[SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY] [PETERSEN, Arnold] MIJANOVICH, Nada et al.

Discussion and Documentation in support of the Motion for the removal of the National Secretary [Arnold Petersen] of the Socialist Labor Party [Together With Eleven Pieces of Evidence]

Chicago: 1947. Original packet delivered to leading members of the Socialist Labor Party calling for the removal of Arnold Petersen as National Secretary. All documents printed from typescript and side-staplebound in original mailing envelope addressed from Nada Mijanovich, a Chicago-based member of the SLP, to Bert Baxter, a Portland, Oregon, member, and SLP write-in candidate for Governor. Some wear and light toning to documents, envelope postally used and rather worn and soiled with some tearing, else a Very Good or better collection.

Daniel De Leon named the 29-year-old Arnold Petersen his successor as National Secretary of the Socialist Labor Party shortly before his death in 1914. Like his predecessor, during whose tenure the SLP splintered to form the Socialist Party of the United States, Petersen proved to be a polarizing presence in the Party, and while he saved it from bankruptcy, the present collection delineates the slow but steady decline of the SLP during the later years of World War II. Nada Mijanovich, the compiler of this packet, was a Chicago-based SLP member and former worker in the SLP's New York office where she and Petersen butted heads, Petersen eventually charging Mijanovich with slander and other subversive activities. The present collection of evidence levelled against Petersen appears to have been produced in retaliation. Though these documents does not paint an especially flattering portrait of Petersen as will be shown below, Mijanovich's efforts appear to have been in vain, as Petersen would remain National Secretary of the SLP for the next 22 years, until his retirement in 1969.

Contents as follows:.

1. "Discussion and Documentation in support of the Motion for the Removal of the National Secretary of the Socialist Labor Party." 16 typescript leaves. In which the author makes the following charges against Petersen: "Incompetence as an administrator"; "Incompetence as a Marxist"; and "Slander of the membership." Many, though not all, of the subsequent documents are touched upon, the complaints ranging from toleration of absenteeism, complacency regarding the decline in party membership, poor management of the party printing plant, and the somewhat petty practice of referring to the late Florence Wills as "Ms. Wills" rather than "Comrade Wills."

2. Typed letter signed in print by Mijanovich, dated March 23, 1947, addressed "To members of Section Cook Co." Regarding the charges made against Mijanovich by Petersen, including "Slandering and vilifying the National Secretary of the Party"; "Introducing disruption in Section Cook County by poisoning the minds of members of the Section"; "Conspiring with members of other sections"; and "Fraternizing with an expelled disrupter." Below these charges are Mijanovich's own against Petersen, formally presented at the business meeting of Section on February 18th of that year.

3. "Statement by Nada Mijanovich Submitted to Grievance Committee of Section Cook Co. / Friday, March 14th, 1947." 8 typescript leaves. Follow-up document to the above-mentioned letter in which Mijanovich responds to Petersen's charges made against her, including that of "Fraternizing with an expelled disrupter" to which Mijanovich points out that "This charge I think proves the complete bankruptcy of the National Secretary. The day I started to work in the National Office I told the National Secretary that [expelled SLP member] M. Chuck was my cousin and that he had secured a room for me in New York. All the time that I was in New York the National Secretary was aware of my association with M. Chuck and never once did he say anything to me regarding same." Other aired grievances include Petersen's three-hour lunches, tardyism, and discourtesy to his staff, as well as the publication of such "display pieces" as his "Theocracy or Democracy," which Mijanovich describes as "Pure ostentatious waste. It's criminally useless as a propaganda work for Socialism..."

4. "Excerpts from Letters from Comrade F[lorence] Wills." 3 & [1] typescript leaves, the last the reproduction of a typescript letter from Petersen announcing the unexpected death of Wills. Florence Wills worked for 16 years at the offices of the SLP's weekly journal the "Weekly People." The excerpts came from private correspondence by Wills addressed to Mijanovich, in which first-hand distrust and splintering from the Petersen ("Papa Pete") leadership are most apparent: "Wouldn't it be glorious if, despite everything, and if not before, he got a thorough shellacking at the next convention? Pete I mean. I'll bet he doesn't get the vote he got in 1944. I know he won't for I know quite a few, don't you, who will administer a resounding 'No.' If only there were another candidate" ... "If he should ever start to crack there's a lot of people here who wouldn't be bothered. The hero worship is not apparent here and I heard some lucious comments on what some of those good, working class members think of his highfalutin language which pleased me."

5. "Document A." 1-p. typed letter signed by the "Weekly People," though attributed by Wills and Mijanovich to Arnold Petersen, addressed to John Gould, "High school student, age 16," dated July 9, 1946. Rather substantial letter in response to Gould's request to cancel his "Weekly People" subscription. Despite the simple request, Petersen's letter in response is approxiately 350 acerbic words, threatening Gould with a spanking but finally agreeing to return his money though most sarcastically: "You can buy quite a few lolly-pops for thirty cents." Mijanovich mentions this letter in her original "Discussion and Documentation" as an example of poor time management and public relations.

6. "Document B." 5ll. typescript letter from Petersen to "Weekly People" editor and SLP Presidential candidate Eric Hass, dated September 20, 1945, in which Petersen belatedly argues against facts stated by Hass for the National Executive Committee's report regarding the work done at the printing press and the editorial offices.

7. "Document C." 4ll. typescript letter from Hass to Petersen in response to the above-mentioned epistle, dated September 26, 1945, in which Hass maintains his original facts and figures regarding the work done by the editorial staff at the "Weekly People." He ends with the reminder that "you say you 'do not wish to make invidious comparisons,' [but] the comparison you do make is, in my opinion, invidious. Inasmuch as I have made no pretensions to invite the comparison, I do not understand why you make it unless it is to show the tremendously greater capacities of De Leon...I would not have the Party membership unaware of my limitations, yet I think it should be realized that, within these limitations, I am working as hard and as zealously as I know how." In her own "Statement," Mijanovich points out "That Comrade Hass... [is] thoroughly disgusted with the actions of the N.S. but hesitate[s] to bring out certain facts for fear of causing a split in the Party."

8. "Document D & E." 14ll. typed letter from Florence Wills to Eric Hass regarding her own response to "Document B," in which she too systematically proves Petersen's corrections as "false." Offered together with a 1-p. letter from Wills to Petersen dated September 30, 1944, in which she points out the inferior quality of the printed pamphlets being distributed to potential SLP members.

9. "Document F." 1-page typed letter from Arnold Petersen to Theodore Weder dated September 13, 1946, in regards to the Party's having or having not "revised its 'attitude toward Soviet Russia'" in "recent years." As Mijanovich pointed out in the "Discussion and Documentation," Petersen had allowed to go to press a number of pamphlets directly contradicting the SLP's stance regarding the Soviet Union (see below).

10. "Document G." "Memorandum Copy on Section New York's Resolution, recommending withdrawal of the Party declarations now published in pamphlet form under the titles 'Soviet Russia: Promise or Menace?' and 'Socialism: Hope of Humanity.'" 12ll. document signed in type on last page by Petersen, arguing against the removal of these two titles from popular sale despite criticisms presented by Section New York.

11. "Document H." 22&2ll. document collecting statements made in the following pamphlets: "Soviet Russia: Promise or Menace?"; "DeLeonism vs. Stalinism"; "Stalinist Corruption of Marxism"; "Workers of the World Unite!"; "What Is Socialism?"; and "Stalinist Imperialism."

12. [Undesignated Document]. 1-p. letter of resignation by SLP bookkeeper Eleanor Greenberg addressed to Arnold Petersen dated July 30, 1945, in which Greenberg states "your actions have caused me to be deeply humiliated and hurt, and I am unaccustomed to being treated in such a manner." According to Greenberg, Petersen had inaccurately accused her of repeated tardyism and had "shouted" at her when she invited friends to the office after lunch ("their visit was particularly meaningful to me since they were nurses recently returned from European duty.") To this is attached Petersen's 4ll. response dated the same day, in which Petersen spends approx. 2000 words denigrating Greenberg while defending himself, only to conclude with "I do ask you, in all fairness and common decency to stay until August 18 in order to enable me to secure another bookkeeper."

Price: $650.00

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