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In Baltimore, the younger persons who might have been regarded as
militants were mostly middle-class college-oriented young instructors, quote-
unquote intellectuals. On the other hand, those who you would normally
regard as the old guard in Baltimore were the trade unionists, the group
around the Workmen's Circle and the Jewish Forward, as well as others.
Now, in this situation there was no conflict. We got along very well with the
Workmen's Circle crowd and the so-called old guard. We had no splits in
Baltimore.17

Why no factionalism in Baltimore? Some of the differences between New
York and Baltimore in this regard are not hard to discern. New York was the center
of socialism and radicalism in the United States, most left organizations had their
largest memberships there, and the level of mass struggle and left-wing theoretical
debate was relatively high; it was a potential hot-house for factionalism. Baltimore
was a small urban area on the periphery of the northeastern megalopolis, with
Southern flavor, weak socialist and radical traditions, small left-wing organizations,
and a lower level of social struggle. Resultingly, the greater sense of isolation
tended to breed tolerance on the left - or perhaps detachment.

Of course, smaller-scale situations in more hostile environments do not
always mitigate factionalism. But in Baltimore there were more positive factors
that reduced this danger as well. Most importantly, there were a number of older
Socialists linked to various important constituencies within and outside of the party,
who shared the sense of urgency and the more activist democratic socialism (as
Trager later labeled it) of the younger Socialists. Key individuals among the older
Socialists were therefore willing to cooperate closely with their younger
counterparts in building PUL.18

The cooperation with the older socialists was indispensable to the younger
militants. To see why this was the case, it is interesting to contrast the younger
Socialists to another group of militant young middle-class intellectuals and
professionals active in Baltimore at the same time - the organizers of the City-
Wide Young People's Forum.   Like the Black youth that built the Forum, the