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“..., organizing, both in the trade
unions and in the Party, both locally and elsewhere, aside
from Lis work as editor in chief of The People, the official
Party Organ, his efforts ably seconded by the two men al-
ready mentioned, Sanial and Vogt.
Labor Faker An Indigenous Product
At this juncture, it is well again to digress a little and
throw a backward glance at what the Party organization had
been doing and how it had been faring in the meantime. This
was .ray specific field and to it I had devoted almost my en-
tire attention, taking a hand only now and then in the work
on the economic field. The Party organization had developed
wonderfully, the number of local Sections having increased
from 113, in 1893, to 200 in 1896, with a membership increase
that sent us close up to the 6,000 mark. The Partys vote
showed marked increases where we had been in the field be-
fore, and newly-formed Sections, in many parts of the coun-
try, had raised the political standard and had added to the...”
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“...REMINISCENCES OF DANIEL DE LEON. 19
its wages and that, inferentially, the working class was, for
that reason, interested in the taxation policies of the capital-
ist political parties. This position was vigorously combatted
by De Leon, as the editor of The People, and by Vogt, the
editor of the German Party organ, the Vorwaerts. De Leon,
in an editorial article under the caption; Sign-Posts That
Will Have to Guide the Party for the Safe-keeping of a Daily
People, and published in The People of April 2, 1899, sum-
med up the entire register of Volkszeitung sins committed up
to that time. The Volkszeitung now felt the pressing need of
addressing itself also to the English-speaking portion of the
Party s membership, so as to make clear to that portion the
beauties of its taxation position.
Accordingly, there appeared, on April 29, 1899, a sheet
designated as the Monthly English Edition of the New
Yorker Volkszeitung, which, in the course of time, came to
be known as the...”
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“...22 REMINISCENCES OF DANIEL DE LEON.
open, it could be dealt with and was promptly ejected. Hence-
forth, these men had to carry on their fight against the Party
outside of the breastworks and that fight then took shape in
a variety of forms. To begin with, the Volkszeitung at first
succeeded in obtaining a temporary injunction against the
members of the N. E. C., the purpose of which was to prevent
them from publishing The People. Next came attempts to
lay hands on Party funds through various litigations. They
sought to confuse the working class of the land by setting up
a counterfeit S. L. P., with a counterfeit The People. In its
application for an injunction, the legal exigencies of the case
were such that the Volkszeitung was estopped from including
in its petition the real editor of the real The People, De Leon,
who was thus left free to hammer the foe to his hearts con-
tent. And, oh, how he did hammer that foe I Reading The
People of those days is an education...”
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“... a stroke of apo-
plexy; as he was not turning up, policy and personal safety
coincided. I had Trautmann called up, told him of my phys-
ical condition, authorized him to express my deep regret to
the meeting and to make my apology. Shaynin remained on
guard to notify me in case Debs should turn up; I would
immediately have gone to the meeting. Well, he did not turn
up; I slept9 hoursthe first sleep in two weeks. That tells
the whole story and no bones broken.
It is the convention's opinion that t he S. T. & L. A.
delegation presented the most dignified appearance, and con-
ducted itself accordingly. Weeping Charley, Moth Maily,
A. M. Simons, Editor, Ex-Governor Coates, etc., looked
like baked owls. We triumphed all along the line. Haywood
tells me The People should be in every miners hands, etc.
But I- shall not proceed on these lines or Ill never end.
Trautmann, Hagerty and I spoke in Milwaukee last night.
"Now to Chase proper:
"1.^Enclosed are the stenographers...”
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“... and modern Greek. Having de-
cided to strike out for himself in the United States, he shortly
after his return to this continent became associate editor of a
Spanish paper published in the interest of Cuban liberation....”
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“... the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance in New
York City, when District Assembly 49, Knights of Labor be-
me District Alliance 49, Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance.
Needless to say, De Leons interest in the Labor Movement
soon led to a severance of his connections with the capitalist
professors of Columbia College. His activity in the Henry
George movement, bringing him in .contact with some of the
Socialists of that time, led him to study the theories of Karl
Marx, and his quick intellect rapidly landed him in the rank
of the Socialist Labor Party, where he soon became recog-
nized as one of its clearest and most uncompromising expon-
ents, and in 1902 was nominated as its candidate for Gover-
'eceiving nearly 16,000 votes,
in 1894 De Leon was elected editor of the Weekly Pople and
has ever since been retained in that capacity, being made
l'*'l900^ at the time of its founding on July
From 1900 the bare facts of his career may be summed
up in one sentence. He was the...”
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“... in the following
anecdote. De Leon was sitting at his desk when there en-
tered a middle-aged, restless, nervous fellow.
Is this the Editor of The People?
Yes, sir, what can I do for you?...”
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“... Slavethe one I
stated that I expected would. Had I known then what I know
now about the W. S. I would have added that it might be de-
sirable it did not. From inside information I have it that the
W. S. is hard (pushed, and from outside information I see it
has become utterly characterless. It is publishing everything
and anything, the most contradictory. It takes praises from,
and sings them to the I-am-abums; and it publishes contrary
articlesanything to get readers and shekels.
Your nice and polite letter to the heathen will surely be
productive of inside lights for present and future use.For in-
stance, that letter of Mary Marcy, Associate Editor of Int1
Soc. Rev., serves to confirm inside information I have, and
the inside information may explain the Editors letter to you.
[This letter was very complimentary of the Open Letter and
promised to publish the same, which promise, however, was
never fulfilled.] There is a rumipus in the.S. P.^ brought on by
the Kerr & Co. It...”
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“... wants to report a labor meeting, they pick out
the biggest jackass they can lay hands on, and just as soon as
they have ascertained the biggest jackass possible, they give
him the appointment, and that jackass must win his spurs or
his long ears, whatever the case may be.
The worst worry of his life, I should s ay, was the
Editor the natural born Socialist Editor.^* The terrific birth-
rate of this genus during De Leons life-time was simply amaz-
ing. The charged atmosphere these species could create when
their genius was rudely prevented from blossoming forth, was
such, at times, that it all but converted us to the idea of pri-
vate ownership of the party press. This certainly is a safety-
valve, as the natural born can then rush right into the enter-
prise of editing his own paper, and by the time he has squan-
dered all the savings of his admirers and been thoroughly
misunderstood by the masses he will generally go way back
and sit down.
But in the S. L. P. there is no...”
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“...132 DANIEL DE LEONOUR COMRADE.
original 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...”
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“...DANIEL DE LEONOUR COMRADE.
133
was a good joke on the A. E.that it was also one on him-
self, he would not condescend to admit!
The contributor was scarcely less of a problem at times.
The fact of a Party-owned press translates itself to some literal
minds into the conception that they ought to do as
they please with it, and that anything they send in
should be published without comment, question or abridge-
ment. If this inalienable right is infringed upon it
can only be because the editor, who should be a ser-
vant of the membership, is a "boss and a "tyrant. At
every N. E. C. meeting we had a batch of appeals from De
Leons "arbitrariness to settle, and De Leon always came out
on tophe never ruled out anything unless he had a very good
reason. The most insistent complainants were, naturally, peo-
ple with literary talent and ambition, the class that is always
"misunderstood and suppressed. The workingmen in the
Party caused him little or no trouble of this kind...”
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“...WITH DE LEON SINCE '89. 5
earnest, that the time for experimenting with all sorts of
uTfi hat the Socialist Labor Party
should become a real political party, not only a party of prop-
aganda. Several Sections, under the leadership of W Rosen-
berg and F. Bushe, editor of the Workmen-'s Advocate, the of-
ficial p^ty organ^-the American Section of New York among
em 00k the stand that the time had arrived for the Social-
ists to enter the political arena not here and there and at in-
definite periods, but to unfurl the banner of International So-
cialism on American soil without compromise or fusion with
any other political party. It was here that the New Yorker
Volkszeitung did its nefarious work by using its influence to
drive both Rosenberg and Bushe out of the party, and all
those who stood with them as well.
Rosenberg and Bushe thought they had the whole party
organization to back them up, and without doubt the majority
S infliL r"* But what wa a little
tene o...”
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“... was started as a Sunday paper,
containing a whole lot of pages made up mostly of plate mat-
ter, and printed on the Volkszeitung press. The paper was a
yard square and did not look like other papers. It was called
a mammoth paper by the publishers, and they must have
known. Lucien Sanial was the editor.
It seems that the intention was to make of it a paper that
would reach and be attractive to all the members of he fam-
ily. The Workmens Advocate was consolidated with the new
venture. To be sure, it was some improvement upon the
Workmens Advocate.
In 1891 Daniel De Leon was appointed national lecturer
of the party and toured all states where the party had organiza-
tions, including the Pacific Coast. The result of this tour was
the cementing of the affiliated Sections into a homogeneous
national organization, the real beginning of the Socialist La-
bor Party as a factor in the labor movement. In the fall of
the same year De Leon was the standard bearer of the party
in...”
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“...WITH DE LEON SINCE 89. U
to make place for De Leon, vvlho up to that time had been as-
sociate editor.
Sanial pleaded old age and bad eyesight as the reason for
his res^naition, but the real reason, no doubt, was that he rec-
ognized in De Leon the superior man and above all the sys-
tematic, tireless and steady worker, who was equal to the big
job of making The People not a family paper filled with
plate matter (which is at all times of questionable quality), but
a paper filled with original matteran organ of a great move-
ment. a movement whose task it is to accomplish the greatest
revolution which has yet taken place in the history of mankind.
With De Leon in the editorial chair The People became
indeed a journal worthy of the great cause of international So-
th t*; K to Lucien Sanial.
that what ihe did write while a member of the Socialist Labor
Party was good, and that as a speaker and agitator he was a
man of marked ability; but the difference between him and...”
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“...'
bor PartrTnTLcrLThTSfrcl^'*'''" ^a*
The People gained in circulation n !7 were achieved,
reach and be appreciated .by workingmen^*^*^^
lish-speaking countries. The virile clpn ber Eng-
imitable style of its editor diffp ^S'cal and in-
writings in Socialist papers in the E r Previous
that matter i other langua Ta
tom-tom of the savage. P'"o differs from the
claiming to be So^cTlltTp"TvaT*t P*'"bed then,
owned nominally by co-operativl some cases
Volkszeitung in New York there Besides the
Louis and a paper with the same fT in St.
were alleged Socialist papers in Ger ^ ^ Philadelphia; there
^ German published in Cleveland,...”
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“... Troy Labor, Chicago Labor and
Kalamazoo Labor, etc. Poor labor! As soon as a Section
secured 120 twenty-five cent pieces It could sport its own local
paper and local manager and editor. The paper, however, was...”
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“...18 WITH DE LEON SINCE '89.
mailed from St. Louis, though this was not generally known
by the subscribers.
The party adminisitration had no grounds on which to op-
pose the scheme at that time. De Leon and the National Exec-
utive Committee in New York knew that sooner or later the
scheme, like all sohemes, would spring a leak. And it did. The
post office authorities, when they discovered the deception,
compelled the publishers to mail the paper from the town
where it was dated, so the paper had to be sent by express to
the city where it was to appear as a local paper.
We in Troy, too, had our Labor experience. An old Ger-
man comrade was elected editor and I was elected manager.
I managed to get the 120 subscribers, and the local editor
edited the inches on the last page, at six cents an inch. Some-
times we lhad ten inches of local editorial matter, sometimes
more, depending upon the funds. As local manager, I had fre-
quent consultations with the local editor...”
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“... was time wasted to discuss Socialist theories while the dele-
gates had far more important work to do. Such debates, he
said, should take place outside of the convention hall. Soon
thereafter Gompers was challenged to debate with Daniel De
Leon. Gompers declined. He might have been too shallow
mentally when, as he claimed, after reading Das Kapital he
found there was nothing in it, but he certainly had his wits
all there when he preferred not to debate with the editor of
that sheet he had so paternally warned me against.
Capitalist Lieutenants and Politicians in the
Labor Unions^An Instance in Troy
In 1895 the Socialist Labor Party made further gains at
the polls, the vote rising to 45,000. The party organization
gained in membership and gathered in its folds new recruits
on all sides, in the face of the phenomenal growth of the Popu-
list movement. The greatest event in the life of the American
Socialist movement took place that year, namely the founding
of the...”
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“...WITH DE LEON SINCE '89, 29!
assembly of the order, General Master Workman Terrence V.
Towderly was defeated for that office and James R. Sovereign
elected in his stead.
Sovereign was flesh of the flesh and bone of the bone of
Powderly. The downfall of Powderly brought about chiefly
by the Socialists under De Leons generalship was meant to
ke a lesson to Sovereign. Sovereign did not heed the lesson.
The same corrupt practices of Powderly and his satellites
were repeated by Sovereign and his gang. In 1894 the con-
vention of the Knights of Labor, or the general assembly, as
it was called, was held in New Orleans. Sovereign was taken
to task by De Leon and his Socialist co-delegates, and an-
other chance was given him upon his promise to mend his
ways. Sovereign and the general officers of the order gave a
pledge to the Socialist delegates to let them name the editor
of the official journal of the Knights of Labor. Sovereign
broke his pledge. He knew, no doubt, that with...”
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“...WITH DE LEON SINCE 89. 33
though we found later that he was not quite as sweet as his
name.
The system of proxy delegates had been abolished when
the 1896 convention gathered. Twelve states were represented
by about ninety delegates.
1896 Convention Takes Up Union Question
The question of the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance
was the most important que'stion the convention had to deal
with. On the third day of the convention a delegation of the
S. T. & L. A. was given the floor. Hugo Vogt was its spokes-
man. Vogt read a well-prepared speech, setting forth the rea-
sons for the organization of the Alliance. Whatever Vogt be-
came afterward, at that time he was De Leons co-worker and
no one stood higher in De Leons esteem and confidence than
Hugo Vogt, editor of the S. L. P. German organ. After Vogts
speech De Leon introduced the following resolution:
Whereas, Both the A. F. of L. and the K. of L., or what
is left of them, have fallen hopelessly into the hands of...”
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