I have no country to fight for;
my country is the earth;
I am a citizen of the world.
-Eugene Victor Debs
Hellraisers Journal, Friday May 4, 1917
The Socialist Party of America on War and Militarism
From April 7th to the 14th, delegates gathered in St. Louis, Missouri, for a “National Emergency Convention” to consider the Socialist position on the “orgy of war.” A Majority Report and two Minority Reports on War and Militarism were the end result of that convention and those Reports are being put up to a vote of the membership this month.
From this month’s International Socialist Review:
The Emergency National Convention
By LESLIE MARCY
IN compliance with a mandate hurriedly issued by the National Executive Committee, delegates assembled at the Planters Hotel in St. Louis on Saturday morning, April 7th. All states were represented with the exception of Alabama, Alaska, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina, while Texas was represented part of the time by one delegate.
This convention was called without a referendum vote and in face of the fact that there was very little demand on the part of the membership for it. The Constitution nowhere empowers the National Executive Committee to call a special convention. In many states the membership was not even given an opportunity to elect delegates but the rank and file will be asked to dig up $15,000.00 to cover the cost of the convention. The excuse for the convention was to find out how the party stood on the question of war. All the National Executive Committee had to do was to say, Let there be a convention, and there was a convention.
As many theories were represented regarding war, its cause and cure and the attitude the party should take in the present crisis, as there were tongues around the Tower of Babel. Many of the delegates came uninstructed but there were half a dozen delegations which came instructed to vote against all wars, offensive or defensive. The delegates from Illinois, Michigan, Washington and Ohio were cleancut and uncompromising and voted solidly together for a clear, concise statement of the party’s position.
