The Life of Meyer London
The Life of Meyer London Harry Rogoff Writes An Inspiring Biography of the East Side's Socialist Leader By Hirsch Loeb Gordon mi|^VEMENTS for material or J - vX spiritual uplift are...
...When you announced your intention of halting armament rivalry and such among the nations, aad strove so heroically to accomplish what has ended so sadly, I rooted for you . . . and the Labor Government...
...Workers' Foe Appointed in Pilsudski Govt...
...Else you will envision in me a pesky little David performing the legendary stunt of flinging silly pebbles at a giant But la proportion to our relative ages...
...Rogoff'" excellent biogra phy is a monument to a man wh< "has truly arisen," risen to tb heights of courage and self-sapri nee in a struggle for genuine free dom, for real equality, for verit able redemption...
...His lather's little printing shop was the rendezvous of radical visionaries and preachers of new social gospels and young Loni* h was there initiated In the art >f oratorical contests with keen lebaters who had at their disposal immense erudition in political and industrial data and the pathos of prophets...
...fWM Alas...
...And well we know the enervating heat of tha power chamber...
...We are, my comrades, citizens of no mean commonwealth, even though as yet that commonwealth has not taken physical form...
...This is John I— Lewis (erstwhile President of the United Mine Workers of America) who drags down a salary of $12,000 a year and salts Ct carefully away living on the meagre pittance of (10,000 a year expenses which the grateful coal diggers vote him in view of nis magnificent struggles in their behalf, struggles which have resulted in reducing every organized field but Illinois to a "yellow-dog", company-union status...
...London allied himself, therefore, with the "insurgents" led by Debs to be known soon as the Social Democracy of America...
...The strength of the Government is not sufficient to dissolve the Heimwehr and the Schutzbund...
...But it is calculating that when foreign permission is once obtained the Schutzbund will be placed under the command of reactionary army officers and that the members of the Schutzbund will be so dealt with by the said officers that they will leave of their own accord...
...Once every thousand yearsmark what I say...
...For the life of me, I cannot reconcile your usual common sense to your continuing the role of leading a "labor government" in Great Britain...
...unanimously passed tbe following resolution: "After hearing a report by Comrade Norbert Barlicki on the political situation the , Conference unanimously affirms that the suffering of the workers in town and country Is to be attributed not only to the economic crisis but also to the uncertainty of the political situation in the country...
...This ariticle states:— "The present Minister of Labor ; is not only fighting social legialajtion, but is concentrating on the j destruction of what has been achieved...
...But not even the sight of a Kansas Congressman strutting down Massachusetts Avenue can dull the thrill of the arching fresh green of the trees or the flash of cardinal Birds among their branches...
...But with tbe Innate thirst for knowledge of his race le threw himself into the study of English under Dr...
...The Government knows that it could not secure foreign permission for bringing the Heimwehr alone under State control...
...I am mystic enough to believe that...
...Th« Life and Work of Meyer London,' by Harry Rogoff (New York: The Vanguard Press, 1930) has rightlj been entitled: "An East Side Epic" for as every other great epit in literature", RogofTs tale is a rec itation of a great adventure undertaken and carried out by i hero...
...He was the Moses who led the Israelites out of captivity...
...How It dries out the blood of tolerance and human kindness, and leaves us only the fierce urge of nerve and the stiff steel of dignity - • • You are of the land that bred Bobbie Burns . . . and you can never forget . . . "A man's a man for a' that and a' that...
...Columbus, reading cherts with sober pout...
...ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT Socialists of France Win Another Seat Fourth By-Election Victory in Three Weeks Brings Party Near Leadership rr-aARIS.—There is no weaken_1T ing in the triumphal march of' French Socialism in the byelections...
...one stogie day...
...little residential district just off Third Avenue There is a quiet little Elevated Railroad runs right inder our window and a most refined toggery shop called "Sig...
...Our children ari trained to worship men who "rose' to prominence on pyramids o skulls, as leaders of blind masse: of drafted heroes to untimel...
...Would Finance Heimwehr What does the Government desire to achieve with this plan...
...But this advertisement in "The New Yorker" is not a bit of advice from John L. Lewis...
...With the slogan, against mismanagement, against party management, tbe Minister destroyed in ; tbe sickness fund organizations the ; legal principle for the social insurance system, namefy autonomous administration by the insured people...
...This it is that so many of us who have and admire you for your gallant services to the cause, condemn and resent Of course, one can build up a whole philosophy of the newer revolutionary tactics...
...Time In Svithjod land there stands amid the snows A rocky mountain, so the story goes, A hundred miles this mountain wide does lie, A hundred miles it tow'rs unto the sky...
...Why should you attempt to cleanse their stables with such futile implements as their strawless brooms and rag Jess mope . . .? Why should you* waste your splendid intellect, your invaluable store of knowledge in Weitpolitfk on such a stupid job, at best . . .? Especially when you know that only by turning loose the rivers of Socialist program and tactics can tbose putrid stalls be swept forever clean...
...wears this rr.ass of rock so much away...
...When the U. S. A. were Still neutral London intro^ucec' ir May, 1915, a resolution of seven points which suggested as a basis for peace negotiations the evacuation of enemy territory, liberation of uiipiaaairl nationalities, plebiscite, equal rights to the Jewish people, freedom of the seas, gradual disarmament and the establishment of an international court of arbitration, with the commercial boycott as a means of punishment for dlsbodience...
...Else whatever will be said here will carry a tinge of impertinence...
...It is a milestone is Am-7 j erican historical, biographical and j political: literature...
...We can hardly overestimate tbe grandeur of that lonely voice lost in the wilderness...
...Where then will be the use of any advantage gained by the middle class respect so subtly catered to «by your present persistence i* office...
...Austrian Government Plans A Fascist Army...
...Then the aim will be achieved...
...That is something I have always wanted to know...
...Once every thousand yean— mark what I say...
...Just now, I imagine the Labor Government is being used as a sort of paw to pull conservative marsh mallows out of the fire...
...therefore both of them must at least be brought under the supervision, under the control, under the command of the State in order to prevent them from attacking each other...
...Speeches were made by the leaders of the Belgian Labor Party, in&uding Vandervelde, De Brouckere, Van Roosbroeck, Anseele, Brunet, Destree, Huysmans, Mertens and many others...
...I am just back from the most beautiful city in the nation...
...The representative of Bregenz, however, could not take over the responsibility for arranging the rally, in view of the prohibition of the Government for the assembly in 1928...
...1 J have given as much of my life to Socialism as you, and so It were permissible to assume this equality of address between us...
...All of us dream of tbe day when you will be seated in the high seat of power with a Socialist majority behind you, to Install law by law the whole plan of liberation from private ownership of public necessities and weal...
...For the Austrian bourgeoisie does not wish to dispense with this military weapon against the working class...
...Lake Constance International The delegate meeting of the SocialDemocratic Lake Constance International, which includes the areas of Germany, Austria and Switzerland bordering on Lake Constance, decided to hold the next rally in Bregenz (Austria...
...In a style which is as modest ind as meaningful as the best uteranees of London, Rogoff starts ml with a masterful description if the spiritual and material misery m the wretched homes of the Dvercrowded East Side of 40 years igo into which our hero, a dreamy and studious Jewish youth from the Ukraine, landed October, 1, 1S91...
...Healthy signs of dissatisfaction in the labor movement, our own youth rising up with a program for more militancy within our movement, the advances on the political field, the widespread welcome accorded our program by all sort* and conditions of people, all over the country—these, I take it, are auspicious omens...
...The victory of labor in that fierce combat was due both to the discipline and mora13 of 'he strikers and to the unerring strategic sagacity of their leaders headed by Meyer London...
...We should have no sins or ambiguous intent to hide We do not deserve to win power for the decent and honest rule of mankind unless we come about that office decently and honestly...
...The political magnum opus of London was his career as the first and, thus far, the only Socialist Congressman from the east He was first elected to Congress in 1914, on his third run for that office...
...So it's simple enough to figure out that by snapping at this bargain you are saving $12,000...
...the task of a Labor majority . . . ? By that time unemployment will have been aggravated, tbe colonies in ferment, trade and industry staled to a mate, and tbe labor party split into a picture puzzle...
...The vote of censure against him was tbe occasion for tbe resignation of the last Polish Government...
...At this time of year the great stirring in the earth is reflected in the hearts of all of «us...
...And the man or woman who accepts Socialism and fights the good fight to bring it to pass "in our day" has every reason to hold his or her head high these days...
...All of us have believed and are glad to continue to believe that tha change can come about through political aad legal act If more education is needed to bring about the desired majority, then let aa step down from the dizzying perch of power, the glitter cf social pomp, and the whole undemocratic puffery of...
...I come upon that weekly msgSTlne, "The New Yorker," which chronicles the glamour of the city's ultra smart set and find out how to save $12,000...
...Joe Corrie...
...In all my contacts with Socialists and laborites 1 nave only come across one person who could do this god do it annually, furthermore...
...Of course this plan is inconsistent with the peace treaty...
...It is very near to outstripping the Radical-Socialist group and thus becoming the strongest group in Parliament...
...Later came land—but this you know about...
...How oan ye earn ass everlasting name...
...When Wilson asked the House of Representatives to declare war against AustriaHungary, Meyer London, representing the "lone Socialist vote," was the only one to say: No...
...Tbe thing to do . . . as any sane Socialist caw see . . . is to immediately attempt the legislation for socialization of basic industries . . . and'to go down fighting under our true colors...
...But I got mad at the telephone company and spent so much time telling what I thought about them, that I never got around to May Day...
...In bis unselfish devotion to the cause of the oppressed and exploited masses and in his fearless and valiant combats ifcxinst protected and sanctified tyranny in its manifold disguises he exemplified the tenets of his party...
...And the Schutzbund...
...Which did not prevent—perhaps even en[ couraged—the lackeys of Pilsudski from re-appointing Prystor and provoking the Sejm...
...This is one-third less than a similar apartment two blocks nearer Fifth Avenue than Number 340...
...Temples arose aad gentle briean blew To them the sound of dim aad distant chimes...
...It therefore explains that it is proceeding in a non-Party manner and that it will transform the Republican Schutzbund into a constituent part of the "militia" in the same way as the Fascist Heimwehr...
...I am now working on a plan much better than that...
...Vidal, the reactionary candidate, secured 7,281 votes...
...London was their counsel and their spokesman...
...prideful puna, and nwmui our places In the meeting balls, the street meetings, end the rostrum of the village, to continue In fact what wae halted la brilliant fancy . . , And now is the time to do it with greet and decency* Fra ternally yours...
...Oh, we know how sweet the glow of the spot light is upon men of the caliber of our own Walkers...
...I'd like to elaborate this a bit but I have to pack •p for a flying trip to Chicago where I am to bore the local comrades with a speech and then back ••rain to Herrin where...
...I agree heartily with what most of the writers in last week's paper said about this being a hopeful May Day, one of the most hopeful in many years...
...Now the rest is simple...
...fl Do you remember that great mariner...
...A little bird to Svithjod wings Its way, And on this mighty mountain's rugged peak It rests its wing and whets, its little beak...
...McAlister Coleman...
...The Conference decisively condemns this manner of setting social and State interests at stake...
...Jeanifer Oooelmea JM An Open Letter To Ramsay Mac Donald Dear Comrade MacDonald: Now that the great "Parity** issue is settled be I ; ween the Randan and the Thames, end the headlines have veered over to prison fires and bootleg "salt making.'' you will permit my taking up with several matters of party policy aad deed, so pertinent to our common cause...
...Klein's Clothes for Fat Men" righ across the way and a couple of smart Clam Houses and altogether the atmosphere is one of sophisticated charm and you'd just adore it If, by any chance, you happen to be the right sort of people you can rent this jolly little pest house for $500 a month, thefreby saving in the course ot a year $24,000 for what you would pay for a similar apartment if it were on Park Avenue at Sixtieth Street Think that over, boys and girls, and let me know by return mail...
...And there is great truth in this seemingly superficial test of ideas, for the test of theories is through the medium of their practical application...
...You have been a Socialist all these terrific years, and yon will never be able to wear the toga of arrogance with any comfort...
...Will it be enough to say to the world after a year or two longer of this hopeless puddling, that •you could not accomplish the Socialist task . . . . because of what has been so obvious in the beginning...
...Twee but a pale mirage, a blur...
...The American Socialist movement has thus been fortunate in having had among its foremost leaders a man of such sterling qualities as the late Meyer London...
...But now that this Is over, and for the next five years there will be some pious posturing at disarmament between the international gunmen, your role as a Socialist Premier supported by a Labor minority over a hopelessly capitalist empire is disastrously unreal...
...Working hard during the day, attending classes during the evening and studying through tiresome sleepless nights London graduated from New York University Law School seven years after hi3 arrival tq these shores...
...Travellers devout will tell you, many times When they desired to prey and faith renew...
...Eliminate the ugly realities of money-grubbing, a capitalist economy and all industrial feudalism, and through «, the years you will produce a race of men and women who can move across the wide steps of the Lincoln Memorial down there this side of the cherry trees by the placid waters, without constituting so , many atrocious blots on the landscape...
...But the Government hopes to obtain the consent" of tbe victorious powers for this plan by attempting to persuade them that the carrying out of this plan is the only means for the pacification of Austria...
...The justification for this statement is recently found in the result of the investigation undertaken by a special Committee of the Sejm, which throws a searchlight on the illegal nctivtty of the Ministry of Labor...
...This is falsely described by the Government as setting up^a "militia...
...Meanwhile Marshal Pilsudski intentionally and unnecessarily seeks- to prolong the Government crisis tn order to realize tn this way his anti-democratic intentions...
...A recent conference of the Warsaw organization of the Polish Socialist Party, under the chairmanship of Arciszewski...
...We are continually "enriched' with verbose biographies o: "great" Americans who "rose' from humble bootblacking to th< presidency of gigantic trusts ant mergers by diabolic schemes o: merciless exploitation of labore: and consumer...
...Now, there is something fishy about such a process of thought or intent We are either going la for a full Socialist program as soon as we acquire a - parliamentary majority, or what are we using political action for anyway...
...His fieldmarshal lie communications to the press on the progress of the st-nggle though cool, weighed and dispassionate, were so appealing with their sincerity and obvious justice that numerous lions of the "higher" metropolitan society offered him their help...
...Tbe torch light of our cause outshines that crabbed beam a miUionfold...
...The Socialist ideal is entirely too priceless to be bartered by any one for a ribbon of office and a paragraph or two in the Blue Book of historical personages...
...When London enlisted in the fighting army of organized labor he aligned himself with the Socialist Labor Party where Daniel De Leon reigned supreme...
...London's daring challenge to Tammany is wisely compared by Rogoff to David's defiance of Goliath...
...It is an ad' rertisement for an apartment house at 340 East Seventy-second Street, New York City where you can throw your pit clothes around in ten rooms on ''the seventh floor* for only $29,000...
...The Parliamentary Group of French Socialists has b e e n strengthened in the last thres weeks by four members...
...But surely you are above that ridiculous lure and tawdry glamor...
...If it required the selfassurance of a Daniel in the lion's den to speak under the Socialist banner before a "Yankee" audience in time of peace, one had tc be a real Bar Cocbba to talk Socialism in Congress in the time ol war...
...How much misery would have been avoided if the Congress and the European belligerent nations had accepted this Socialist dove of peace...
...Washington, D. C. at this time of year is a joy forever...
...These seven points were afterwards presented as fourteen points and credited to Wilson who threw'Socialists into prisons, but they were three years too late, after the loss of millions of lives and wealth...
...There's thrift for you...
...He did the same in a very critical moment in the life of the entire Jewish union movement of this country when 50,000 cloakmakers rebelled against the revolting shop exploitation and struck...
...RogofTs enchanting epic of his life will serve as a tribute...
...Propaganda Campaign In Belgium The Belgian Labor Party has been carrying on a propaganda campaign throughout the country for some weeks, to make clear the political situation and demonstrate the unity of .the Belricn Labor movement within the Labor r.rty as compared with the language conflict among the bourgeoisie...
...Tammany was amazed...
...Endowed with a mentality and personality that assure the maximum success la the legal profession he re~"Uned till the last of his days the poor man's lawyer and preferred to live modestly but honestly rather than accumulate wealth as a tool in the hands cf corrupt corporations...
...its stronghold was lost, and to whom ? To an (migrant Jew who represented such an unpopular and "un-American" idea as that of Socialism...
...So for example...
...One can In very adroit phrase show how your present conduct la office, with no violent swerve or change creates confidence and a sense of respect for the Labor Party so that the next election will bring In the majority for which we wish and dream so earnestly...
...The Conference demarrfas an early settlement of the Government crisis and the formation of a Government which would enjoy the confidence of the broad democraticallyminded sections of the Polish people...
...This was in 1910...
...It holds the creators of the post-May Government system together with the Sanacja-Lager (Government Party) responsible for the damag*—— consequences of this game...
...this la Tanas, oh ye who thiret for fame...
...T&e advertisement has roused all the Scotch in my blood...
...His influence was devoted to the sickness insurance funds...
...The financing of the Heimwehr is under State control in order that public money be used for it...
...I What this strange Minister's intentions against social welfare are, may be learned from an article by Zerbe, tbe German Socialj ist member of the Sejm...
...But he felt De Leon's form of Socialist endeavor was incapable of entrenching itself in the American soil, that it had no appeal to the native workers and would, consequently, never become an American labor movement...
...No wonder public opinion was on *l.e side of the strikers: London created that public sympathy...
...Just saving up the pennies...
...Gosh and little ashes, thought I. let this come about and tt were worth the spell of playing the rest of the silly game...
...Aims To Destroy the Socialist Defense Group VIENNA.—The Schober Government wishes to secure permission from the powers to set up a militia...
...T*a passing of f, day...
...The bourgeois parties also fear that the Heimwehr is getting out of their control...
...Gauvain, the Communist candidate, who had received 263 votes in the first ballot, did not take part in the second ballot...
...This book will for long be a standard source of Socialist inspiration...
...In the election in SainGlrons on April 13, Mazaud was elected on the second ballot with I 7,356 votes...
...Warsaw Socialists Denounce Dictator - Papers Call Labor to Prepare for Battle (Br a New Le;S;r Cerreapeadeat) WARSAW.—The new Polish Government Includes Colonel Prystor as Minister for Leber and Social Welfare...
...It was certainly one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the United States...
...Then what else can be behind your refusal to Immediately perform your true duty as one of our faith and cause...
...The well chosen portions of London's public utterances one meets in every chapter of RogofTs book are in themselves rare gems of Socialist ] thought...
...This city, made so largely of dream stuff in the first flush of Spring, is my idea of what we Socialists are after...
...Here too* London's great merits were soon noticed and he became tbe perennial candidate for office on the Socialist ticket in the New York down town district...
...yeUow dog" on en* end of a string and a POXe an tha other reminds us of Use fartJsful maid faring for the animal ef her —jjinjir...
...Tammany was there all-powerful and considered it as its invulnerable stronghold...
...Its spacious park places even in the slum districts, its really magnificent monuments, even though the majority of them are in honor of stuffed shirt generals, its majestic vistas—all these peculiar to the Capitol City give us an inkling of what urban life in America might be, if we so Willed It To be sure* beneath the domes and among the towering columns and along the many parkways go a mean and despicable horde of petty politicians trying to look like statesmen...
...Whalens and Wilsons . . . and our Hoovers and Al Smiths . . . and your Lloyd Georges for that matter...
...We have an apartment in a quie...
...When the Russian Bund began to send its emissaries here in order to win American public opinion and support for the cause of the Russian revolution, London actually closed up his law office in order to guide the guests across the continent and bring them in contact with the proper institutions aad persona...
...London opposed preparedness to the great Ire of Congressmen who represented manufacturers of war supplies and ammunition or misguided "patriots...
...Unemployment, India foreign trade, unbalanced budgets, onerous taxation, industrial disorganization, and all the varied pox to which all capitalist orders are heir, are yours to cure with hokum and herbs such as the witch doctors of fifty governments be* fore you have used with miserable failure...
...death in needless battles for thi cause of competing capitalists But Mr...
...That's how John D. Rockefeller and all the other noble Captains of American Enterprise got along...
...His crew who sighted land—how glad they were, Aad how they hailed it with a mighty shout...
...All of us want that change to come without tha violence of civil strife, and the bloodshed and sufferlng of a forced revolution...
...it is necessary to provide for them at the expense of the taxpayers...
...Sincerely, devoutly let us trust that you will act soon...
...The Life of Meyer London Harry Rogoff Writes An Inspiring Biography of the East Side's Socialist Leader By Hirsch Loeb Gordon mi|^VEMENTS for material or J - vX spiritual uplift are usually judged by the personality and behavior of their standard hearers...
...March 30th mass meetings in connection with this campaign toe:, place in 41 places in the Charlerol coal area, and were attended by altogether 15.000 men and women workers...
...Now, when this hundred miles of solid stone -s worn away by this small bird alone...
...The Chatter Box To • Tired Radical Because you've walked — joag \ia*I&mymymSk%Jt^ Beneath a sky that burned a brilliant blue, And thirsted deeply—your mad calls to view A fountain and a tree of fragrant limes...
...All of us know the Impossibility of carrying on with any hope of success in a land so rotten ripe with capitalism as Great Britain the program" for Socialism unless we cut loose with surgical -precision and completeness from the old order...
...a further ground for placing them under the command of this Government...
...How to Save A Lot of Money ONE enjoyable feature about returning to New York after a prolonged absence Is that one has the opportunity to catch up with the fear-mating doings of High Society, an opportunity that Is denied one in the bituminous coal-fields...
...in the "Lodzer volkszeitung...
...It has been hinted that Schober desired to make use of his journey to Paris and London during the last week of April to further this plan...
...Joseph Eron, the teacher par excellence of the New York Jewish immigrants for the last 40 years, and soon acquired a mastery of this strange tongue that aroused the admiration of his bitterest political adversaries in the years to come...
...Only a pitiful few among them have any eye for the beauty of the scene or any comprehension of what are the implications of this city which was to have been the embodiment of the democratic vision...
...The Schutzbund will be abolished and the bourgeois Government will have at its disposal a Fascist-trained party army, drilled for tbe fight against the democratic Republic and the Labor Movement...
...Hereby the binding laws* were broken step by step by the Minister and his subordinates with the greatest audacity...
...I'm writing to you in this familiar manner so a* to set you back into the atmosphere before your advent into premiership...
...The Heimwehr is in a state of disintegration> and it in necessary to save i t The pensioned generals, officers and officials of tbe gendarmerie who form the command staff of the Heimwehr^are in fear for their well paid position...
...Well if you've read this column you all know about Herrin and if you haven't Vou*re just as well off...
...It is the commonwealth of the spirit that counts in the long run...
...What the Government desires is not a democratic militia What tbe Government is really planning is as follows: The Heinfwehr and the Republican Schutzbund should continue to exist as voluntary organizations, but they should be placed under the command of army offi'cers or officers of the gendarmerie, and in this -way come to a certain extent under State control...
...toneey baa seen—mark what I say...
...This column last week fell down miserably, inasmuch as it should have been about May Day...
...Until this country turns a huge mountain into a monument to Meyer London and to the noble ideals he so valiantly championed, Mr...
...He was soon promoted from the rareks T H E L A T E M E Y E R L O N D ON ' and was chosen to run on the S. L. P. ticket in tbe Assembly elections...
Vol. 10 • March 1930 • No. 13
