Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Spargo, John

SPARGO, JOHN, an American author, born at Stithians, Cornwall, England, in 1876. He was educated in the public schools and then took extension courses at Oxford and Cambridge. Early in his life he became interested in socialism and was one of the comparatively few Englishmen who publicly opposed the Boer War. He came to the United States in 1901 and from then on was active as a socialistic worker, lecturer and writer. After having served as a member of the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party and as a delegate to most of the important conventions, he resigned from the Socialist Party in May, 1917, being opposed to the Socialist opposition to the entrance of the United States into the World War, as well as to the Socialist support of the Russian Communists. He was one of the founders of the National Party, of the American Alliance for Labor and Democracy, and of the Prospect House Social Settlement, Yonkers, N. Y. In 1919 he was appointed a member of the Industrial Conference. Besides numerous pamphlets and magazine articles on art, and on social and economic questions, he wrote: “Socialism” (1906); “Capitalist and Laborer” (1907); “The Spiritual Significance of Modern Socialism” (1908); “Karl Marx, His Life and Work” (1909); “Elements of Socialism” (with Professor Arner, 1911); “Applied Socialism” (1912); “Syndicalism, Industrial Unionism, and Socialism” (1913); “Americanism and Social Democracy” (1918); “Bolshevism” (1919); “The Psychology of Bolshevism” (1920), etc.

JOHN SPARGO