J. Mahlon Barnes
Encyclopedia
John Mahlon Barnes was an American trade union
functionary and socialist political activist. Barnes is best remembered as the Executive Secretary of the Socialist Party of America
from 1905 to 1911, during which time he originated the idea of the party's 1908 "Red Special" campaign train on behalf of its Presidential
nominee, Eugene V. Debs
.
, the son of a bootmaker. He attended the Soldiers' Orphan School at Mount Joy
, a borough of Lancaster, from 1875 to 1882.
In 1882, the 16-year old Mahlon moved to Philadelphia
, where he obtained a job as a cigar
maker, while continuing his education by mail through a Chatauqua correspondence course. He continued to work as a cigarmaker until 1905.
In conjunction with his work as a cigarmaker, Barnes joined the Order of the Knights of Labor
, then the country's largest labor union in 1884. In 1887, he left the Knights of Labor to join the Cigar Makers' International Union
(CMIU), part of the rival American Federation of Labor
(AF of L). Barnes served as the Secretary of Local 100 of the CMIU in Philadelphia from 1891 to 1893 and again from 1896 to 1899. In 1901 he was elected Secretary of CMIU Local 165, also in Philadelphia, continuing in that position until 1904.
Barnes was a frequent delegate of the Cigarmakers' Union to the annual conventions of the AF of L, attending 27 such gatherings between 1892 and 1921.
(SLP), remaining an active member of that organization until the 1899 split headed by Henry Slobodin, Morris Hillquit
, and individuals close to the New Yorker Volkszeitung
newspaper. During his tenure as a member of the SLP, Barnes was the Secretary of Section Philadelphia beginning in 1892 and Secretary of the SLP's Pennsylvania
state organization from 1893 until his departure from the organization.
Barnes was twice a candidate for political office on behalf of the SLP, running for United States Congress
in 1892 and heading the party's state ticket as its candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania in 1898.
Barnes was a founding member of the Socialist Party of America
(SPA) in 1901 and a delegate to most of its national conventions. He was twice a candidate for office under the Socialist Party banner, running in 1902 for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
and in 1908 for Congress in the Illinois
9th District.
In 1903 and again in 1904, Mahlon Barnes was elected as Pennsylvania's representative to the governing National Committee of the SPA.
When Socialist Party National Executive Secretary William Mailly
resigned his post in January 1905, the National Committee found itself faced with selecting a successor. Mahlon Barnes was elected as Mailly's successor, effective February 1, 1905. Barnes was subsequently re-elected every year until a combination of opposition by the SPA's left wing with charges of immorality resulted in his removal in 1911.
During his time at the helm of the Socialist Party's National Office in Chicago, Barnes conceived of the idea of chartering a locomotive
on behalf of the 1908 campaign of Socialist Presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs
. This train carried the candidate and his support staff from city to city, and served as a platform from which Debs made scores of campaign speeches on socialist themes to enthusiastic crowds.
left wing of the SPA was deeply dissatisfied with Barnes as the Executive Secretary of the organization, seeing him as a willing factional ally of the electorally-oriented right wing in periodic factional skirmishes involving the party's National Office. The left long sought his removal but were unable to muster sufficient strength on the National Committee to vote the clerically-proficient and ideologically discreet Barnes out of office. Ultimately it was not the SPA's left wing, but rather publicity about alleged personal indiscretions which energized the SPA's Christian socialists
against Barnes and lead to his ouster.
In the summer of 1910, old-time Socialist Labor Party and Socialist Party veteran Thomas J. Morgan
published a set of charges against Barnes in a weekly newspaper, The Provoker. Morgan's assistance had been sought by labor organizer Mary "Mother" Jones to force Barnes to repay a loan made by her to him previously. Barnes did not promptly repay the loan, which lead Morgan to make melodramatic accusations against Barnes, charging the party's Executive Secretary with dishonesty, incompetence, drunkenness, and the conduct of sexual affairs with National Office employees. A former employee of the National Office wrote to the party's National Executive Committee documenting the substance of some of these charges.
When the NEC refused to place the matter before the larger National Committee for action, a firestorm erupted in the Socialist Party, with Reverend Edward E. Carr, editor of the national newspaper The Christian Socialist, taking up the attack against Barnes for his alleged immoral conduct. This drumbeat of criticism forced the NEC to capitulate and in December 1910 a special investigating committee was named to explore the veracity of the charges against Barnes.
At the end of February 1911 this committee found Barnes and the NEC innocent of all misconduct.
The favorable report of the special investigating committee did not end the matter, however. The National Executive Committee declined to publish the testimony taken by the investigators, instead merely passing a resolution accepting the conclusions of the report — an action which infuriated some members of the National Committee, who sought full disclosure on the controversial matter, fearing a whitewash.
The debate raged for another six months, forcing the National Executive Committee to revisit the matter at its session in August 1911, at which it heard the direct testimony of some of the witnesses against Barnes. At the conclusion of these hearings, the NEC revealed that Barnes had placed the mother of his child — to whom he was not married — on the party payroll while at the same time deducting $2 a week from her paycheck as repayment of a $30 loan he made to her. The NEC declared Barnes guilty of a "grave indiscretion" and accepted his resignation, naming another party moderate, John M. Work
, as the new Executive Secretary of the organization.
and Victor L. Berger
, saw the attack on Mahlon Barnes as a thinly-disguised and very unfair political hatchet job and immediately set about returning Barnes to the party's good graces as a paid functionary. In 1912, Barnes was named as campaign manager for the fourth campaign of Socialist Party journalist
and orator Eugene V. Debs for President of the United States.
At the Socialist Party's 1917 Emergency National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri
, Barnes was the primary author of the organization's national platform, although he did not participate in the drafting of the organization's controversial anti-militarist St. Louis Resolution against the war.
In 1919, Barnes served as head of the National League for the Release of Political Prisoners and the American Freedom Foundation, organizations launched by the Socialist Party and civil libertarians
in an effort to build public pressure for political pardons of conscientious objector
s languishing in prison following the conclusion of World War I
.
Barnes continued to work for the Socialist Party as the business manager of the organization's propaganda weekly, The New Day, from 1920 to 1921.
After the Socialist Party's bitter split into socialist
and communist
wings at its 1919 Emergency National Convention
, Barnes remained with the Socialists. He was elected Secretary of Local Cook County, Socialist Party — the Chicago party organization — in 1921 and served in that position through 1922.
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
functionary and socialist political activist. Barnes is best remembered as the Executive Secretary of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
from 1905 to 1911, during which time he originated the idea of the party's 1908 "Red Special" campaign train on behalf of its Presidential
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
nominee, Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
.
Early years
John Mahlon Barnes, commonly known to his contemporaries as "Mahlon," was born June 22, 1866 in Lancaster, PennsylvaniaLancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
, the son of a bootmaker. He attended the Soldiers' Orphan School at Mount Joy
Mount Joy, Pennsylvania
Mount Joy is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 6,765 at the 2000 census.-Name and origin:Mount Joy is often named in lists of "delightfully-named towns" in Pennsylvania Dutchland, along with Intercourse, Blue Ball, PenisPallooza, Amish Land, Dick-in-Hand...
, a borough of Lancaster, from 1875 to 1882.
In 1882, the 16-year old Mahlon moved to Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, where he obtained a job as a cigar
Cigar
A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...
maker, while continuing his education by mail through a Chatauqua correspondence course. He continued to work as a cigarmaker until 1905.
In conjunction with his work as a cigarmaker, Barnes joined the Order of the Knights of Labor
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. Its most important leader was Terence Powderly...
, then the country's largest labor union in 1884. In 1887, he left the Knights of Labor to join the Cigar Makers' International Union
Cigar Makers' International Union
The Journeymen Cigar Makers' International Union of America was a labor union established in 1864 that represented workers in the cigar industry...
(CMIU), part of the rival American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
(AF of L). Barnes served as the Secretary of Local 100 of the CMIU in Philadelphia from 1891 to 1893 and again from 1896 to 1899. In 1901 he was elected Secretary of CMIU Local 165, also in Philadelphia, continuing in that position until 1904.
Barnes was a frequent delegate of the Cigarmakers' Union to the annual conventions of the AF of L, attending 27 such gatherings between 1892 and 1921.
Political career
In 1891, Barnes joined the Socialist Labor Party of AmericaSocialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party of America , established in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has...
(SLP), remaining an active member of that organization until the 1899 split headed by Henry Slobodin, Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side during the early 20th century.-Early years:...
, and individuals close to the New Yorker Volkszeitung
New Yorker Volkszeitung
New Yorker Volkzeitung was a German language labor daily newspaper which suspended publishing during the Great Depression, in October 1932. At the time it was the only German language daily in the United States and one of the oldest radical left newspapers in the nation...
newspaper. During his tenure as a member of the SLP, Barnes was the Secretary of Section Philadelphia beginning in 1892 and Secretary of the SLP's Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
state organization from 1893 until his departure from the organization.
Barnes was twice a candidate for political office on behalf of the SLP, running for United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in 1892 and heading the party's state ticket as its candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania in 1898.
Barnes was a founding member of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
(SPA) in 1901 and a delegate to most of its national conventions. He was twice a candidate for office under the Socialist Party banner, running in 1902 for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
The Lieutenant Governor is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Lieutenant Governor is elected every four years along with the Governor. Jim Cawley of Bucks County is the incumbent Lieutenant Governor...
and in 1908 for Congress in the Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
9th District.
In 1903 and again in 1904, Mahlon Barnes was elected as Pennsylvania's representative to the governing National Committee of the SPA.
When Socialist Party National Executive Secretary William Mailly
William Mailly
William "Will" Mailly was an American socialist political functionary, journalist, and trade union activist. He is best remembered as an early National Executive Secretary of the Socialist Party of America and as the first managing editor of the socialist daily newspaper, the New York Call.-Early...
resigned his post in January 1905, the National Committee found itself faced with selecting a successor. Mahlon Barnes was elected as Mailly's successor, effective February 1, 1905. Barnes was subsequently re-elected every year until a combination of opposition by the SPA's left wing with charges of immorality resulted in his removal in 1911.
During his time at the helm of the Socialist Party's National Office in Chicago, Barnes conceived of the idea of chartering a locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
on behalf of the 1908 campaign of Socialist Presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
. This train carried the candidate and his support staff from city to city, and served as a platform from which Debs made scores of campaign speeches on socialist themes to enthusiastic crowds.
Ouster as Executive Secretary
The revolutionary socialistRevolutionary socialism
The term revolutionary socialism refers to Socialist tendencies that advocate the need for fundamental social change through revolution by mass movements of the working class, as a strategy to achieve a socialist society...
left wing of the SPA was deeply dissatisfied with Barnes as the Executive Secretary of the organization, seeing him as a willing factional ally of the electorally-oriented right wing in periodic factional skirmishes involving the party's National Office. The left long sought his removal but were unable to muster sufficient strength on the National Committee to vote the clerically-proficient and ideologically discreet Barnes out of office. Ultimately it was not the SPA's left wing, but rather publicity about alleged personal indiscretions which energized the SPA's Christian socialists
Christian socialism
Christian socialism generally refers to those on the Christian left whose politics are both Christian and socialist and who see these two philosophies as being interrelated. This category can include Liberation theology and the doctrine of the social gospel...
against Barnes and lead to his ouster.
In the summer of 1910, old-time Socialist Labor Party and Socialist Party veteran Thomas J. Morgan
Thomas J. Morgan
Thomas J. "Tommy" Morgan, Jr. was an English-born American labor leader and socialist political activist. Morgan is best remembered as one of the pioneer English-speaking Socialists in the city of Chicago and a frequent candidate for public office of the Socialist Party of America...
published a set of charges against Barnes in a weekly newspaper, The Provoker. Morgan's assistance had been sought by labor organizer Mary "Mother" Jones to force Barnes to repay a loan made by her to him previously. Barnes did not promptly repay the loan, which lead Morgan to make melodramatic accusations against Barnes, charging the party's Executive Secretary with dishonesty, incompetence, drunkenness, and the conduct of sexual affairs with National Office employees. A former employee of the National Office wrote to the party's National Executive Committee documenting the substance of some of these charges.
When the NEC refused to place the matter before the larger National Committee for action, a firestorm erupted in the Socialist Party, with Reverend Edward E. Carr, editor of the national newspaper The Christian Socialist, taking up the attack against Barnes for his alleged immoral conduct. This drumbeat of criticism forced the NEC to capitulate and in December 1910 a special investigating committee was named to explore the veracity of the charges against Barnes.
At the end of February 1911 this committee found Barnes and the NEC innocent of all misconduct.
The favorable report of the special investigating committee did not end the matter, however. The National Executive Committee declined to publish the testimony taken by the investigators, instead merely passing a resolution accepting the conclusions of the report — an action which infuriated some members of the National Committee, who sought full disclosure on the controversial matter, fearing a whitewash.
The debate raged for another six months, forcing the National Executive Committee to revisit the matter at its session in August 1911, at which it heard the direct testimony of some of the witnesses against Barnes. At the conclusion of these hearings, the NEC revealed that Barnes had placed the mother of his child — to whom he was not married — on the party payroll while at the same time deducting $2 a week from her paycheck as repayment of a $30 loan he made to her. The NEC declared Barnes guilty of a "grave indiscretion" and accepted his resignation, naming another party moderate, John M. Work
John M. Work
John McClelland Work was an American socialist writer, lecturer, activist, and political functionary. Work is best remembered as a founding member of the Socialist Party of America and as the author of one of its best-selling propaganda tracts of the first decade of the 20th Century...
, as the new Executive Secretary of the organization.
Return to good graces
The "constructive socialist" wing of the Socialist Party, exemplified by party leaders Morris HillquitMorris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side during the early 20th century.-Early years:...
and Victor L. Berger
Victor L. Berger
Victor Luitpold Berger was a founding member of the Socialist Party of America and an important and influential Socialist journalist who helped establish the so-called Sewer Socialist movement. The first Socialist elected to the U.S...
, saw the attack on Mahlon Barnes as a thinly-disguised and very unfair political hatchet job and immediately set about returning Barnes to the party's good graces as a paid functionary. In 1912, Barnes was named as campaign manager for the fourth campaign of Socialist Party journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and orator Eugene V. Debs for President of the United States.
At the Socialist Party's 1917 Emergency National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Barnes was the primary author of the organization's national platform, although he did not participate in the drafting of the organization's controversial anti-militarist St. Louis Resolution against the war.
In 1919, Barnes served as head of the National League for the Release of Political Prisoners and the American Freedom Foundation, organizations launched by the Socialist Party and civil libertarians
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
in an effort to build public pressure for political pardons of conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
s languishing in prison following the conclusion of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Barnes continued to work for the Socialist Party as the business manager of the organization's propaganda weekly, The New Day, from 1920 to 1921.
After the Socialist Party's bitter split into socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
wings at its 1919 Emergency National Convention
1919 Emergency National Convention
The 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America was held in Chicago from August 30 to September 5, 1919. It was a seminal gathering in the history of American radicalism, marked by the bolting of the party's organized left wing to establish the Communist Labor Party of...
, Barnes remained with the Socialists. He was elected Secretary of Local Cook County, Socialist Party — the Chicago party organization — in 1921 and served in that position through 1922.
Death and legacy
Mahlon Barnes died February 22, 1934. He was 68 years old at the time of his death.Works
- "Trades Unions: Their Logical Mission in the Propagation of Socialism: Address Delivered under the Auspices of the People’s Union, at Well’s Memorial Hall, Boston, 28 June 1896." The People [New York], July 26, 1896.
- Report of Socialist Party of the United States to the International Socialist Congress at Copenhagen, 1910. With Morris Hillquit and Victor L. Berger. Chicago : National Headquarters, Socialist Party, 1910.
See also
- Socialist Party of AmericaSocialist Party of AmericaThe Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...