Victor L. Berger

Victor Berger, photo and title of a literary digest article from 1920

Victor Luitpold Berger (according to other sources Victor Louis Berger ; born February 28, 1860 in Nieder-Rehbach , Transylvania , Austrian Empire ; † August 7, 1929 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin ) was an American journalist and politician and a founding member of the Socialist Party America . He has been denied a seat in the United States House of Representatives twice , despite being re-elected. In 1919 he was convicted of violating the Espionage Act with insufficient legal grounds.

Early years

Berger was born to a Jewish family in Nieder-Rehbach in Transylvania . He attended high school in Leutschau and studied at the University of Budapest and the University of Vienna . In 1878 he and his parents immigrated to the United States . There they settled near Bridgeport , Connecticut . In 1881 he moved to Milwaukee, where he worked as a teacher and newspaper editor. He sold a large number of different newspapers, including the German-language newspaper Wisconsin Vorwaerts (1892-1911), the Social Democratic Herald (1901-1913) and the Milwaukee Leader (1911-1929). Its newspapers were closely associated with the socialist movement and they organized the workers of the Milwaukee Federated Trades Council .

In 1896 Berger was a delegate to the People's Party in St. Louis and in 1897 the organizer of the Social Democratic Party (later known as the Socialist Party of America, which emerged from the split of the Socialist Labor Party and was founded by Berger, Eugene V. Debs , Morris Hillquit and other).

First term in Congress

Berger ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the United States Congress in 1904 ; however, he was able to prevail in 1910 and was thus the first socialist to receive a congressional mandate. In Congress, he campaigned for issues relating to the District of Columbia . His more radical proposals included the abolition of the president's veto and the social takeover of key industries. Berger became known nationally for his Pension Act, the first of its kind in Congress. Berger failed to win re-election in 1912, 1914, and 1916, but he remained active in Wisconsin and in Socialist Party politics.

Berger and the First World War

Berger's views on World War I were complicated because of the socialist perspective and the difficulties of his German ancestry. He nevertheless supported his party's stance against the war. When the United States entered the war and introduced the Espionage Act in 1917 , it made Berger a target: he and four others were charged in February 1918 for insubordination and lack of loyalty under the Espionage Act . The trial followed on December 9 of the same year; On February 20, 1919, Berger was sentenced to 20 years of forced labor in Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas . The conviction was appealed and the Supreme Court reversed the conviction on January 31, 1921 for a procedural misconduct.

Despite his complaint, the citizens of Milwaukee elected him to the House of Representatives in 1918. When Berger arrived in Washington to claim his seat, a special committee was formed by Congress to decide whether a convict and opponent of the war could be a member of Congress. On November 10, 1919 it was decided that he was not allowed and his seat was declared vacant. In Wisconsin, a special election was quickly set to fill the vacant space. Again, on December 19, 1919, Berger was re-elected, and this time too (January 10, 1920) Congress denied him the seat, so that he remained vacant until 1921, when Republican William H. Stafford claimed the seat after this Berger had defeated in the election of 1920.

Second term in Congress

Berger, in turn, defeated Stafford in 1922 and was re-elected in 1924 and 1926. He dealt with constitutional changes, old age pensions and unemployment insurance. He also supported the recognition of the Soviet Union and the correction of the Versailles Treaty . After he was again defeated by Stafford in 1928, he returned to Milwaukee and resumed his work as editor. He pursued this work until his death in a traffic accident.

Web links

Commons : Victor L. Berger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Victor L. Berger in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Newspaper article about Victor L. Berger in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Entry on Victor L. Berger in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
2. ^ Sally M. Miller: Victor Louis Berger . In: John D. Buenker and Edward R. Kantowicz (Eds.): Historical Dictionary of the Progressive Era, 1890-1920 . Greenwood, New York 1988, p. 38.