Joseph Klein (1886 - ?) was an American machinist from

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 ...

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 ...

, who served one term as a

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 ...

member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

Background

Klein was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1886, and received his education in the common schools of that country. In 1903 he moved to the United States, coming directly to Milwaukee. He became a machinist and eventually found a long-term job with the Chicago & Milwaukee Railway. He became active in the

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

movement and the Milwaukee Socialist party.

Public office

He served as a Milwaukee County deputy sheriff from 1914 to 1916. He was elected to the Assembly's Second Milwaukee County district (the 2nd

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of the City of Milwaukee) in 1918 to succeed

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

William A. Campbell, receiving 658 votes to 627 for William Mielahn and 581 for

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Carl Heim. He was assigned to the

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

. He ran for re-election in 1920, but was defeated by Republican Martin M. Higgins, with 1,206 to 2,185 for Higgins (there was no Democrat in the race).''The Wisconsin blue book, 1921'' Madison: 1921; pp. 231, 277
/ref>

References

1886 births 20th-century Hungarian people Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States Hungarian socialists Machinists Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Politicians from Milwaukee Socialist Party of America politicians from Wisconsin Year of death unknown {{Wisconsin-WIAssembly-stub