Socialist Party (Dover, N.H.)

The Dover, New Hampshire Local of the Socialist Party was first chartered in 1895 as an affiliate of the Socialist Labor Party. Twenty Dover residents, mostly skilled tradesmen and unskilled laborers, signed the initial charter of affiliation. Benjamin T. Whitehouse was the organizer. The local held rallies, ran candidates for local, state and national office and distributed copies of The People, the Socialist Labor Party's national newspaper, to local labor organizations. At the national level, the Socialist Labor Party was in turmoil during the years 1895-1900 as a faction supporting party boss Daniel De Leon fought with a faction supporting Morris Hillquit. In 1901 Hillquit's organization broke with the Socialist Labor Party and established itself as the Socialist Party of America. The Dover local sided with this new party and became its local branch. The local continued to exist throughout World War I and the early 1920s, when Socialists were persecuted for their opposition to the war. The last documented activity in this collection dates from 1923.