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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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“...24 REMINISCENCES OF DANIEL DE LEON.
person who penned it, but is also typical of the set of mon-
tal misfits conducting that paper. It is safe to assume that
even at this very hour, when event after event the world
over proves the unerring foresight of De Leon, as well as the
immense value of his teachings; when it is clearly seen by
millions of men and women, who never heard of De Leon,
that the foundation that he sought to place the revolution-
ary Socialist movement on is the only safe and feasible one,
the only way out, viz., the integral, revolutionary, industrial
organization of the workers of the world, enabling the work-
ing class, everywhere, to take and hold and operate the
means of production and distribution, so that, in time of a
world crisis, when an old social system is seen in the throes
of dissolution and a new order is being born, aye, even in
such an hour would the insect minds of the Volkszeitung
staff in all likelihood again pen the lines penned on...”
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“... state, had
taken literature from the N. Y. Labor News Co., a Party in-
stitution, had sold the same and had failed to settle. The
manager of the Labor News, unable to collect, finally pre-
ferred charges in Section New York. Hickey, feeling im-
mune because of the support and backing he thought he had,
refused even to appear before the Grievance Committee of
Section New York when his case came up. He certainly did
have all the support and backing he thought he had, but he
also had made his reckoning, without Section New York,
which body promptly expelled him.
Intrigues Ad Infinitum
Thereupon, the Party was made the victim of a series of
intrigues which, for sheer impudence, transcended anything
I ever experienced in any organization. The intriguers had
a safe majority in the New York State Executive Committee,
Hickey himself being a member of that body. An attempt
was made to disregard the Sections act of expulsion by set-
ting up the claim that Hickey was still a member...”
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“...REMINISCENCES OF DANIEL DE LEON. 45
as these it is the part of wisdom not to be too strict con-
structionists of constitutions. A strict construction would re-
quire the immediate suspension of the three signers and of
every organization that refuses to bounce them. They, in
trying to make themselves safe by a not too flagrant or im-
pudent violation of the constitution, have actually hanged
themselves: they enable the N. E. C. to take the attitude of
complete neutrality in a Party row, and thereby to afford the
Party a legal way to smite them. I hope the tone in your
Warning was a mere outburst of just and excusable indigna-
tion, and that the N. E. C. will take the course I map out:
Condemn the R. I. method as unconstitutional and unwar-
ranted, and at the same time submit to the membership the
question whether they care to have a special convention on
the R. I. matter. In that way the best good is obtained.
Either the membership is stalwart or it is timid.
If...”
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“...WITH DE LEON SINCE 89. 121
position he had filled for fifteen years. It is safe to say that
few -men ever worked harder, with more devotion, promptness,
system, and efficiency, in any organization. In determination,
zeal, and moral and physical courage, Henry Kuhn, national
secretary of the Socialist Labor Party, was never found want-
ing. On many occasions, in the darkest hours of the partys
existence, Kuhn was at his post, cool-headed and with a steady
hand on the steering wheel, keeping the S. L. P. to its course.
During the time that De Leon was worn out by the strenuous
days of 1899 and 1901-1902, Kuhn was at the helm and bore
the brunt of the battle.
Frank Bohn was elected in Kuhns place. A German pro-
verb tells of making a goat the gardener. That is exactly
what was done when Bohn was chosen to fill such an impor-
tant position, as subsequent developments showed.
Second Convention of the I. W. W.
The second convention of the Industrial Workers of the
World...”
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“... a revolutionary act, but a political organiza-
tion can carry on a revolutionary propaganda. I can get on
the stump and say, Vote for the principle that will overthrow
the capitalist system. Vote for the principle that will put the
railroads and all the capitalist institutions of the land into
the hands of the workers. Vote for the principle that the man
who does not want to work shall be compelled to starve, and
when I do that I am free, I am safe. But let me say on the
stump or elsewhere, Let us go and take and hold, and I will
have to go then into rat holes and carry on my propaganda;
and keep this in mind, the labor movement is one that takes
in the masses, and the masses cannot be addressed in rat
holes. The masses have to be addressed in the open, and the
sun of twentieth century civilization frowns down upon the
man who would propose physical force only and reject abso-
lutely the theory of an attempt at a peaceful solution.
As has been well said, the first man...”
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“... union men and would
rather walk the ties than patronize a scab road. It is
safe to say, however, that the directors of such scab railroad
lines did not consider a boycott by the Overall Brigaders a
serious blow.
While the Overall Brigade was on its way to Chicago,
Executive Board Member Cole, in a letter published in the
Industrial Union Bulletin, dared De Leon to come to the
fourth convention of the I. W. W. De Leon did come, the
open threat of Cole and the implied threat of the brigaders
notwithstanding. When De Leon did present his credentials
from several New York locals, the very same fellows who had
dared him to come closed the doors to him when he arrived.
De Leons seat in the convention was contested and his cre-
dentials were rejected on flimsy pretexts.
De Leon was given the floor to state his case, and he did
state it in his characteristic fashion. The Overall Brigade
were seated all in a row on one side of the hall, a tough look-
ng lot. Vincent St. John was...”
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