Maximillian Sebastian "Max" Hayes (1866—1945) was a newspaper editor, trade union activist, and socialist politician. He is best remembered as the long-time editor of the Cleveland Citizen and as the Vice Presidential

Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...

 candidate of the Farmer-Labor Party

Farmer-Labor Party

The first modern Farmer–Labor Party in the United States emerged in Minnesota in 1918. Economic dislocation caused by American entry into World War I put agricultural prices and workers' wages into imbalance with rapidly escalating retail prices during the war years, and farmers and workers sought...

 ticket in 1920.

Early years

Max Hayes was born in Havana, Huron County

Huron County, Ohio

As of the census of 2000, there were 59,487 people, 22,307 households, and 16,217 families residing in the county. The population density was 121 people per square mile . There were 23,594 housing units at an average density of 48 per square mile...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 on May 25, 1866, the son of a farmer. Hayes was largely self-educated, only attending school through the 4th grade and going to work at age 14.

A printer by trade, Hayes worked on the staff of the Cleveland Press from 1881 to 1890. He was a member of the International Typographical Union

International Typographical Union

The International Typographical Union was a labor union founded on May 3, 1852 in the United States as the National Typographical Union. In its 1869 convention in Albany, New York, the union—having organized members in Canada—changed its name to the International Typographical Union...

 since 1884.

In 1890, Hayes founded and edited a labor newspaper of a decidedly Socialist

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...

 bent, The Cleveland Citizen. He remained active as editor of this weekly publication until 1939.

Political career

In 1890, Hayes joined the People's Party

Populist Party (United States)

The People's Party, also known as the "Populists", was a short-lived political party in the United States established in 1891. It was most important in 1892-96, then rapidly faded away...

, of which he was a member until 1896. Hayes then 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), serving as the Secretary of Section Cleveland, SLP. He left the SLP during the split of the anti-Daniel DeLeon and pro-American Federation of Labor

American Federation of Labor

The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...

 dissident faction headed by Henry Slobodin 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:...

 in 1899. Although Hayes was an vocal opponent of Samuel Gompers

Samuel Gompers

Samuel Gompers was an English-born American cigar maker who became a labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor , and served as that organization's president from 1886 to 1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1924...

 in the AF of L, he nevertheless was even more opposed to the SLP's Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance

Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance

The Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance - commonly abbreviated STLA or ST&LA - was a revolutionary socialist labor union in the United States closely linked to the Socialist Labor Party , which existed from 1895 until becoming a part of the Industrial Workers of the World at its founding in 1905.The...

 (ST&LA), which he believed to be sectarian

Sectarianism

Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...

 and destructive.

In 1900 Hayes was nominated for Vice President of the United States by the Hillquit faction in 1900, but withdrew in favor of the candidacy of Job Harriman

Job Harriman

Job Harriman was an ordained minister who later became an agnostic and a socialist. In 1900 he ran for Vice President of the United States along with Eugene Debs on the ticket of the Socialist Party of America. He later twice ran for mayor of Los Angeles, drawing considerable attention and support...

 in a unity ticket that brought together the former-SLP dissidents with the Chicago-based Social Democratic Party of America

Social Democratic Party (United States)

The Social Democratic Party of America was a short-lived political party in the United States, established in 1898. The group was formed out of elements of the Social Democracy of America , and was a predecessor to the Socialist Party of America, established in 1901.-Forerunners:Following the...

 of Eugene V. Debs

Eugene V. Debs

Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...

 and 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...

. Hayes was a Social Democratic Party candidate for U.S. Congress in that year.

Hayes was one of five members of the "Springfield SDP," joining a like number from the Chicago organization, named to a special committee in charge of preparations for the August 1901 Joint Unity Convention from which 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...

 was born.

In the 1902 campaign, Hayes stood as the Socialists' candidate for Ohio Secretary of State

Ohio Secretary of State

The Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing elections in the State of Ohio. The Secretary of State also is responsible for registering business entities and granting them the authority to do business within the state, registering secured transactions, and granting access to public...

.

In 1903, Hayes was chosen as the delegate of the AF of L to the convention of the British Trades Union Congress

Trades Union Congress

The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...

.

Hayes was a bitter opponent of the Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...

 from the time of its founding in 1905, lending his support instead to the AF of L. In 1911 Hayes challenged Gompers for the AF of L Presidency at the organization's annual convention, polling 30 percent of the convention vote in a losing effort.

Hayes was an opponent of the aggressively antimilitarist 1917 St. Louis resolution of the Socialist Party. He did not resign from that organization until May of 1919, however. Hayes then joined the fledgling [Farmer-Labor Party and was named to the national ticket as candidate for Vice President of the United States, running with the group's Presidential nominee, Parley Parker Christensen. He was active in the Conference for Progressive Political Action

Conference for Progressive Political Action

The Conference for Progressive Political Action was officially established by the convention call of the 16 major railway labor unions in the United States, represented by a committee of six: William H. Johnston of the Machinists' Union, Martin F. Ryan of the Railway Carmen, Warren S. Stone of the...

 (CPPA) from 1922 to 1924.

Death and legacy

Hayes died in Cleveland on October 11, 1945.

The Max S. Hayes papers are held by the Ohio Historical Society

Ohio Historical Society

The Ohio Historical Society is a non-profit organization incorporated in 1885 as The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society "to promote a knowledge of archaeology and history, especially in Ohio"...

 and are available through interlibrary loan in microfilmed form.

Hayes is the namesake of Max S. Hayes High School

Max S. Hayes High School

Max S. Hayes High School is a public high school located in Cleveland, Ohio. It is part of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.-Name:...

 in Cleveland, part of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

Works

• Socialism and Trade Unions; Trade Unions and Socialism. With Daniel Lynch. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1900.
• The Double Edge of Labor's Sword: Discussion and Testimony on Socialism and Trade-Unionism before the Commission on Industrial Relations. With Morris Hillquit and Samuel Gompers. Chicago: National Office of the Socialist Party, 1914. Also translated into German and Japanese.
• A History of Cleveland Labor. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland AFL-CIO Federation of Labor/The Greater Cleveland Labor History Society/The Cleveland Citizen, 1987.