Sistema de Control Interno

There was, as shown above, considerable sentiment in favour of the ALP. This came not just from a whole layer of local officials, or the affiliated unions, but also from the rank and file. For example, 800 women upholstery workers voted to support it. One problem was turning sentiment into active support. The Secretary of the New York Women's Trade Union League (NYWTUL) complained that meetings of the ALP, "left it to us women to accomplish everything and make ourselves unpopular". She continued to complain about the disproportionate amount of work delegated to the women of the NYWTUL. The work was

taking up a good deal of the women activists’ time. But when it came to the Fall election campaign, many NYWTUL activists were not available, due to the fact that they attended the International Congress of Working Women in Washington.

However some did help, and Hilda Svenson reported that she had been very active in the last week of the Party’s campaign. Though she did not know how many votes Curtis had actually polled, "a great deal of sentiment had been accursed [sic] among the workers". She urged all

to help and give some time to build up the Party, so that "in the next campaign we could be strong enough to win something".

Suffrage was not granted to all women nationally until 1920, though New York was not the most advanced of states on the issue, it had enfranchised women in 1918. Rose Schneiderman was excited by the possibility of working women using their votes to improve their lot as workers. Woodrow Wilson did not agree to support federal

enfranchisement of women until 1918. This had created much friction between him and militant suffragists and sections of the progressive

^ New York Times, 24 August 1920.

^Secretary’s report. New York Women’s Trade Union League (NYWTUL), July 1919, September 1919; President and Organizers report, NYWTUL, October 1919, Papers of the Women’s Trade Union League and Its

Principal Leaders: Collection IV New York Women’s Trade Union League Minutes and Reports, (Published for the Schlesinger Library Radcliffe College by. Research Publications Inc Woodbridge, Connecticut, 1979),

(Tamiment ref. 3045), (hereafter cited as WTUL Papers).

^Minutes of Regular Meeting NYWTUL, 10 November 1919, WTUL Papers, Collection IV, (Tamiment ref. 3045).

movement. Dudley Field Malone, the 1920 FLP candidate for New York Governor, resigned in 1917 from the Wilson administration over its delay in supporting national suffrage. Therefore, it was hardly

surprising that in 1919 the NYWTUL enthusiastically supported the new party whose members had a far better record on women' suffrage than the Democrats. The League’s secretary reported she had attended all the meetings of the ALP and its Executive Committee. The Party decided to hold a New Year’s Feast for the foreign-born women, as it thought it would be a "nice idea" to show them the attitude of the ALP towards the

foreigners. The NYWTUL believed this was a new form of Americanization; and they hoped that out of it would come a Women’s Bureau of the Labor Party, which would be a connecting link between the Party and women who had not yet been reached by any of the WTUL’s propaganda.

Even after the CFU withdrew its support from the Party, the NYWTUL remained loyal. It rallied its forces for the 1920 upstate election campaign, and once again granted leave to its officials for Party activities. However, the fact that affiliated organizations such as the NYWTUL provided so much help in terms of administration and organizers covered up the underlying weakness of the Party. Maud Swartz noted that she and Frank Voght were the only members in the 5th

Assembly district, and the president of the NYWTUL pondered whether "they would ever get the party across to the trade union rank and file".^

The NYWTUL’s opinion was that it was difficult to involve

ordinary workers in the activities of the new party. Considering that the base of the Party was so weak in New York City, it is difficult to explain the optimism that greeted statewide activities. The answer could be that exhilaration and heady atmosphere created by involvement

Louise A. Tilly and Patricia Gurin, (eds). Women’s Politics and Change, (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1990), pp. 4-5; Christine A. Lunardini, From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights: Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party, 1910-1928. (New York: New York University Press, 1986), pp. 129-148; Annelise Orleck, Common Sense and a Little Fire: Women and Working Class Politics in the United States. 1900-1965, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1995), p. 110; Secretary's Report NYWTUL, December 1919, WTUL Papers, Collection IV, (Tamiment ref. 3045).

^^Maud Swartz to Frank Voght, 30 September 1919, NYWTUL Correspondence, WTUL Papers, Collection IV, (Tamiment ref 3049); President to Tuscan Bennett, Conneticut, 9 March 1920, NYWHTUL Correspondence, WTUL Papers, Collection IV, (Tamiment ref. 3050).

at a state level made the day-to-day routine of building the party bearable. In mid-1920 Mary Carmack McDougal was thrilled at

Schneiderman’s standing for senator:

"I do not see one reason in the world why you should not be elected. You would have the labor vote, and if the women of the state are really appealed to you will certainly get a woman vote which would sweep you in without the aid of anything else."

Rose replied that the FLP convention at Schenectady had been

wonderful, surpassing all expectations. It now looked as though the New York FLP was really on the map.^ This enthusiasm was out of all

proportion to reality on the ground. The Party lacked experience and active workers. The evidence is that much local organization was weak. Enthusiasm for state activities diverted attention from the reality of grass-roots weakness. Its organizers depended, not on rank-and-file activity, but on that of affiliated organizations. Of course this could be a strength, as trade-union bodies could provide money, members and resources. The Socialist Party of New York clearly benefited from such support. It is important to evaluate how much strength the New York FLP derived from its union affiliates.