Social Democracy of America, the
A society instituted in 1897 for the purpose of realizing the socialist idea of co-operation in the political commonwealth.
The Social Democracy succeeded to the American Railway Union, and its first president was
Eugene V. Debs, formerly president of the American Railway Union.
It purposed to acquire in one of the less densely inhabited States or Territories a considerable area of wild land by purchase or by gift, and on that land to plant a colony of workmen and their families.
The necessary funds were to come from the small monthly contributions of the members of the society throughout the country.
From this source it was confidently expected that at least $25,000 a month would be received.
When a sufficient sum had been received to warrant the beginning of operations on the land, a force of picked
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men was to be sent to the site to prepare the soil for cultivation.
Then men were to be sent to organize herds of cattle, and with them an army of lumbermen, sawmill workers, and carpenters and builders, to erect dwellings for the colonists, also flour-mills, factories, creameries, etc. Among the settlers in the colony would be men of every trade and calling—shoemakers, weavers, tailors, blacksmiths, machinists, railroad men; and all would find employment in supplying the wants of all. The land would belong to the community; so would the machinery of manufacture, as also the system of transportation, railways, and common highways, together with the telegraph and telephone systems.
In short, whatever is naturally a monopoly or can be made a monopoly would belong to the community and be managed in the interest of the community.
The intention of the
Social Democracy was to establish, not one, but many colonies or communities, each of about 500 adult men; this was to be the unit of political organization; and the limit of 500 was set in order to prevent the growth of enough power in any one place to cause trouble.
When a number of such communities have been established in a State or Territory, they will be organized centrally; when the members are sufficiently numerous they will aim to get possession, by lawful and constitutional means—
i. e., by the use of the ballot—of the political powers of the
State or Territory, and to organize that according to the principles of the
Social Democracy, so far as the
Constitution of the United States may permit.
Immediately after the publication of the
Social Democracy's plan, the governor of the
State of
Washington,
J. R. Rogers, invited the society to take into consideration the advantages possessed by that State for such colonies, but later it was announced from
Washington that
Col. Richard J. Hinton, chairman of the
Social Democracy's colonization commission, had signed papers by which title to 350,000 acres of land in
Cumberland and Fentrass counties,
Tenn., was transferred to the society.
Col. Hinton said that the
Tennessee colony would be the first organized and that colonies would be settled in
Idaho and
Washington next.
The Tennessee lands cost $1,750,000; the Kentucky Trust Company supplied the commission with the money, accepting the commission's bonds for $2,000,000, which left a margin of $250,000 with which to begin work.
