Daniel De Leon (1852 - 1914)
Tue Dec 14, 1852
Daniel De Leon, born on this day in 1852, 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 his death.
De Leon is also notable for splitting with "Big Bill" Haywood on the matter of electoral politics. Haywood supported direct action - working outside the system - while De Leon supported political action via a socialist political party. Eventually, this disagreement caused De Leon to leave the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) entirely.
"We Socialists are not reformers; we are revolutionaries. We Socialists do not propose change forms. We care nothing for forms. We want a change of the inside of the mechanism of society, let the form take care of itself."
- Daniel De Leon
- Date: 1852-12-14
- Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.marxists.org.
- Tags: #Socialism, #Labor, #Marxism, #Birthdays, #IWW.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org