Social Democratic Party of America

The Social Democratic Party of America was a short lived democratic socialist party in the Old United States. Born from a dissident faction of Social Democracy of America that opposed the merger with the Socialist Labor Party, the party took a more moderate, reformist course than it's rival in the SLP, although the SDP was still an avowedly socialist party. The SDP would forge an alliance with Governor Robert LaFollete's progressive Republicans in 1905, and would enter the House of Representatives for the first time in the following year's midterm elections along with the SLP, but would be quickly overshadowed by it. The SDP would form an alliance with the SLP before the elections of 1908. Within a few months, it fully folded into the SLP.

Break from Social Democracy of America
The SDPA's predecessor, Social Democracy of America, was a short lived dual colonization society and political party that sought to establish multiple socialist colonies in a Western state, which would allow the party to capture the state's legislature and create a foothold to establish socialism nationwide. However, these initial plans were rejected as unfeasible, and the leading unionist and Marxist wing of the party quickly drifted towards alignment with the Socialist Labor Party, which had been actively courting the organization's leader, Eugene Debs. A minority dissident faction, led by Victor Berger, protested the SLP's ambivalent attitude towards political reform, but they were unable to convince the majority of the delegates of their position, and on June 14th, 1898, the final day of it's second congress, the National Convention of Social Democracy of America would vote to merge with the Socialist Labor Party. Victor Berger and his 33 delegates would withdraw from the organization, refusing to participate in the merger, instead scheduling a separate convention for October 1st of the same year.

Formation and initial successes
The fledgling party would designate a party newspaper, name itself the Social Democratic Party of America and issue a declaration of principles, repudiating the SLP and instead seeking to achieve socialism through the ballot box, aligning itself with Eduard Bernstein's "evolutionary socialism". The party would not run candidates for the presidency under it's name during it's existence as an independent party. Membership data during the first two years is scarce, with the party having meager assets in comparison to the growing SLP. An official report to the party's 1900 convention indicated the dues-paying membership of the party was 4,536, participating in 226 active local branches, with 985 members and 53 branches had been established during the previous 60 days, implying a significantly lower membership for the years 1898 and 1899. Despite this, the party did achieve some electoral successes, most notably electing two members to the Massachusetts state legislature. Despite the party's opposition to the SLP, the majority of it's members either voted for Debs in the 1900 elections or Populist candidate Wharton Barker, and would vote for Debs overwhelmingly during the 1904 elections.

The party would continue to grow in prominence within it's native state of Wisconsin, to the point Governor Robert LaFollete's progressive Republicans and SDP representatives in state government would collaborate on an agenda very close to the SDP's minimum program. The SDPA would reach it's zenith in 1906, when it would elect two representatives to the House of Representatives including it's leader, Victor Berger, double the amount of it's rival in the Socialist Labor Party. More importantly, it would also elect both senators from Wisconsin, although they also dual carded as members of the Republican party. Wisconsin would be one of the first Republican states to approve the 16th Amendment due to the SDPA's influence.

Decline and merger with the SLP
Working together in Congress and the continued growth of the SLP softened the party's initial hostility, and the beginnings of a genuinely cordial arrangement. The two socialist parties would form an alliance for the 1908 elections, with the SDP endorsing Debs' candidacy. Furthermore, the two parties agreed to caucus together in Congress. The SLP would achieve sixteen seats in the House of Representatives, all but one of them new, while the SDP would only achieve four, only gaining two seats. In late 1908 to early 1909, the Social Democrats accepted socialist industrial unionism and joined the SLP.