Try Again

Two years ago, the leaders of the U. S. Socialist* Party met, decided to found a propaganda weekly (TIME, May 28, 1923). "There is a reaction to reaction," then declared Eugene V. Debs, their five-times candidate for President. The weekly is not yet.

Last week, in Manhattan, far from Broadway, the Socialists celebrated once more. Nearly all the veterans of the cause were there: Victor L. Berger, Socialist U. S. Congressman from Milwaukee; Morris Hillquit, suave and literary lawyer of Manhattan; James H. Maurer, labor ora- tor of Pennsylvania; onetime (1915-19; 1921-23) U. S. Congressman Meyer London of Manhattan; Harriet Stanton Blatch, President of the Women's Political Union; and, his grin framed with scars of battle, one-time convict Debs. Fourteen hundred diners and nearly 1,000 at the crowded doors yelled, clapped, bellowed when the hero took his seat.

Again, publication of a Socialist weekly, The American Appeal was announced for Jan. 1, 1926, under the editorship of Mr. Debs. The publishers of the Jewish Daily Forward would, it was said, donate $15,000. A gift of $500 had already been received from the International Neckwear Workers and the International Pocketbook Workers. A drive would begin at once for 100,000 yearly subscriptions of $1.

Mr. Debs rose to accept:

"After ten years of agony and travail, in which it was tested in every fibre of its being, the Socialist Party has emerged triumphant. We are here tonight to rebuild the organization dedicated to the international struggle of the workers.

"It is a great task, it is the cause of the toiling and producing millions. We are still in the minority. Our cause is still unpopular, for it opposes the established order of things and expresses ideas which are in advance of the times. Nevertheless, we will sweep into power and establish democracy on a worldwide basis."

Later, Mr. Debs repaired to Madison

Square Garden where 15,000 vociferous admirers packed the hall and 10,000 tried vainly to force an entrance. After a long castigation of the capitalistic war system, he concluded with rosy pictures of the day when "the working class shall be the ruling class and the only class !"

*Not to be confused with the Communists. Basically, Socialists advocate a constitutional revolution.