After the Socialist Party publically came out against World War 1, but made no meaningful action against it, the Left opposition to the "right" of the party won a majority on the executive of the Socialist Party. When the previous executive nullified the election, this caused one party to become three, the two new ones being the Communist Party and the Communist Labor Party.
This sort of thing is a sad but common occurrence amongst the US left. Since this time, the splits following this have even led to the death of the original socialist party, and left the Communist Party to stop running electoral campaigns. Within the Communist Party itself there have been many splits, such as that of the Socialist Workers Party, the Workers World Party, and from these the Freedom Socialist Party, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. And, in the 1970's, the Socialist Party became Social Democrats USA (a horrible organization), and the two meaningful organizations formed from other members were the Democratic Socialists of America and the Socialist Party USA.
And yet there are many more splits mentioned. Perhaps another video about this in the future.
