The Progressives

In Public Hall at Cleveland, the same place where three weeks earlier the Republican convention hissed and booed the 28 delegates from Wisconsin, the Conference for Progressive Political Action opened its Convention. The same group which the unshakable 28 had represented was there, this time as heroes and leaders; for this was the Convention that had gathered to nominate Senator Robert M. LaFollette for the Presidency.

About 1,000 delegates assembled. Who were they? What did they represent? The delegates were admitted on the following basis:

7 delegates from

National Socialist Party

3 delegates each from

National Labor organizations

National Farmer organizations

National Cooperative organizations

State organizations of the C. P. P. A. (organized in 30 states)

National Non-Partisan League

National Single Tax League League for Industrial Democracy

Women's Committee for Political Action

2 delegates from

Farmer-Labor Party, of Minnesota

1 delegate each from

State Federations of Labor

State organizations of farmers

City Central Labor bodies

State and Local Cooperatives

State Non-Partisan Leagues

State organizations of the Women's Committee for Political Action

Only Communists, cranks and reactionaries were not wanted--and they were very much not wanted. Alexander Howatt, radical miner leader who attended the Farmer Labor Convention in St. Paul (TIME, June 30) was at hand but was not welcome. So was William Mahoney, who organized the St. Paul Convention and was a member of the National Committee of the C. P. P. A. So was Jacob Coxey, known in 1894 as leader of Coxey's Army, claiming to be a representative of the Populist Party. As much as possible, these people were ruled out. No one wants less to be confounded with reds than do the pinks.

The day before the Convention assembled, the National Committee sent a telegram to Senator LaFollette asking him to become a candidate. The same day Robert M. LaFollette, Jr., left Washington for Cleveland as his father's courier. He carried with him his father's reply.

The Convention opened with the Hall, which accommodates 15,000, something better than half full. On the platform was a great American flag. Before it hung four portraits-- Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, LaFollette.

William H. Johnston, President of the International Association of Machinists, played a triple role: Chairman of the National Committee of the C. P. P. A., Temporary Chairman of the Convention, Permanent Chairman of the same. As the second of these, he delivered a keynote speech:

"The nation has witnessed the holding of a dull and lifeless convention of political puppets in this very Hall. It has also witnessed the antics of what seemed to be a disorderly mob meeting in New York City, but which responded to boss control quite obediently in its voting. In Cleveland, there was one boss. In New York, there were several. In Cleveland, there was the chill hand of approaching dissolution upon the party. In New York, the fever of class, religious and sectional hatreds burned in its veins.

"This conference is alive. It may have its moments of enthusiasm. I beg of you that it will always remain an orderly, deliberate assembly. I beg of you that enthusiasm shall not be perverted into silly demonstrations, wherein mature men behave like children and attempt to measure the strength of their convictions by their lung power or express the quality of their faith by the amount of noise they can produce. The older parties are going back to second childhood. Let us not imitate them. Let us have done with childish ways. . . .

"On Feb. 22, 1922, Washington's Birthday, this Conference first met in the city of Chicago and issued a new declaration of independence in which we set forth our grievances and proclaimed our purpose to fight for our rights in the coming Congressional elections. The story of that campaign is now history. It resulted in the greatest defeat of reactionary Senators and Congressmen ever recorded. In place of these 'lame ducks' we sent to Congress a splendid group of fighting Progressives, who have held the balance of power in the session which has just ended. They have broken through the barrier of the rules of the House of Representatives, slaughtered the Mellon tax plan and other reactionary legislation and forced the exposure through Congressional investigations of the most stupendous graft and corruption that the world has ever known. . . .

"We have a leader, that lifelong, faithful servant of the people, whose character, ability and record as a constructive statesman entitle him to take his place with the greatest men this nation has produced--with Washington, with Jefferson and with Lincoln. His name is already on your lips, his service is in your hearts, his vision is in your souls--Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin. . .

"The great tidal wave of popular enthusiasm that swept out of office the reactionary Governments of England and France and now threatens to destroy Mussolini, the black shirted Dictator of Italy, will carry Robert M. LaFollette into the Presidency of the United States."

When he had done, young women passed straw hats and collected $2,316.41 to support the campaign.

Other leaders made speeches, among them Senator Hendrik Shipstead, Farmer-Laborite of Minnesota, and Representative John M. Nelson, insurgent Republican from Wisconsin.

The great treat of the day, however, was the reading of Senator La-Follette's message. It was read by Bob, Jr., agressive, meticulous in dress, introduced as "a chip off the old block." He read:

"After long experience in public life and painstaking consideration of the present state of public affairs, I am convinced that the time has come for a militant political movement, independent of the two old party organizations and responsive to the needs and sentiments of the common people.

"I should be unwilling to participate in any political campaign at this time which would imperil the steady advance of the Progressive movement or diminish the number of true Progressives, nominally elected as Republicans and Democrats, who are now serving the public in the House, the Senate and in many of the State Governments. The ground already won must not be abandoned. . . . An analysis of the platforms adopted by the two old parties will show that the real issues have been ignored and that the candidate of either party, if elected, will go into office with no specific pledges whatsoever binding him to the people, while he will be under the most immediate necessity and obligation of serving the party bosses and predatory interests to whom he owes his nomination and upon whom he must rely for election. . . .

"To break the combined power of the private monopoly system over the political and economic life of the American people is the one paramount issue of the 1924 campaign.

"The American people are honest, intelligent, patriotic, industrious and frugal. And yet, in a land of untold wealth, dedicated to the principles of equal opportunity for all, special privileges to none, life has become a desperate struggle for the average man and woman. The millions who work on the farms, in the mines, in transportation, in the factories and shops and stores, with all their industry and saving, find themselves poorer at the end of the year than at the beginning. . . .

"The organized banking interests which own the railroads, control credit and dominate the industrial life of the nation, will further oppress labor, rob the consumer, and, by extortionate railroad rates and dictation of the terms of credit, reduce agriculture to the level of the European peasantry, if longer permitted to control this Government.

"The ill-gotten surplus capital acquired by exploiting the resources and the people of our country begets the imperialism which hunts down and exploits the natural resources and the people of foreign countries, erects huge armaments for the protection of its investments, breeds international strife in the markets of the world, and inevitably leads to war. . . .

"The surest reliance against war is Democracy. . . .

"I have long held the opinion that in the cooperative principle, as applied to both marketing and credit, lies the best hope for dealing effectively with monopoly. . . .

"We are unalterably opposed to any class government, whether it be the existing dictatorship of plutocracy or the dictatorship of the proletariat. Both are essentially undemocratic and unAmerican. Both are destructive of private initiative and individual liberty. . . .

"Upon this issue I am ready to enlist with you to wage increasing warfare until the American people have been restored to the full attainment of their political and economic rights.

"I am under no illusion as to the magnitude of the task we have marked out for ourselves. This campaign will call for sacrifice, courage and unsparing activity from every man and woman engaged on the people's side. But so long as the Progressives keep faith with the people and remain steadfastly true to the principles which are at stake, we can face the vast financial resources and the special arguments of our opponents with full confidence of success. . . ."

Throughout the reading, there were frequent bursts of applause, spontaneous little demonstrations, lasting only a minute or two. At the end, the Convention came to its feet, cheering. Herman E. Wills, Assistant Head of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, mounted to the platform and moved that Mr. LaFollette be nominated by acclamation. The delegates roared their approval. This was contrary to the arranged program. The nomination was to be made at 4 p. m. the next day. Opportunely, Chairman Johnston was extricated from his embarrassment by a delegate who made a point of order against the motion.

The second day of the second Cleveland Convention was a continued love feast. To kill time before the "nomination" of Senator LaFollette a number of speakers were heard: the venerable poet, Edwin Markham, Andrew Furuseth (fighting leader of the International Seamen's Union), Lynn J. Frazier (nonPartisan Republican U. S. Senator from North Dakota) contributed to the entertainment.

The program submitted by Senator LaFollette was read by Donald A. Richberg, general counsel of the Railway Brotherhoods. Without a dissenting voice, without a word of discussion, the Convention adopted it.

Then on its own account it adopted resolutions favoring: 1) the passage of the Postal Salary Bill, vetoed by President Coolidge; 2) immediate and complete independence for the Philippines and laws to improve the distressing situation in the Virgin Islands; 3) deep sympathy with the aspirations of the Irish for freedom; 4) U. S. relief for Germany; 5) denunciation of the use of the Army and Navy for exploiting weaker nations, notably Haiti, Santo Domingo, Nicaragua.

The nomination, or rather endorsement, of Senator LaFollette was speedy. The Committee on Organization presented a resolution:

"RESOLVED, That this Convention endorse the candidacy of Senator Robert M. LaFollette for President of the United States upon the platform submitted by him."

There was no nominating speech. Four'"seconding" speeches in favor of the resolution were made. The flow of oratory was cut off and the resolution passed with a howl of delight. The delegates cheered, shouted.

This peculiar form of nomination betokens the idea-plan of the LaFollette candidacy. The Senator is not going to abandon his title as a Republican. He, not the C. P. P. A., will enter his name with a list of electors on the ballots of various states. He, not the Convention, wrote the platform. The Convention merely echoed him. It offered itself as an acolyte to serve at his altar. The Convention submitted to his wish to act as a body of his supporters. He avoided the technical embarrassment of appearing as the nominee of the C. P. P. A. Third Party.

The Convention assented to his wish that no third party, no titular entity, be created. Even the choice of a Vice Presidential candidate to run with him was resigned by the Convention to its National Committee, which will doubtless do exactly as Mr. LaFollette orders in making its choice. "Fighting Bob" was out on his own, as an individual. Parties must bow and follow in his wake.

By exiling the Communists hopefully standing outside its fastclosed doors, the Convention aroused the antagonism of William Mahoney, who organized the recent Farmer-Labor Convention in St. Paul, which was captured by the Communists. Mr. Mahoney was actually refused a seat in the C. P. P. A. Convention, although he was a member of the C. P. P. A. National Committee --a most remarkable procedure. William Z. Foster and C. E. Ruthenberg, leaders of the Workers' Party (overground Communist organization), were in Cleveland and issued a manifesto, declaring:

"This Convention calls itself 'progressive,' but in an economic sense it is the most reactionary political Convention held this year."

Just as the second Cleveland Convention was opening, the July issue of The American Federationist organ of the American Federation of Labor, appeared. It contained an editorial by Samuel Gompers, evidently aimed at the C. P. P. A. Convention. Said Mr. Gompers:

"Now, as before, the average result of so-called third party adventures will be victory for reaction.

"Practically, this is what happens: The 'third party' draws from the most progressive of the other candidates. The more conservative candidate loses no votes to a 'third party' candidate.

"Thus progressive votes are divided, the progressive cause weakened.

"When Progressives divide among themselves reaction wins. History records altogether too many sad cases of this 'one foot forward and two feet backward' kind of frog-in-the-well advancement."

The strategy of Mr. LaFollette's individual stand appears significant already as an evasion of Mr. Gompers' attack on third parties.

The Convention of the Socialist Party opened in Cleveland immediately following the C. P. P. A. Convention. With the advice of Eugene Debs, absent because of illness, it endorsed Mr. LaFollette, after a six-hour debate, by a vote of 106-17.