Walter Thomas Mills
He returned to the United States in 1914 with the advent of World War I and worked unsuccessfully to keep the country out of the bloody European conflict, eventually leaving the socialist movement in the 1920s.
He organized a so-called People's University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, in the first years of the 20th century, soliciting funds and then exiting the project immediately before its collapse.
[4] Mills was similarly involved in colony schemes in Michigan, Kansas City, and Colorado, all of which drew cash infusions from outside investors before failing in short order.
"This is a great setback from the time when the revolutionary element had absolute control in the party some four or five months ago," left wing adherent Harry Ault declared.
Suddenly, Mills was given the floor and he made a motion of adjournment, which was quickly seconded and carried amid the whooping and shouting of his supporters.
The results were announced on Sunday, July 21, 1907 — a unanimous vote to revoke the charter of Local Seattle for its failure to take action against Walter Thomas Mills.
[14] Hermon Titus's right-hand man at the Seattle Socialist, Harry Ault, claimed to speak for "a large number of members of Local Seattle, perhaps even a majority" when he declared: "These comrades are disgusted with the rule or ruin policy of the opportunists, who, though they have been defeated in every state convention and in every referendum in which they have crossed swords with the revolutionists, persist in creating strife and dissension in the party in this state.
"The importation of Walter Thomas Mills is merely the culminating act of a band of desperate filibusterers, who, having been foiled in their attempts to control the party, resort to this means to disrupt it and organize it anew upon their plan.
[1] Similar in climate to the Pacific Northwest from whence he most recently hailed, Mills was quickly engrossed with the mission of uniting the deeply divided labor and left wing political movements of New Zealand and he wound up putting down roots.
Mills was criticized by radical trade unionists such as Pat Hickey, Paddy Webb and Bob Semple for his emphasis on organizing the staid middle class.
During the 1911 election campaign Mills faced Scott Bennett in a series of highly publicized debates which emphasized the ideological issues which split the New Zealand labor movement.
[1] While many unions refused to affiliate with the ULP, Mills still played a large role at a 1913 conference to mobilize the New Zealand labor movement against the government of William Massey.
[1] Mills managed to convince the various factions at the conference to merge into two new organizations vaguely following American institutions: the United Federation of Labour and the Social Democratic Party.
Later in the 1910s, Mills was attracted to the newly formed Non-Partisan League (NPL), a cooperatively-oriented radical rural organization founded by former Socialist Arthur C. Townley and particularly strong in the Upper Midwestern states of North Dakota and Minnesota.
