No wonder the Party was left in complete isolation. Such impractical statements were but noise and scared away normal trade-union people. But the communists soon learned. Gradually they worked their way into trade unions, and under the name of the Workers Party propagated their program. Little by little they became more active above ground. In 1924 the Workers Party nominated, as candidates in the presidential elections, William Z. Foster as President; Benjamin Gitlow, Vice-President. In 1925, becoming still more bold, the Workers Party changed its name to the Workers (Communist) Party. The underground Party in the sense of being a separate organization was discontinued, although, as in all Communist Parties, a small underground was maintained. In 1928 communist candidates in the presidential elections polled almost 50,000 votes Finally, in 1929, by discarding the word “Workers,” the camouflage was dropped, and the Party became known as the Communist Party of the United States of America. During these years the communists multiplied labor troubles and participated in a number of strikes, such as the textile strikes in Passaic, New Jersey (1926); New Bedford, Massachusetts (1928); and Gastonia, North Carolina (1929); as well as the coal strike of 1922, the railroad shopmen’s strike of 1922, and the New York furriers’ strike of 1926. Moreover, they were becoming more active in other agitational fields, such as economic problems, race relations, and nationality groups. The Party, now becoming stronger, was testing its wings in mass agitational work. Meanwhile the Comintern was developing the type of Party it wanted in America. Gradually many contradictory policies and personality conflicts were eliminated. But important differences still existed. Many communists, for example, thought the Party should remain underground. They opposed founding the Workers Party. In one phase of this fight the communists were divided into three groups, known as the Geese, the Liquidators, and the Conciliators. Another dispute involved the proper method of infiltrating labor unions, with some members being uncertain how far the Party should go to the “left” or to the “right.” In 1923 a bitter struggle developed between factions headed by Charles Ruthenberg and William Z. Foster. In 1928 and 1929, acting under Comintern instructions, the Communist Party conducted its first big “purges,” the mass expulsion of large groups of members. In 1928 James P. Cannon, an old-time communist leader, was expelled from the Party for possessing Trotskyite tendencies, a reflection of the Stalin-Trotsky fight in Russia. The Cannonites later formed a new party, the Socialist Workers Party, loyal to Trotsky. In 1929 the purge was even more severe. Jay Lovestone, Executive Secretary of the Party, and Benjamin Gitlow, a high-ranking charter member, were expelled.