Socialist Party of Michigan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairperson | Andy Argo |
| Senate leader | None |
| House leader | None |
| Founded | 1973 |
| Headquarters | Detroit, MI |
| Ideology | Democratic socialism Revolutionary socialism Socialist feminism |
| National affiliation | Socialist Party USA |
| Colors | Red |
| Website | |
| SPMI | |
TheSocialist Party of Michigan(SPMI) is the state chapter of theSocialist Party USA in theU.S. state ofMichigan. A party by the same name was the affiliate of theSocialist Party of America from 1901 until the national party renamed itself in a 1973 split.
The Socialist Party of Michigan was the state affiliate of theSocialist Party of America (SPA), established in the summer of 1901. During the late 1910s the organization came under the influence of a radical faction based inDetroit headed byJohn Keracher, which banned the advocacy of ameliorative reforms by party members, under penalty of expulsion. This brought the organization into conflict with the National Office of the SPA, which expelled the state organization in May 1919, "reorganizing" the state organization under more moderate leadership that same year.
Michigan went"dry" early in 1918, which had the effect of putting a number of bars and beer gardens out of business. Meeting halls became comparatively cheap to rent and purchase. Late in April 1918, Socialist Party regularMaurice Sugar and his friends helped to raise $10,000 through entertainments and raffles to pay for the down payment on a large building inDetroit which was later christened "The House of the Masses."[1] A corporation consisting of members of Local Detroit Socialist Party was put in trust of the facility, which had a restaurant, game rooms, meeting rooms, and a large hall. With the establishment of a proper headquarters facility, membership in the Detroit Socialist organization increased dramatically, although fundraising to continue payments on the $70,000 facility also proved to be a burden for the local organization.[2]
The 1916 convention was held inMuskegon on Sunday, September 17, and Monday, September 18, and was attended by some 60 delegates.[3] The gathering was called to order by State SecretaryJohn Keracher of Detroit. The report of the State Executive Committee showed an increase of membership in the party to about 4,000, although the organization remained on unsure financial grounds, showing a deficit of over $500.[3]
The gathering readopted the organization's 1914 platform, with the elimination of a section voicing the organization's favor for industrial organization.[3] This appears to have been a victory of the Keracher faction, drawing the ire of a group of 8 delegates, who submitted and official written criticism charging that the convention "clearly manifested" the "conspicuous act" of "failure... to pledge allegiance to the national and international organizations" and to lend support to the trade union movement.[3]
The gathering also approved the publication of the official state bulletin as a section withinThe Michigan Socialist, up to that time the organ of Local Detroit, as a cost-saving measure and nominated a full slate of candidates for the fall 1916 elections.[3] This was regarded as a defeat by Keracher and his associates, of opposed the "party regular" tenor of the publication, with Keracher declaring the decision "a ruse to circulate the paper throughout the state."[3]
The 1918 convention was held September 7 and 8 in the "House of the Masses" in Detroit and was attended by 56 delegates.[4] The gathering named party regular Maurice Sugar chairman of the convention by a narrow margin. Chief on the agenda was the question of the level of support to be given by the state organization to the European revolutionary movement in general and the Russian revolution in particular, with radical resolutions by John Keracher and Alexander Rovin "to support theSoviet Government in every possible way and to the last dollar and man" defeated by the convention's moderate majority, on the grounds that such declarations might be illegal under theEspionage Act.[5]
In its final session, the gathering had a heated battle over the financing and terms of support forThe Proletarian, the new publication of the Keracher-Proletarian University faction. Keracher lieutenantAl Renner introduced a motion calling for state financing and official support of the publication, which prompted the vigorous opposition by the moderate wing, led by Sugar, on the grounds that the publication "did not follow the policy of the National Office."[6] Defeated on the floor of the convention, a group of radical delegates got together downtown at the offices ofThe Proletarian afterwards and established a new organization which was to operate as an organized faction within the SPA — the "Proletarian University of America."[6]
The regular 1919 convention of the Socialist Party of Michigan was held February 24 in Grand Rapids. Some 51 delegates were in attendance, characterized in an article in the Left Wing press as a "harmonious gathering of boosters."[7] The convention acted upon the resignation of State Secretary Bloomenberg by electing John Keracher to fill the balance of his unexpired term, passed a program calling for the establishment of socialism while presenting no ameliorative demands, passed a resolution on religion calling for all party agitators to speak against it from the basis ofhistorical materialism, and unanimously endorsed the expansion of Marxist study groups in the state.[7]
The SPMI is also the successor to Michigan's formerHuman Rights Party, which elected multiple candidates to the City Councils ofAnn Arbor andYpsilanti before merging into SPMI in 1977.[citation needed]
The SPMI engages in electoral politics and non-electoral activism. Non-electoral activism includes explicitly socialist support forlabor andunionization,anti-war andanti-imperialist agitation, support forfeminist and anti-racist campaigns, and regular political forums, literature distributions, and demonstrations. The Socialist Party of Michigan also intermittently publishes a political magazine,The Michigan Socialist.[citation needed]
Although Michigan's restrictive ballot access laws have thus far prevented the SPMI from obtaining a state ballot line,[citation needed] it has nevertheless run candidates in each of the past seven (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, & 2016) state general elections, who have qualified for the ballot by means of either obtaining the subsequent dual nomination of the ballot qualifiedGreen Party of Michigan or by petition as independents. In each such instance, the Party's candidates have consistently run under the banner of the Socialist Party in all campaign materials and activities, in spite of their inability to have the Party's label listed with their names on the election ballot. Since 2004, the SPMI has run candidates on the ballot in two campaigns forU.S. Congress, four campaigns for theState House of Representatives, two campaigns for the State Board of Education, one campaign for theUniversity of Michigan Board of Regents, one campaign forMichigan State University Board of Trustees, one campaign forWayne State University Board of Governors, and one campaign forOakland Community College Board of Trustees.[citation needed]
In 2004 the SPMI also qualified the Socialist Party ticket ofWalt Brown forPresident andMary Alice Herbert forVice President for the Michigan ballot under the state qualified label of the nationally defunctNatural Law Party, combined with a slate of SPMIpresidential electors. In 2016, it did the same for the Socialist Party presidential ticket ofMimi Soltysik andAngela Nicole Walker. The SPMI obtained official write-in status certification of the Socialist Party's 2008 presidential ticket ofBrian Moore andStewart Alexander and its 2012 presidential ticket ofStewart Alexander andAlejandro Mendoza.[citation needed]
In 2006, Matthew Erard, then a student at the University Michigan and chairman of the SPMI, ran for the 53rd district of the Michigan House of Representatives. Because the Socialist Party was not officially recognized by the state government, Erard was officially running without party affiliation.[8] Erard received 847 votes (2.51%) in the general election.[9] Erard sought the same office two years later and was endorsed by both the Socialist Party of Michigan and theGreen Party of Michigan. He appeared on the Green Party ballot line and increased both the total number of votes earned (2,200) and overall percentage (4.55%).[10] Erard appeared on conservative talk radio stationWJR, where he defended socialist politics and economic ideas.[11]
In July 2010 the party filed a lawsuit against theMichigan Secretary of State challenging the constitutionality of the Michigan statute governing the ballot qualification of political parties, and arguing that it has legally satisfied the criteria for ballot qualification under the governing statute's enacted requirements. The party's lawsuit is pending an application for leave to the Michigan Supreme Court. In conjunction with its legal claims, the Party filed documents with the Michigan Secretary of State to certify the nomination of seven member candidates for state and federal office in the 2010 General Election. However, the Michigan Secretary of State certified the ballot qualification of only those two candidates, among its 2010 nominees, who had subsequently obtained the Green Party of Michigan's back-up nomination for the same 2010 offices.[citation needed]
The SPMI twice consecutively hosted the Socialist Party USA's biennial National Organizing Conference — in August 2006 in Detroit and July 2008 in Ann Arbor. The SPMI has a chartered local inMetro Detroit and has, in recent years, also had chartered locals in the counties ofKalamazoo,Marquette andWashtenaw. The SPMI is also a founding member of the Michigan Third Parties Coalition.[12]
In 2016, the party's presidential nominee,Mimi Soltysik, was nominated by the ballot-qualifiedNatural Law Party. The party also endorsed party member Michael Anderson's campaign for the Michigan House of Representatives (District 70). Anderson ran on theGreen Party of Michigan's ballot line.[13]
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