Victor L. Berger
Encyclopedia
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. House of Representatives, in 1919 he was convicted of violating the Espionage Act for his anti-militarist views and as a result was twice denied the seat to which he had been elected in the House of Representatives
.
(today in Romania
) on February 28, 1860, Victor L. Berger attended the Gymnasium
at Leutschau
(today in Slovakia
) and the universities at Budapest
and Vienna
. He emigrated to the United States
in 1878 with his parents, settling near Bridgeport
, Connecticut
. Berger's wife, Meta Schlichting, later claimed that Berger had left Austria-Hungary to avoid conscription
into the military.
After arriving in the United States, Berger settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
in 1881, which was home to a large population of German-Americans and had a very active labor movement. Berger joined the Socialist Labor Party (then headed by Daniel de Leon
), and became the editor of two newspapers - the Social Democratic Herald and the Milwaukee Leader. Berger taught German in the public school system, while his father-in-law was the school commissioner. Meta was an active socialist organizer in Milwaukee, and was for many years a member of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents.
for having won him over to the cause of socialism. Jailed for six months for violating a federal anti-strike injunction
in the 1894 strike of the American Railway Union
, Debs turned to reading:
In 1896 Berger was a delegate to the People’s Party Convention in St. Louis
.
In 1897 he married a former student, Meta Schlichting. The couple raised two daughters, Doris and Elsa, who at first spoke only German in the home, indicative of their parents' cultural orientation. Berger was short and stocky, with a studious demeanor, and had both a self-deprecating sense of humor and a volatile temper. Although loyal to friends, he was strongly opinionated and intolerant of dissenting views. His ideological sparring partner and comrade Morris Hillquit
later recalled of Berger that
Berger was a founding member of the Social Democracy of America in 1897 and led the split of the "political action" faction of that organization to form the Social Democratic Party of America (SDP) in 1898. He was a member of the governing National Executive Committee of the SDP for its entire duration.
Berger was a founder of the Socialist Party of America
in 1901 and played a critical role in the negotiations with an east coast dissident faction of the Socialist Labor Party in the establishment of this new political party. Berger was regarded as one of the party's leading revisionist
Marxists, an advocate of the trade union-oriented and incremental politics of Eduard Bernstein
. He advocated the use of electoral politics to implement reforms and thus gradually build a collectivist society.
Berger was a man of the written word and back room negotiation, not a notable public speaker. He retained a heavy German accent and had a voice which did not project well. As a rule he did not accept outdoor speaking engagements and was a poor campaigner, preferring one-on-one relationships to mass oratory. Berger was, however, a newspaper editorialist par excellence. Throughout his life he published and edited a number of different papers, including the German language Vorwärts
("Forward") (1892–1911), the Social-Democratic Herald (1901–1913), and the Milwaukee Leader (1911–1929). His papers were tied to the socialist movement and organized labor through the Milwaukee Federated Trades Council.
seat in 1910 as the first Socialist to serve in the United States Congress. In Congress, he focused on issues related to the District of Columbia and also more radical proposals, including eliminating the President's veto
, abolishing the Senate, and the social takeover of major industries. Berger gained national publicity for his old-age pension bill, the first of its kind introduced into Congress. Although he did not win re-election in 1912, 1914 or 1916, he remained active in Wisconsin and Socialist Party politics.
Berger was very active in the biggest party controversy of the pre-war years, the fight between the SP's centrist "regular" bloc against the syndicalist left wing over the issue of "sabotage." The bitter battle erupted in full force at the 1912 National Convention of the Socialist Party, to which Berger was again a delegate. At issue was language to be inserted into the party constitution which called for the expulsion of "any member of the party who opposes political action or advocates crime, sabotage, or other methods of violence as a weapon of the working class to aid in its emancipation." The debate was vitriolic, with Berger, somewhat unsurprisingly, stating the matter in its most bellicose form:
The regulars won the day handily at the Indianapolis convention of 1912, with a successful recall of IWW leader "Big Bill" Haywood from the SP's National Executive Committee and an exodus of disaffected left wingers following shortly thereafter. The remaining radicals in the party remembered bitterly Berger's role in this affair and the ill feelings continued to fester until erupting anew at the end of the decade.
Berger's views on World War I were complicated by the Socialist view and the difficulties surrounding his German heritage. However, he did support his party's stance against the war. When the United States entered the war and passed the Espionage Act in 1917, Berger's continued opposition made him a target. He and four other Socialists were indicted under the Espionage Act in February 1918; the trial followed on December 9 of that year, and on February 20, 1919, Berger was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. The trial was presided over by Judge Kenesaw Landis
, who later became the first commissioner
of Major League Baseball
. His conviction was appealed, and ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court
on January 31, 1921, which found that Judge Landis had improperly presided over the case after the filing of an affidavit of prejudice.
In spite of his being under indictment at the time, the voters of Milwaukee elected Berger to the House of Representatives in 1918. When he arrived in Washington to claim his seat, Congress formed a special committee to determine whether a convicted felon and war opponent should be seated as a member of Congress. On November 10, 1919 they concluded that he should not, and declared the seat vacant. Wisconsin promptly held a special election to fill the vacant seat, and on December 19, 1919, elected Berger a second time. On January 10, 1920, the House again refused to seat him, and the seat remained vacant until 1921, when Republican William H. Stafford
claimed the seat after defeating Berger in the 1920 general election.
of the Soviet Union
and the revision of the Treaty of Versailles
. After his defeat by Stafford in 1928, he returned to Milwaukee and resumed his career as a newspaper editor.
at the corner of 3rd and Clarke Streets in Milwaukee. The accident fractured his skull, and he died of his injuries on August 7, 1929. Prior to burial at Forest Home Cemetery
his body lay in state at City Hall and was viewed by 75,000 residents of the city.
Victor Berger's papers are housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society
, as is the complete run of the Milwaukee Leader on microfilm.
. Two books collecting Berger's writings have been published, Berger's Broadsides (1912), and Voice and Pen of Victor L. Berger: Congressional Speeches and Editorials (1929).
Primary sources
----
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...
and an important and influential Socialist journalist who helped establish the so-called Sewer Socialist
Sewer Socialism
Sewer Socialism was a term, originally more or less pejorative, for the American socialist movement that centered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and existed from around 1892 to 1960...
movement. The first Socialist elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, in 1919 he was convicted of violating the Espionage Act for his anti-militarist views and as a result was twice denied the seat to which he had been elected in the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
.
Early years
Born to a Jewish family in Nieder-Rehbach, Austria-HungaryAustria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
(today in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
) on February 28, 1860, Victor L. Berger attended the Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
at Leutschau
Levoca
Levoča is a town in the Spiš region of eastern Slovakia with a population of 14,600. The town has a historic center with a well preserved town wall, a Renaissance church with the highest wooden altar in Europe, carved by Master Paul of Levoča, and many other Renaissance buildings.On 28 June 2009,...
(today in Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
) and the universities at Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. He emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1878 with his parents, settling near Bridgeport
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. Berger's wife, Meta Schlichting, later claimed that Berger had left Austria-Hungary to avoid conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
into the military.
After arriving in the United States, Berger settled in Milwaukee, 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...
in 1881, which was home to a large population of German-Americans and had a very active labor movement. Berger joined the Socialist Labor Party (then headed by Daniel de Leon
Daniel De Leon
Daniel DeLeon was an American socialist newspaper editor, politician, Marxist theoretician, and trade union organizer. He is regarded as the forefather of the idea of revolutionary industrial unionism and was the leading figure in the Socialist Labor Party of America from 1890 until the time of...
), and became the editor of two newspapers - the Social Democratic Herald and the Milwaukee Leader. Berger taught German in the public school system, while his father-in-law was the school commissioner. Meta was an active socialist organizer in Milwaukee, and was for many years a member of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents.
Socialist organizing
Berger was credited by trade union leader Eugene V. DebsEugene 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...
for having won him over to the cause of socialism. Jailed for six months for violating a federal anti-strike 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...
in the 1894 strike of the American Railway Union
American Railway Union
The American Railway Union , was the largest labor union of its time, and one of the first industrial unions in the United States. It was founded on June 20, 1893, by railway workers gathered in Chicago, Illinois, and under the leadership of Eugene V...
, Debs turned to reading:
"Books and pamphlets and letters from socialists came by every mail and I began to read and think and dissect the anatomy of the system in which workingmen, however organized, could be shattered and battered and splintered on a single stroke[...] It was at this time, when the first glimmerings of socialism were beginning to penetrate, that Victor L. Berger — and I have loved him ever since — came to Woodstock [prison], as if a providential instrument, and delivered the first impassioned message of socialism I had ever heard — the very first to set the wires humming in my system. As a souvenir of that visit there is in my library a volume of Capital by Karl Marx, inscribed with the compliments of Victor L. Berger, which I cherish as a token of priceless value."
In 1896 Berger was a delegate to the People’s Party Convention in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
.
In 1897 he married a former student, Meta Schlichting. The couple raised two daughters, Doris and Elsa, who at first spoke only German in the home, indicative of their parents' cultural orientation. Berger was short and stocky, with a studious demeanor, and had both a self-deprecating sense of humor and a volatile temper. Although loyal to friends, he was strongly opinionated and intolerant of dissenting views. His ideological sparring partner and comrade 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:...
later recalled of Berger that
"He was sublimely egotistical, but somehow his egotism did not smack of conceit and was not offensive. It was the expression of deep and naive faith in himself, and this unshakable faith was one of the mainsprings of his power over men.".
Berger was a founder 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...
in 1901 and played a critical role in the negotiations with an east coast dissident faction of the Socialist Labor Party in the establishment of this new political party. Berger was regarded as one of the party's leading revisionist
Revisionism (Marxism)
Within the Marxist movement, the word revisionism is used to refer to various ideas, principles and theories that are based on a significant revision of fundamental Marxist premises. The term is most often used by those Marxists who believe that such revisions are unwarranted and represent a...
Marxists, an advocate of the trade union-oriented and incremental politics of Eduard Bernstein
Eduard Bernstein
Eduard Bernstein was a German social democratic theoretician and politician, a member of the SPD, and the founder of evolutionary socialism and revisionism.- Life :...
. He advocated the use of electoral politics to implement reforms and thus gradually build a collectivist society.
Berger was a man of the written word and back room negotiation, not a notable public speaker. He retained a heavy German accent and had a voice which did not project well. As a rule he did not accept outdoor speaking engagements and was a poor campaigner, preferring one-on-one relationships to mass oratory. Berger was, however, a newspaper editorialist par excellence. Throughout his life he published and edited a number of different papers, including the German language Vorwärts
Vorwärts
Vorwärts was the central organ of the Social Democratic Party of Germany published daily in Berlin from 1891 to 1933 by decision of the party's Halle Congress, as the successor of Berliner Volksblatt, founded in 1884....
("Forward") (1892–1911), the Social-Democratic Herald (1901–1913), and the Milwaukee Leader (1911–1929). His papers were tied to the socialist movement and organized labor through the Milwaukee Federated Trades Council.
First term in Congress
Berger ran for Congress and lost in 1904 before winning Wisconsin's 5th congressional districtWisconsin's 5th congressional district
Wisconsin's 5th congressional district is a congressional district of the United States House of Representatives in Wisconsin, covering all of Ozaukee and Washington counties, almost all of Waukesha County and portions of Milwaukee and Jefferson counties. The district includes the northern...
seat in 1910 as the first Socialist to serve in the United States Congress. In Congress, he focused on issues related to the District of Columbia and also more radical proposals, including eliminating the President's veto
Veto
A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...
, abolishing the Senate, and the social takeover of major industries. Berger gained national publicity for his old-age pension bill, the first of its kind introduced into Congress. Although he did not win re-election in 1912, 1914 or 1916, he remained active in Wisconsin and Socialist Party politics.
Berger was very active in the biggest party controversy of the pre-war years, the fight between the SP's centrist "regular" bloc against the syndicalist left wing over the issue of "sabotage." The bitter battle erupted in full force at the 1912 National Convention of the Socialist Party, to which Berger was again a delegate. At issue was language to be inserted into the party constitution which called for the expulsion of "any member of the party who opposes political action or advocates crime, sabotage, or other methods of violence as a weapon of the working class to aid in its emancipation." The debate was vitriolic, with Berger, somewhat unsurprisingly, stating the matter in its most bellicose form:
- Comrades, the trouble with our party is that we have men in our councils who claim to be in favor of political action when they are not. We have a number of men who use our political organization — our Socialist Party — as a cloak for what they call direct action, for IWW-ism, sabotage and syndicalism. It is anarchism by a new name....
- Comrades, I have gone through a number of splits in this party. It was not always a fight against anarchism in the past. In the past we often had to fight utopianism and fanaticism. Now it is anarchism again that is eating away at the vitals of our party.
- If there is to be a parting of the ways, if there is to be a split — and it seems that you will have it, and must have it — then, I am ready to split right here. I am ready to go back to Milwaukee and appeal to the Socialists all over the country to cut this cancer out of our organization."
The regulars won the day handily at the Indianapolis convention of 1912, with a successful recall of IWW leader "Big Bill" Haywood from the SP's National Executive Committee and an exodus of disaffected left wingers following shortly thereafter. The remaining radicals in the party remembered bitterly Berger's role in this affair and the ill feelings continued to fester until erupting anew at the end of the decade.
World War I
Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death...
, who later became the first commissioner
Baseball Commissioner
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball and its associated minor leagues. Under the direction of the Commissioner, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts...
of Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
. His conviction was appealed, and ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
on January 31, 1921, which found that Judge Landis had improperly presided over the case after the filing of an affidavit of prejudice.
In spite of his being under indictment at the time, the voters of Milwaukee elected Berger to the House of Representatives in 1918. When he arrived in Washington to claim his seat, Congress formed a special committee to determine whether a convicted felon and war opponent should be seated as a member of Congress. On November 10, 1919 they concluded that he should not, and declared the seat vacant. Wisconsin promptly held a special election to fill the vacant seat, and on December 19, 1919, elected Berger a second time. On January 10, 1920, the House again refused to seat him, and the seat remained vacant until 1921, when Republican William H. Stafford
William H. Stafford
William Henry Stafford was a U.S. Republican politician.He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin and served from March 4, 1903 to March 3, 1911. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1910...
claimed the seat after defeating Berger in the 1920 general election.
Second stint in Congress
Berger defeated Stafford in 1922 and was reelected in 1924 and 1926. In those terms, he dealt with Constitutional changes, a proposed old-age pension, unemployment insurance, and public housing. He also supported the diplomatic recognitionDiplomatic recognition
Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences, whereby a state acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state...
of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the revision of the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
. After his defeat by Stafford in 1928, he returned to Milwaukee and resumed his career as a newspaper editor.
Death and legacy
On July 16, 1929 Berger was struck by a streetcarTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
at the corner of 3rd and Clarke Streets in Milwaukee. The accident fractured his skull, and he died of his injuries on August 7, 1929. Prior to burial at Forest Home Cemetery
Forest Home Cemetery
Forest Home Cemetery located in the Lincoln Village neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin is the final resting place of many of the city's famed beer barons, politicians and social elite...
his body lay in state at City Hall and was viewed by 75,000 residents of the city.
Victor Berger's papers are housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society
Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society is simultaneously a private membership and a state-funded organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of North America, with an emphasis on the state of Wisconsin and the trans-Allegheny West...
, as is the complete run of the Milwaukee Leader on microfilm.
Works
Victor Berger's journalism was voluminous, but rarely reproduced in book or pamphlet form. A massive number of editorials were produced for the paper he edited, the Milwaukee LeaderMilwaukee Leader
The Milwaukee Leader was a socialist daily newspaper established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in December 1911 by Socialist Party chief Victor L. Berger...
. Two books collecting Berger's writings have been published, Berger's Broadsides (1912), and Voice and Pen of Victor L. Berger: Congressional Speeches and Editorials (1929).
Further reading
- Miller, Sally. Victor Berger and the Promise of Constructive Socialism, 1910-1920. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1973.
- Muzik, Edward J. Victor L. Berger: A Biography. Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, 1960.
- Muzik, Edward J. "Victor L. Berger: Congress and the Red Scare," Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 47, no. 4 (Summer 1964).
- Nash, Roderick. "Victor L. Berger: Making Marx Respectable," Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 47, no. 4 (Summer 1964).
- Quint, Howard H. The Forging of American Socialism: Origins of the Modern Movement. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1953.
- Wachman, Marvin. History of the Social Democratic Party of Milwaukee, 1897-1910. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1945.
Primary sources
See also
- Meyer LondonMeyer LondonMeyer 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.-Early years:...
- Espionage Act
- First Red ScareFirst Red ScareIn American history, the First Red Scare of 1919–1920 was marked by a widespread fear of Bolshevism and anarchism. Concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and alleged spread in the American labor movement fueled the paranoia that defined the period.The First Red...
- Palmer RaidsPalmer RaidsThe Palmer Raids were attempts by the United States Department of Justice to arrest and deport radical leftists, especially anarchists, from the United States. The raids and arrests occurred in November 1919 and January 1920 under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer...
- Sewer SocialismSewer SocialismSewer Socialism was a term, originally more or less pejorative, for the American socialist movement that centered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and existed from around 1892 to 1960...
- Socialist Party of AmericaSocialist Party of AmericaThe 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...
- Unseated members of the United States Congress
External links
- "Burgher Berger.", Time Magazine, Aug. 19, 1929.
- Hamilton, Shane. "A Victor Without Peace: Victor Berger and Socialist Opposition to World War One"
- Spargo, John. "Hon. Victor L. Berger: The First Socialist Member of Congress," The American Magazine, 1911.
- House Member Introduces Resolution to Abolish the Senate
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