ad challenged the committee's attitude toward
Russia:

"Ever since the revolution in Russia, the party has hailed it as
the first great gift of the International. At every meeting of the
National Executive Committee held since the second revolution in
Russia [the revolution which put Lenine and Trotzky in power] the
committee has issued some ringing declaration in favor of the
workers' and peasants' government in Russia....

"Rarely has a meeting been held under party auspices that our
speakers have not taken advantage of it to present the claims and
achievements of the Russian revolution. The party's position may be
easily ascertained by consulting the party bulletins and the party
press."

The Executive Committeemen who signed this defense of the committee's
Bolshevist complexion were Victor L. Berger, Seymour Stedman, James
Oneal, A. Shiplacoff, Dan Hogan, John M. Work, Frederick Krafft and
George H. Goebel. These, with Morris Hillquit, were the men who had
violently expelled or suspended tens of thousands of members of the
party without warrant of the party Constitution and without granting a
trial or the right of self-defense to those thus dealt with; who had
maintained themselves in office after July 1, 1919, in express violation
of the party Constitution, having suppressed announcement of the result
of the referendum vote by the rank and file to elect executive
committeemen, by which vote Left Wing committeemen had been elected, as
the report to the National Emergency Convention of the Right Wing
committee appointed to investigate this referendum had to acknowledge;
and who, by these devices and a similar high-handedness committed by
themselves and friendly delegates had seized control of the National
Emergency Convention and organized it in their own interest.

In their report to the convention they further defended themselves
against the Left Wing charge that this majority of the Executive
Committee had allied itself with the Berne Conference. Under this head
the above-mentioned committeemen say:

"While no definite date may be set for the beginning of the present
party dissension, it is certain that they began to be generally
noticeable in January of this year [1919], when the National
Executive Committee elected delegates to the Berne Conference owing
to the fact that the delegates elected by referendum could not
serve,