A MIGHTLY INTERNATIONAL FIGURE
Laidler, Harry W.
A Mighty International Figure A Lover of Mankind By Horry W. Loldler It is hard to write about Morris Hillquit as one who" is no |tiger among us. There are some ¦ersonalities that come into...
...This is Morris Hillquit's heritage, tt is a heritage that la lmperishable...
...stltuent, an integral part of the Labor movement...
...us no new products of his mighty pen...
...You had no use for spellbinders, but you forgave them, because you understood the causes of their defective reasoning and lack of constructive action...
...You were a sound theorist, because you were sound In policy and practice, and vice versa...
...The people of Puerto Rico will always retain an indelible devotion to his memory...
...It Vas my good fortune to be also a delegate to that congress...
...His influence and power are destined to expand aa the fears go on, aa America approaches nearer and deafer to the society of Morris Hillquit's dreams, a society In whiefi, for the flfst time in history, the mass of the people will tAnlneiy beam to live...
...yet the inspiration of hid life remains with us as a living force that sustains our hopes, guides our actions and gives us courage > to forge ahead from where he departed...
...There are some ¦ersonalities that come into our lives and then disappear, their jhefnories like those of ships stealing silently past us in the flight...
...There was the same firm adherence to fundamental principles, the same willingness to make every concession on non-essentials for the sake of unity ih the movement, and the same unquenchable faith in its ultimate triumph, which endeared him to veterans and new recruits alike...
...Such to me was the personality of Morris Hillquit...
...In comradeship and friendship you will live with me to the end of my days...
...Jules Buesde, tod, and Edouard Valllant, and Victor Adler, and Karl Kautsky —then Vandervelde, Anseele, Wibaut, Turati, Bracke, Hyndman, Plekhanoff, Vera Zassulitsch, "Babushka" Breshkdvskaya, Soukup, Hardie—I name them at random, and might name many more, of the older and the younger generations, whose admiration for Morris Hillquit was equalled only by their deep and lasting affection...
...But he had played his part meanwhile In the congresses at Copenhagen In 1910, and since the war at Hamburg, Marseilles and Brussels, as well as in numerous meetings of the Executive...
...He took his full part, with clear assurance of his position, in the treat debates of that congress, winch turned mainly on the practical questions of individual Socialist participation in non-Socialist ministries and of coalition either m elections or in Parliament, but involved also the theoretical ideas men agitating the movement under Je name of Revisionism...
...Rfs standard "History of American Socialism," first published in 1903, was the first important book on WciaKsm written by an American Socialist and published by a prominent non-Socialist publisher...
...I remember, as lew memories of those years, Hillquit's magnificent campaign of 1917, when the dogs of war were let loose in the land and when, night after night, Hillquit was one of a mere handful of men and women who dared to continue a war against war, who dared to teach that war was leading not to democracy but to hell, and that the workers must fight it with all the energy they possessed...
...Morris Hillquit left a heritage taf which all who will may share...
...When I returned to the East 1 led the privilege of serving with Horris Hillquit on the first Execu...
...A successful labor lawyer in New Ifark, he had been one of the halffltliCn men who had laid the foundation 61 the Socialist Party and was Aid of its leading theoreticians...
...You never failed in your honest endeavor to serve our movement, to defend the* cause of Labor and Socialism...
...At Stuttgart in 190...
...Honored by World Socialism wherever the rank and file once Hw him and heard his voice...
...You were a man of honor, absolutely reliable, always falrminded and justice-loving...
...To me the Socialist movement with its enthusiasm and idealism, its comradeship and struggles, its hopes and disappointment*, its victories and defeats, has been the best that life has had to offer...
...Your very life was a con...
...it was my privilege again to see what a place he had won by deserving it, what a contribution he made to the work of the International and, incidentally, how much that contribution raised our American party In the esteem of the European comrades—at Stuttgart In 1907 and then not again till the Vienna Congress three years ago...
...We miss his dominant presence in our party councils, we no longer hear the} impassioned voice that came tflj us from the platform and oven] the radio, the printed word bringd...
...If forty years ago I could have foreseen all phases of the tortuous course of the Socialist movement In this country and in the world, I would have done exactly as I did, If I had forty mors years of life In me, I would continue spending them in the Socialist movement: without regard to its 'practical' prospects of immediate accomplishments...
...Scholar, student of law, lover «f the arts, founder and leader of a great party, brilliant, devoted and loyal soldier of the common good, Morris Hillquit has left ah IndelHble impression on thousands and tens of thousands of Ms fellow men...
...There are others with personalities so dynamic, so thoroughly alive that they seem, when death finally claims them, Still vibrant with life, still carrying on in the causes they long held dear...
...When I first joined the Socialist Party out West years ago, and began to stump among the farms and ranches and mines of Kansas and Oklahoma, Morris Hillquit was ilready one of the outstanding Igures in the American Socialist Movement...
...Wa pledge our word of honor as Socialist men and women to follow] your example—the example <jf a brave comrade and true friend J' Morris Hillquit's Heritage By Daniel W. Heart Mayor of Milwaukee YEAR after the death ofl Morris Hillquit, our memory of this thinker, teacher and leader is as fresh as if he were still among us...
...Ypur conduct in the movement and in private life, your comradeship and your friendship, could well be characterized and strikingly defined in the) terse German sentence: Ein Wort—ein Mann, Ein Mann~-ein Wort...
...A Mighty International Figure A Lover of Mankind By Horry W. Loldler It is hard to write about Morris Hillquit as one who" is no |tiger among us...
...1 still see him at those international gatherings when, master of English, French, German, Russian, Italian, he could with consummate skill- explain to delegates from each country in a language they understood the points of view of himself and his comrades...
...Yes, sorely as we in America heed and miss Morris Hillquit in this time of confusion, of danger, ana of unexampled opportunity for Socialism and for organised labor, they have reason to miss him over there...
...He had grown, but he had not changed...
...By so doing we may the better know how to make up, so far as we can make up, for what we have lost...
...He knew America and loved Aawrica...
...He was for gaeriCa as a part of the world...
...Like the burning soul that dwelt within him, it Uvea On to enrich the lives of all who will partake of It...
...But it is not vain to bear in mind what he was and what his life gave to the movement...
...Those of us who knew you, whd worked with you, who listened to your words of advice, who profited by your teaching in theory and by your cooperation in action—we re* spected you and loved you...
...The fact that the capiInta have stolen it does not make t the less, ours by right and ours if will to take it back and make tell that it can and ought to be, ' Httjquit first revisited Europe as i delegate to the Amsterdam Conf. He was then about thirty yehfs of age and had been i little more than half his He was already well known in th« United States, but at that time the United States was by nd means well known in Europe...
...I have nothing to regret, nothing to apologize for...
...Hve Committee of the* IntercolWfiste Socialist Society, organized Vjt Jack...
...It hi a "heritage which, unlike material possessions, becomes richer and more productive the mere it it dissipated among the ever-growing ranks of those who, by their cons* radeship, assume their rightful inheritance...
...And finally I still hear his kvords at that banquet meeting at Utica two years ago, when he gave what was, alas!, his farewell message to his beloved comrades: "Having chosen and followed the unpopular course of a Socialist propagandist,'' you remember the ending of that beautiful address, "I am entirely at peace with myself...
...Regrets are vain...
...with the, sort of knowb Ito indTove that bents a Socialist...
...Wen he spoke of "our country," It meant just that—ours, the ittple's...
...John Barlce will bear me Out, and EdSward F. Cassidy, and James H. surer, and Jasper McLevy...
...jU was not for America against OS rest of the world...
...I recall that morning at the City Hall, New York, when he crossquestioned Samuel Gompers regarding his social philosophy and made old Sam sweat blood trying to explain why he and the labor movement should not work for the cooperative commonwealth...
...I see him still in a dozen legal battles defending, as labor's most brilliant attorney, the rights of the workers in their struggle for a living wage...
...For nearly four decades we worked and battled together in rain and shine, in weal and woe, in storm and stress, defeats ahd victories...
...The optfctftion was sharp and the forces •**» closely balanced...
...During his long and fruitful life, Morris Hillquit stored up an accumulation of experience, impressions, observations and thoughts which have been preserved in printed papers, leaflets, pamphlet* and books without number, in * voluminous mass of cherished letters, and in the memories of the millions who heard and were inspired by hia living word...
...At Amsterdam began warm friendships, which gfeW as the years went by, between Morris Hillquit and most if not all of the foremost Socialists of Europe— first of all, perhaps, with August Bebel, the grand old man of the German Social Democracy, whose Insight into men and whose austere standards of Socialist conduct made his friendship a cachet of approval not too lightly granted...
...In Comradeship By G. A. Hoehn MORRIS HILLQUIT, dear com*"* rade and true friend, you are not dead for me...
...But very many other friendships had since been formed —it would take too long to call the roll—and now as then he Was one of the greatest figures ih the congress...
...London, George Strobell and others, and during the next Made no meeting of the society Siplete which did not have as one of its leading s. I still see him hr the fqrmatlve days of the society giving of his sage advice at the meetings of the Executive Committee, of which he was for a number of years treasurer...
...I recall him as a host—one of the most charming I hive ever known—at those memorable occasions when he brought together comrades of the American movement to meet comrades from abroad to talk over our common problems...
...He Fought for All Mankind By Sentiage IgIeslas Resident Commissioner in Congress for Puerto Rico and Secretary, Pan-American Federation of Labor I AM sorry I have not had thne to prepare and send you art article adequate to commemorate the anniversary of the) departure of our eminent brother arid great soldier, Morris Hillquit, who fought for the betterment of his fellowmen all over the world...
...expounding with clarity and wisdom the fundamentals of Socialism to college groups and confounding with devastating wit and logic noted economists and famous attorneys who met him in debate...
...And in the days of the new capitalism when weak sisters were whispering that perhaps after all, capitalism would bring security and high living standards, there was Morris Hillquit, patiently explaining the nature of capitalist development and the impossibility of social planning for the comrhon good under a system of private ownership of the nation's industries...
...t ink they are competent judges...
...How few df the men Who first became his friends ih l9f>4 were left to greet him hi 1981...
...1 was impressed then, and have since teen yet more deeply impressed In jseltlhg back, to see how perfectly |e at once fitted into the scene...
...It was Jpemally recognized that the •khsacji and the temper of Hillquit's argument counted for* much, not only toward deciding the vote but toward doing ft in such a way that bitterness gave way to mutual understanding, unification of the Socialist groups in France was made possible, and the International became a much more closely knit and useful instrument...
Vol. 17 • October 1934 • No. 80
