We Choose to Run

As the only man in U.S. history who has ever run for the presidency six times, Socialist Norman Mattoon Thomas, 65, was beginning to think it was no use. Furthermore, he thought his party ought to give up presidential campaigns too. Last week his proposal, made at the Socialists' biennial convention in Detroit, almost split the party in twain. Elder Statesman Thomas urged that the party spend its few dollars on other groups which had Socialist aims (e.g., labor unions, Americans for Democratic Action) and on local elections and membership campaigns.

The opposition was led by a Pennsylvania lawyer named Darlington Hoopes, who argued that presidential campaigns--even though they stood no chance of winning--give the party the kind of national attention that is necessary for party survival. A majority of delegates (70 to 37) agreed with Hoopes, their probable candidate in '52. Under no circumstances, decided the Socialist majority, should a member support candidates of "the capitalist parties."

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