William Kruse (American)
Encyclopedia
William F. "Bill" Kruse (1894 – 1952) was an important head of the Young People's Socialist League
(YPSL) in the 1910s. He was a member of the Socialist Party of America
until 1921, acting as a leader of the party's Left Wing faction, loyal to the Third International (Comintern). Thereafter he joined the Workers Party of America
, serving as Assistant Executive Secretary of the WPA from the time of its foundation in December 1921.
to German and Danish immigrant parents in 1894.
Kruse worked briefly as a sheet metal worker in his youth. He later studied at the Socialist Party of America
's Rand School of Social Science
under Algernon Lee
.
(YPSL). Kruse served two terms in this position, finishing in June of 1918. He also served as editor of the YPSL's national publication, Young Socialists' Magazine, from 1918 to 1919 and as the Provisional Secretary of the SPA's national Socialist Sunday School movement.
Kruse was the fraternal delegate of the YPSL to the party's seminal 1917 Emergency National Convention in St. Louis. Militantly opposed to the war in Europe
, Kruse, a law school graduate, worked to defend the civil rights of war opponents as a leader of the American Liberty Defense League.
As head of the Socialist Party's youth organization and a vociferous critic of American participation in the war, Kruse was targeted by the US Department of Justice headed by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer under the Espionage Act. Kruse was indicted in Chicago by a grand jury on Feb. 2, 1918, and the secret indictment was made public on March 9. The sensational and widely-publicized trial of Kruse and 4 other top members of the Socialist Party began before Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis on Dec. 6, 1918. This trial ended Jan. 4, 1919, with the jury finding Kruse and his associates (Victor L. Berger
, Adolph Germer
, J. Louis Engdahl
, Irwin St. John Tucker) guilty. Landis sentenced each to 20 years in the Federal penitentiary, a sentence which was appealed and later overturned on the basis of judicial bias.
Released on bond, Kruse continued as a Contributing Editor of Young Socialists' Magazine from March 1919. He was a delegate to the 1919 Emergency National Convention
of the SPA in August of 1919, representing a Left Wing voice on the floor, but refusing to bolt the convention to join the Communist Labor Party
gathering downstairs. Kruse was elected to serve on a new party institution to oversee controversial personnel decisions of the NEC, the Board of Appeals, and he continued in this role on this largely unused body until 1920. In September of 1919, with the YPSL moving to organizational independence under its Secretary, Oliver Carlson, Kruse was named head of the SPA's new "Young People's Department." He also resumed editorship of Young Socialists' Magazine, now back under party control. Kruse also worked as a National Organizer for the SPA, rebuilding the Rhode Island state organization, among other tasks.
Kruse was a Socialist candidate for the US House of Representatives from the Illinois 6th C.D. in 1918 and again 1920, and for Illinois Secretary of State in 1921.
Kruse remained active in the Left Wing movement inside the SPA until the fall of 1921, organizing the Committee for the Third International with his associates Louis Engdahl and Alexander Trachtenberg
. After the triumph of the party's Regulars at the 1921 Convention, Kruse, Engdahl, and their associates left the party, advocating for an "open" Communist Party in the United States. This desire came to fruition in December 1921 with the establishment of the Workers Party of America
, in which Kruse served as the Assistant Executive Secretary from the time of its foundation. He was also elected by the founding convention of the WPA as an Alternate to the WPA's governing Central Executive Committee. On June 29, 1929, Kruse was promoted to full member of the CEC of the WPA when Marguerite Prevey resigned.
Kruse was an adherent of the Pepper-Ruthenberg-Lovestone faction throughout the Communist Party's factional struggles of the 1920s.
From 1926 to 1927, Kruse was among the first Americans to study at the Comintern's Lenin School in Moscow, where he also served in an informal capacity as a lieutenant of the Lovestone faction in the USSR. Upon his return in 1927, Kruse was appointed by the CEC as District Organizer of the Communist Party's important Chicago district.
In 1928 Kruse stood as the candidate for Governor of Illinois
of the Workers (Communist) Party.
Kruse was expelled from the Communist (Workers) Party in 1929 for refusing to denounce party leader Jay Lovestone
. He left radical politics and became Educational Director for Bell and Howell Films, later opening his own public relations
firm in Chicago, William F. Kruse & Associates.
The William F. Kruse papers are housed at the Hoover Institution
at Stanford University
in Palo Alto, California
.
Young People's Socialist League
The Young People's Socialist League , founded in 1989, is the official youth arm of the Socialist Party USA. The group's membership consists of those democratic socialists under the age of 30, and its political activities tend to concentrate on increasing the voter turnout of young democratic...
(YPSL) in the 1910s. He was a member of the 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...
until 1921, acting as a leader of the party's Left Wing faction, loyal to the Third International (Comintern). Thereafter he joined the Workers Party of America
Workers Party of America
The Workers Party of America was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. As a legal political party the Workers Party accepted affiliation from independent socialist groups such as the African Blood Brotherhood,...
, serving as Assistant Executive Secretary of the WPA from the time of its foundation in December 1921.
Early years
William F. "Bill" Kruse was born in Hoboken, New JerseyHoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
to German and Danish immigrant parents in 1894.
Kruse worked briefly as a sheet metal worker in his youth. He later studied at the 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...
's Rand School of Social Science
Rand School of Social Science
The Rand School of Social Science was formed in New York City by adherents of the Socialist Party of America in 1906. The school aimed to provide a broad education to workers, imparting a politicizing class-consciousness, and additionally served as a research bureau, a publisher, and the operator...
under Algernon Lee
Algernon Lee
Algernon H. Lee was an American socialist politician and educator, best known as the Director of Education at the Rand School of Social Science for 35 years.-Early years:...
.
Political career
In July of 1915, the governing National Executive Committee of the SPA appointed the 21 year old as Director of the party's youth section, the Young People's Socialist LeagueYoung People's Socialist League
The Young People's Socialist League , founded in 1989, is the official youth arm of the Socialist Party USA. The group's membership consists of those democratic socialists under the age of 30, and its political activities tend to concentrate on increasing the voter turnout of young democratic...
(YPSL). Kruse served two terms in this position, finishing in June of 1918. He also served as editor of the YPSL's national publication, Young Socialists' Magazine, from 1918 to 1919 and as the Provisional Secretary of the SPA's national Socialist Sunday School movement.
Kruse was the fraternal delegate of the YPSL to the party's seminal 1917 Emergency National Convention in St. Louis. Militantly opposed to the war in Europe
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...
, Kruse, a law school graduate, worked to defend the civil rights of war opponents as a leader of the American Liberty Defense League.
As head of the Socialist Party's youth organization and a vociferous critic of American participation in the war, Kruse was targeted by the US Department of Justice headed by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer under the Espionage Act. Kruse was indicted in Chicago by a grand jury on Feb. 2, 1918, and the secret indictment was made public on March 9. The sensational and widely-publicized trial of Kruse and 4 other top members of the Socialist Party began before Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis on Dec. 6, 1918. This trial ended Jan. 4, 1919, with the jury finding Kruse and his associates (Victor L. Berger
Victor L. Berger
Victor Luitpold Berger was a founding member of the Socialist Party of America and an important and influential Socialist journalist who helped establish the so-called Sewer Socialist movement. The first Socialist elected to the U.S...
, Adolph Germer
Adolph Germer
Adoph Germer was an American socialist political functionary and union organizer. He is best remembered as National Executive Secretary of the Socialist Party of America from 1916 to 1919. It was during this period that the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party emerged as an organized faction...
, J. Louis Engdahl
J. Louis Engdahl
John Louis Engdahl was an American socialist journalist and newspaper editor. One of the leading journalists of the Socialist Party of America, Engdahl joined the Communist movement in 1921 and continued to employ his talents in that organization as the first editor of The Daily Worker...
, Irwin St. John Tucker) guilty. Landis sentenced each to 20 years in the Federal penitentiary, a sentence which was appealed and later overturned on the basis of judicial bias.
Released on bond, Kruse continued as a Contributing Editor of Young Socialists' Magazine from March 1919. He was a delegate to the 1919 Emergency National Convention
1919 Emergency National Convention
The 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America was held in Chicago from August 30 to September 5, 1919. It was a seminal gathering in the history of American radicalism, marked by the bolting of the party's organized left wing to establish the Communist Labor Party of...
of the SPA in August of 1919, representing a Left Wing voice on the floor, but refusing to bolt the convention to join the Communist Labor Party
Communist Labor Party
The Communist Labor Party of America was one of the organizational predecessors of the Communist Party USA. The group was established at the end of August 1919 following a three-way split of the Socialist Party of America...
gathering downstairs. Kruse was elected to serve on a new party institution to oversee controversial personnel decisions of the NEC, the Board of Appeals, and he continued in this role on this largely unused body until 1920. In September of 1919, with the YPSL moving to organizational independence under its Secretary, Oliver Carlson, Kruse was named head of the SPA's new "Young People's Department." He also resumed editorship of Young Socialists' Magazine, now back under party control. Kruse also worked as a National Organizer for the SPA, rebuilding the Rhode Island state organization, among other tasks.
Kruse was a Socialist candidate for the US House of Representatives from the Illinois 6th C.D. in 1918 and again 1920, and for Illinois Secretary of State in 1921.
Kruse remained active in the Left Wing movement inside the SPA until the fall of 1921, organizing the Committee for the Third International with his associates Louis Engdahl and Alexander Trachtenberg
Alexander Trachtenberg
Alexander "Alex" Trachtenberg was an American publisher of radical political books and pamphlets and activist in the Socialist Party of America and later the Communist Party USA...
. After the triumph of the party's Regulars at the 1921 Convention, Kruse, Engdahl, and their associates left the party, advocating for an "open" Communist Party in the United States. This desire came to fruition in December 1921 with the establishment of the Workers Party of America
Workers Party of America
The Workers Party of America was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. As a legal political party the Workers Party accepted affiliation from independent socialist groups such as the African Blood Brotherhood,...
, in which Kruse served as the Assistant Executive Secretary from the time of its foundation. He was also elected by the founding convention of the WPA as an Alternate to the WPA's governing Central Executive Committee. On June 29, 1929, Kruse was promoted to full member of the CEC of the WPA when Marguerite Prevey resigned.
Kruse was an adherent of the Pepper-Ruthenberg-Lovestone faction throughout the Communist Party's factional struggles of the 1920s.
From 1926 to 1927, Kruse was among the first Americans to study at the Comintern's Lenin School in Moscow, where he also served in an informal capacity as a lieutenant of the Lovestone faction in the USSR. Upon his return in 1927, Kruse was appointed by the CEC as District Organizer of the Communist Party's important Chicago district.
In 1928 Kruse stood as the candidate for Governor of Illinois
Governor of Illinois
The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state....
of the Workers (Communist) Party.
Kruse was expelled from the Communist (Workers) Party in 1929 for refusing to denounce party leader Jay Lovestone
Jay Lovestone
Jay Lovestone was at various times a member of the Socialist Party of America, a leader of the Communist Party USA, leader of a small oppositionist party, an anti-Communist and Central Intelligence Agency helper, and foreign policy advisor to the leadership of the AFL-CIO and various unions...
. He left radical politics and became Educational Director for Bell and Howell Films, later opening his own public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
firm in Chicago, William F. Kruse & Associates.
Death and legacy
Bill Kruse died in 1952.The William F. Kruse papers are housed at the Hoover Institution
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded in 1919 by then future U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, an early alumnus of Stanford....
at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
.
Works
- In the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. October term, A.D. 1918. Victor L. Berger, Adolph Germer, William F. Kruse, Irwin St. John Tucker and J. Louis Engdahl, plaintiffs in error, vs. United States of America, defendant in error. Error to the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, K.M. Landis, Judge ... Brief for the plaintiffs in error. With Messrs. Berger, Germer, Tucker, and Engdahl. Chicago: The Court, 1919.
- 100 years — For What? Being the Addresses of Victor L. Berger, Adolph Germer, J. Louis Engdahl, William F. Kruse and Irwin St. John Tucker to the Court that Sentenced Them to Serve 100 years in Prison. With Messrs. Berger, Germer, Tucker, and Engdahl. Chicago: National Office, Socialist Party, n.d. [1919].
- "Socialists, Prepare!" The Socialist World (Chicago), vol. 1, no. 5 (November 15, 1920), pp. 4–5.