Socialist Party of America
Official Bulletin / Monthly Bulletin / Party Builder
[1904 – 1914]
Issued monthly by the National Committee at the National Headquarters, 269 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill.

Introduction

The merger of two social democratic parties to form the Socialist Party of America in the summer of 1901 was the result of a protracted process marked by obstruction and dissension. More than 18 exhausting months elapsed before the first move towards unity by the dissident wing of the Socialist Labor Party was finally met with grudging acceptance by the numerically smaller Social Democratic Party of Victor Berger and Eugene V. Debs.

One obstacle to merger was debate over what should be the official organ of the new organization. The breakaway SLP dissidents (insultingly called “Kangaroos” by DeLeonist party regulars) produced an official organ also confusingly styled as The People, making use of the same name and numbering system of the regular publication.

This paper was renamed The Worker in April 1901, remaining the official organ of the party, by then known as the Social Democratic Party with headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Chicago SDP had an official newspaper of their own, The Social Democratic Herald, launched in 1898 at the time of the split of the old Social Democracy of America.

Rather than make a controversial decision about which of two former official organs to make the formal voice of the new Socialist Party of America, delegates to the founding convention punted — declaring that neither of these weekly newspapers would receive funds and formal sanction from the new organization. Both papers continued as independent publications. The virtually bankrupt Social Democratic Herald was purchased by Victor Berger and moved to Milwaukee where it was eventually replaced by a daily, the Milwaukee Leader; The Worker remained under control of its current publishing association until being replaced in 1908 by the daily New York Call.

For its first three years the Socialist Party, decentralized and disorganized, communicated with its membership through press releases from the National Office to these and other party-friendly papers around the country. This proved to be insufficient for the task, however, and in May 1904 the national convention of the SPA launched the first party-owned newspaper, a four-page monthly broadsheet called the Socialist Party Official Bulletin.

Beginning in September 1904, the Official Bulletin would be issued monthly without interruption for almost ten years. The name of the publication was quietly changed to Socialist Party Monthly Bulletin in October 1911 with the start of the publication’s eighth volume.

The last Bulletin was a combined two month issue for March-April 1913. At that time the governing National Committee decided to merge it with a small-format weekly newspaper being published by the party’s speakers’ bureau, The Party Builder. A name change was made due to the fact that the latter publication received a more favorable postage rate from the post office department. The change took effect with the 29th number of Party Builder, dated May 21, 1913.

Unlike the Bulletin, which was sent out once a month to all party members as a benefit associated with their paying of dues, the Party Builder of 1913 and 1914 was a subscription publication and was received only by approximately 20% of party members. With finances faltering, a decision was made by Socialist Party officials to replace the small format, eight-page Party Builder with a more general propaganda newspaper. This was The American Socialist, which began seamlessly the week after the final July 11 issue of the Party Builder.

The Socialist Party Official Bulletin and its successors are a goldmine of information for historians of the Socialist Party of America, containing National Committee and National Executive Committee minutes, National Secretary reports, membership figures, financial statements, letters from party members, articles by prominent party leaders, and news about membership referenda and election of party officers.

Few copies of the ephemeral Bulletin have survived. Fortunately at least one complete run was saved for posterity publication and is presented here in freely downloadable digital form for the first time. Similarly, while early issues of the Party Builder are unfortunately missing, a complete run on microfilm starting with the publication’s change of status in May 1913 has been located and is digitized for free download here.

Socialist Party of America Official Bulletin / Monthly Bulletin / Party Builder [1904 – 1914] Issued monthly by the National Committee at the National Headquarters, 269 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill.

Introduction

1904

1905

1906

1907

1908

1909

1910

1911

1912

1913

1914

Socialist Party of America
Official Bulletin / Monthly Bulletin / Party Builder
[1904 – 1914]
Issued monthly by the National Committee at the National Headquarters, 269 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill.