![Simons-a-1902](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Simons-a-1902.jpg)
Algie Martin Simons (1870–1950) was an American socialist
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
, newspaper editor, and political activist, best remembered as the editor of ''
The International Socialist Review'' for nearly a decade. Originally an adherent of the
Socialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...
and a founding member of the
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a 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 of Ameri ...
, Simons' political views became increasingly conservative over time, leading him to be appointed on a pro-war "labor delegation" to the government of revolutionary
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
headed by
Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky, ; Reforms of Russian orthography, original spelling: ( – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months ...
in 1917. Simons was a bitter opponent of the
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
regime established by
Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
in November 1917 and in later years became an active supporter of the
Republican Party.
Biography
Early years
![SaukCountyWisconsin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/SaukCountyWisconsin.jpg)
Algie Martin Simons was born October 9, 1870, in a log house near the hamlet of
North Freedom in
Sauk County
Sauk County is a county in Wisconsin. It is named after a large village of the Sauk people. As of the 2020 census, the population was 65,763. Its county seat and largest city is Baraboo. The county was created in 1840 from Wisconsin Territory a ...
,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, the son of a farmer. He was the eldest of four children of Horace B. Simons and his wife, the former Linda Blackmun.
[Robert Stuart Huston, ''A.M. Simons and the American Socialist Movement.'' PhD dissertation. Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1965; p. 1.]
Simons' father was descended from English immigrants who had arrived in America in the early 18th Century.
His grandfather, Martin Simons, for whom he was named, was born in
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
in 1812 and moved to Wisconsin in the 1840s, spending some time in
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
before returning to Wisconsin during the years of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
On the maternal side, the Blackmuns also had deep roots in New England, with the family already established in upstate
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
by the time of the American revolution.
[Huston, ''A.M. Simons and the American Socialist Movement,'' pg. 2.] The Blackmuns made their way to
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
before heading North to
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
and settling for good in Wisconsin in the early 1800s.
After Horace Simons and Linda Blackmun were married in July 1869, the Blackmuns aided the new couple by providing land for them adjacent to the family homestead on Maple Hill, part of the western side of the
Baraboo Range
The Baraboo Range is a syncline located in Columbia and Sauk Counties, Wisconsin. It consists of highly eroded Precambrian metamorphic rock. It is about long and varies from 5 to in width. The Wisconsin River, previously traveling in a north ...
. The land was not bountiful and agriculture was difficult; Horace Simons helped make ends meet by working as an employee in the Blackmuns' seasonal roofing shingle mill.
A bookish youth, Simons attended public school at North Freedom, graduating in 1889. He developed the skill of oratory at a young age, winning a local speaking championship in July 1890. After completion of his primary education in North Freedom, Algie commuted 10 miles to
Baraboo
Baraboo is a city in the Midwest and the county seat of Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The largest city in the county, Baraboo is the principal city of the Baraboo Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2020 population was 12,556. It is situ ...
to attend high school, from which he graduated in 1891.
From there, Simons was off to
Madison Madison may refer to:
People
* Madison (name), a given name and a surname
* James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States
Place names
* Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...
to attend the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, majoring in English. While at the university, Simons developed an interest in politics and history and transferred to the School of Economics, Political Science, and History, newly established by
Richard T. Ely
Richard Theodore Ely (April 13, 1854 – October 4, 1943) was an American economist, author, and leader of the Progressive movement who called for more government intervention to reform what they perceived as the injustices of capitalism, especia ...
, to pursue the subject further. In the course of his education, Simons was exposed to
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
ideas, working as an assistant for the
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
Ely on his book ''Socialism,'' published in 1894. Simons also later regarded the courses taken from
Frederick J. Turner as influential for having instilled the notion of
class struggle
Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor.
The forms ...
in his pattern of thinking.
[A.M. Simons, "How I Became a Socialist," ''The Comrade'' ew York vol. 2, no. 1 (August 1902), pp. 254-255.]
In June 1895, Simons earned his
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in
Economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
, for which he gained special honors for completing a thesis on the topic of "Railroad Pools." Simons also won awards in
oratory and debating and accumulated a grade point average which entitled him to membership in
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
.
[Kreuter and Kreuter, ''An American Dissenter,'' pg. 15.] He was chosen by the faculty to speak at his class's commencement exercise.
Upon graduation, Simons accepted a fellowship with the
Associated Charities in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, moving into the Cincinnati Social Settlement in September 1895. He was soon brought to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
by the head of Associated Charities in Cincinnati to work for the Bureau of Charities there. Simons found the conditions faced by the urban poor of Chicago to be appalling and he began to make a systematic study of daily life in the meatpacking district of the city, publishing his findings in the ''
American Journal of Sociology
The ''American Journal of Sociology'' is a peer-reviewed bi-monthly academic journal that publishes original research and book reviews in the field of sociology and related social sciences. It was founded in 1895 as the first journal in its disci ...
.''
In June 1897, Simons returned to Baraboo and married
May Wood
May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian calendar, Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days.
May is a month of Spring (season), spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the So ...
, a former high school classmate who would herself eventually become a socialist propagandist of some note.
After three years living in the
"Settlements", Simons' self-described "patchwork philosophy" began to give way to
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
as he daily observed "human misery and intense suffering" on the one hand and "the marvelous productive capacity of the largest industrial establishment in the world" on the other.
He attended the 1897 National Conference of Charities and Corrections in
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...
, and came away disgusted, returning to Chicago and joining the ranks of the
Socialist Labor Party
The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...
.
A new chapter in his life had begun.
The Socialist Labor Party
In the spring of 1899, Algie Simons found himself finally able to escape his previous calling of social work for a new career he considered more fulfilling — that of socialist newspaper editor. Section Chicago of the SLP, 26 branches strong, decided at that time to launch its own newspaper in order to cover the news from a more localized perspective than could the East Coast party organ. The erudite and educated Simons was chosen by his party comrades to edit the new publication. In just a few short months this new position would place Simons in direct conflict with party leader
Daniel DeLeon
Daniel De Leon (; December 14, 1852 – May 11, 1914), alternatively spelt Daniel de León, was a Curaçaoan-American socialist newspaper editor, politician, Marxist theoretician, and trade union organizer. He is regarded as the forefather ...
, editor of the party-owned weekly of the SLP, ''
The People
The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881.
At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the ' ...
,'' published in New York City.
The first issue of ''The Workers' Call'' was dated March 11, 1899, and featured the first of a lengthy serialized article by
Wilhelm Liebknecht
Wilhelm Martin Philipp Christian Ludwig Liebknecht (; 29 March 1826 – 7 August 1900) was a German socialist and one of the principal founders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
SLP newspaper, ''The Tocsin,'' was to be merged with ''The Workers' Call'' after a run of just over 9 months. By the first day of summer, paid circulation was approaching the 9,000 mark and by the end of July it had sold out a full run of 11,000.
Despite the rosy prospects of Section Chicago's new paper, the summer of 1899 was a moment of severe political crisis inside the SLP. The party had experienced significant growth throughout the decade of the 1890s, but disagreement over the policy of the organization towards the
trade union movement
The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other.
* The trade union movement ...
had created bitter dissension. Some favored the official line of the party, building the
Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance
The Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance of the United States and Canada - commonly abbreviated STLA or ST&LA - was a revolutionary socialist labor union in the United States closely linked to the Socialist Labor Party (SLP), which existed from 189 ...
(ST&LA), a
dual union
Dual unionism is the development of a union or political organization parallel to and within an existing labor union. In some cases, the term may refer to the situation where two unions claim the right to organize the same workers.
Dual unionism i ...
which was distinctly
revolutionary socialist
Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revoluti ...
in nature to stand in direct challenge to the "conservative"
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...
. Others objected to the way this new ST&LA had poisoned relations with the existing unions, and instead advocated a renewed commitment to "boring within" the established unions to "win" them to the socialist cause by example and persuasion. Personal acrimony and ambition also played no small role, with self-assured and pugnacious DeLeon and his lieutenant
Henry Kuhn
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
*Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
butting heads against the more ecumenical supporters of the privately owned German-language socialist paper, the ''
New Yorker Volkszeitung
''New Yorker Volkszeitung'' was the longest-running German language daily labor newspaper in the United States of America, established in 1878 and suspending publication in October 1932. At the time of its demise during the Great Depression the ' ...
,'' such as
Henry Slobodin
Henry L. Slobodin was an American attorney, socialist activist and frequent candidate for public office from New York.
Slobodin was active in the Socialist Labor Party of America before leaving in 1899 alongside other socialist activists like M ...
and
Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit (August 1, 1869 – October 8, 1933) was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side. Together with Eugene V. Debs and Congressman Victor L. Berger, Hillqui ...
.
In 1898, the simmering feud erupted into a full-fledged factional war. With left wing German and Yiddish-language trade unions of New York pulling out of the ST&LA, leaving it a shell, while socialists still in the AF of L were simultaneously dealt a crushing blow to their efforts at the 1898 annual convention of the AF of L to steer the organization in a left wing direction, the ''Volkzeitung'' went on the offensive. For the next five months the paper hammered relentlessly at the way the dual union policy had led to an easy "
Gompersite" victory. The SLP's English-language ''People'' and German-language ''Vorwaerts'' returned fire in kind, accusing the dissidents of having traded in socialist principles for the prospect of soft positions as union functionaries. The governing National Executive Committee of the party began unleashing a series of suspensions and expulsions of the dissidents in the name of party discipline.
[Kipnis, ''The American Socialist Movement,'' pg. 31.]
The dissidents escalated matters further by issuing a factional bulletin devoted to attacks on the party leadership, sent out to the entire party mailing list — an action which further enraged DeLeon and his associates.
Things went downhill from there, with fist fights and a full out brawl capping the summer of factional sniping, as both dissidents and regulars claimed for themselves the mantle of the party, its ballot line, and, not coincidentally, the party's assets.
Try as they might, there could be no neutrality in such a situation. Section Chicago first attempted to play the role of mediator in the dispute, suggesting a referendum of the party membership to move headquarters of the SLP from New York City to a less supercharged political environment. Such a position was impossible for DeLeon and the official leadership, who charged Section Chicago with disloyalty, making editor Simons the personal object of enmity. "This A.M. Simons, Editor," DeLeon raged, "really is as much of a simpleton as he is a fraud."
And thus Simons cast his lot with the rebellion. "If there had ever been any doubt in the past three months about the necessity of a revolution in the Socialist Labor Party and the utter abolition of DeLeonism from the American socialist movement, that doubt should be removed by a glance at the last Beekman Street ''People,'' Simons replied.
When the smoke of the muskets cleared, DeLeon's forces emerged triumphant, thanks in no small part to a ruling of the New York courts awarding the party name, ballot line, and assets to the Regular faction. Slobodin, Hillquit, and the dissidents, after having called themselves the "Socialist Labor Party" and published an official newspaper called ''The People'' until so enjoined by the court; thereafter they attempted to style themselves as a part of the
Social Democratic Party of America
The Social Democratic Party of America (SDP) was a short-lived political party in the United States established in 1898.
The group was formed out of elements of the Social Democracy of America (SDA) and was a predecessor to the Socialist Party of ...
. The originators of the Social Democratic party, including
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
newspaper editor
Victor L. Berger
Victor Luitpold Berger (February 28, 1860August 7, 1929) was an Austrian–American socialist politician and journalist who was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party of America and its successor, the Socialist Party of America. Born in ...
and radical railroad unionist
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialism, socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five times the candidate ...
, were deeply distrustful of the motives and worth of the recently recoined DeLeonists from New York who had appropriated their party name. The process of unification of the two organizations was arduous, absorbing the better part of two years.
In August 1901, union between the East coast and Chicago "Social Democratic Parties" was achieved at the
1901 Socialist Unity Convention held in
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...
. Simons was a delegate to this convention, at which he was one of the most vocal advocates that the new organization should dispense with so-called "immediate demands" from its platform, in favor of limitation to the advocacy of the socialist transformation of society. Simons declared:
Simons' view on this matter of immediate demands represented that of a small left wing minority of the delegates to the Founding Convention and was easily defeated on the floor of that body.
Charles H. Kerr & Co.
In addition to his position as editor of the Chicago weekly, ''The Workers' Call,'' and to his role in the formation of the Socialist Party of America, Algie Simons occupied a prominent place in the affairs of the largest Marxist publisher in the United States to that date, Charles H. Kerr & Co. of Chicago.
From the middle years of the 1890s,
Unitarian book and magazine publisher
Charles H. Kerr
Charles Hope Kerr (April 23, 1860 – June 1, 1944), a son of abolitionists, was a vegetarian and Unitarian in 1886 when he established Charles H. Kerr & Co. in Chicago. His publishing career is noted for his views' leftward progression towar ...
of Chicago became attracted to the ideas of first
populism
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
and then Marxist socialism. Just as Simons and Section Chicago of the SLP were launching ''The Workers' Call,'' so too was Kerr changing the direction of his publishing house, launching a new monthly series of small pamphlets in red glassine covers called the "Pocket Library of Socialism" on May 15, 1899. The first number of the series was by May Wood Simons, ''Woman and the Social Problem,'' while husband Algie chipped in title number 4, ''Packingtown: A Study of the Union Stock Yards, Chicago.''
Having previously published a Unitarian magazine, ''Unity,'' followed by a Populist magazine, ''The New Era,'' Kerr sought to mark the new phase of his intellectual journey with a new monthly magazine dedicated to international socialism. This journal, ''
The International Socialist Review,'' was going to need an editor. Charles Kerr believed he had his man in the person of Algie Simons.
The first issue of the ''Review'' appeared dated July 1900 and featured contributions from
William Thurston Brown, English social democrat
Henry Hyndman
Henry Mayers Hyndman (; 7 March 1842 – 20 November 1921) was an English writer, politician and socialist.
Originally a conservative, he was converted to socialism by Karl Marx's ''Communist Manifesto'' and launched Britain's first left-wing p ...
, AF of L trade union activist
Max S. Hayes
Maximillian Sebastian "Max" Hayes (25 May 1866 – 11 October 1945) was an American newspaper editor, trade union activist, and socialist politician. In 1912 Hayes became the first candidate to challenge Samuel Gompers for the presidency of the A ...
, and
Marcus Hitch. In his introductory editorial, Simons listed three goals for the new "magazine of scientific socialism" — "to counteract the sentimental
Utopianism
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...
that has so long characterized the American movement," "to keep our readers in touch with the socialist movements in other countries," and "to insure the interpretation of American social conditions in the light of socialist philosophy."
Simons would edit the magazine, in addition to fulfilling additional editorial tasks as editor of ''The Workers' Call'' and its successor, ''
The Chicago Daily Socialist,'' for nearly eight years. While at the ''Chicago Daily Socialist,'' Simons initially supervised the business department but later requested a transfer to the editorial department, where he supervised all editorial work.
A relative latecomer to the socialist movement, Simons came in as a radical enthusiast. At the 1901 founding convention of the Socialist Party of America held in Indianapolis, to which he was a delegate, Simons was the most vocal advocate of the left wing line of the day, arguing against the adoption of palliative "immediate demands."
On the other hand, his employer, Charles H. Kerr, who came into the socialist movement about the same time as Simons, was on an altogether different
ideological trajectory. Kerr took less solace from the advances of the Socialist Party in the electoral realm, particularly among
middle class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...
intellectual
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...
s such as himself, and instead came to identify more and more with the
revolutionary industrial unionism
Industrial unionism is a trade union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ...
of the
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...
(IWW), established in 1905.
Particularly after the formation of the IWW, Kerr sought to make the somber magazine edited by Simons lose its dry, academic tone and to instead become what Kerr would later call "the fighting magazine of the working class." By the end of 1907, the political differences between publisher Kerr and editor Simons and their view of the future of the magazine had become unworkable.
Effective at the start of 1908, Kerr forced the resignation of Simons as editor of ''The International Socialist Review.''
[Ruff, ''"We Called Each Other Comrade,"'' pg. 117.] Simons ended his monthly editorial in the January 1908 issue of the magazine with a terse statement which summarized everything and told nothing: "With this number I sever all editorial connection with the ''International Socialist Review.''
[A.M. Simons, "Looking Forward and Backward," ''International Socialist Review'' hicago vol. 8, no. 7 (January 1908), pg. 435.] The short editorial itself gave a clue to the reasoning behind Simons' growing disillusionment with the socialist movement:
The form and content of the ''Review'' changed fairly dramatically in the years after Simons' forced departure, with Kerr and his new chief lieutenant,
Mary Marcy, soliciting material written on issues of the day by its working class readers. Shorter articles giving timely news of the contemporary class struggle, profusely illustrated, displaced long and sometimes dreary essays notable only for their lack of passion. Slick magazine paper began to be used for the better reproduction of photographs, while provocative pictorial covers were henceforth employed. The tone of the magazine became more vigorous and radical.
The changes wrought by Kerr, Marcy, and their associates paid great dividends in terms of circulation. Formerly stalled at a circulation level of less than 5,000, the circulation to the ''Review'' tripled during Kerr's first year at the helm and rose to 27,000 by June 1910. Henceforth, ''The International Socialist Review'' would take its place as the leading voice of the left wing of the Socialist Party of America. Algie Martin Simons, by way of contrast, would increasingly be known as a spokesman for the policies of the party's right.
Simons in Kansas
In the summer of 1910, the Simons familily headed for Southeastern
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
, where Algie took a position in
Girard working for ''
The Appeal to Reason.''
[Kreuter and Kreuter, ''An American Dissenter,'' pg. 113.] ''Appeal'' publisher
Julius Wayland
Julius Augustus Wayland (April 26, 1854 – November 10, 1912) was a Midwestern US socialist during the Progressive Era. He is most noted for publishing '' Appeal to Reason'', a socialist publication often deemed to be the most important socialis ...
was launching a new publication, a literary- and artistically-oriented weekly reprising the original name of the ''Appeal'' — ''The Coming Nation'' — and Algie Simons was Wayland's selection for editor of the new periodical.
Time was of the essence for Wayland in obtaining additional editorial talent, as ''Appeal'' editor
Fred Warren
Frederick Windsor Warren (23 December 1907 – 1986) was a Welsh professional footballer and Wales international.
Club career
Warren began his career at his home town club Cardiff City, spending time as understudy to George McLachlan before ...
sat behind bars, convicted to a 6-month sentence for inciting violence through the mails as the result of a provocative editorial he had written.
Despite his best intentions of producing a publication that did not dwell in the realm of heavy political exposé, Simons found a paucity of publishable material written on vaguely socialist themes in a light-hearted vein. With little humor or light fiction from which to choose, ''The Coming Nation'' inevitably moved into the usual heavier political fare, with the farmer's son Simons once again revisiting a theme near and dear to him in a series of articles: the role of the farmer in the American socialist movement.
During his time in Kansas, Simons was also able to finally finish a historical work which he had been working for years, a book entitled ''Social Forces in American History,'' published by the commercial publisher Macmillan & Co. in 1911. Simons' book was a temperate survey of American history from the age of discovery through
Civil War reconstruction written through the prism of class struggle. Although Simons professed that he was writing as a Marxist, the tone and content of the work was so moderate that some reviewers did not even recognize the book as a socialist document.
May Simons was also active during the couple's time in Girard, trying her hand at fiction-writing for ''The Coming Nation'' albeit with limited success. Also contributing fiction was a youngster hailing from
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, who would later achieve wider fame as the owner of the entire ''Appeal'' operation,
Emanuel Julius, who wrote pedestrian short stories in the
O. Henry
William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the M ...
style for virtually every issue.
[Kreuter and Kreuter, ''An American Dissenter,'' pg. 127.] Far more typical and worthy of the publication were
muckraking pieces of non-fiction, such as exposés on coal mining and the faintly-disguised theft of public lands.
As a radical literary and artistic magazine, none would confuse ''The Coming Nation'' with the more
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
publications which would follow with greater success, such as ''
The Masses
''The Masses'' was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the United States from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription. It was s ...
,'' ''
The Liberator
Liberator or The Liberators or ''variation'', may refer to:
Literature
* ''Liberators'' (novel), a 2009 novel by James Wesley Rawles
* ''The Liberators'' (Suvorov book), a 1981 book by Victor Suvorov
* ''The Liberators'' (comic book), a Britis ...
,'' and ''
The New Masses,'' instead being more akin to the glossy weekend supplement of the ''
New York Call.'' Simons was a journalist, not an ''artiste,'' and Girard, Kansas, was not the literary mecca that was New York City. Nevertheless, ''The Coming Nation'' managed to carve out its own distinct identity during its nearly three years of existence. That it was not able to build a sufficient readership to achieve financial independence ultimately spelled its doom.
Another factor lead to the abrupt termination of ''The Coming Nation'' in 1913 — the inevitable reorganization of ''The Appeal to Reason's'' operations following the death of its founder, J.A. Wayland.
On the evening of November 10, 1912, just three days after the finish of Eugene V. Debs' 4th — and arguably most successful — campaign as the Socialist Party's candidate for President of the United States, Wayland retired upstairs to his bedroom. There he opened a drawer and removed a loaded handgun. He carefully wrapped the revolver with a sheet to muffle the sound of the explosion. He drew a breath, placed the gun in his hand, raised it to his open mouth, and shot himself in the brain. Wayland never regained consciousness, dying shortly after midnight, November 11, 1912. Harried by the government, despondent over the failure of the Socialist movement to win the support of more than a small fraction of the laboring classes, tired of life, Wayland left an epitaph tucked into a book on his bedside table: "The struggle under the competitive system is not worth the effort; let it pass."
Simons had grown tired of small-town life in Kansas in any event and was ready for a new challenge. Newspaper publisher Victor Berger, now America's first socialist Congressman, had previously promised Simons a job on his English-language daily, the ''
Milwaukee Leader
The ''Milwaukee Leader'' was a socialist daily newspaper established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in December 1911 by Socialist Party leader Victor L. Berger. The paper continued in operation until January 1939, when it was succeeded by the ''Milwauke ...
,'' if he had ever needed a position. In June 1913, Simons decided to take Berger up on the offer, accepting the position without great enthusiasm but feeling as though it was for the time being the best he could do. Algie and May Simons would be coming home to Wisconsin.
Simons at the ''Leader''
Algie Simons' $35-a-week job in Milwaukee represented a cut in pay from what he had been previously receiving at the ''Appeal,'' and his wife May decided to help supplement the family income by accepting a job as a teacher in the Milwaukee
public schools
Public school may refer to:
*State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government
*Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England and ...
. The Simons played no role in the bustling political activity of the governing Socialist Party in Milwaukee, instead taking an interest in the theater, musical recitals, and public lectures, often in the company of Victor Berger and his wife
Meta
Meta (from the Greek μετά, '' meta'', meaning "after" or "beyond") is a prefix meaning "more comprehensive" or "transcending".
In modern nomenclature, ''meta''- can also serve as a prefix meaning self-referential, as a field of study or ende ...
.
At the ''Leader,'' Simons initially served as editor of the national edition, although he filled in as a reporter and copy reader in case of emergency. For several months he worked as managing editor of the publication.
May Simons in particular became less and less political, resigning her position on the National Women's Committee of the Socialist Party at the end of 1914 and beginning to attend meetings of her old college
sorority.
In the summer of 1914,
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
erupted in Europe. European socialists were singularly unable to stop the march of their various national governments to a particularly bloody conflagration. Algie Simons made the effort to write to both
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...
and
Keir Hardie, leaders of the British
Independent Labour Party, urging them to make every effort to keep the
Second International
The Second International (1889–1916) was an organisation of socialist and labour parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued th ...
alive, thereby preserving lines of communication with the socialists of
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
. Though both parties agreed in the desirability of the policy which Simons advocated, they proved incapable of its implementation, as the belligerent national governments of both sides shut down all means of contact.
Simons stood behind the official policy of the Socialist Party of America to embargo the shipment of arms and food to warring Europe, co-authoring an official agitational leaflet on behalf of the party along with
Carl D. Thompson
Carl D. Thompson (March 24, 1870 – July 3, 1949) was an American preacher, Christian Socialist, and Social Democratic politician. A Congregationalist minister early in his life, Thompson is best remembered as a lecturer and political organizer ...
,
Dan A. White,
John C. Kennedy, and
Walter Lanfersiek
Walter B. Lanfersiek also known as Walter B. Landell (February 3, 1873 – March 1, 1962) was an American attorney and political activist from Newport, Kentucky. Lanfersiek was the executive secretary of the Socialist Party of America from 1913 ...
entitled "Starve the War and Feed America!"
Ultimately, there was a choosing of sides by many American socialists with regards to the European conflict. Milwaukee, with deep ethnic connections to Germany, including several German-language newspapers, and many clubs, schools, and social institutions, was a hotbed of pro-German sentiment, whereas Algie and May Simons soon came to take a position which was more or less unabashedly pro-British. After the sinking of the
Lusitania
Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and
a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusita ...
in the spring of 1915, a passenger liner which was carrying armaments into the war zone in defiance of an announced German submarine blockade, Algie and May Simons became even more rigid in their views, with May professing in her diary that "I doubt whether I ever again could believe in the German having good qualities."
Cloaking his exact views on the European war behind the platitude that "the entrance of this nation into armaments competition means this war will end only in a truce leading to more wars," Simons campaigned for a place on the governing National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party in 1916, falling to defeat.
In November 1916, Simons moved over the river and burned his bridges behind him, resigning from the ''Milwaukee Leader'' and beginning a series of bitter attacks upon the leadership and policies of the Socialist Party.
In the December 2, 1916, issue of the liberal news magazine ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
,'' Simons declared that "Intellectually and politically, the mind of the party is in Europe. The Socialist Party and press had no criticism of the
Invasion of Belgium, the sinking of the ''Lusitania,'' the
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...
outrages, the slave drives in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, or the ...
Armenian massacres.
Simons became an outspoken advocate of so-called
military preparedness
readiness is a condition of the armed forces and their constituent units and formations, warships, aircraft, weapon systems or other military technology and equipment to perform during combat military operations, or functions consistent with t ...
, an organized campaign for increased militarization in America sponsored by leading politicians of the day, such as former President
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
, as well as pressure groups such as the
American Defense Society
The American Defense Society (ADS) was a nationalist American political group founded in 1915. The ADS was formed to advocate for American intervention in World War I against the German Empire. The group later stood in opposition to the Bolshevi ...
.
[Kreuter and Kreuter, ''An American Dissenter,'' pg. 159.] Similar organizations were formed at the state level.
In February 1917, a group of Milwaukee businessmen and civic leaders established a group called the
Wisconsin Defense League, initially formed to collect statistics to be used in conjunction with any future program of military
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
, to aid in the recruiting of military officers, and to stand ready to lend any assistance which the government might subsequently request.
[Kreuter and Kreuter, ''An American Dissenter,'' pg. 165.] At the end of March 1917, this Wisconsin Defense League hired Simons as its state organizer, paying him a salary of $40 per week.
War was in the wind.
War years
On April 6, 1917, one day after President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
declared war on Germany for its resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare in an attempt to maintain the military blockade of its enemies, the Socialist Party of America assembled in
St. Louis for an
Emergency Convention. The assembled delegates voted overwhelmingly to continue the organization's outspoken
anti-militarist position with respect to the European war, a position entirely untenable with the views harbored by the increasingly conservative Algie Simons. Simons declared a war of his own against the American socialist movement, unleashing his guns in the ''
Milwaukee Journal,'' conservative competitor of his former employer, the ''Leader.''
Simons proclaimed the Germans to be the real
militarists
Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...
and declared that they must be stopped before they enslaved the world.
Simons wrote to Senator
Paul O. Husting of Wisconsin, urging him to suppress the
St. Louis Resolution
ST, St, or St. may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Stanza, in poetry
* Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band
* Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise
* Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...
of the Socialist Party as
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
ous propaganda and providing the Senator with a list of the allegedly seditious activities of his former employer, Victor Berger, since 1914.
[Kreuter and Kreuter, ''An American Dissenter,'' pg. 164.] When news of this correspondence leaked, Simons was immediately expelled from the Socialist Party by Local Milwaukee, by a vote of 63 to 3.
Within months, the Wisconsin Defense League changed its name and grew teeth, calling itself the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion, with Simons as head of the group's literature department. This organization engaged in repressing "unpatriotic" activity during the war, urging
boycott
A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...
s of the German-language press, opposing the teaching of the German language in the schools, coercing citizens into the purchase of government
Liberty Bonds
A liberty bond (or liberty loan) was a war bond that was sold in the United States to support the Allied cause in World War I. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic duty in the United States and introduced the idea of financi ...
, and gathering mobs to shout down socialist and other "disloyal" speakers.
Simons found additional income in this period covering labor news on behalf of the ''Milwaukee Journal.''
In September 1917, Simons attended the organizational meeting of the
American Alliance for Labor and Democracy, a pro-war labor group headed by
Samuel Gompers and designed to build working class loyalty to the American war effort.
[Kreuter and Kreuter, ''An American Dissenter,'' pg. 174.] This organization proved to be a puppet of
George Creel's Committee of Public Information, the formal war propaganda bureau of the Wilson administration.
As the American Alliance for Labor and Democracy stood aloof from partisan politics, Simons sought to consort with like-minded fellows in the newly formed
Social Democratic League of America
The Social Democratic League of America (SDL) was a short-lived social-democratic political party established in 1917 by electorally-oriented socialists who favored the participation of the United States in World War I. Led by such intellectuals ...
, a group which included other former Socialists of a pro-war inclination, such as
William English Walling
William English Walling (1877–1936) (known as "English" to friends and family) was an American labor reformer and Socialist Republican born into a wealthy family in Louisville, Kentucky. He founded the National Women's Trade Union League in 1903. ...
,
John Spargo,
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in seve ...
, and Emanuel Haldeman-Julius.
[Kreuter and Kreuter, ''An American Dissenter,'' pg. 175.] Simons also joined the short-lived
National Party, established the following month largely through the Social Democratic League's volition as part of an attempt to form a broader center-left political party.
The Social Democratic League conceived of the idea of sending an official American labor delegation to Europe in an attempt to rekindle the lagging support of war-weary European socialists for the effort against Germany. The idea was brokered to
Secretary of State Robert Lansing
Robert Lansing (; October 17, 1864 – October 30, 1928) was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as Counselor to the State Department at the outbreak of World War I, and then as United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wils ...
, who approved of the mission and requested that the immediate formation of a group to be known as the American Socialist and Labor Mission to Europe. On June 14, 1918, Simons received word that he had been chosen as part of the delegation and he proceeded immediately to New York to embark.
The American Socialist and Labor Mission remained in England throughout the first half of July 1918, meeting with many of the leading figures of the British labor and socialist political movements and attempting to win their support for the Americanized war effort. Simons spoke at two public meetings held by the mission during this interval, garnering an ovation. The mission then moved to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
on July 20, 1918, to find a mood even more dispirited than that of the pessimistic British, later moving on to Italy before heading home in September.
Upon returning, Simons set to work on a new book, ''The Vision for Which We Fight.'' He also distanced himself from the
social democratic movement, refusing to accept employment as an organizer for the Social Democratic League, now headed by his friend
Charles Edward Russell
Charles Edward Russell (September 25, 1860 in Davenport, Iowa – April 23, 1941 in Washington, D.C.) was an American journalist, opinion columnist, newspaper editor, and political activist. The author of a number of books of biography and socia ...
.
Conservative years
From 1931 to 1950, Simons was employed as an economist by the
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016.
The AMA's state ...
. During this period he was the author of a number of articles on medical economics.
Death and legacy
Algie Martin Simons died in 1950. He was survived by his wife, May Wood Simons, and their daughter, Miriam.
The papers of Algie Simons and May Wood Simons are housed at the
Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of N ...
, located on the campus of the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
at
Madison Madison may refer to:
People
* Madison (name), a given name and a surname
* James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States
Place names
* Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...
.
A run of ''The Workers Call,'' the Chicago newspaper which Simons edited in 1898 and 1899, is available on microfilm, also through the Wisconsin Historical Society.
"Microfilm Sales: Workers Call,"
Wisconsin Historical Society, www.wisconsinhistory.org/
Issues of ''The International Socialist Review,'' edited by Simons from 1900 to 1908, are readily available in hardcopy and microfilm and, as of April 2010, are partially available online through the Google Books project.
Footnotes
Works
Books and pamphlets
* ''Packingtown.'' Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1899.
* ''Socialism vs. Single Tax.'' Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1899.
* ''The Man Under the Machine.'' Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1899.
* ''Socialism vs. Anarchy.'' Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1901.
* ''What the Socialists Would Do If They Won in this City.'' Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1901.
* ''A Tale of a Churn.'' Girard, KS: J.A. Wayland, 1902.
* ''The American Farmer.'' Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1902. Also translated into Russian and published in St. Petersburg in 1906.
* ''Which Party Should Workingmen Support?'' Chicago: National Committee, Socialist Party of America, n.d. 904
__NOTOC__
Year 904 (Roman numerals, CMIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* July 29 – Sack of Thessalonica (904), Sack of Thessalo ...
''Class Struggles in America.''
Revised 3rd Edition. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1906.
* ''The Philosophy of Socialism.'' Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1908.
* ''The Socialist Program.'' Chicago: ublisher? 1908.
''Social Forces in American History.''
New York: Macmillan, 1911. Reprinted in 1926 by International Publishers.
* ''Wasting Human Life.'' Chicago: Socialist Party of the United States, n.d. 914
__NOTOC__
Year 914 ( CMXIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Spring – Empress Zoe Karbonopsina leads a palace coup at Constantino ...
* ''The Printers Fight for Life and Victory.'' Indianapolis: International Typographical Union, n.d. . 1917
* ''The Vision for which We Fought: A Study in Reconstruction.'' New York: Macmillan, 1919.
''Personal Relations in Industry.''
n.c.: The Ronald Press, 1921.
''Success through Vocational Guidance.''
With James McKinney. Chicago: American Technical Society, 1922.
* ''Production Management: Control of Men, Material, and Machines.'' Chicago: American Technical Society, 1929.
* ''The Way of Health Insurance.'' With Nathan Sinai. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1932.
* ''Medical Service Plans of the Farm Security Administration.'' n.c.: n.p., 1942.
Leaflets and articles
"Socialism: A Philosophy of Social Development"
(Reprint from ''The Social Crusader'' magazine.) ''Appeal to Reason'' irard, KS whole no. 173 (March 25, 1899), pg. 2.
"The Party Press,"
''The Workers' Call'' hicago vol. 1, no. 15 (June 17, 1899), pg. 2.
"Socialist Stagnation: Are Spies in High Offices Succeeding in Disrupting the Socialist Party?"
''Modern Magazine,'' vol. 1, no. 2 (October 1909), pp. 25–32.
* "Starve the War and Feed America." Unsigned. With Carl D. Thompson, Dan A. White, John C. Kennedy, and Walter Lanfersiek. Chicago: Socialist Party of America, August 1914.
Translations
* Karl Kautsky,
The Road to Power
'' Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1909.
Further reading
* Lorin Lee Cary, "The Wisconsin Loyalty Legion, 1917-1918," ''Wisconsin Magazine of History,'' vol. 53, no. 1 (Autumn 1969), pp. 33–50
In JSTOR
* William A. Glaser, "Algie Martin Simons and Marxism in America," ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review,'' vol. 41, no. 3 (Dec. 1954), pp. 419–434
In JSTOR
* Robert Stuart Huston, ''A.M. Simons and the American Socialist Movement.'' PhD dissertation. University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1965.
* Kent Kreuter and Gretchen Kreuter, "The Vernacular History of A. M. Simons," ''Journal of American Studies,'' vol. 2, no. 1 (April 1968), pp. 65–81
In JSTOR
* Donald B. Marti, "Answering the Agrarian Question: Socialists, Farmers, and Algie Martin Simons," ''Agricultural History,'' vol. 65, no. 3 (Summer 1991), pp. 53–69
In JSTOR
External links
*
"Register of the Algie M. Simons and May Wood Simons Papers, 1901-1951,"
Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simons, Algie Martin
1870 births
1950 deaths
American socialists
American Marxists
Socialist Labor Party of America politicians from Illinois
Socialist Party of America politicians from Illinois
American newspaper editors
Writers from Chicago
Writers from Wisconsin
People from Sauk County, Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
People from Girard, Kansas