsure financial grounds, showing a deficit of over $500.
The gathering readopted the organization's 1914 platform, with the elimination of a section voicing the organization's favor for industrial organization. This appears to have been a vicory of the Keracher faction, drawing the ire of a group of 8 delegates, who submitted and official written criticism charging that the convention "clearly manifested" the "conspicuous act" of "failure...to pledge allegiance to the national and international organizations" and to lend support to the trade union movement.
The gathering also approved the publication of the official state bulletin as a section within The Michigan Socialist, up to that time the organ of Local Detroit, as a cost-saving measure and nominated a full slate of candidates for the fall 1916 elections. This was regarded as a defeat by Keracher and his associates, of opposed the "party regular" tenor of the publication, with Keracher declaring the decision "a ruse to circulate the paper throughout the state."
The 1918 convention was held September 7 and 8 in the "House of the Masses" in Detroit and was attended by 56 delegates. The gathering named party regular Maurice Sugar chairman of the convention by a narrow margin. Chief on the agenda was the question of the level of support to be given by the state organization to the European revolutionary movement in general and the Russian revolution in particular, with radical resolutions by John Keracher and Alexander Rovin "to support the Soviet Government
in every possible way and to the last dollar and man" defeated by the convention's moderate majority, on the grounds that such declarations might be illegal under the so-called Espionage Act.
In its final session, the gathering had a heated battle over the financing and terms of support for The Proletarian, the new publication of the Keracher-Proletarian University faction. Keracher lieutenant Al Renner introduced a motion calling for state financing and official support of the publication, which prompted the vigorous opposition by the moderate wing, led by Sugar, on the grounds that the publication "did not follow the policy of the National Office." Defeated on the floor of the convention, a group of radical delegates got together downtown at the offices of The Proletarian afterwards and established a new organization which was to operate as an organized faction within the SPA — the "Proletarian University of America."
The regular 1919 convention of the Socialist Party of Michigan was held February 24 in Grand Rapids. Some 51 delegates were in attendance, characterized in an article in the Left Wing press as a "harmonious gathering of boosters." The convention acted upon the resignation of State Secretary Bloomenberg by electing John Keracher to fill the balance of his unexpired term, passed a program calling for the establishment of socialism while presenting no ameliorative demands, passed a resolution on religion calling for all party agitators to speak against it from the basis of historical materialism
, and unanimously endorsed the expansion of Marxist study groups in the state.
voted 73:34 to change its name to Social Democrats, USA in December of 1972. SPUSA was founded in 1973, after which the SPMI was founded. The SPMI is also the successor to Michigan's former Human Rights Party, which elected multiple candidates to the City Councils of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti before merging into SPMI in 1977.
The Socialist Party of Michigan engages in both electoral politics
and non-electoral activism
. Non-electoral activism includes explicitly socialist support for labor and unionization, anti-war
and anti-imperialist agitation, support for feminist and anti-racist campaigns, and regular political forums, literature distributions, and demonstrations. The Socialist Party of Michigan also intermittently publishes a political magazine, The Michigan Socialist.
Although Michigan's restrictive ballot access laws have thus far prevented the SPMI from obtaining a state ballot line, it has nevertheless run candidates in each of the past four (2004, 2006, 2008, & 2010) state general elections, who have qualified for the ballot by means of either obtaining the subsequent dual nomination of the ballot qualified Green Party of Michigan
or by petition as independents. In each such instance, the Party's candidates have consistently run under the banner of the Socialist Party in all campaign materials and activities, in spite of their inability to have the Party's label listed with their names on the election ballot. Since 2004, the SPMI has run candidates on the ballot in two campaigns for U.S. Congress, two campaigns for the State House of Representatives
, two campaigns for the State Board of Education, one campaign for the University of Michigan Board of Regents
, one campaign for Michigan State University
Board of Trustees, one campaign for Wayne State University
Board of Governors, and one campaign for Oakland Community College
Board of Trustees.
In 2004 the SPMI also qualified the Socialist Party ticket of Walt Brown
for President
and Mary Alice Herbert
for Vice President
for the Michigan ballot under the state qualified label of the nationally defunct Natural Law Party
, combined with a slate of SPMI presidential electors. The SPMI subsequently obtained official write-in status certification of the Socialist Party's 2008 ticket of Brian Moore
for President and Stewart Alexander
for Vice President, along with its slate of SPMI presidential electors.
In July 2010 the Party filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Secretary of State
challenging the constitutionality of the Michigan statute governing the ballot qualification of political parties, and arguing that it has legally satisfied the criteria for ballot qualification under the governing statute's presently enacted requirements. The Party's lawsuit is presently pending an application for leave to the Michigan Supreme Court. In conjunction with its legal claims, the Party filed documents with the Michigan Secretary of State to certify the nomination of seven member candidates for state and federal office in the 2010 General Election. Subsequently, however, the Michigan Secretary of State certified the ballot qualification of only those two candidates, among its 2010 nominees, who had subsequently obtained the Green Party of Michigan's back-up nomination for the same 2010 offices.
The SPMI twice consecutively hosted the Socialist Party USA's biennial National Organizing Conference — in August 2006 in Detroit and July 2008 in Ann Arbor. The SPMI currently has a chartered local in Metro Detroit
and has, in recent years, also had chartered locals in the counties of Kalamazoo
, Marquette
and Washtenaw
. The SPMI is also a founding member of the Michigan Third Parties Coalition.
Socialist Party USA
The Socialist Party USA is a multi-tendency democratic-socialist party in the United States. The party states that it is the rightful continuation and successor to the tradition of the Socialist Party of America, which had lasted from 1901 to 1972.The party is officially committed to left-wing...
in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
.
Formation
The Socialist Party of Michigan was the state affiliate of the Socialist Party of AmericaSocialist 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...
(SPA), established in the summer of 1901. During the late 1910s the organization came under the influence of a radical faction based in Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
headed by John Keracher
John Keracher
John Keracher was a Scottish-born American Marxist politician who founded the Proletarian Party of America in 1920.-Early years:...
, which banned the advocacy of ameliorative reforms by party members, under penalty of expulsion. This brought the organization into conflict with the National Office of the SPA, which expelled the state organization in May 1919, "reorganizing" the state organization under more moderate leadership that same year. The state organization continued to exist through 1972 when the SPA changed its name to Social Democrats, USA.
Development
Michigan went "dry"Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
early in 1918, which had the effect of putting a number of bars and beer gardens out of business. Meeting halls became comparatively cheap to rent and purchase. Late in April 1918, Socialist Party regular Maurice Sugar
Maurice Sugar
Maurice Sugar was an American political activist and labor attorney. He is best remembered as the General Counsel of the United Auto Workers Union from 1937 to 1946.-Early years:...
and his friends helped to raise $10,000 through entertainments and raffles to pay for the down payment on a large building in Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
which was later christened “The House of the Masses.” A corporation consisting of members of Local Detroit Socialist Party was put in trust of the facility, which had a restaurant, game rooms, meeting rooms, and a large hall. With the establishment of a proper headquarters facility, membership in the Detroit Socialist organization increased dramatically, although fundraising to continue payments on the $70,000 facility also proved to be a burden for the local organization.
Conventions
The 1916 convention was held in MuskegonMuskegon, Michigan
Muskegon is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 38,401. The city is the county seat of Muskegon County...
on Sunday, September 17, and Monday, September 18, and was attended by some 60 delegates. The gathering was called to order by State Secretary John Keracher
John Keracher
John Keracher was a Scottish-born American Marxist politician who founded the Proletarian Party of America in 1920.-Early years:...
of Detroit. The report of the State Executive Committee showed an increase of membership in the party to about 4,000, although the organization remained on unsure financial grounds, showing a deficit of over $500.
The gathering readopted the organization's 1914 platform, with the elimination of a section voicing the organization's favor for industrial organization. This appears to have been a vicory of the Keracher faction, drawing the ire of a group of 8 delegates, who submitted and official written criticism charging that the convention "clearly manifested" the "conspicuous act" of "failure...to pledge allegiance to the national and international organizations" and to lend support to the trade union movement.
The gathering also approved the publication of the official state bulletin as a section within The Michigan Socialist, up to that time the organ of Local Detroit, as a cost-saving measure and nominated a full slate of candidates for the fall 1916 elections. This was regarded as a defeat by Keracher and his associates, of opposed the "party regular" tenor of the publication, with Keracher declaring the decision "a ruse to circulate the paper throughout the state."
The 1918 convention was held September 7 and 8 in the "House of the Masses" in Detroit and was attended by 56 delegates. The gathering named party regular Maurice Sugar chairman of the convention by a narrow margin. Chief on the agenda was the question of the level of support to be given by the state organization to the European revolutionary movement in general and the Russian revolution in particular, with radical resolutions by John Keracher and Alexander Rovin "to support the Soviet Government
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
in every possible way and to the last dollar and man" defeated by the convention's moderate majority, on the grounds that such declarations might be illegal under the so-called Espionage Act.
In its final session, the gathering had a heated battle over the financing and terms of support for The Proletarian, the new publication of the Keracher-Proletarian University faction. Keracher lieutenant Al Renner introduced a motion calling for state financing and official support of the publication, which prompted the vigorous opposition by the moderate wing, led by Sugar, on the grounds that the publication "did not follow the policy of the National Office." Defeated on the floor of the convention, a group of radical delegates got together downtown at the offices of The Proletarian afterwards and established a new organization which was to operate as an organized faction within the SPA — the "Proletarian University of America."
The regular 1919 convention of the Socialist Party of Michigan was held February 24 in Grand Rapids. Some 51 delegates were in attendance, characterized in an article in the Left Wing press as a "harmonious gathering of boosters." The convention acted upon the resignation of State Secretary Bloomenberg by electing John Keracher to fill the balance of his unexpired term, passed a program calling for the establishment of socialism while presenting no ameliorative demands, passed a resolution on religion calling for all party agitators to speak against it from the basis of historical materialism
Historical materialism
Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans...
, and unanimously endorsed the expansion of Marxist study groups in the state.
1973 Re-Organization
The Socialist Party of AmericaSocialist 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...
voted 73:34 to change its name to Social Democrats, USA in December of 1972. SPUSA was founded in 1973, after which the SPMI was founded. The SPMI is also the successor to Michigan's former Human Rights Party, which elected multiple candidates to the City Councils of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti before merging into SPMI in 1977.
The Socialist Party of Michigan engages in both electoral politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and non-electoral activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
. Non-electoral activism includes explicitly socialist support for labor and unionization, anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
and anti-imperialist agitation, support for feminist and anti-racist campaigns, and regular political forums, literature distributions, and demonstrations. The Socialist Party of Michigan also intermittently publishes a political magazine, The Michigan Socialist.
Although Michigan's restrictive ballot access laws have thus far prevented the SPMI from obtaining a state ballot line, it has nevertheless run candidates in each of the past four (2004, 2006, 2008, & 2010) state general elections, who have qualified for the ballot by means of either obtaining the subsequent dual nomination of the ballot qualified Green Party of Michigan
Green Party of Michigan
The Green Party of Michigan is the state party organization for Michigan of the Green Party of the United States. The party has had ballot access in Michigan since November 2000...
or by petition as independents. In each such instance, the Party's candidates have consistently run under the banner of the Socialist Party in all campaign materials and activities, in spite of their inability to have the Party's label listed with their names on the election ballot. Since 2004, the SPMI has run candidates on the ballot in two campaigns for U.S. Congress, two campaigns for the State House of Representatives
Michigan State House of Representatives
The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2000 federal U.S. Census.Members are elected in...
, two campaigns for the State Board of Education, one campaign for the University of Michigan Board of Regents
Board of Regents of the University of Michigan
The Board of Regents of the University of Michigan is the legal corporation that controls the University of Michigan, comprising the campuses at Ann Arbor, Flint, and Dearborn. The Board of Regents was created by the Organic Act of March 18, 1837 that established the modern University of Michigan...
, one campaign for Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
Board of Trustees, one campaign for Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
Board of Governors, and one campaign for Oakland Community College
Oakland Community College
Oakland Community College is a community college established June 8, 1964 in Oakland County, Michigan. It opened September 1965 with two campuses - Highland Lakes, a renovated hospital in Union Lake, and Auburn Hills, a former Army Nike missile site in Auburn Hills.OCC is the largest of Michigan's...
Board of Trustees.
In 2004 the SPMI also qualified the Socialist Party ticket of Walt Brown
Walt Brown
Walter Frederick Brown is an American politician and was the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party USA in the 2004 elections. Brown became a socialist in 1948. He served as Democratic member of the Oregon State Senate from 1975 to 1987. Brown also served as a Socialist Party of Oregon...
for President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
and Mary Alice Herbert
Mary Alice Herbert
Mary Alice "Mal" Herbert ran for Vice President as the candidate for the Socialist Party USA in 2004. She and her running-mate, Walt Brown, pulled in 10,837 votes, the highest total for the Socialist Party since 1952....
for Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
for the Michigan ballot under the state qualified label of the nationally defunct Natural Law Party
Natural Law Party
The Natural Law Party was a transnational party based on the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was active in up to 74 countries, and ran candidates in at least ten. Founded in 1992, it was mostly disbanded in 2004 but continues in India and in some U.S. states.The NLP viewed "natural law" as...
, combined with a slate of SPMI presidential electors. The SPMI subsequently obtained official write-in status certification of the Socialist Party's 2008 ticket of Brian Moore
Brian Moore (politician)
Brian Patrick Moore is an United States politician and founder of antiwar organization Nature Coast Coalition for Peace & Justice. He was the presidential nominee of the Socialist Party USA for the 2008 United States presidential election. He waged several campaigns for mayor and city council in...
for President and Stewart Alexander
Stewart Alexander (politician)
Stewart Alexis Alexander is an American democratic socialist politician, presidential nominee for the Socialist Party USA in the 2012 election., and former SPUSA nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2008 election....
for Vice President, along with its slate of SPMI presidential electors.
In July 2010 the Party filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Secretary of State
Michigan Secretary of State
The Secretary of State is the third-ranking official in the U.S. state of Michigan and one of four great offices of state. As the name implies, the officeholder was originally responsible for much of state government, but now the duties are similar to those of the other 47 secretaries of states...
challenging the constitutionality of the Michigan statute governing the ballot qualification of political parties, and arguing that it has legally satisfied the criteria for ballot qualification under the governing statute's presently enacted requirements. The Party's lawsuit is presently pending an application for leave to the Michigan Supreme Court. In conjunction with its legal claims, the Party filed documents with the Michigan Secretary of State to certify the nomination of seven member candidates for state and federal office in the 2010 General Election. Subsequently, however, the Michigan Secretary of State certified the ballot qualification of only those two candidates, among its 2010 nominees, who had subsequently obtained the Green Party of Michigan's back-up nomination for the same 2010 offices.
The SPMI twice consecutively hosted the Socialist Party USA's biennial National Organizing Conference — in August 2006 in Detroit and July 2008 in Ann Arbor. The SPMI currently has a chartered local in Metro Detroit
Metro Detroit
The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is the metropolitan area located in Southeast Michigan centered on the city of Detroit which shares an international border with Windsor, Ontario. The Detroit metropolitan area is the second largest U.S. metropolitan area...
and has, in recent years, also had chartered locals in the counties of Kalamazoo
Kalamazoo County, Michigan
-Air Service:*The Kalamazoo & Battle Creek Metro Area is served by Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport.-Interstates:* I-94* I-94 Business Loop-US highways:* US-131* BUS US 131-Michigan State Trunklines:* M-43* M-89* M-96...
, Marquette
Marquette County, Michigan
-National protected areas:* Hiawatha National Forest * Huron National Wildlife Refuge* Ottawa National Forest -University:Northern Michigan University is a four-year university, established in 1899, located in Marquette, Michigan, on Michigan's Upper Peninsula...
and Washtenaw
Washtenaw County, Michigan
Washtenaw County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 344,791. Its county seat is Ann Arbor. The United States Office of Management and Budget defines the county as part of the Detroit–Warren–Flint Combined Statistical Area...
. The SPMI is also a founding member of the Michigan Third Parties Coalition.
Prominent members
- Dennis E. BattDennis E. BattDennis E. Batt was an American political journalist and trade union activist. Best remembered as the first editor of The Communist, the official organ of the Communist Party of America and leading member of the Proletarian Party of America, in later years Batt's political views became increasingly...
- Oakley C. JohnsonOakley C. JohnsonOakley C. Johnson was an American socialist political activist and writer. A founding member of both the Communist Party of America and the Proletarian Party of America, Johnson is best remembered as a historian of the radical politics of that era.-Early years:Oakley Calvin Johnson was born on...
- Matt ErardMatt ErardMatt Erard is an American democratic socialist politician on the city of Detroit’s Downtown District Citizens’ District Council and a former candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives' 53rd District...
- Max Goldfarb
- John KeracherJohn KeracherJohn Keracher was a Scottish-born American Marxist politician who founded the Proletarian Party of America in 1920.-Early years:...
- Cyril Lambkin
- Al Renner
- Victor Reuther
- Walter ReutherWalter ReutherWalter Philip Reuther was an American labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party in the mid 20th century...
- W.E. "Bud" Reynolds
- Alexander M. Rovin
- Maurice SugarMaurice SugarMaurice Sugar was an American political activist and labor attorney. He is best remembered as the General Counsel of the United Auto Workers Union from 1937 to 1946.-Early years:...
Further reading
- Tim Davenport, "Formation of the Proletarian Party of America, 1913-1923: Part 1: John Keracher's Proletarian University and the Establishment of the Communist Party of America," Corvallis, OR: author, May 2011.