The second part of the crisis, according to Germer, was the thick blanket of "personal slanders and conspiracies against individuals that have been engaged in for no other reason than to break down the confidence of the membership" in the party's elected leadership.
The Left Wing critics of the NEC and the Germer administration offered "no specific statements, but general gossip, rumor, suggestion, innuendo," he declared.
The first order of business at the convention was the election of a chairman of the day, a post handily won by Regular Seymour Stedman over Left Winger Joseph Coldwell of Rhode Island, by a tally of 88-37.
[1] There was little, if any, drama, about the ultimate outcome of the convention based upon the composition of the delegation, which had been effectively packed by the party's "regulars" while the dissident left wingers split over the question of tactics.
A report by a special investigating committee appointed by the National Executive Committee, detailing an extensive list of irregularities and illegalities said to have been systematically perpetrated by several of the suspended language federations, was unanimously received by the convention, setting aside the results of the 1919 party election except for a referendum calling for the SPA to affiliate with the Communist International in Moscow, the passage of which by a margin of over 6-to-1 had precluded any possibility of fraudulent passage.