What were the Socialist Party’s key objections to conscription and the war? How is the political ideology of the Socialist Party apparent throughout the circular?
Did Senator George W. Norris make similar or different arguments against the war?
No related resources
Introduction
The Socialist Party was founded in 1901 by Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926), who made a credible run for the presidency in 1912. Adamantly opposed to the war, the Socialist Party tried to create a groundswell of resistance to conscription. From their headquarters in Philadelphia, party members first tried handing out antidraft circulars door-to-door, but attacks from angry residents and police roundups prompted them to seek a more efficient way to reach potential draftees. In August 1917 the Socialist Party mailed this doubled-sided circular to 15,000 men, using information published by local newspapers. Lists including the names and addresses of men who had registered for the draft, passed their physicals, been exempted, or failed to appear became a regular feature of wartime reporting.
The police mounted an unrelenting campaign of raids, arrests, and harassment intended to cripple the nation’s third largest political party and its antiwar campaign. On August 29, 1917, federal agents seized records and arrested several members, including Charles T. Schenck, the party general secretary. Schenck was convicted of violating the Espionage Act for distributing the circular. His appeal resulted in a landmark Supreme Court ruling on civil liberties in 1919 (See Schenck v. United States).
—Jennifer D. Keene
World War I Anti-Draft Pamphlet, August 1917, National Constitution Center, Philadelphia. Available at https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/world-war-i-anti-draft-pamphlet/dAE1fuuw7-VcEA.
LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION
OF THE UNITED STATES
Wake Up America! Your Liberties Are in Danger!
The 13th Amendment, Section 1, of the Constitution of
the United States says: Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within
the United States, or any place in their jurisdiction.
The Constitution of the United States is one of the greatest bulwarks of political liberty. It was born after a long, stubborn battle between king-rule and democracy. (We see little or no difference between arbitrary power under the name of a king and a few misnamed “representatives.”) In this battle the people of the United States established the principle that freedom of the individual and personal liberty are the most sacred things in life. Without them we become slaves.
For this principle the fathers fought and died. . . .
The Thirteen Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, quoted above, embodies this sacred idea. The Socialist Party says that this idea is violated by the Conscription Act.1 When you conscript a man and compel him to go abroad to fight against his will, you violate the most sacred right of personal liberty, and substitute for it what Daniel Webster called “despotism in its worst form.”2
A conscript is little better than a convict. He is deprived of his liberty and of his right to think and act as a free man. A conscripted citizen is forced to surrender his right as a citizen and become a subject. He is forced into involuntary servitude. He is deprived of all freedom of conscience in being forced to kill against his will. . . .
In a democratic country each man must have the right to say whether he is willing to join the army. Only in countries where uncontrolled power rules can a despot force his subjects to fight. Such a man or men have no place in a democratic republic. This is tyrannical power in its worst form. It gives control over the life and death of the individual to a few men. There is no man good enough to be given such a power.
Conscription laws belong to a bygone age. Even the people of Germany, long suffering under the yoke of militarism are beginning to demand the abolition of conscription. Do you think it has a place in the United States? Do you want to see unlimited power handed over to Wall Street’s chosen few in America? If you do not, join the Socialist Party in its campaign for the repeal of the Conscription Act. Write to your congressman and tell him you want the law repealed. Do not submit to intimidation. You have a right to demand the repeal of any law. Exercise your rights of free speech, peaceful assemblage and petitioning the government for a redress of grievances. Come to the headquarters of the Socialist Party, 1326 Arch Street, and sign a petition to Congress for the repeal of the Conscription Act. Help us wipe out this stain upon the Constitution!
Help us reestablish democracy in America.
Remember, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
Down with autocracy!
Long live the Constitution of the United States!
Long live the Republic!
ASSERT YOUR RIGHTS!
The Socialist Party says that any individual or officers of the law entrusted with the administration of conscription regulations violate the provisions of the United States Constitution, the supreme law of the land, when they refuse to recognize your right to assert your opposition to the draft.
If you are consciously opposed to the war, if you believe in the commandment “thou shalt not kill,” then this is your religion, and you shall not be prohibited from the free exercise thereof.
In exempting clergymen and members of the Society of Friends (popularly called Quakers) from active military service the examination boards have discriminated against you.3
If you do not assert and support your rights you are helping to “deny or disparage rights” which it is the solemn duty of all citizens and residents of the United States to retain.
Here in the city of Philadelphia was signed the immortal Declaration of Independence. As a citizen of “the cradle of American Liberty” you are doubly charged with the duty of upholding the rights of the people.
Will you let cunning politicians and a mercenary capitalist press wrongly and untruthfully mold your thoughts? Do not forget your right to elect officials who are opposed to conscription.
In lending tacit or silent consent to the conscription law, in neglecting to assert your rights, you are (whether knowingly or not) helping to condone and support a most infamous and insidious conspiracy to abridge and destroy the sacred and cherished rights of a free people. You are a citizen, not a subject! You delegate your power to the officers of the law to be used for your good and welfare, not against you.
They are your servants. Not your masters. Their wages come from the expenses of government which you pay. Will you allow them to unjustly rule you? The fathers who fought and bled to establish a free and independent nation here in America were so opposed to the militarism of the old world from which they had escaped; so keenly alive to the dangers and hardships they had undergone in fleeing from political, religious and military oppression, that they handed down to us “certain rights which must be retained by the people.”. . .
No power was delegated to send our citizens away to foreign shores to shoot up the people of other lands, no matter what may be their internal or international disputes.
The people of this country did not vote in favor of war. At the last election they voted against war.4
To draw this country into the horrors of the present war in Europe, to force the youth of our land into the shambles and bloody trenches of war crazy nations, would be a crime the magnitude of which defies description. Words could not express the condemnation such cold-blooded ruthlessness deserves. . . .
You are responsible. You must do your share to maintain, support, and uphold the rights of the people of this country.
In this world crisis where do you stand? Are you with the forces of liberty and light or war and darkness?
Footnotes
- 1. “Conscription Act” referred to the Selective Service Act of May 18, 1917, which authorized the use of a draft to raise the wartime army.
- 2. Quote from a congressional speech that Rep. Daniel Webster (1782–1852; Federalist Party–NH) gave against conscription during the War of 1812.
- 3. The Selective Service Act exempted any “member of a well-recognized religious sect or organization.” Members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) could thus legally apply for conscientious objector status if they were called for induction but were still expected to perform noncombatant duties.
- 4. The campaign slogan, “He Kept Us out of War,” helped Wilson win reelection in 1916. He narrowly defeated Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes (1862– 1948) by 23 electoral votes, 277–254.
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