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Labor History Map of Indianapolis |
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The Socialist Party of America was founded at a convention in Indianapolis in the summer of 1901 at Masonic Hall. The more than 100 men and women at the convention had come to the party from utopian socialism, Populism, or industrial unionism. The party was created by Eugene V. Debs of Terre Haute as an alternative to the commonly held view that capitalism could reform itself. The early strength of Socialism in Indianapolis was a direct result of the city’s large German population. Germans who fled their homeland after the failed revolutions of 1848 brought their militance and radicalism with them to Indianapolis as they settled on the city’s south side and elsewhere.
The Socialist Party again held its national convention in Indianapolis in 1912. At this convention, the party addressed challenges presented by more radical labor organizations such as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies"), who advocated violence and sabotage as ways to reform the capitalist system. By the end of the convention, a majority of those present decided to bar from party membership anyone "who advocates crime, sabotage or other methods of violence." Ironically, the very wording used by the party to denounce violent methods was later used against them by authorities passing anti-union and anti-reform measures. |
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| Elizabeth Gurley-Flynn 'The Rebel Girl' pg. 164 'The IWW: A Study of American Syndicalism. Paul Brissenden Pgs.280-282 Proceedings, National Convention of the Socialist Party, 1912 pp.136-7. David Shannon, The Socialist Party of America, 1955. George T. Probst, The Germans in Indianapolis, 1989 | ||||