"De Leon: The Uncompromising" is a pamphlet
authored by Arnold Petersen, the near-perennial National Secretary of the U.S.
Socialist Labor Party, not to be confused with the more well-known Socialist
Workers' Party. The pamphlet was published in 1939, and contains three
addresses by Petersen, "De Leon: The Uncompromising", "Daniel De
Leon: Educator" and "Daniel De Leon: Character Builder". Daniel
De Leon was the effective leader of the SLP from 1890 until his death in 1914.
His curious interpretation of Marxism turned the party into a political sect.
Petersen continued the sectarian course, even creating a kind of personality
cult around the deceased De Leon, dubbing his theories "Marxism-De
Leonism" (sic).
The addresses are vintage Petersen, both the venomous invectives and the quotes from famous poets. The political opponents of De Leon, and by implication Petersen himself, are denounced as "vulgar", "money-grabbing", "tail-wagging poodles" or "freaks, frauds and common swindlers". One of them has a "slum-proletarian character", while another is a "crafty Jesuit". Herbert Hoover is said to be an "economic Neanderthal"! The martyred leader of the Easter Rising, James Connolly, who at one point was an SLP member, is simply a "Jesuit". His role as fighter for Irish independence isn't even acknowledged. Petersen even sounds sexist, attacking female opponents with epithets such as "gossipy female" or "gabby female" (the latter was directed at Emma Goldman).
It's almost comic to see that this vituperative speaker - he could actually sound much worse! - liberally sprinkled his speeches with quotes and references to Shakespeare, Emerson, Whitman and Ibsen. He even quotes Caesar in Latin, admittedly in a section criticizing "classical" education. At another point, Petersen boasts about knowing the difference between Ultramontanism and Montanism - it seems one of De Leon's detractors had written that "Ultra Montanism" is a 2th century Christian sect!
Well, it's good to know that the Secretary is back in force!
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