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Socialist Labor Party Seattle Section records, 1930-1962

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Socialist Labor Party (Wash.). Seattle Section
Title
Socialist Labor Party Seattle Section records
Dates
1930-1962 (inclusive)
Quantity
2.73 cubic feet (7 boxes)
Collection Number
3180 (Accession No. 3180-001)
Summary
Records of a Seattle political labor organization
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to all users.

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Additional Reference Guides

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Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was partially provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

The Seattle Section of the Socialist Labor Party (SLP) was founded in the early 1890's as a branch of the Socialist Labor Party of America. The SLP was founded as a Marxist political party in 1876, the first nationwide socialist party in the United States. The party promoted the doctrines of Daniel DeLeon, theorist of the SLP, which advocated a classless, stateless, industrial democracy in which private property would be abolished and all natural resources and means of production would be operated by the workers through Socialist Industrial Unions. The SLP planned to achieve its goals through national and local elections and by capturing the trade union movement. However, the party's narrow sectarian ideology, its insistence on doctrinal unity and party discipline, together with its rejection of social reform alienated it from the trade union movement. After modest success in the 1890s, the party declined and never numbered more than a few thousand. It survived however, and continued to run candidates for national and state office.

The Socialist Labor Party was the first socialist organization of any importance in the Pacific Northwest but it never established ties with the labor movement and never developed beyond a small cadre. During the period documented by these papers, 1930-1962, the Section frequently consisted of fewer than six active members and at times, particularly in the early 1950s, nearly ceased to exist. Section Seattle experienced frequent internal dissent, occasionally expelled members and was, in 1944, itself censured, expelled from the Party and reorganized. The business of the Section was carried on by an organizer who was democratically chosen and who reported to the secretary of the State Executive Committee. The State Executive Committee answered to the National Executive Committee which was headed by the National Secretary, an office held by Arnold Peterson throughout this period. The official organ of the Party was the Weekly People, which the Section sold through subscriptions and newstands. Its other activities included the sale of SLP pamphlets, distribution of leaflets, lectures, classes and social activities. The SLP in Washington held an annual convention and also conventions to nominate candidates for state elections.

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Content Description

Correspondence, minutes, financial records, conventions and ephemera of the Seattle branch of a Marxist, socialist political party; 1930-1962 (bulk 1943-1962).

Includes records of the Washington State Executive Committee (SEC)(1944-1962) and the Spokane Section (1943-1944). The records of the SEC Secretary consist primarily of SEC Minutes and the 1949 correspondence of Theodore Bossie, who was then SEC Secretary but also a longtime member and former organizer of Section Seattle. Bossie apparently kept his SEC files at the Seattle Section, and his correspondence coincides with a gap in the Seattle correspondence.

Major correspondents and approximate dates of service:

Section Seattle:

  • George Bennett - section organizer, 1940-November 1943
  • Oscar Lindberg - section organizer, November 1943-January 1945
  • Ray Solie - section organizer, January 1945-July 1945
  • Erven O. Hebert - section organizer, July 1945-1949
  • Alexander Merson - section organizer, October 1950-Augist 1951
  • Ray Berner - section organizer, January-July 1957
  • Jack Ceder - section organizer, July 1957-July 1959
  • Donald Orcutt - section organizer, August 1959-1960
  • Charles W. Turner - financial secretary, 1957-1960

State Secretary:

  • Frank Daniels, 1943-1944
  • Al Meenk, 1944
  • Theodore Bossie, 1944-1949
  • Ernest O. Sturm, 1951-1957
  • Henry Killman, 1957-1960

National Socialist Labor Party:

  • Arnold Peterson - National Secretary
  • Herb Steiner - Regional representative circa 1944

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Creator's literary rights not transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in 4 series:

  • Administrative records
  • Primary conventions
  • State Executive Committee
  • Spokane Section

Acquisition Information

Gift of Budget Rent-A-Car, May 8, 1981.

The records of Section Seattle of the Socialist Labor Party were discovered in a closet of the International Order of Good Templars Hall by members of the lodge and were offered to the Library. After approval was granted by Budget Rent-A-Car, the purchaser of the property, the material was transferred to the Library in May 1981, shortly before the building's demolition. Why or when the records were abandoned is not known.

Processing Note

The records had no discernible order when they were received. During processing, records of the State Executive Committee (SEC) Secretary were discovered and were separated as a series. All the SEC minutes were put into this series.

There are unaccountable gaps in all the record series; the period 1933-1937, 1953-1956, as well as pre-1930 are completely undocumented. The records end abruptly in June 1962 without explanation. At one point, in 1952, the Section sent some of its "historical" records to the national headquarters and this may have been its practice at other times.

Separated Materials

Issues of the Weekly People which were received with the papers were relocated to the University of Washington Libraries' Microform and Newspaper Collection. Books from the SLP library were added to the University of Washington Libraries' main collection.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 


2007 (Last modified: 4/19/2018)

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