in the growing Michigan auto industry. The group was initially headed by an immigrant from England named Adolph Kohn, who was later remembered by one factional opponent as a "mild-mannered, blue-eyed man with a vast memory" who was "textually brilliant in Marxist lore". Writing under the pseudonym John O'London, Kohn attempted to gather around him others opposed to the World War in Europe who felt that the pursuit of ameliorative reforms only served to bolster the capitalist system. The SPUS participated in the left-socialist circles of the time, especially with the Michigan Socialists expelled from the SPA in 1919 who first helped form the Communist Party of America (CPA) and later formed the Proletarian Party of America. Groups were formed in New York City, Cleveland, Portland and San Francisco. The Proletarian group and the SPUS split apart over support for the Soviet Union. The WSPUS applauded the Bolshevik's withdraw from the first World War, but felt that the new Soviet regime could only be state capitalist and hence should not be supported. The Proletarian Party, headed by Scottish emigrant John Keracher, regarded the Soviet Union as a workers' state which needed defending. The WSPUS was given a regular page in the Western Clarion, the weekly paper of the original (non-WSM) Socialist Party of Canada, a publication which circulated broadly in American Left-socialist circles. Development Pressured by the Palmer Raids of January 1920 and threatened with trademark litigation by the SPA, the SPUS in the early 1920s as the Socialist Educational Society (SES). There were three locals in the SES period, located in Boston, Detroit and New York. The New York City local was the most active and events often included Louis Boudin as guest lecturer. In 1927, the SES changed its name again to the Workers' Socialist Party (WSP). The party published an irregular organ during the 1930s, The Socialist, which was launched in November 1929 and continued publication until July 1938. The heyday of the WSP was 1930 and 1940s when it had perhaps 150 members. During that time, WSP members were quite active in the workers' movement, especially the United Auto Workers union which a number of WSP members helped form. WSP members were also active in the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and the International Typographical Union in New England. Since October 1933, the Socialist Party of Canada had published the Western Socialist from Winnipeg. After the