Daniel DeLeon (1852 – 1914) was an American socialist newspaper editor, politician, Marxist theoretician, and trade union organizer. He is regarded as the forefather of the idea of revolutionary industrial unionism and was the leading figure in the Socialist Labor Party of America from 1890 until the time of his death.
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Biography
Early years
Daniel DeLeon was born December 14, 1852 in Curaçao, the son of ethnic Jewish parents.
Daniel DeLeon was educated in Germany and the Netherlands and arrived in the United States in 1874. He would later become the most influential leader of America's first socialist political party, the Socialist Labor Party (SLP).
Political career
De Leon settled in New York City, studying at Columbia University. He became a committed socialist during the 1886 Mayoral campaign of Henry George and in 1890 joined the Socialist Labor Party, becoming the editor of its newspaper, The People. He quickly grew in stature inside the party and in 1891, 1902, and 1904 he ran for the governorship of the state of New York, winning more than 15,000 votes in 1902, his best result.
De Leon was a Marxist, and argued for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism, trying to divert the SLP away from its Lassallian outlook. Some argue that his famous polemic with James Connolly showed him to have been an advocate of Lassalle's Iron Law of Wages. [1]. Others question this assertion because by the same logic Marx and Engels could be described as advocates of the Iron Law because language in The Communist Manifesto and Value, Price and Profit pertaining to the level of wages and temporary effect of union activity on working conditions is similar to the language used by De Leon in his answer to Connolly, and the 'iron law of wages' is a Malthusian theory which De Leon did not indicate any support for.
De Leon was highly critical of the trade union movement in America and described the craft-oriented American Federation of Labor as the "American Separation of Labor". At this early stage in De Leon's development, there was still a considerable remnant of the general unionist Knights of Labor in existence, and the SLP worked within it until being driven out. This resulted in the formation of the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance (ST&LA) in 1895, which was dominated by the SLP.
By the early 20th Century, the SLP was declining in numbers, with first the Social Democratic Party and then the Socialist Party of America becoming the leading leftist political force in America (as these splinter groups embraced capitalist reforms). However, De Leon remained an important figure in the US labor movement, and in 1905 he helped found the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Due to the influence of the American Labor Union, which was one of the organizations later forming the IWW, he changed his politics in roughly 1904 to put more focus on industrial unionism, and the ballot as a purely destructive weapon, in contrast to his earlier view of political organization as 'sword' and industrial union as 'shield'. His participation in this organization was short-lived and acrimonious.
De Leon later accused the IWW of having been taken over by what he called disparagingly 'the bummery'. De Leon was engaged in a policy dispute with the leaders of the IWW. His argument was in support of political action via the Socialist Labor Party while other leaders, including founder Big Bill Haywood, argued instead for direct action. Haywood's faction prevailed, resulting in a change to the Preamble which precluded "affiliation with any political party." De Leon's followers left the IWW to form a rival Detroit-based IWW, which was renamed the Workers' International Industrial Union in 1915, and collapsed in 1925.[2] The organization apparently has generated new interest as evidenced by a website dedicated to revival.[3]
Death and legacy
De Leon was formally expelled from the Chicago IWW after calling proponents of that organization "slum proletarians."[2] He died in New York on May 11, 1914. His Socialist Labor Party has remained influential, largely by keeping his ideas alive.
Daniel De Leon proved hugely influential to other socialists, also outside the US. For example, in the UK, a Socialist Labour Party was formed.
Electoral history
De Leon ran in 1891 for Governor of New York and received 14,651 votes. He ran in 1893 for Secretary of State of New York and received 20,034 votes. He ran again in 1902 for Governor and received 15,886 votes. He ran in 1903 for the New York Court of Appeals. He ran again in 1904 for Governor and received 8,976 votes.
Key works
| Part of the Politics series on |
| DeLeonism |
| Daniel De Leon |
| Marxism |
| Concepts |
| Socialist Industrial Unions |
| DeLeonists |
| Arnold Petersen Olive Johnson Eric Hass |
| Organizations |
| Socialist Labor Party (U.S.) Socialist Labour Party (UK) Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance Workers' International Industrial Union |
| Socialism Portal |
- Reform or Revolution?
- What Means This Strike?
- Two Pages from Roman History (.pdf format)
- The Burning Question of Trade Unionism
- Preamble of the IWW (later renamed Socialist Reconstruction of Society)
Footnotes
- ^ Daniel De Leon (1904). "DeLeon Replies". http://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/1904/condel/delrep.htm. Retrieved February 22 2007.
- ^ a b Fred W. Thompson and Patrick Murfin, The IWW: Its First Seventy Years, 1905-1975, 1976; pg. 39.
- ^ http://www.wiiu.org/ retrieved May 17, 2009.
Further reading
- Frank Girard and Ben Perry, Socialist Labor Party, 1876-1991: A Short History, 108 pages (May 1, 1991, Livra Books) ISBN 0-9629315-0-0.
- L. Glen Seratan, Daniel Deleon: The Odyssey of an American Marxist, (1979,Harvard University Press) ISBN 0-674-19121-8.
- from bound volume #8 of Workers Vanguard,(Spartacist Publishing, Box 1377 GPO, New York, NY 10116):
- "Was De Leon a DeLeonist?" and "SWP Invites SLP to Build Party of the Whole Swamp," February 10, 1978 Workers Vanguard #192
- "The SLP and the Russian Question" and letter from former SLPer February 24, 1978 Workers Vanguard #194
- "The Dictatorship of the Proletariat," March 10, 1978 Workers Vanguard #196
External links
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