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“...WITH DE LEON SINCE 89. 65
The most despicable methods were employed to attain this
end. Fellows who had not bothered with the Socialist move-
ment for years were proposed and taken in as members; those
of the opposition who had been in arrears for months paid up
their dues to be able to vote for delegates to the general com-
mittee. De Leon had to be decapitated. It was all nicely map-
ped out by the Volkszeitung board of directors, board of edi-
tors, managers, assistant managers, etc., also by the members
of blue label leagues as well as by members of label leagues of
other colors. Raus mit De Leon! they cried in chorus.
One J. Obrist, who claimed to be on the side of the loyal
members, but who turned only a few weeks before the split,
told me that De Leon had to be removed because he had failed
to capture Debs. Obrist was regarded as an important per-
sonage by the opposition. He at first fought against the slan-
derbund of the Volkszeitung, but when the question of...”
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“...WITH DE LEON SINCE 89. 135
years I hare been called all sorts of things. I hare beea
charged by some with being a Jew and denying it, and by
oAers I have been charged with not being a Jew and claim-
ing to be one, Samuel Gompers charged me with having re-
ceived $50,000 from Tom Platt to set up a daily paper. The
gentleman in Denver who originated the term coffee and
doughnut propaganda, charged me with having sat at the
feet of Sam Gompers at the Briggs House. These are slan-
ders. But what would you think of a man thus being slan-
dered who says, 'Well, I will hobnob with Tom Platt and
Samuel Gompers? No, I am not going to give them a han-
dle to justify the slander just because it is a slander; I must
be careful not to give them a handle to justify it. I have de-
nied those charges, and if I were to hold to that philosophy I
will be charged anyhow; why, I could associate with Tom
Platt and with Gompers, and I think they would be very much
delighted to see me...”
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