Charles Solomon LCCN2001704478 (cropped)

Charles Solomon (1889–1963) was a socialist politician from New York City, elected to the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

in 1919 and expelled with four of his fellows on the first day of the legislative session, one week after the sensational

Palmer Raids The Palmer Raids were a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 by the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected socialists, especially anarchists ...

. The case of the "Five Socialist Assemblymen" became a cause célèbre of the

Red Scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...

of 1919-20 and its resolution started the process of curbing war hysteria in the United States.

Biography

Early years

Charles Solomon was born in 1889 and was a resident of Brooklyn,

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 * '' ...

Political career

Solomon was a member of the

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...

and

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

, elected in the 23rd District of Kings County which at that time encompassed

East New York, Brooklyn East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough lin ...

, At the beginning of the session of 1920, Speaker

Thaddeus C. Sweet Thaddeus Campbell Sweet (November 16, 1872 – May 1, 1928) was an American manufacturer and politician from New York. He represented New York's 32nd congressional district from 1923 to 1928. Biography He was born on November 16, 1872 in Phoen ...

and the Republican majority suspended Solomon and the other four Socialist members (''viz.''

Louis Waldman Louis Waldman (January 5, 1892 – September 12, 1982) was a leading figure in the Socialist Party of America from the late 1910s and through the middle 1930s, a founding member of the Social Democratic Federation, and a prominent New York labo ...

, Samuel Orr,

August Claessens August "Gus" Claessens (June 17, 1885 – December 9, 1954) was a Swiss-born American socialist politician, best known as one of the five New York Assemblymen expelled from that body during the First Red Scare for their membership in the Sociali ...

and Sam DeWitt) for alleged disloyalty due to membership in 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 ...

. A lengthy trial before the Judiciary Committee of the Assembly began in the middle of January. Socialist Party leaders Morris Hillquit and Seymour Stedman were in charge of the defense. During the course of the proceedings, testimony was taken from two New York City policemen who had attempted to stop a crowd of about 2,000 from disrupting a streetcar line in conjunction with a strike in the summer of 1919. According to the published testimony of the officers, on August 6, the two had come across a noisy crowd which had stopped several streetcars by piling debris on the tracks. A near riot erupted when the two plainclothesmen jumped into the fray, one swinging a club and the other punching and kicking. The crowd, for their part, threw rocks and debris at the officers. Assemblyman Solomon, the legislative representative of the district in which the disruption was taking place, was said to have forced his way to the front of the crowd, shouting "Pull the scabs off the cars!" Both officers recognized Solomon and one admonished him for encouraging unlawful behavior and interference. Solomon is said to have moved back into the crowd at this point. Shortly thereafter, reserves arrived and the crowd dispersed and the tracks were cleared. Such testimony proved damning to the cause of the Socialists. On April 1, the five assemblymen were expelled from the House. All five were re-elected at a special election on September 16, and appeared to take their seats at the beginning of the special session on September 20. The next day, DeWitt and Orr were permitted to take their seats, but Claessens, Solomon and Waldman were expelled again. Protesting against the re-expulsion of their comrades, DeWitt and Orr resigned their seats. Solomon was re-elected to the Assembly in November 1920, and took his seat in the

144th New York State Legislature The 144th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5 to April 16, 1921, during the first year of Nathan L. Miller's governorship, in Albany. Background Under the pr ...

in January 1921. Solomon continued to stand as a Socialist candidate for office on many occasions. During the 1920s, he ran for

Lieutenant Governor of New York The lieutenant governor of New York is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the Government of the State of New York. It is the second highest-ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket wit ...

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

; for the Assembly again in 1927; and for Justice of the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

in 1928. In the 1930s, he stood for the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

(8th District) in 1930; for U.S. Senator from New York in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

; for

Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

in 1933; for

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

; and again for the New York Supreme Court in 1938. In December 1935, he took office as a New York City magistrate.

Activity in Socialist Party politics

Solomon was a social democrat, believing in gradualist ameliorative reform and the use of the ballot box rather than relying upon violent seizure of power. In the 1932-36 party controversy, Solomon stood with the "Old Guard" faction headed by Morris Hillquit, James Oneal, and Louis Waldman. Following its loss on the floor of the Detroit Convention, the SP's Old Guard took its case to the rank and file of the party, which had been called upon to either approve or defeat the new

Declaration of Principles The Oslo I Accord or Oslo I, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or short Declaration of Principles (DOP), was an attempt in 1993 to set up a framework that would lead to the resolution of th ...

in referendum vote. A Committee for the Preservation of the Socialist Party was established and Solomon was called on to write an agitational pamphlet entitled ''Detroit and the Party.'' In this polemical piece, Solomon decried the Detroit Declaration of Principles as "reckless," observing pointedly that "furious phrases cannot take the place of organized mass power." Solomon declared that

"The Declaration does not stand by itself, in a vacuum, as it were. Important as it is, it does not alone account for the vital struggle that is now being waged in the party. It represents the culminating point of a deep seated antagonism. It is like the straw that breaks or threatens to break the camel's back.

"The Declaration of Principles has brought to the surface divergences which are deep, antagonisms which make of our party not a coherent political organization working harmoniously for a common objective but a battle ground of internecine strife."

Solomon charged that the "so-called 'left'" was "making its position clear" with the Declaration of Principles: "There was no mistaking the flag it had unfurled. It was the banner of thinly veiled communism." While he declared that "the Declaration of Principles must be decisively rejected in the referendum," he nevertheless indicated in no uncertain terms that even this would not avert a factional split. "However, that is not enough," he wrote, "The Socialist Party must be made safe for Socialism, for social democracy." When the resolution passed, the Old Guard immediately set about organizing to lock up the party's New York-based assets under its factional control. The state organization, the Socialist Party of New York, was expelled from the Socialist Party by its governing National Executive Committee in January 1936, and Solomon left with them to help establish the

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...

. Solomon died in 1963.

Footnotes

Works

* ''The Socialists in the New York Board of Aldermen: A Record of Six Months' Activity'' with Evans Clark (1918) * ''Detroit and the Party'' (New York: Committee for the Preservation of Socialist Policies, n.d.

934 Year 934 ( CMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring and Summer – The Hungarians make an alliance with the Pechenegs ...