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“...9S DANIEL DE LEONOUR COMRADE.
De Leon would say; Now Bert, dominate the home, dont
let the home dominate you, and then he would have another
laugh.
He could never stand pretense, petty pride, or airs that
lacked genuineness. Here are a couple of anecdotes which
show the quiet fun he could have at the expense of false pride
and airs, while at the same time he could give a neat little
lesson to the presumptuous.
He was riding in the smoker of the parlor car on a New
York Central train with his friend Joseph Darling just after
the corrupt election campaign of Flower for Governor of New
York State. Darling and Flower were acquainted, but Dar-
ling was out of the smoker and Flower sat in the chair next
to De Leon, who, while he recognized Flower, paid no atten-
.tion to him. De Leon was smoking his clay pipe, as was his
custom, and soon became aware that Flower was observing
him. He thought that possibly he took offence at a clay pipe
tn a parlor smoker, but presently...”
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“... International
movement which would surely lead to disaster? The hour has
arrived when the workers must harken to his warning that
right without might is as weak as an infant, and that the power
of the Labor Movement consists, not in Ijeautiful, sentimental
phrases, not in long condemnatory resolutions, not in imitations
of crooked capitalist politics, but only in a powerful, class-
conscious Socialist organization, which, at the same time as it
secures the political power for the workers, also creates the
economic power which is necessary to back up that right.
However, De Leon would feel deeply wounded could he
perceive our giving over a single moment at this hour, when
action is needed, to moping over his death. Such was not his
idea of a soldier in the revolutionary movement. Not for that
did he train and inspire us. He has given his contribution to
to the Movementthe tactics and the constructive basis. It is
for us to build. And in this work of building, in this activity,
De...”
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“...WITH DE LEON SINCE 89. 127
De Leon Burdened by Controversy
In 1907 De Leon went on a lecture tour from coast to
coast, enduring many hardships, which, in addition to the con-
vulsions that the Socialist Labor Party was subjected to by
the intrigues of the three would-be editors of the Daily People
Bohn, Connolly and Ebertweighed heavily upon him. The
following part of a letter written by De Leon to the N. E. C.
Sub-Committee shows how he felt at that time;
Los Angeles, Cal.,
March 29, 1907.
Wm. Teichlauf, Secy.
Dear Comrade:
Your communication reached me at Ogden, Utah, on the
19th inst., where I arrived tired in body and preoccupied in
mind. I was tired in body from a four days trying railroad
travel from Denver, broken up by frequent freight wrecks
which delayed my journey; from two consecutive nights sleep-
ing on the train, and able to board the train, one night not be-
fore 1.30 a m., the second as late as 2.30 a. m.; from being
ashorein Cripple Creek...”
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“...WITH DE LEON SINCE 89. 151
ed to be at the previous conventions; in fact, he too looked as
though he had traveled all the way from Seattle by freight
train.
De Leons Rebuke to Slummists
Sl John had his physical force well organized to back up
his arg^uments. De Leon had faced many varieties of antago-
nists in the labor movement, and he faced this variety with
the same composure and courage born of knowledge and in-
tegrity. Such remarks as, I would like, to get a punch at
the pope, were overheard in the hall among the Overall
Brigaders, but not loud enough to reach De Leons ears.
Had not St. John, ably assisted by Heslewood, the day before
the convention opened tried his pugilistic skill on Delegate
Francis?
De Leon told them whither they were driftingto slum-
mism, to Anarchy, to the movements destruction. When, in
the course of his remarks, De Leon mentioned the fact that
he had been dared to come, Cole, the very one who had his
name signed to the letter in the...”
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“... manners to American ideas, still kept their thoughts
and language in glazed peaked caps and wooden shoes, pat-
terning all things political after European models, and en-
deavoring to train the young giant of the West in the strict
and narrow school of European tyranny.
He found its advocates and teachers speaking and
working in fustian, aping and phrasing the shibboleths of
bourgeois ideals and concerning themselves with bourgeois
reforms and measures; looking for success to the barricades
or to a jacquerie, or waiting and watching for a Napoleon
or a Christ.
He found a movement bowing to everything calling it-
self labor, without examining its claims or contesting its
right, and indirectly party to the misleadership of the work-
ers.
He found in its ranks self-seekers, careerists, those look-
ing for advantage or gain at the expense of the movement,
and he drove them ignominiously from the Temple of Labor.
All this he found, and more, and he set himself to the
task of...”
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