Espionage Act of 1917
Blessed are the Peacemakers by George Bellows, The Masses 1917
The passage of the Espionage Act of 1917 would first be set into motion with the December 7th, 1915 State of the Union address by President Woodrow Wilson. Wilson would ask Congress for the legislation:
There are citizens of the United States, I blush to admit, born under other flags but welcomed under our generous naturalization laws to the full freedom and opportunity of America, who have poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life; who have sought to bring the authority and good name of our Government into contempt, to destroy our industries wherever they thought it effective for their vindictive purposes to strike at them, and to debase our politics to the uses of foreign intrigue …
I urge you to enact such laws at the earliest possible moment and feel that in doing so I am urging you to do nothing less than save the honor and self-respect of the nation. Such creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy must be crushed out. They are not many, but they are infinitely malignant, and the hand of our power should close over them at once. They have formed plots to destroy property, they have entered into conspiracies against the neutrality of the Government, they have sought to pry into every confidential transaction of the Government in order to serve interests alien to our own. It is possible to deal with these things very effectually. I need not suggest the terms in which they may be dealt with.
Congress moved slowly. Finally on February 20th, 1916, in the wake of the United States breaking diplomatic relations with Germany, the Senate passed a modified version. Even then both houses continued to debate various drafts from the Wilson administration, which included press censorship. The provision would cause suspicion, critics argued gave too much power to the executive branch and established a system of prior restraint. After several weeks of debate the censorship provision, as well as a provision allowing the Postal Service to block publications that violated the act [1], would be removed in a 39 to 38 vote by the Senate. Wilson still insisted that the censorship and mail provisions were necessary "Authority to exercise censorship over the press....is absolutely necessary to the public safety", however he signed the act without the provisions on June 15th, 1917, after Congress passed it earlier that day.
East St. Louis riots
The Silent Parade protest march on New York City (July 28th, 1917).
By Mid-1917 the Great Migration of African-Americans from the agrarian South to the industrial cities of the northeast and rust belt was at full steam, due to the amount of white workers being conscripted. Tensions between blacks and whites in East St. Louis rapidly increased, as white labor unions sought to exclude blacks and business owners using blacks as replacements for striking white workers. The straw that broke the camel's back were rumors of black men and white women fraternizing at a meeting on May 28th.
After the rumors of May 28th, nearly 3,000 white men marched into downtown East St. Louis and attacked any black man they laid their eyes upon. With the town descending into chaos, with mobs looting and beating people, the Governor of Illinois called upon the National Guard to prevent rioting. The city calmed for several weeks. However on July 2nd, a car filled with two white men drove through the black area of town and fired into crowds. Investigators arriving later that day were shot to death by some black residents, who assumed the detectives were the original perpetrators.
Enraged white spectators, having seen the detectives bodies, shut off the fire departments water supply. Fires were started all across the black areas of town, and those that attempted to escape the flames shot. Several people were lynched by the white mobs raging through East St. Louis. There was an attempt to call in Guardsmen, but the Guardsmen were reported to join in the violence as well.
After the horrific day of July 2nd, nearly 6,000 blacks were left homeless due to fires. The death toll ranged anywhere from 40 to 200 people dead. The brutal nature of the attacks, and the failure by the authorities to protect innocents, led to the radicalization of many blacks nationwide. Marcus Garvey is quoted as saying “This is no time for fine words, but a time to lift one's voice against the savagery of a people who claim to be the dispensers of democracy.”
On July 28th, anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 people gathered in New York City. Organized by W. E. B. Du Bois and the NAACP, the Silent Parade was conducted to protest lynching and anti-black violence. The intent was to pressure Wilson to pass anti-lynching legislation. An ultimately fruitless attempt.
Born out of this struggle would be the Messenger, an African-American magazine, based out of New York City.
Draft Resistance in the Old Southwest
Secretary of War Newton Baker draws the first lottery number created by the 1917 Selective Draft Act.
Oklahoma, a young state, admitted into the Union only a decade before was a hotbed of revolutionary activity during 1917. Many impoverished, tenant farmers in the region would radicalize. Even though the Socialist Party suffered depressed returns during 1916, they would receive nearly 16% of the vote in the state; on par with that of their 1912 results.
The Socialists were not the only radical organizers of labor active in Oklahoma, there was the ‘Working Class Union’ a tenant farmer's organization, a group that the IWW would not organize. However the WCU was similar in outlook to that of the IWW, being largely Industrial Unionist. The WCU would claim about 35,000 members statewide in 1917.
Decidedly the view of the WCU was strongly against the draft, as when the young men were drafted it was hard to complete the harvest. Locals of the WCU such as the ‘Jones Family’ called for aiding men in draft resistance and anti-draft slogans from the days of the Confederacy such as ‘Rich man’s war, poor man’s fight.’ Throughout the remainder of the war the WCU would serve as an avenue for men to avoid the draft in Oklahoma, with members often sheltering draft dodgers. There were more radical viewpoints within the WCU, such as those who called for a rebellion, and a march on Washington. However these attempts would ultimately fail within their respective lodges.
1917, New York Mayoral Election
The 1917 election in New York City was notable for being the first primary elections for mayor, though the election would be dominated by the issue of the war. The incumbent insurgent Democratic mayor John Mitchel, having enjoyed no Republican challenger in 1913, would again attempt to seek a win in the Republican primary. Initially Mitchel appeared to have won the primary until a series of recounts narrowly would hand it to William Bennett. Negotiations to find a compromise fell out and Bennett would run on a Republican ticket while Mitchel continued to run an Independent campaign.
In the election of 1917 the Socialists would commandeer the anti-war vote, with many notable anti-war advocates endorsing the Socialist slate. Soon after the war had begun the Socialist party had overwhelmingly endorsed a resolution, coauthored by Morris Hillquit, during an emergency national convention declaring their opposition to the Great War.
“The Socialist Party of the United States in the present grave crisis solemnly reaffirms its allegiance to the principle of internationalism and working-class solidarity the world over, and proclaims its unalterable opposition to the war just declared by the Government of the United States.”
This opposition to the war by Hillquit, would draw ire from many. Former President Theodore Roosevelt would proclaim that Hillquit was in favor of the Prussian aristocracy and Mayor Mitchell would state “any man who will not buy a Liberty bond when he can afford them is not fit to be a citizen of the United States.”
In the end, neither the strong pro-war nor the anti-war candidate would win the mayoral election. Instead the Tammany Hall candidate John Hylan would win the election by a large margin. However the Socialist Party would receive its largest vote yet in the New York Municipal and State elections in 1917. Electing eleven state assemblymen, seven alderman, and a municipal court judge.
Outside of New York additional state and municipal elections across the urban north were held that would signify a large growth in the Socialist vote. The Socialists would manage to elect new mayors in Hamilton, Ohio and Dayton, Ohio as well as reelecting George Lunn in Schenectady, New York. Additionally many new state legislators and city councillors would be elected during the 1917 election season. In total the Socialist party received 24.5% of the vote in all municipal elections during the fall of 1917.
1917, Gubernatorial elections
There were only two gubernatorial races during 1917, in Massachusetts and in Virginia. Neither election can be considered particularly noteworthy. In Massachusetts Governor McCall, the Republican incumbent, won his reelection by a large margin over his Democratic opponent, with the Socialist Party receiving 5% of the vote. In Virginia Westmoreland Davis, the Democratic nominee, won nearly 70% of the vote, handily beating out the Republican and Socialist candidates. The overall hold of governorships was not affected by the elections of 1917.
Blessed are the Peacemakers by George Bellows, The Masses 1917
The passage of the Espionage Act of 1917 would first be set into motion with the December 7th, 1915 State of the Union address by President Woodrow Wilson. Wilson would ask Congress for the legislation:
There are citizens of the United States, I blush to admit, born under other flags but welcomed under our generous naturalization laws to the full freedom and opportunity of America, who have poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life; who have sought to bring the authority and good name of our Government into contempt, to destroy our industries wherever they thought it effective for their vindictive purposes to strike at them, and to debase our politics to the uses of foreign intrigue …
I urge you to enact such laws at the earliest possible moment and feel that in doing so I am urging you to do nothing less than save the honor and self-respect of the nation. Such creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy must be crushed out. They are not many, but they are infinitely malignant, and the hand of our power should close over them at once. They have formed plots to destroy property, they have entered into conspiracies against the neutrality of the Government, they have sought to pry into every confidential transaction of the Government in order to serve interests alien to our own. It is possible to deal with these things very effectually. I need not suggest the terms in which they may be dealt with.
Congress moved slowly. Finally on February 20th, 1916, in the wake of the United States breaking diplomatic relations with Germany, the Senate passed a modified version. Even then both houses continued to debate various drafts from the Wilson administration, which included press censorship. The provision would cause suspicion, critics argued gave too much power to the executive branch and established a system of prior restraint. After several weeks of debate the censorship provision, as well as a provision allowing the Postal Service to block publications that violated the act [1], would be removed in a 39 to 38 vote by the Senate. Wilson still insisted that the censorship and mail provisions were necessary "Authority to exercise censorship over the press....is absolutely necessary to the public safety", however he signed the act without the provisions on June 15th, 1917, after Congress passed it earlier that day.
East St. Louis riots
The Silent Parade protest march on New York City (July 28th, 1917).
By Mid-1917 the Great Migration of African-Americans from the agrarian South to the industrial cities of the northeast and rust belt was at full steam, due to the amount of white workers being conscripted. Tensions between blacks and whites in East St. Louis rapidly increased, as white labor unions sought to exclude blacks and business owners using blacks as replacements for striking white workers. The straw that broke the camel's back were rumors of black men and white women fraternizing at a meeting on May 28th.
After the rumors of May 28th, nearly 3,000 white men marched into downtown East St. Louis and attacked any black man they laid their eyes upon. With the town descending into chaos, with mobs looting and beating people, the Governor of Illinois called upon the National Guard to prevent rioting. The city calmed for several weeks. However on July 2nd, a car filled with two white men drove through the black area of town and fired into crowds. Investigators arriving later that day were shot to death by some black residents, who assumed the detectives were the original perpetrators.
Enraged white spectators, having seen the detectives bodies, shut off the fire departments water supply. Fires were started all across the black areas of town, and those that attempted to escape the flames shot. Several people were lynched by the white mobs raging through East St. Louis. There was an attempt to call in Guardsmen, but the Guardsmen were reported to join in the violence as well.
After the horrific day of July 2nd, nearly 6,000 blacks were left homeless due to fires. The death toll ranged anywhere from 40 to 200 people dead. The brutal nature of the attacks, and the failure by the authorities to protect innocents, led to the radicalization of many blacks nationwide. Marcus Garvey is quoted as saying “This is no time for fine words, but a time to lift one's voice against the savagery of a people who claim to be the dispensers of democracy.”
On July 28th, anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 people gathered in New York City. Organized by W. E. B. Du Bois and the NAACP, the Silent Parade was conducted to protest lynching and anti-black violence. The intent was to pressure Wilson to pass anti-lynching legislation. An ultimately fruitless attempt.
Born out of this struggle would be the Messenger, an African-American magazine, based out of New York City.
Draft Resistance in the Old Southwest
Secretary of War Newton Baker draws the first lottery number created by the 1917 Selective Draft Act.
Oklahoma, a young state, admitted into the Union only a decade before was a hotbed of revolutionary activity during 1917. Many impoverished, tenant farmers in the region would radicalize. Even though the Socialist Party suffered depressed returns during 1916, they would receive nearly 16% of the vote in the state; on par with that of their 1912 results.
The Socialists were not the only radical organizers of labor active in Oklahoma, there was the ‘Working Class Union’ a tenant farmer's organization, a group that the IWW would not organize. However the WCU was similar in outlook to that of the IWW, being largely Industrial Unionist. The WCU would claim about 35,000 members statewide in 1917.
Decidedly the view of the WCU was strongly against the draft, as when the young men were drafted it was hard to complete the harvest. Locals of the WCU such as the ‘Jones Family’ called for aiding men in draft resistance and anti-draft slogans from the days of the Confederacy such as ‘Rich man’s war, poor man’s fight.’ Throughout the remainder of the war the WCU would serve as an avenue for men to avoid the draft in Oklahoma, with members often sheltering draft dodgers. There were more radical viewpoints within the WCU, such as those who called for a rebellion, and a march on Washington. However these attempts would ultimately fail within their respective lodges.
1917, New York Mayoral Election
The 1917 election in New York City was notable for being the first primary elections for mayor, though the election would be dominated by the issue of the war. The incumbent insurgent Democratic mayor John Mitchel, having enjoyed no Republican challenger in 1913, would again attempt to seek a win in the Republican primary. Initially Mitchel appeared to have won the primary until a series of recounts narrowly would hand it to William Bennett. Negotiations to find a compromise fell out and Bennett would run on a Republican ticket while Mitchel continued to run an Independent campaign.
In the election of 1917 the Socialists would commandeer the anti-war vote, with many notable anti-war advocates endorsing the Socialist slate. Soon after the war had begun the Socialist party had overwhelmingly endorsed a resolution, coauthored by Morris Hillquit, during an emergency national convention declaring their opposition to the Great War.
“The Socialist Party of the United States in the present grave crisis solemnly reaffirms its allegiance to the principle of internationalism and working-class solidarity the world over, and proclaims its unalterable opposition to the war just declared by the Government of the United States.”
This opposition to the war by Hillquit, would draw ire from many. Former President Theodore Roosevelt would proclaim that Hillquit was in favor of the Prussian aristocracy and Mayor Mitchell would state “any man who will not buy a Liberty bond when he can afford them is not fit to be a citizen of the United States.”
In the end, neither the strong pro-war nor the anti-war candidate would win the mayoral election. Instead the Tammany Hall candidate John Hylan would win the election by a large margin. However the Socialist Party would receive its largest vote yet in the New York Municipal and State elections in 1917. Electing eleven state assemblymen, seven alderman, and a municipal court judge.
Outside of New York additional state and municipal elections across the urban north were held that would signify a large growth in the Socialist vote. The Socialists would manage to elect new mayors in Hamilton, Ohio and Dayton, Ohio as well as reelecting George Lunn in Schenectady, New York. Additionally many new state legislators and city councillors would be elected during the 1917 election season. In total the Socialist party received 24.5% of the vote in all municipal elections during the fall of 1917.
1917, Gubernatorial elections
There were only two gubernatorial races during 1917, in Massachusetts and in Virginia. Neither election can be considered particularly noteworthy. In Massachusetts Governor McCall, the Republican incumbent, won his reelection by a large margin over his Democratic opponent, with the Socialist Party receiving 5% of the vote. In Virginia Westmoreland Davis, the Democratic nominee, won nearly 70% of the vote, handily beating out the Republican and Socialist candidates. The overall hold of governorships was not affected by the elections of 1917.
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