Note 8 — Chapter X
Reading edition
The Socialist vote in the United States is as follows:
1892 21,164
1896 36,274
1900 87,814
1904 402,283
1908 402,464
1910 607,674
1911 1,500,000 (estimated)
The vast increase shown in 1911 was made in municipal and other local elections. On January 1, 1912, 377 villages, towns, and cities in 36 States had some Socialist officers. Several important cities have been under Socialist rule, notably Milwaukee and Schenectady, where the Socialists captured the entire city machinery. In 1912 the Socialists lost control of Milwaukee, although their vote increased 3,000. Their overthrow was accomplished by the coalescing of the old parties into a Citizens' Party, a line-up between radicalism and conservatism that will probably become the rule in American local politics.
The party is organized along the lines of the German Social Democracy. Its membership has grown as follows:
1903 15,975
1904 20,764
1905 23,327
1906 26,784
1907 29,270
1908 41,751
1909 41,479
1910 48,011
1911 84,716
1912 (May) 142,000