The rise of the party in Oklahoma was accompanied by a degree of factional tension, with its rank and file being dominated by the left-wing "Reds" who supported a decentralized form of organization, and its most prominent leaders including social democratic "Yellows" such as Ameringer and Otto Branstetter who wanted to implement more centralized structures along the lines of those established by Victor Berger in Milwaukee. Ameringer and Branstetter were removed from their roles in the state party in 1913 as a result of factional infighting.
