Socialist Party of Washington

[citation needed] They assigned Cyrus Field Willard the task of locating a site for their initial colony and gave him authority to "do what in his judgment appeared the right thing to do.

"[This quote needs a citation] Willard went to Seattle to consult with SDA member J.B. Fowler, who pointed out the good harbors on southern Puget Sound.

A colony scrip was created that included a $1 denomination for an eight-hour work day and smaller units, called minims, for minutes worker over or less than six hours.

In December 1904 some members abandoned the communal concept and reorganized as the Burley Rochdale Mercantile Association, and three months later the Co-operative Brotherhood itself re-organized into a joint stock company.

[36] The SDP of Washington held a second (and final) state convention at party headquarters, located at 220 Union Street in Seattle, on Sunday June 30.

After graduating the seminary, Titus had spent over a decade as a Baptist preacher in Ithaca, New York and Newton, Massachusetts before leaving the church owing to feelings that it did not adequately represent the teachings of Jesus.

Upon graduation, Titus practiced medicine for two years in Newton before moving to Seattle in 1892, where he continued to work as a medical practitioner for the rest of the decade.

[49] Similar action against "fusionism" was taken against Local Northport, a town located in Northeastern Washington, which likewise had its charter revoked for collaboration with another party during the 1902 campaign.

"[50] The other two members of the Local Quorum, the moderates William McDevitt[51] and Scott, held a session in State Secretary Moore's absence and appointed H.B.

[54]This began a year of financial difficulty for the publication as some in the Washington Socialist movement moved to distance themselves from the radical Seattle paper.

[56]While readers were encouraged to make the publication sustainable through a fourfold increase in circulation, switch to a subscription rate of $1 per year was openly mooted.

[citation needed] The subsequent issue featured an article by Debs titled "To The Socialist and its Readers," in which the party's leading orator came down firmly in support of a rate hike.

Debs added, "I want to see a substantial paper, the best that can be produced, and a reasonable price paid for it, instead of a flimsy sheet on crutches that manages to limp from one issue to another like a walking epitaph.

When the Seattle City Central Committee refused to provide adequate ballots for this purpose to the Pike Street Branch, Titus had small forms printed declaring the intention of the signatory to vote against the proposal.

Local Everett became the de facto new Pike Street Branch, with reports regularly made to Hermon Titus's weekly detailing their exploits.

The group also began publishing a weekly bulletin in order to present its side of the case, attempting to demonstrate that a "conspiracy" was at work backed by Hermon Titus.

The party's Finnish Branch had built a new hall on a lot on the corner of Madison Street and Washington Boulevard which had been purchased for the purpose.

[77] With his ticket defeated and no hope in delay for a new State Committee, Mills was brought to trial before the Local Seattle on Sunday, April 28, 1907 at 10 am on the Victoria speech.

[80] State Secretary Richard Krueger echoed the same sentiments, blaming Local Seattle's incapacitating factionalism on Mills' presence and waxing poetical about the party's bygone days: The [Sunday] propaganda meetings were a big success from every point of view.

Consideration was made to join the rival Socialist Labor Party, which shared the disdain of the "Reds" for the ameliorative reform and broad political alliance touted by the moderates.

It called itself 'a political union,' and its membership provisions specifically excluded 'capitalists, lawyers, preachers, doctors, dentists, detectives, soldiers, factory owners, policemen, superintendents, foremen, professors, and store-keepers.'

The regular Socialist Party of Washington refused to recognize such a mandate from the legislature, contending instead that they were a dues-paying voluntary membership organization under the law, not subject to such regulation.

[102] The Socialist Party of Washington atrophied to the point that it failed to name a ticket for Congressional and State political offices in the 1920 and 1922 campaigns.

[109] A crowd of about 75 gathered around the street corner orator when he was approached by a uniformed policeman, who told the speaker to apply for a permit at city hall.

[109] A protest meeting was scheduled for Sunday night by the party, who saw a fight against the new public speaking rules on Pike Street as a matter of fundamental principle.

Crouch-Hazlett had just finished speaking from atop a soap box and announced a money collection when, she later recounted, "a policeman with the usual porcine proportions came up and said I would have to clear the sidewalk.

At 7:30 pm on Monday evening, October 28, 1907, a band of Seattle Socialists braved the pouring rain and headed for the city's new Pike Street Market, bustling with 1500 shoppers.

The basis for participation in this body was established by the State Constitution, which originally specified the election of one delegate for every local, and one for every additional 15 members in good standing, or fraction thereof.

The committee was split 3 to 3 on the question of whether only wage workers should henceforth be eligible for all party executive and legislative offers; after considerable debate on the convention floor, the requirement was defeated.

Burley Centralia Edison ("Equality" Colony) Edmonds Everett Freeland Hoquiam Kelso Prosser Seattle Spokane Tacoma Lost documents — no known copy extant:

The Socialist Party of Washington was a state affiliate of the Socialist Party of America, established in 1901.
Rich in timber and fisheries, Washington became the 42nd state only in November 1889.
George Boomer, formerly of "Equality" colony, was the first representative of the WPA on the Socialist Party's National Committee.
This 1897 ad by Debs' Social Democracy of America states that "one of the States of the Union, to be hereafter determined, shall be selected for concentration of our members and the introduction of cooperative industry."
Radical newspaper publisher Dr. Hermon Titus, a former Baptist preacher, was a key factional leader in the SPW in the first decade of the 20th century.
Hermon Titus's Seattle weekly, The Socialist, rallied the revolutionary socialist "Reds" of the Socialist Party of Washington. It was also declared the official organ of the left wing Socialist Party of Nebraska .
1904 Socialist Party Presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs was a reader and supporter of the Seattle Socialist. He urged editor Hermon Titus to raise the publication's price in order to maintain quality.
Walter Thomas Mills, an effective orator from Kansas, was brought to Seattle by the "constructive socialist" moderates.
The three headquarters cities of the SPW were clustered in the most heavily populated area of the state, in Western Washington along Puget Sound.
Alfred Wagenknecht, of Local Seattle's radical Pike Street Branch, was a key figure in the factional fisticuffs of the early SPW. He was later the first Executive Secretary of the Communist Labor Party .
E.B. "Harry" Ault was the right-hand man of radical publisher Hermon Titus from 1907 to 1910.
L.E. Katterfeld, State Secretary of the Socialist Party of Washington in 1914 and 1915. Katterfeld was later a top leader of the Communist Labor Party.
Hulet M. Wells, an activist in the Washington free speech fights.
State Secretary and SPA National Committee member David Burgess as he appeared in 1908.
The election of Tacoma moderate Irene Smith was challenged by the left wing at the 1905 Washington state convention.
State Secretary Frans Bostrom in 1912.