A Story of Fifty Years of Devotion to Socialism
A Story of Fifty Years of Devotion to Socialism ]^|ORRIS HILLQUIT, the matchless leader of American Socialism for so many years, was just over 64 years old, having been born in Riga, August...
...The salary was three dollars per week, when he got it...
...We look back to the brave battles of the past in which Morris Hillquit was our leader and our inspiration, and we can feel exalted by our memories...
...And each time, with a certainty which was vary disconcerting to his opponents, his course was after a while seen to be the right one and the army returned to it and to him...
...When we expected Morris Hillquit to be on the firing line, he was there...
...It was a small task, but it was for the party, and he did it...
...He was not a robust man...
...Let us honor his memory by being worthy of having had the boon of his comradeship...
...We followed him in election campaigns, and in labor struggles, we were with him when it was a joy to fight and when the struggle was cruel and bitter and heartbreaking...
...BBSs* ^¦ff^i^^gjBI 'Now we know how val I ¦fcSjjps iantly he strove, L B*™9^ How generously he gave, |p^^^ and how his death Came through the pain I that gnawed its way While all the time he lanced with wit, And drove the shafts of eloquence . Into the ribs of Time So that a Day might come to those Who languish in the gloom...
...never once did he turn back...
...Hillquit was asked to rise in his place and make a few remarks, and he.did...
...A great man has gone from among us, and we are infinitely poorer for his passing...
...4 Comrade Hillquit was a man of brilliant intellect...
...The appraisal of Morris Hillquit will come in time, and then we who were his comrades for so many years will begin to realize how great a man it was who walked among us and honored us with his comradeship...
...He was a deep and profound thinker and student of economics, history and of all the social sciences...
...That year the internal dissensions began that resulted three years later in the formation of the present Socialist Party out of the major faction of the DeLeon controlled Socialist Labor Party, the Social Democratic Party organized by Eugene V. Debs, the Social Democratic Party of Massachusetts that had won important election victories, and other groups...
...A Story of Fifty Years of Devotion to Socialism ]^|ORRIS HILLQUIT, the matchless leader of American Socialism for so many years, was just over 64 years old, having been born in Riga, August 1st, 1869...
...Unlike some of his comrades he readily adjusted himself to tKe American, scene and had a "feel" for American politics and for the sentiments of the American workers far superior to most of his colleagues...
...9 i1...
...There was a mayoralty campaign, and Morris Hillquit had reason to believe that the Federal authorities would have liked to silence him...
...Pat no glory jgjpward sueHa...
...Yet ¦"th of it to jUad joy...
...that met at a convention at Rochester, and he was one of the committee that negotiated with the Social Democratic Party for unity in the (lections that year under the leadership of Eugene V. Debs...
...Never once did his devotion flag...
...Night after night he spoke to vast throngs fighting against the war, saying what was in the hearts of all of us...
...Ly fc« firm choice, and firm adherence then, P By ^orifice and Uiling to the end When sacrifice and toiling brought dull I On dull defeat in spirit crushing wave, He stood and epoke his dream and word Unceasingly...
...Morris Hillquit was a great leader...
...H work for eemswdeeatp f jfc man had mors to give, K-sjm it with ouch courage and tuck grace...
...I ^iVD there was pain of flesh as [ [1 To overcome...
...I 'THEN let us bare our heads and * cow I Before his...
...Life was not over kind Kem To him in form and limb, h mm Life has a sullen invy when it gives r- One man so many attributes...
...Every speech endangered his health and his very life...
...From the very beginning of his life in this country he took an active part in the then weak Socialist movement...
...A Man of Steadfastness But most of all Morris Hillquit was a man of steadfastness and courage, he was devoted to Socialism and nothing on earth could move him from devotion to his cause snd his comrades...
...in struggles for clarification within the party, in the labor movement, in the war upon war...
...By 1898, when he was still under thirty, he was already an important figure in the party...
...It has long been recognized that he had one of the keenest legal minds in the United States...
...I do not think he often distrusted men who deserved his confidence...
...There were never excuses, there were never evasions...
...No matter how great or how small the occasion, when he was called, Morris Hillquit answered: Present...
...In 1901 he was one of the leaders in the Indianapolis convention that formally organised the present Socialist Party...
...He was THERE...
...He was a magnificent orator who did not sweep masses of men and women off their feet but rather carried them ajong with him by his logic, his warmth and his wit...
...The Debs' Campaign In 1900 Hillquit was one of the leaders of the majority faction of the S.L.P...
...Morris Hillquit was a good man as well as a great man, and thousands of men and women will remember with affection his kindliness, his courtesy and his generosity...
...Early Days In those early days Hillquit was associated with Cahan and Meyer London and other pioneer Socialists, with whom Socialist activity was indistinguishable from activity in the labor movement Most of the needle-trsdes unions were organized by Socialists in that way...
...He did ¦ and ask for da ached...
...k his life was fefaHy know— aatlally know Ma tell him— 8? affection fqr Bel of tens of P women...
...Hillquit, whose father and mother were cultured and educated people, had a good education in Russia, but when he was brought to the United States at the age of 17 he had to continue his education at night while working in a shirt factory by day...
...He Was Thar* ^NI) there is one thing we can say of Morris Hillqutttt He never let us down...
...There followed years of law study, graduation from New York University, admission to tha bar, and the beginning of his law practice...
...or*By to men Bj"*aer once Bjth to the ¦P*ee which Hpad then Mat'to be in Hfc a made...
...f Point the Way ¦ Lee - I it was and eking so much *, was yet imad more gloriI at most who case or high S ¦fa of sufferttat I am not Wily ills with ¦attend for at Ma years of Rf much more ware inflicted •sjsitive spirit sb and someam, both outtemp...
...His greatness was most certain at the moments when he seemed for a time to have lost or to be losing the leadership...
...He was a-lion in his courage...
...and he never let ut down...
...Yet we have no other word for the man truly leads because he is willingly and understanding^ followed...
...But to quit at that time would have been interpreted at letting us, hit comrades, down...
...L would kave risen high Wi*tr...
...He did pretty often trust and push forward men who did not deserve it That was a fault, but a good fault Perhaps it was a fault, too, that he could not feign a liking for those whom he disliked, and could not flatter and cajole those whose support he needed...
...one of the youthful brass hats came to the platform and made an important demand...
...From that day to the day of his death the story of Hillquit Is In a real sense the story of the Socialist Party and of certain 'Sections of the lalor w-ement He became a leading figure in the various executive committees...
...But Morris Hillquit—well knowing that the hall swarmed with armed men looking for trouble—looked the man in the eye and shamed him down...
...He Flew for the Cloakmakers I AST summer the cloakmakers called upon him to go to Washington and argue for their code...
...dust in shame and B _ penitence, \- ¦ // once we wavered in our faith, I waver we had questioned, Uf I H Or had disavowed the use |p Of marching on within his I-..V, I dream...
...MLWiC>*m Our dream, the dream of ill who] sssWhW*****™ dare to walk Its way of bright fulfillment...
...He was sinking fast, and he undoubtedly knew his end was near...
...Look back over the years...
...From 1904 on he was a delegate to every International Socialist gathering, serving with brilliant distinction in Amsterdam in that year, In Stuttgart in 1907, in Copenhagen in 1910, In the Vienna Working Union prior to the organization of the Labor and Socialist International In Hamburg In 1922...
...in the magnificent battles of 1906 and 1906...
...As to men, his judgment was sometimes wrong— and.when wrong, almost always in tha way of taking them at face value...
...He waa a great leader because he knew which way to lead, not because he was skilled hi the arts by which so-called leaders often induce men to follow them...
...That practice was never far from the labor movement, with which he was associated from the beginning of his active life...
...Great in intellect, great in wisdom, great in courage, great in inspiration...
...Today in our grief we can look upon Morris Hillquit as our comrade in so many battles, and take courage from his courage, renew our faith in the ultimate triumph of our cause from his unshakable faith that Socialism will triumph...
...He could have quit, and properly so...
...it was war-time and insolent army officers invaded the place...
...He could not endure the trip by train, so he flew to Washington to make his but fight for human living conditions for his beloved needle-workers...
...He was one of the greatest Socialists In sll the history of our movement...
...he was s delegate to Marseilles In 19215, to Brussels In 1928 and to Vienna In 1981...
...As to principles and situations and issues, he had exceptionally sound judgment...
...and with every speech he placed himself in danger of arrest and of lynching...
...where Morris Hillquit was needed, there he was found...
...He had returned but four years before from a year abroad to repair the ravages of tuberculosis...
...They counted upon him, and he did not let them down...
...There was a weekly Socialist paper published in Yiddish and edited by Abraham Cahan, known as Arbeiter-Zeitung...
...There was a great mass meeting in Madison Square Garden with Hillquit as chairman...
...Bp*u u an official title by men who by the most treacherous and the most cruel means win and hold dictatorial power over whole nations...
...This wss, at any rate, a handicap to him in the Morris Hillquit His Epitaph May Well Be These Words: He Never Let Us Down |T will be a long time before the world will be able properly to appraise Morris Hillquit...
...Hillquit was an outstanding figure then, and from that time he was in the front rank as one of the national leaders of American Socialism, which he remained to the very end...
...There was a theatre party one night, and half the audience were Socialist Party members, the other half ordinary ticket-buyers...
...He was a brilliant writer, with a style of crackling brilliance...
...Hillquit later confessed that he was "business manager, associate editor and official poet, under contract to furnish one inspirational poem per week...
...He was a man who never wished to follow a lonely course, but who was able to follow what he saw as the right course, even if he had to go alone or with a corporal's guard instead of an army...
...Morris Hillquit now joins the Immortals of those who struggled that some day the world may be free...
...For close to half a century he devoted all of his great ability and his whole energies to the cause of Socialism...
...Six Sundays almost in succession he spoke to colossal meetings in Madison Square Garden ,at a time when there was no amplifying machinery...
...He towered over Hillquit, and he could have crushed him at a blow...
...for he knew he was shortening his life by continuing...
...of being Patty chosen ¦Mat as ours, •awrds to bell* that, not H; ems always P<ed, and in Bp...
...Hillquit also began to count as a force in party affairs...
...Today there is grief, for in the Socialist Party and in the labor movement his loss is irreparable...
...m fortune mud in glory ELjAs placed Alt talents and his learning Wjko call of those who rule and rob m, miiMude...
Vol. 16 • October 1933 • No. 16
