Meyer London
Encyclopedia
Meyer London was an American
politician from New York City
. He was one of only two members of the Socialist Party of America
elected to the United States Congress
.
who had become politically revolutionary and philosophically agnostic, while his mother had remained a devotee of Judaism
. His father had established himself as a grain merchant in Zenkov, a small town located in Poltava
province of the Ukraine
, but his financial situation was poor and in 1888 his father emigrated with Meyer's younger brother to the United States, leaving Meyer behind.
Meyer attended Cheder
, a traditional Jewish primary school in which he learned Hebrew, before entering Russian-language schools to begin his secular education. In 1891, when Meyer was 20, the family decided to follow his father to America so Meyer terminated his studies and departed for New York City
, taking up residence in the city's largely Jewish
Lower East Side
.
In America, Meyer's father had become a commercial printer, doing jobs in the Yiddish, Russian, and English languages and publishing his own radical weekly called Morgenstern. Efraim London's shop was a hub of activity, bringing together Jewish radical intellectuals from throughout the city, many of whom met and influenced the printer's son with their ideas.
Meyer earned money as a tutor
, taking on pupils at irregular hours and teaching literature and other topics. He later obtained a job as a librarian
, a position which allowed him sufficient time to read about history and politics and to study law
in his free time. Meyer also frequented radical meetings, gradually developing proficiency as a public speaker and participant in public debate
s.
In 1896, London was accepted to the law school of New York University
, attending most of his classes at night. He completed the program and was admitted to the New York City Bar Association in 1898, becoming a labor lawyer, taking on cases which fought injunction
s or defending the rights of tenants against the transgressions of landlord
s. London did not handle criminal
cases, but rather limited himself to matter of civil law
.
(SLP), standing as its candidate for New York State Assembly
in 1896. He was attracted by Eugene V. Debs
and his new Social Democracy of America
in 1897, however, and he resigned from the SLP in that year to help form Local Number One of the Social Democracy in New York in that year.
In 1898, London again ran for New York Assembly in the old 4th Assembly District, this time as the candidate of the Social Democratic Party of America, successor organization of Debs' Social Democracy.
In the summer of 1901, the Chicago-based Social Democratic Party merged with another group of former adherents of the Socialist Labor Party to form the Socialist Party of America
(SPA), and London transferred his political allegiance to the new organization. He ran for a third time for the 4th Assembly District seat in 1904, this time under the banner of the SPA.
The Russian Revolution of 1905
was deeply inspirational to the former citizen of the Tsarist regime, and London threw himself into the task of speaking to mass meeting
s organized to help raise funds for the relief of Jewish victims of the pogroms which erupted at that same time. London also engaged in fund-raising on behalf of the Bund, the Yiddish-language revolutionary movement in regions with significant Jewish populations in the old Russian empire
.
London was active in the 1910 New York Cloakmakers Strike, during which the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
(ILGWU) brought out 50,000 in a successful struggle for higher wages and better work conditions against their employers. In his capacity as counsel for the ILGWU, London drew up and published a communique in the name of the strike committee. In this manifesto, London declared:
London argued against an injunction issued against the strikers before the New York Supreme Court
en route to a victory of the strikers after a labor action lasting the better part of two months.
London's place in the cloakmakers' strike made him one of the best-known public faces of the Socialist Party in New York City and over the course of three runs for Congress
he gradually constructed a winning coalition, emerging victorious despite the violence and fraud practiced by the campaign of his Tammany Hall
-supported Democratic opponent in the election of 1914. London thus became the second Socialist elected to Congress, following Wisconsin
's Victor Berger.
. Once America was at war, however, London felt obliged to support the nation's efforts in the conflict. He strongly opposed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918
, which made criticism of the president or the war a crime, and in the end cast the only vote in the House against the Sedition Act of 1918. These actions angered his constituency, London said, "I wonder whether I am to be punished for having had the courage to vote against the war or for standing by my country’s decision when it chose war."
London's support of the Wilson administration's war effort enraged many within the Socialist Party, who saw London's actions as a rank betrayal of the party's anti-militarist program. In a statement to members of the Socialist Party, London's radical opponents chronicled his transgressions:
As a Jewish Socialist, London’s position on Zionism further complicated his political position. Although he upset socialist Labor Zionists by refusing to introduce a resolution endorsing the Balfour Declaration into the House of Representatives, London did not oppose the right of Jews to live “a separate and distinct national existence fortified by a Jewish state…All that I ask of them is that they should not speak in the name of all Jews.” Further, London believed in the possibility of a specifically socialist Jewish state, so long as it “can be accomplished without violating the Socialist principle which forbids forcible annexation.” However, London's refusal to introduce the resolution united many Zionists against him. The Jewish community was further fragmented in opposition to London, with Orthodox Jews advocating his defeat because he was not religious while rich and powerful Jews worked against him because he was a socialist. Uptown Jews like Jacob Schiff
, Louis Marshall, Nathan Straus
, and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise urged the Jews to redeem themselves by rejecting London.
London was thus placed in the uncomfortable position of simultaneously being attacked simultaneously both as a dangerous radical on the one hand and as a collaborationist
traitor to radicalism on the other; as un-American and pro-German on the one hand and as an American nationalist and abettor of militarism
on the other; for subsuming the Socialist program in the interest of the Jews in his district on the one hand and for neglecting the sweeping desire for Jewish nationhood in the interests of socialist internationalism on the other. This proved too much even for the powers of political incumbency to overcome. With the Democratic and Republican parties united behind a single "fusion" candidate and his own supporters fragmented, London narrowly lost reelection in 1918, falling to Henry M. Goldfogle
by a tally of 7,269 to 6,519.
Two years later, in 1920, the Lower East Side sent London back to Congress. In Israel and the American National Interest, Cheryl A. Rubenberg states, “on September 21, 1922, the American Congress passed a joint resolution stating its support for a homeland in Palestine for the Jewish people". He was defeated for reelection two months later in November.
News immediately began to spread about the death of the beloved Congressman and crowds immediately began to gather in front of the hospital, the Londons' home, and the building of the Jewish Daily Forward newspaper. The next day, London's body was taken to the Forward building, where it lay in state while 25,000 men, women, and children filed past the casket, paying their respects. A funeral followed on Wednesday, June 10, one of the greatest mass displays of mourning in New York City's history, witnessed by an estimated 500,000 people. The streets were jammed with a procession of 50,000 people, as hundreds of thousands crowded windows and hung from fire escapes or stood along the procession route in a crowd jammed six people deep.
London's body was interred at Mt. Carmel Cemetery
in Glendale, New York, in the borough of Queens.
In spite of his votes against the previous world war, London became the namesake of a World War II
Liberty ship
, the USS Meyer London, launched in 1943.
One of the buildings of Hillman Housing Corporation, a housing cooperative
founded by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
, in the Lower East Side
of Manhattan is named after him. There is also a K-5 elementary school
located in the Lower East Side named after Meyer London, also known as P.S. 2.
In an article for The New York Review of Books, historian Tony Judt writes that London is a relative of his: "Our cousin Meyer London had emigrated in 1891 to New York from a nearby village; there he was elected in 1914 as the second Socialist congressman before being ousted by an ignominious alliance of wealthy New York Jews disturbed by his socialism and American Zionists aghast at his well-publicized suspicion of their project."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician from 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...
. He was one of only two members 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...
elected to the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
.
Early years
Meyer London was born in Kalvarija, Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire) on December 29, 1871. Meyer's father, Efraim London, was a former Talmudic scholarTalmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
who had become politically revolutionary and philosophically agnostic, while his mother had remained a devotee of Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. His father had established himself as a grain merchant in Zenkov, a small town located in Poltava
Poltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
province of the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, but his financial situation was poor and in 1888 his father emigrated with Meyer's younger brother to the United States, leaving Meyer behind.
Meyer attended Cheder
Cheder
A Cheder is a traditional elementary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language.-History:...
, a traditional Jewish primary school in which he learned Hebrew, before entering Russian-language schools to begin his secular education. In 1891, when Meyer was 20, the family decided to follow his father to America so Meyer terminated his studies and departed for 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...
, taking up residence in the city's largely Jewish
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
.
In America, Meyer's father had become a commercial printer, doing jobs in the Yiddish, Russian, and English languages and publishing his own radical weekly called Morgenstern. Efraim London's shop was a hub of activity, bringing together Jewish radical intellectuals from throughout the city, many of whom met and influenced the printer's son with their ideas.
Meyer earned money as a tutor
Tutor
A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
, taking on pupils at irregular hours and teaching literature and other topics. He later obtained a job as a librarian
Librarian
A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
, a position which allowed him sufficient time to read about history and politics and to study law
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
in his free time. Meyer also frequented radical meetings, gradually developing proficiency as a public speaker and participant in public debate
Public debate
Public debate is a formal style of debate. Two teams of two compete through six rounds of argument, giving persuasive speeches on a particular topic.- Pre-Debate :...
s.
In 1896, London was accepted to the law school of New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, attending most of his classes at night. He completed the program and was admitted to the New York City Bar Association in 1898, becoming a labor lawyer, taking on cases which fought injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
s or defending the rights of tenants against the transgressions of landlord
Landlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant . When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner...
s. London did not handle criminal
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
cases, but rather limited himself to matter of civil law
Civil law (common law)
Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim...
.
Candidate and public figure
In the 1890s, London joined the Socialist Labor Party of AmericaSocialist 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), standing as its candidate for 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...
in 1896. He was attracted by 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 his new Social Democracy of America
Social Democracy of America
The Social Democracy of America , later known as the Co-operative Brotherhood, was a short lived party in the United States that sought to combine the planting of an intentional community with political action in order to create a socialist society...
in 1897, however, and he resigned from the SLP in that year to help form Local Number One of the Social Democracy in New York in that year.
In 1898, London again ran for New York Assembly in the old 4th Assembly District, this time as the candidate of the Social Democratic Party of America, successor organization of Debs' Social Democracy.
In the summer of 1901, the Chicago-based Social Democratic Party merged with another group of former adherents of the Socialist Labor Party to form 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), and London transferred his political allegiance to the new organization. He ran for a third time for the 4th Assembly District seat in 1904, this time under the banner of the SPA.
The Russian Revolution of 1905
Russian Revolution of 1905
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies...
was deeply inspirational to the former citizen of the Tsarist regime, and London threw himself into the task of speaking to mass meeting
Mass meeting
In parliamentary law, a mass meeting is a type of deliberative assembly, which in a publicized or selectively distributed notice known as the call of the meeting - has been announced:...
s organized to help raise funds for the relief of Jewish victims of the pogroms which erupted at that same time. London also engaged in fund-raising on behalf of the Bund, the Yiddish-language revolutionary movement in regions with significant Jewish populations in the old Russian empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
London was active in the 1910 New York Cloakmakers Strike, during which the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membership, and a key player in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s...
(ILGWU) brought out 50,000 in a successful struggle for higher wages and better work conditions against their employers. In his capacity as counsel for the ILGWU, London drew up and published a communique in the name of the strike committee. In this manifesto, London declared:
"We charge the employers with ruining the great trade built up by the industrious immigrants. We charge them with having corrupted the morale of thousands employed in the cloak trade.... Treachery, slavishness and espionage are encouraged by the employers as great virtues of the cloakmakers. This general strikeGeneral strikeA general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
is greater than any unionTrade unionA trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
. It is an irresistible movement of the people. It is a protest against conditions that can no longer be tolerated. This is the first great attempt to regulate conditions in the trade, to do away with that anarchy and chaos which keeps some of the men working sixteen hours a day during the hottest months of the year while thousands of others have no employment whatever.... We appeal to the people of America to assist us in our struggle."
London argued against an injunction issued against the strikers before the New York Supreme Court
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in thestate court system of New York, United States. There is a supreme court in each of New York State's 62 counties, although some smaller counties share judges with neighboring counties...
en route to a victory of the strikers after a labor action lasting the better part of two months.
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
he gradually constructed a winning coalition, emerging victorious despite the violence and fraud practiced by the campaign of his Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
-supported Democratic opponent in the election of 1914. London thus became the second Socialist elected to Congress, following Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
's Victor Berger.
Congressman
As a Congressman, Meyer London was one of 50 representatives and six senators to vote against entry into World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Once America was at war, however, London felt obliged to support the nation's efforts in the conflict. He strongly opposed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918
Sedition Act of 1918
The Sedition Act of 1918 was an Act of the United States Congress that extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses, notably speech and the expression of opinion that cast the government or the war effort in a negative light or interfered with the sale of government bonds...
, which made criticism of the president or the war a crime, and in the end cast the only vote in the House against the Sedition Act of 1918. These actions angered his constituency, London said, "I wonder whether I am to be punished for having had the courage to vote against the war or for standing by my country’s decision when it chose war."
London's support of the Wilson administration's war effort enraged many within the Socialist Party, who saw London's actions as a rank betrayal of the party's anti-militarist program. In a statement to members of the Socialist Party, London's radical opponents chronicled his transgressions:
"He ignored the St. Louis Resolution right after it was adopted. He refused to introduce bills suggested by the National Executive Committee. He neglected every opportunity of manifesting the attitude of the Socialist Party... When London sent his famous telegram to Russia not to conclude a separate peace, a good many of us felt that he ought to be recalled from Congress. If we had no courage to recall him then, let us have courage now to reconsider his nomination."
As a Jewish Socialist, London’s position on Zionism further complicated his political position. Although he upset socialist Labor Zionists by refusing to introduce a resolution endorsing the Balfour Declaration into the House of Representatives, London did not oppose the right of Jews to live “a separate and distinct national existence fortified by a Jewish state…All that I ask of them is that they should not speak in the name of all Jews.” Further, London believed in the possibility of a specifically socialist Jewish state, so long as it “can be accomplished without violating the Socialist principle which forbids forcible annexation.” However, London's refusal to introduce the resolution united many Zionists against him. The Jewish community was further fragmented in opposition to London, with Orthodox Jews advocating his defeat because he was not religious while rich and powerful Jews worked against him because he was a socialist. Uptown Jews like Jacob Schiff
Jacob Schiff
Jacob Henry Schiff, born Jakob Heinrich Schiff was a German-born Jewish American banker and philanthropist, who helped finance, among many other things, the Japanese military efforts against Tsarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese War.From his base on Wall Street, he was the foremost Jewish leader...
, Louis Marshall, Nathan Straus
Nathan Straus
Nathan Straus was an American merchant and philanthropist who co-owned two of New York City's biggest department stores – R.H...
, and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise urged the Jews to redeem themselves by rejecting London.
London was thus placed in the uncomfortable position of simultaneously being attacked simultaneously both as a dangerous radical on the one hand and as a collaborationist
Class collaboration
Class collaboration is a principle of social organization based upon the belief that the division of society into a hierarchy of social classes is a positive and essential aspect of civilization.-Class collaboration under capitalism:...
traitor to radicalism on the other; as un-American and pro-German on the one hand and as an American nationalist and abettor of militarism
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
on the other; for subsuming the Socialist program in the interest of the Jews in his district on the one hand and for neglecting the sweeping desire for Jewish nationhood in the interests of socialist internationalism on the other. This proved too much even for the powers of political incumbency to overcome. With the Democratic and Republican parties united behind a single "fusion" candidate and his own supporters fragmented, London narrowly lost reelection in 1918, falling to Henry M. Goldfogle
Henry M. Goldfogle
Henry Mayer Goldfogle was a United States Representative from New York. Born in New York City, he attended the public schools and Townsend College. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1877 and commenced practice in New York City...
by a tally of 7,269 to 6,519.
Two years later, in 1920, the Lower East Side sent London back to Congress. In Israel and the American National Interest, Cheryl A. Rubenberg states, “on September 21, 1922, the American Congress passed a joint resolution stating its support for a homeland in Palestine for the Jewish people". He was defeated for reelection two months later in November.
Death and legacy
London died on Sunday, June 6, 1926. As he was crossing Second Avenue at 15th Street, he was caught in the middle of heavy automobile traffic passing in both directions. London became confused and when he halted in the middle of the road he was struck by a car, suffering internal injuries. The driver rushed him to Bellevue Hospital, where London’s daughter was an intern. When she saw her father London’s only concern was that the driver not be punished. "It’s not his fault", said London "and he is a poor man." London died at 10 o'clock that night at the age of 56, after physicians had labored for 11 hours to save him.News immediately began to spread about the death of the beloved Congressman and crowds immediately began to gather in front of the hospital, the Londons' home, and the building of the Jewish Daily Forward newspaper. The next day, London's body was taken to the Forward building, where it lay in state while 25,000 men, women, and children filed past the casket, paying their respects. A funeral followed on Wednesday, June 10, one of the greatest mass displays of mourning in New York City's history, witnessed by an estimated 500,000 people. The streets were jammed with a procession of 50,000 people, as hundreds of thousands crowded windows and hung from fire escapes or stood along the procession route in a crowd jammed six people deep.
London's body was interred at Mt. Carmel Cemetery
Mt. Carmel Cemetery
The Mt. Carmel Cemetery is located near North 14th and Elba Streets in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1886, Samuel and Rachel Polowsky bought property in Lincoln's Belmont section. They later sold it to the Chevra B'nai Jehuda Cemetery Association. The cemetery serves Lincoln's Orthodox and Conservative Jews....
in Glendale, New York, in the borough of Queens.
In spite of his votes against the previous world war, London became the namesake of a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Liberty ship
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
, the USS Meyer London, launched in 1943.
One of the buildings of Hillman Housing Corporation, a housing cooperative
Housing cooperative
A housing cooperative is a legal entity—usually a corporation—that owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings. Each shareholder in the legal entity is granted the right to occupy one housing unit, sometimes subject to an occupancy agreement, which is similar to a lease. ...
founded by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Industrial Organizations...
, in the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of Manhattan is named after him. There is also a K-5 elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
located in the Lower East Side named after Meyer London, also known as P.S. 2.
In an article for The New York Review of Books, historian Tony Judt writes that London is a relative of his: "Our cousin Meyer London had emigrated in 1891 to New York from a nearby village; there he was elected in 1914 as the second Socialist congressman before being ousted by an ignominious alliance of wealthy New York Jews disturbed by his socialism and American Zionists aghast at his well-publicized suspicion of their project."
Books and pamphlets
- Joint Resolution, Calling Upon the President of the United States to Convene a Congress of Neutral Nations to Offer Mediation to the Belligerents in Europe... Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1915.
- "Preparedness": Its Dangers: A Socialist View of the Militarist Agitation, in the Light of the European War, with a Plea for Mediation. Speech of Hon. Meyer London ... in the House of representatives January 18, 1916. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1916.
- National Honor: Speech of Hon. Meyer London of New York in the House of Representatives, March 6, 1916. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1916.
- Abraham Lincoln, a World Force: Speech ... in the House of Representatives, Feb. 12, 1918. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1918.
- International Socialism and the Inter-Allied War Aims: Speech of the Hon. Meyer London of New York in the House of Representatives, Wednesday, May 1, 1918. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1918.
Articles
- "Socialism and the Terms of Peace," Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science in the City of New York, vol. 7, no. 2 (July 1917), pp. 97–101.
Further reading
- Goldberg, Gordon J., Meyer London: A Political Biography. PhD dissertation, Lehigh University, 1971.
- Rogoff, Harry, An East Side Epic: The Life and Work of Meyer London. New York: Vanguard Press, 1930.