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“...intrigue to prevent the very thing he had
been elected for and, worse yet, he tried to enlist other Party
members in his treasonable plotting. As a scheme it was
about as foolish a thing as could be imagined; only a person
utterly ignorant as to the spirit of the S. L. P. membership
could have conceived such a plan. He no doubt took
chances. If he succeeded, all the better, for he could then
enter the S. P. a conquering hero; if he failed he could point
out that he had made an effort and get credit for that. But
his inborn ineptitude cropped out again when he tried to
make Reinstein a partner in his scheme. He never made a
bigger mistake in his life when he permitted himself to as-...”
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“...ideas had been proposed a dozen times before, and
that his most cherished plan had been tried and found wanting!
Nearly every assistant in the editorial officethe younger and
greener he was the surer he was to catch the diseasesoon
developed an ambition to sit in the chair, and conceived the
notion that it was a real mistake of the Party not to realize
that he should be there, and make the change at once. The
policies and tactics of the S. L. P. were very good, indeed, De
Leon should be given credit for having contributed to make
these clear, but he failed entirely when it came to making them
attractive to the massesin fact, as an editor, an organizer,
and a leader he was a back number, and if it was not for the
fact that he was a boss and an incurable egoist, he would rec-
ognize this and step aside and give place to number one!
How painful this subject really was to him may be seen
from the following story.
After one of the N. E. C. meetings, when we had gone
through an unusually hard...”
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“...world. It
was declared that without the organization of the workers into
a class conscious revolutionary body on the industrial field^
Socialism would remain but an aspiration. It was chargeii''
that the idea of organizing the Socialist Trade and Labor Al-
liance originated in De Leons head. It did. That charge,"
at least, was true. So much the better for De Leon. Recent
developments across the Atlantic have demonstrated beyond
doubt the impotence of the pure and simple political move-
ment.
Credit Due Daniel De Leons Work
To Marx belongs the discovery of the economic interpre-
tation of history and the scientific application of the theory off
value. To De Leon belongs the discovery of the necessity of
forming the industrial battalions that can take and hold tbe
wealth power now in possession of the capitalist class.
True, at the time of founding the Socialist Trade and
Labor Alliance not all the functions of the revolutionary So-
cialist economic organization were recognized. That the...”
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“...With De Leon Since 89, II. 1-165; joins the
Nationalist movement, 2; dissension not introduced into
Labor movement by, 2-4; joins Socialist Labor Party in
1890, 7; personal appearance of, 8; activities of, in campaign
of 1890, 8-10; candidate for governor of New York, 10; suc-
ceeds Sanial as editor of The People, 10-11; Flashlights of
the Amsterdam Congress by, 11, 105; popularity of, in
1892, 13; attitude toward label agitation farce, 25-27; at-
tempt of, to cleanse Knights of Labor, 28-29; credit due,
for founding of Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance, 30-31;
sword of logic effectively wielded by, at S. L. P. conven-
tion of 1896, 34-35; meeting addressed by, in "Troy (1896),
40-42; saving sense of humor possessed by, 44-45; and Die
Liedertafel, 50; big vote for, in 16th Assembly District in
1897, 55-56; freak visitors to, 56-57; 16th Assembly District
vote for, in 1898, and shameless slandering of, 59-62; vul-
gar language story, 61-62; becomes storm center of opposi-
tion to S. L. P...”
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