[3] Chairman of the group was J.B. Matthews, a former Methodist missionary who would later become chief investigator for the House Committee on Un-American Activities headed by Martin Dies, Jr.[3] The RPC's Appeal was intended to reorient the Socialist Party towards revolutionary socialism from its previous parliamentary tradition.
More important, however, the failure of social democracy to take power in Germany, where the Socialists had gained the support of large numbers of the working people, raises grave questions as to its theoretical soundness.
It was, however, highly critical of the Communist Party USA, declaring its so-called "united front from below" tactics had "been proven to be disruptive of the development of a revolutionary labor movement."
"[6] The April 1934 Appeal also hailed the Soviet Union as the "land of proletarian dictatorship" and demanded that "the Socialist Party must pledge itself to defend the victories for Socialism which have been achieved in the USSR.
"[7] The 1934 Appeal was influential in steering the June 1934 Detroit Convention of the Socialist Party towards a radical new Declaration of Principles, a document ultimately written by Norman Thomas' associate Devere Allen.