John McClelland Work (1869–1961) 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. He was also the executive secretary of the Socialist Party of America from 1911 to 1913 and a frequent candidate for public office on its ticket.
Biography
Early years John M. Work was born January 3, 1869, in rural Washington County in Southeastern Iowa, the son of John H. Work, a farmer.Solon DeLeon with Irma C. Hayssen and Grace Poole (eds.), The American Labor Who's Who. New York: Hanford Press, 1925; p. 255.
In September 1886, Work left the family farm in Dutch Creek Township and went off to school. He stayed close to home, attending the non-denominational religious preparatory school Washington Academy, in nearby Washington, Iowa, returning home on weekends to help with the farm work.Work, John M., Glances at My Life. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Micro 869, 1958; ch. 1, p. 1. Work graduated the academy in June 1889, part of a graduating class of 8.
Following graduation from Washington Academy, Work began studying law in the office of an elderly lawyer in Washington who was a friend of the Work family, with John running errands.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 2, p. 1. After a year he returned to the farm to help with the summer work before enrolling in Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois, a United Presbyterian school which often sent its graduates on to theological seminaries.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 1, p. 15. Work entered with Senior class status and graduated in June 1891 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 2, p. 5.
While in college, Work was a supporter of the Prohibition Party.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 4.
Upon graduation, Work took a job at a weekly newspaper published in Monmouth, gathering local news and soliciting advertising. He was a failure as an ad salesman, however, and was fired after just six weeks.
Work decided to attend the United Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Allegheny, Pennsylvania in the fall of 1892. Upon arrival, Work found the seminary "cheerless and uninviting" and spontaneously decided to hop a train for Washington, D.C. to attend Columbian Law School, now part of George Washington University.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 2, p. 6. Work graduated in June 1892 with a degree of Bachelor of Laws.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 2, p. 10.
After passing the Iowa State Bar exam, Work began to practice law in Des Moines, Iowa. He also joined the Young Men's Republican Club in Des Moines and was a delegate to a national convention of Republican clubs in Louisville, Kentucky in 1893.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 1. He remained a Republican until 1896 and practiced law until 1900.
Work married a former classmate at Monmouth College, Lucy Josephine Hoisington, on June 24, 1896, in Monmouth, Illinois.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 2. The pair had a daughter, Josephine, in April 1897.
In the fall of 1896, Work began studying various social remedies at the Des Moines Public Library, preparing for a public lecture against socialism. During the course of his studies, Work read The Co-operative Commonwealth by Laurence Gronlund. He later recalled:
Work became absorbed with advancing the socialist idea. His law practice suffered as a result.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 10.
Political career
Work was the organizer of the first branch of the formed Social Democratic Party of America of Iowa and attended the Iowa state convention of the newly formed organization in 1899. The gathering was attended by about 50 delegates from 11 of the state's 99 counties. Work was elected secretary of the state organization and given the task of preparing a state platform.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 13.
Work's first published article on socialism, entitled "Credential of Socialism," was published in the Des Moines Iowa Unionist in January 1900. That fall he also addressed his first "street meeting" as a soapboxer on behalf of the Social Democratic Party, speaking for half an hour.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 15. Work would subsequently tour the nation speaking to public audiences on socialist themes.
In December 1900, Work went to Minnesota to await a forthcoming national convention of the Social Democratic Party, called for January 15, 1901, in Chicago, but fell ill and had to return to Iowa, missing the gathering.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 17.
In July 1901, Work was the delegate of the Des Moines branch of the Social Democratic Party to the Unity Convention which established the Socialist Party of America (SPA). Although taken aback by the "lack of brotherliness" displayed by many of the delegates, Work remained active in the new organization. In October 1901, he was elected by referendum vote of the membership as the Socialist Party of Iowa's delegate to the governing National Committee of the SPA.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 19.
Beginning at this time, Work also periodically contributed material to the Iowa Socialist, the newspaper of the Iowa party, the Chicago Socialist, and The Coming Nation (later gaining fame as The Appeal to Reason.)Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 32.
In 1902, Work was the candidate of the Socialist Party for Mayor of Des Moines. He ran the next year for Governor of Iowa for the first time.
When the SPA briefly moved its headquarters to Omaha, Nebraska in 1903, Work by virtue of his status as National Committee member of an adjacent state became a member of the so-called "National Quorum," which acted as a de facto executive committee between annual meetings of the National Committee.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 34. Work was joined in this position by Barney Berlyn of Illinois, Stephen M. Reynolds of Indiana, Charles Dobbs of Kentucky, and Victor L. Berger of Wisconsin. The party moved its headquarters again, this time to Chicago, in 1904.
Work was a delegate to the 1904 National Convention of the Socialist Party, held in Chicago. This convention established an elected 7 member National Executive Committee to handle matters of party governance in between annual sessions of the National Committee, a group which was at the same time expanded to enhance representation by large states. Work and the others of the National Quorum were reappointed until the new constitution could be ratified by the membership of the SPA.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 38.
In January 1905, Work wrote an introductory work on socialism called What's So and What Isn't. The short book was frequently reprinted and became his best known writing, one of the Socialist Party's propaganda standards of the Debs era. The first 10,000 copies of the work appeared as the March 1905 number of Wayland's Monthly.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 40. The book would ultimately be published in over a dozen editions, with a total print run of well over 165,000 copies.
Work introduced five amendments to the SPA's national constitution in 1905, one of which made the National Executive Committee directly elected by the party membership instead of by the National Committee; another which made the party's Executive Secretary electable by the membership instead of by the National Committee, and a third which caused all amendments to the national constitution to be presented to the membership seriatim, so that individual parts of the proposal could be accepted or declined on their own merits. These proposals were overwhelmingly carried by the party membership in December 1905 and became a regular part of party life.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 42.
In January 1906, Work was reelected to the SPA's NEC on the first ballot, receiving 32 of the 45 votes cast. This was the last NEC elected by the National Committee, since the passage of Work's constitutional amendment had come too close to the January deadline to take immediate effect. Work was also reelected to the National Committee by the Socialist Party of Iowa in February of that same year.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 43.
In 1906, Work revised and shortened What's So and What Isn't so that The Appeal to Reason could issue it as a new 10 cent pamphlet. The book was again revised with the addition of five new chapters for 1,000 copies of a clothbound edition by Charles H. Kerr & Co. that same summer. Although stated as the Third Edition, this actually constituted the Fourth Edition of the work.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 44. A slightly corrected hardcover Fifth Edition followed from Kerr the next year.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 46.
In January 1907, Work was again returned to the Socialist Party's 7 member NEC, this time by vote of the party membership in referendum. Joining Work on this first membership-elected committee were Morris Hillquit and Ben Hanford of New York, Ernest Untermann of Florida, A.M. Simons and Joseph Medill Patterson of Illinois, and Victor L. Berger of Wisconsin.
Together with Hillquit and Simons, Work was part of a committee of three given the task of preparing the Socialist Party's 1908 platform. Work prepared and circulated a so-called "minority report" written in simple to understand language, while the erudite Hillquit prepared a version more to his liking. In his memoirs, Work later recalled exchanging mean-spirited words with Hillquit over the two drafts, with Hillquit calling Work's version "kindergartenish," while Work retorted that Hillquit's version was "sophomoric."Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 3, p. 51. Neither version was ultimately accepted.
Work was an employee of the National Office of the Socialist Party in August and September 1908, during which time he prepared the proceedings of the 1908 National Convention for publication. At the same time he appeared on the ballot as a candidate for U.S. Senate.
Work was defeated in his attempt for re-election to the NEC in the party referendum election of January 1910. In the aftermath, Work was asked by National Executive Secretary J. Mahlon Barnes to take a job in the National Office, handling literature and supplies and working to develop organizations in unorganized states. Work accepted the offer.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 4, p. 1.
Work also attended the 1910 National Congress of the Socialist Party as a delegate, delivering the report on organization on behalf of the NEC. He was also the candidate of the Socialist Party for Governor of Iowa in the fall of that year.
In August 1911, Mahlon Barnes was forced to resign as Executive Secretary, revealed by a NEC investigation to have placed the mother of his illegitimate child on the party payroll.Ira Kipnis, The American Socialist Movement, 1897–1912. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952; p. 380. John Work was selected by the NEC to take his place on an interim basis, beginning September 1."News from National Socialist Headquarters," The Socialist, Columbus, Ohio, vol. 1, no. 37 (Sept. 2, 1911), p. 3. A referendum was held to formally fill the position that fall, an election in which Work was elected over J.O. Bentall, 22,081 to 6,449.Work, Glances at My Life, ch. 4, p. 11.
As Executive Secretary of the Socialist Party, Work found himself in the spotlight, the recipient of criticism and the object of political machinations. The rurally-raised Christian Socialist, Work often found himself at loggerheads with de facto party leader Morris Hillquit, an eloquent urban Marxist. Hillquit plainly sought Work's removal as Executive Secretary. As chairman of the Constitution Committee at the 1912 National Convention of the Socialist Party Hillquit oversaw an amendment returning the selection of the SPA's Executive Secretary to the National Committee.