Daniel De Leon is immortal, and then some

"Daniel De Leon: Emancipator" is a pamphlet about American Marxist Daniel De Leon (1852-1914), written by Arnold Petersen. The author was the successor of De Leon as effective leader of the Socialist Labor Party. The SLP was at one point a relatively important Marxist organization, but became increasingly more sectarian and dogmatic under De Leon's and (especially) Petersen's leadership. For this reason, the SLP were eclipsed by the IWW, the Socialist Party and later the CPUSA. Reading "Emancipator", I can understand why. Most of Petersen's text is Marxism 101, but at times De Leon's sectarianism rears its head. De Leon opposed the demand for a minimum wage with the argument that capitalism will automatically undermine it, thus making the demand meaningless. (SLP's critics have often pointed to this and similar statements as proof that De Leon believed in the "iron law of wages", a non-Marxist concept associated with Marx' opponent Lasalle.) However, De Leon *admits* that the minimum wage could be made to work if the state exercises tighter control over the economy! Yet, he opposes it anyway, presumably because the state of Teddy Roosevelt and the Progressives was still "bourgeois". While De Leon (illogically) still supported union struggles for higher wages, Petersen dispensed even with that, calling on SLP members to leave the unions and not support union strikes, essentially turning the group into a "socialist" version of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

After the death of De Leon, Petersen created a kind of personality cult around the deceased leader. This explains the inclusion in this pamphlet of the text "Lenin and De Leon", in which the SLP claims that the Russian revolutionary leader was familiar with and perhaps inspired by De Leon's work. "Emancipator" also includes a poem honouring De Leon, written by Petersen himself (who was also fond of quoting Goethe or Shakespeare). "Emancipator" also contains an attack on Friedrich Hayek, described as "one of the latest of these stupid or inept defenders [of capitalism]...an Austrian hack...who already seems to have been forgotten". In all fairness to AP, it's possible that Hayek's fame didn't come until somewhat later - Petersen's brochure was originally published in 1946.

The text ends with the litany: "The passing of the SLP? The SLP is immortal. Daniel De Leon dead? Daniel De Leon is immortal".

Although "Emancipator" is free from the bizarre invectives typical of this particular author, I admit that I wasn't particularly moved by it and its message. Probably not for the general reader.