Algernon Lee
Encyclopedia
Algernon H. Lee was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 socialist politician and educator, best known as the Director of Education at the Rand School of Social Science
Rand School of Social Science
The Rand School of Social Science was formed in New York City by adherents of the Socialist Party of America in 1906. The school aimed to provide a broad education to workers, imparting a politicizing class-consciousness, and additionally served as a research bureau, a publisher, and the operator...

 for 35 years.

Early years

Algernon Lee was born September 15, 1873 in Dubuque
Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque is a city in and the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. In 2010 its population was 57,637, making it the ninth-largest city in the state and the county's population was 93,653....

, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, the son of a millwright
Millwright
A millwright is a craftsman or tradesman engaged with the construction and maintenance of machinery.Early millwrights were specialist carpenters who erected machines used in agriculture, food processing and processing lumber and paper...

 and carpenter.

He attended the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

 from 1892 through 1897. While attending school in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Lee joined the Socialist Labor Party of America
Socialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party of America , established in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has...

 (SLP), first enrolling in the party's ranks in 1895.

Political career

Lee became the Minnesota State Secretary of the Socialist Labor Party in 1898 and he edited a socialist newspaper in Minneapolis called The Tocsin. He was not long in that role, however, as he chose to leave the party during the bitter party split of 1899, joining the so-called Springfield
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...

 faction of the Social Democratic Party of America. Lee moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 1899 to work as a paid editor of The Worker, continuing in that position with its successor, The New York Call
New York Call
The New York Call was a socialist daily newspaper published in New York City from 1908 through 1923. The Call was the second of three English-language dailies affiliated with the Socialist Party of America to be established, following the Chicago Daily Socialist while preceding the long running...

,
established in 1908.

Lee was a founding member of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...

 (SPA), established in the summer of 1901 when the two organizations calling themselves the "Social Democratic Party" joined forces at a Unity Convention held in Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

.

Lee left The Call in 1909 to join the staff of the Rand School of Social Science
Rand School of Social Science
The Rand School of Social Science was formed in New York City by adherents of the Socialist Party of America in 1906. The school aimed to provide a broad education to workers, imparting a politicizing class-consciousness, and additionally served as a research bureau, a publisher, and the operator...

, an educational institute closely linked to the SPA, as its Educational Director. Lee remained in this position for the rest of his life.

During the first two decades of the 20th Century, Algernon Lee was recognized as one of the Socialist Party's leading members. He was a frequent delegate to socialist gatherings, both national and international. In addition to attending nearly every National Convention of the SPA, Lee was elected a delegate of the party to the 1904 Amsterdam Congress, the 1907 Stuttgart Congress, the 1916 Hague Congress of the Second International
Second International
The Second International , the original Socialist International, was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. At the Paris meeting delegations from 20 countries participated...

. Lee was also selected to join Victor L. Berger
Victor L. Berger
Victor Luitpold Berger was a founding member of the Socialist Party of America and an important and influential Socialist journalist who helped establish the so-called Sewer Socialist movement. The first Socialist elected to the U.S...

 and Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side during the early 20th century.-Early years:...

 as delegates of the SPA to a May 1917 general conference of Socialists held in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 on the question of world peace, but was blocked from attending the gathering when the trio were refused passports to travel by Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....

 Robert Lansing
Robert Lansing
Robert Lansing served in the position of Legal Advisor to the State Department at the outbreak of World War I where he vigorously advocated against Britain's policy of blockade and in favor of the principles of freedom of the seas and the rights of neutral nations...

, who characterized the gathering as "a cleverly directed German war move."

Lee was also a delegate of the SPA to the 1922 Frankfurt Congress of the Labour and Socialist International
Labour and Socialist International
The Labour and Socialist International was an international organization of socialist and labour parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The LSI was a forerunner of the present-day Socialist International....

.

Lee was a frequent candidate for political office on the ticket of the Socialist Party. Candidate for Mayor of New York City in 1905. In 1909, he was a candidate for the New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...

 from the 6th District. Lee was elected a member of the New York City Board of Aldermen
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of the City of New York. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The Council serves as a check against the mayor in a "strong" mayor-council government model. The council monitors performance of city agencies and...

 and remained a member of that body from 1918 to 1921. In 1916, Lee was the Socialist candidate for Governor of New York
Governor of New York
The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...

.

He was twice a Socialist candidate for Congress: in the 14th District
New York's 14th congressional district
New York's 14th Congressional District is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in New York City. It includes most of the East Side of Manhattan, all of Roosevelt Island and the neighborhoods of Astoria, Long Island City, and Sunnyside in Queens...

 in 1920, and in 1926 in the 13th District
New York's 13th congressional district
New York's 13th Congressional District is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in New York City. It includes all of Staten Island and the neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, and Gravesend in Brooklyn.A swing district, it is represented...

. Lee also ran for U.S. Senator from New York in 1922. He was three times the Socialist Party's nominee for the New York State Senate
New York State Senate
The New York State Senate is one of two houses in the New York State Legislature and has members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve...

, running in 1928 and 1930 in the 14th District, and in 1932 in the 17th District. Lee was also a delegate to New York convention to ratify the 21st Amendment, which ended Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...

, in 1933.

During the internal struggle which swept the Socialist Party during the second half of the 1930s, Lee sided with the so-called "Old Guard faction
Old Guard faction
The Old Guard faction was an organized grouping of Marxists in the Socialist Party of America who sought to retain the organization's traditional orientation towards electoral politics by fighting generally younger party members who factionally organized to promote greater efforts at direct action...

," headed prominently by Louis Waldman
Louis Waldman
Louis Waldman was a leading figure in the Socialist Party of America from the late 1910s and through the middle 1930s, a founding member of the Social Democratic Federation, and a prominent New York labor lawyer.-Early years:...

 and James Oneal
James Oneal
James "Jim" Oneal , a founding member of the Socialist Party of America , was a prominent socialist journalist, historian, and party activist who played a decisive role in the bitter party splits of 1919-21 and 1934-36.-Early years:...

. He was a member of the "Provisional Executive Committee" of the Committee for the Preservation of the Socialist Party
Committee for the Preservation of the Socialist Party
The Committee for the Preservation of the Socialist Party was a short-lived organized factional grouping in the Socialist Party of America established in 1934 by its New York-based "Old Guard" faction...

 in 1934. Lee left the Socialist Party with his "Old Guard" comrades to help form the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) in 1936. Lee remained affiliated with the SDF for the duration of his life.

From 1939 through 1948, Lee wrote and delivered a weekly radio broadcast on national and international affairs for the SDF's radio station, WEVD.

Works

  • Lectures on the Development of Society. Minneapolis, MN: Socialist Educational Club, 1898.
  • Labor Politics and Socialist Politics. New York: Socialistic Co-operative Publishing Association, July 1901.
  • "Socialism in America" in American Almanac and Year Book, 1903. New York: New York American and Journal, Hearst's Chicago American, and San Francisco Examiner, 1903.
  • A Study Course in Socialism. New York: Rand School of Social Science, Correspondence Dept., n.d. [c. 1913].
  • "Tidings of the Times," Metropolitan Magazine, vol. 37, no. 5 (March 1913), pp. 56–57.
  • Social History and Economics: Twenty-two Lessons. New York: Rand School of Social Science, Correspondence Dept., 1915.
  • "Story of the Rand School" in Samuel Untermeyer et al., The Case of the Rand School. New York: Rand School of Social Science, 1919.
  • The Essentials of Marx, including The Communist Manifesto and Wage-Labor and Capital; Value, Price and Profit and Other Selections. . Editor. New York: Vanguard Press
    Vanguard Press
    The Vanguard Press was a United States publishing house established with a $100,000 grant from the left wing American Fund for Public Service, better known as the Garland Fund. Throughout the 1920s, Vanguard Press issued an array of books on radical topics, including studies of the Soviet Union,...

    , 1926. Reissued 1927, 1946.
  • Issues Between the Parties. With Frederick Morgan Davenport and Lindsay Rogers. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, n.d. [1932].
  • Debate: Should the United States Keep Out of Anti-Fascist War? With Harry Elmer Barnes
    Harry Elmer Barnes
    Harry Elmer Barnes was a prominent American historian in the 20th century. A "progressive who had some classical liberal impulses," he was associated for virtually his entire career with Columbia University.-Early career:...

    . New York: Rand School of Social Science, 1939.
  • On to Social Democracy! : "Rugged Individualism" Out of Date — Dictatorship even Worse than Capitalism — We Must Socialize our Democracy. New York: Social Democratic Federation, n.d. [c. 1940].

Further reading

  • James C. Duram, "Algernon Lee's Correspondence with Karl Kautsky: An “Old Guard” Perspective on the Failure of American Socialism." Labor History, vol. 20, no. 3 (Summer 1979), pp. 420-434.
  • John L. Recchiuti, "The Rand School of Social Science during the Progressive Era: Will to Power of a Stratum of the American Intellectual Class." Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, vol. 31, no. 2 (February 2006), pp. 149–161.

External links

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