The Socialist Union Party was a small

De Leonist De Leonism, also known as Marxism–De Leonism, is a Marxist tendency developed by Curaçaoan-American trade union organizer and Marxist theoretician Daniel De Leon. De Leon was an early leader of the first American socialist political party, ...

group that was active in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The group was founded by Abraham Ziegler, who had been expelled from the

Socialist Labor Party The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 192 ...

in the mid-1930s and joined the

Industrial Union Party The Industrial Union Party (IUP) was a United States of America, US De Leonism, DeLeonist political party. The party proclaimed itself on 7 July 1933 at 1032 Prospect Avenue, Bronx, Branch headquarters of its predecessor Industrial Union League ( ...

, the only other De Leonist group. While the IUP once had a small following among independent unions such as the

Sailors Union of the Pacific The Sailors' Union of the Pacific (SUP), founded on March 6, 1885 in San Francisco, California, is an American labor union of mariners, fishermen and boatmen working aboard US flag vessels. At its fourth meeting in 1885, the fledgling organizatio ...

and the

United Furniture Workers of America The United Furniture Workers of America (UFWA) was a 20th-century American labor union, founded as a breakaway from the Upholsterers International Union of North America by a group of labor activists, who included Emil Costello (a Wisconsin stat ...

in the early 1930s, by the end of the decade this support had dried up, with those groups joining more traditional labor federations like the

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutual ...

. With their base in the labor movement gone, the IUP was reduced to a propagandist/ educational society. Ziegler and a few followers split in 1939. Rejecting orthodox De Leonist

dual unionism Dual unionism is the development of a union or political organization parallel to and within an existing labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization ...

, the SUP argued that they should try to build up radical insurgencies within the established unions to resist the fast approaching Second World War. The organization published a paper, ''Labor Power'', a pamphlet ''Daniel De Leon: pioneer American socialist

and a few leafle

during its brief existence. By 1941 Ziegler had come to the conclusion that splinter groups like the SUP were a waste of time and dissolved the organization in favor of launching a personal journal ''Modern Socialism'' that would reflect a broader range of dissident Marxist thought. Contributors included

Paul Mattick Paul Mattick Sr. (March 13, 1904 – February 7, 1981) was a German-American Marxist political writer, activist, and theorist, associated with the council communist movement. Throughout his life, Mattick was critical of capitalism, Bolshevism ...

and Fred Dyer. The new journal lasted four issues in late 1941 and early 1942 until it folded after Ziegler was drafted.George P. Rawick "Modern Socialism" in op. cit. pp.324-325

References

Political parties established in 1939 Political parties disestablished in 1941 De Leonist organizations Defunct De Leonist parties in the United States 1939 establishments in the United States {{Socialist-stub