United States 1901

Synopsis

The Socialist Party of America was born in 1901 when the Socialist Labor Party and Socialist Democratic Party of America (SDPA) combined. SDPA leader Eugene V. Debs, a 1900 presidential candidate, was the socialists' perennial candidate for two decades. The party attracted many of the era's leading intellectuals with its call for social reforms and hundreds of thousands of workers with its support for radical labor causes. Party membership rose to more than 150,000 within a decade. In addition to civil rights demands, the party defended improved labor conditions, housing, and welfare legislation. The onset of World War I, the Russian Revolution, and a government offensive against the radical left were severe blows to the party. Even so, Debs managed to win nearly a million votes from prison in the 1920 presidential election. Although the party never displaced the major parties, the socialists...