In the Municipal Auditorium at St. Paul opened the Farmer-Labor Progressive Convention. It was prophesied that it would assemble 2,000 delegates and 10,000 visitors. William Mahoney of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party had called the Convention. If all the people he had expected had come, there would have been a great jam—the Auditorium holds only about 2,000.
But things went wrong. The American Federation of Labor, which does not believe in direct political action, stayed away. Senator La Follette had repudiated point-blank any support the Convention might give him, declaring that it was in the hands of communist interests. So only about 400 delegates came.
How was the Convention made up? There were 142 delegates from Minnesota and about 90 from the Dakotas. The remaining 170 came from the rest of the U. S. Several organizations had separate votes on their own account—including The Workers' Party and the Federated Farmer-Labor Party, both communistic. In the general mass of delegates were representatives of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers (the only large union represented), the Woman's Shelley Club of North Dakota, the Galesburg Musical Club, the Negro Tenants' Protective League, the People's Voice Culture Club, the Housewives' Protective League, the Workmen's Gymnastic Association, the National Woman's Party.
But it was not the organizations but the leaders. In the first place there was William Mahoney, who called the convention, thoroughly disgusted because Mr. La Follette and the A. F. of L. had despised his work. There was William Z. Foster, who began as an I. W. W., then went over to organized Labor, and finally deserted to Communism. Now he is head of the Workers' Party, the "overground" organization of the Communist Party which found it wise to "submerge" after one of its conventions, picturesquely staged amid Michigan sand dunes, had been raided and Foster, Ruthenberg and others arrested. There was Joseph Manley, son- in-law and arch-disciple of Foster. There was C. E. Ruthenberg who began as a Socialist, then found himself imprisoned as a criminal anarchist. In all, he has some nine arrests and three convictions to his credit. Now he is Executive Secretary of the Workers' Party. There was Duncan McDonald, representative of the radical Illinois Labor Party. There was Alexander Howat who had been ejected from the United Mine Workers for radical activities. There was Alice Paul of the National Woman's Party, ready to present a plank for absolute equality for women, and scamper off to the Democratic Convention as soon as it was adopted.
The Convention began with Mr. Mahoney's appearing before a curtain representing a sylvan scene. He delivered a keynote speech: "We have always employed methods sanctioned by the Constitution. We have always followed democratic and legal procedure. Our opponents have not. The ruling class never does use democratic and constitutional procedure unless it serves its ends."