Daniel De Leon

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Daniel De Leon

Daniel De Leon (born December 14, 1852 in Curaçao , Netherlands Antilles , † May 11, 1914 in New York City ) was an American socialist .

biography

De Leon emigrated from the Netherlands Antilles to the United States in 1874 and soon became one of the leading propagandists of socialism in the early US labor movement , with his uncompromising views criticized. In 1886 he was one of the supporters of Henry George in his candidacy for the office of mayor of New York.

In 1890 he joined the Socialist Labor Party and quickly became one of the party's leaders and editor of the party organ The People . Through his leadership, he contributed to the fact that the SLP became a restructured national organization. On the other hand, the SLP was increasingly shaped by communism , so that liberal-moderate party members like Charles Sotheran were excluded from the party because of their views .

After criticizing the leadership of the labor movement ( Knights of Labor ) as not being radical enough, in 1895 he became the founder and chairman of the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance (STLA), which had split off from the Knights of Labor . In 1899 a breakaway faction left the SLP and formed a new movement that in 1901 gave rise to the Socialist Party of America, founded by Eugene V. Debs . In the following period there was a decline in the number of members and the reputation of the SLP. In 1903, De Leon described the railway companies as imperium in imperio in an article .

In 1905 De Leon was one of the co-founders of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in Chicago , with which the STLA merged shortly afterwards. At the IWW Congress in 1908, however, he was denied a delegate seat by the radical wing, who rejected his political views and preferred more violent tactics. For this reason, based on the SLP program, he founded the so-called Detroit IWW as a counterpoint to the original Chicago IWW. One of the first members was William E. Trautmann , who came from Germany and who subsequently worked as the union's organizer.

After De Leon's death, the Detroit IWW was renamed Workers' International Industrial Union (WIIU) in 1915, which was finally dissolved in 1925.

In his political philosophy , he took the view that the government should not nationalize industry under the leadership of a working class party . Rather, its aim was the direct democratic control of all industries and services by the workers united in an industrial union. His political views formed the basis for De Leonism .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Imperium in imperio" in "Daily People" of June 4, 1903 (PDF file; 99 kB)

Web links

Wikiquote: Daniel De Leon  - Quotes
personal data
SURNAME De Leon, Daniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American socialist
DATE OF BIRTH December 14, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Curacao , Netherlands Antilles
DATE OF DEATH May 11, 1914
Place of death New York City