1912 Socialist National Convention

September 2024 American presidential nominating convention August 2017 1912 Socialist DebsCircle.png 125 SeidelCircle.png 125 Nominees Debs and Seidel May 12–18, 1912 Tomlinson Hall Indianapolis, Indiana Eugene V. Debs Indiana Emil Seidel Wisconsin 1904 1920 thumb|Tomlinson Hall thumb|Debs delivering a speech during the campaign thumb|Debs and Seidel The 1912 Socialist National Convention was held in Tomlinson Hall in Indianapolis from May 12 to May 18, 1912. It saw the Socialist Party of America again nominate Eugene V. Debs for president. Debs had been its presidential nominee in the previous two presidential elections. For vice president, the convention nominated Emil Seidel, the former mayor of Milwaukee. The Convention The convention was held at the Tomlinson Hall in Indianapolis from May 12 to May 18, 1912.Proceedings of the Socialist Party https://dn760105.eu.archive.org/0/items/nationalconvention00soci/nationalconvention00soci.pdf Socialist Party July 16, 2026 1912 The convention was called to order by party national secretary John M. Work and roll was called by delegate Gustave Strebel.Delegates to the 1912 Convention of the Socialist Party of America https://marxists.wikis.cc/history/usa/eam/spa/spa-conv12delegates.html marxists.wikis.cc Marxists Internet Archive 1 September 2024 1 September 2024 Party co-founder Morris Hillquit of New York served as chairman. The Party leadership constructed an agenda to address pressing issues relevant to the Party's political orientation such as nominating presidential candidates to run. The leadership also sought input on topics of using direct action instead of only participating in electoral politics. The topic of direct action surfaced as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) led a recent strike known as the Lawrence Strike.Richmond Palladium (Daily) 11 May 1912 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=RPD19120511.1.2&srpos=131&e=------191-en-20--121--txt-txIN-socialist+convention----1912-- 2024-09-21 newspapers.library.in.gov Presidential candidates Balloting for the party's nominee for the presidential ticket took place on May 17, 1912. The widely understood candidate was the party's previous nominee of 2 times, Eugene Debs. Debs was not present at the time of ballot casting as was tradition at the time. In his absence, questions emerged regarding his physical wellness and whether or not he would even accept the nomination. Delegates were assured that Debs was in fine health and that he would accept the nomination. The other candidates for the nomination, Seidel and Slayton, each received around one sixth of total ballots cast. As Debs assumed a majority of ballots cast, both men released their delegates to make the nomination unanimous. Following his nomination, a dispatch was sent to notify Debs of his nomination. Debs sent a telegram the next day notifying the convention of his acceptance. Presidential balloting Presidential BallotingCandidate1stUnanimousDebs165287Seidel56Russell54Blank12 600px|1st ballot at the Convention Vice presidential candidates Declined Russell was nominated, though withdrew his name from consideration due to reasons that he preferred not to state. Both Hogan and Slayton had not planned on campaigning for the nomination thus released their delegates to make Seidel's nomination unanimous. At this point, Seidel and Debs had yet to meet. Debs and Seidel would go on to achieve the most successful performance of a socialist ticket on the national stage in United States history. Vice presidential BallotingCandidate1stUnanimousSeidel159287Hogan73Slayton24Blank31 See also Socialist Party of America 1912 Democratic National Convention 1912 Republican National Convention 1912 Progressive National Convention 1912 United States presidential election References Bibliography National Convention of the Socialist Party, held at Indianapolis, Ind., May 12 to 18, 1912; External links Socialist Party Platform of 1912 at Sage American History Category:Socialist Party of America events Category:1912 in Indiana Category:20th century in Indianapolis Category:United States presidential nominating conventions in Indianapolis socialist Category:May 1912 in the United States Category:Socialism in Indiana