Arnold Petersen (April 16, 1885 – February 5, 1976) was the National Secretary of the Socialist Labor Party of America from 1914 to 1969. Petersen played a major role as spokesman for that party and as a promoter of the De Leonist version of Marxist theory in the 20th century.

Biography

Arnold Petersen was born in

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, the son of a tailor. After graduating college, he immigrated to the United States and worked in a paper box factory. In 1907, he joined the Socialist Labor Party.

Daniel De Leon 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 o ...

nominated Petersen to be national secretary a few months before his death in May 1914. As national secretary, Petersen restructured the party and saved it from bankruptcy. He was also a prolific author, writing over fifty books, including a series of biographical monographs on De Leon, collected as ''Daniel De Leon: Social Architect''. When he retired as Socialist Labor Party of America leader in 1969, he had been the organizations leader for fifty five of the organization's ninety-four years of existence, and seventy-nine years as a "De Leonist" organization (which the party dates from 1890). A longtime resident of

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 39,776, reflecting an increase of 516 (+1.3%) f ...

, he died on February 5, 1976, in Paterson, New Jersey.Staff
"ARNOLD PETERSEN, SOCIALIST LABORITE"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', February 7, 1976. Accessed October 23, 2011. "Arnold Petersen, who retired in 1969 after 55 years as national secretary of the Socialist Labor Party, died Thursday in St. Joseph's Hospital, Paterson, N.J. He was 90 years old and had lived in Teaneck, N.J., for many years."

Selected works

*''Unemployment and overproduction'' (1930) *''The virus of anarchy: Bakuninism vs. Marxism'' (1932) *''Manifesto on War. Decay and corruption of international capitalism'' (1937)
''Constitution of the United States : Founding of the Bourgeois Republic''
New York : New York Labor News Company, 1937
''Daniel De Leon: From Reform to Revolution 1886–1936''
New York: New York Labor News Co., 1937
''De Leon the uncompromising''
New York: New York Labor News Co., 1939 *''Daniel De Leon: social architect'' (1941) *''From reform to bayonets'' (1941) *''Inflation of Prices or Deflation of Labor?'' (1942) *''Karl Marx and Marxian science'' (1943)
''Daniel de Leon: Internationalist''
New York: New York Labor News Co., 1944 *''Daniel De Leon: Social scientist'' (1945) *''Marxism vs. Soviet despotism'' (1959) *''Socialism and human nature'' (1962) *''Bourgeois Socialism: Its Rise and Collapse in America'' (1963)

References

Sources

* ''Biographical Dictionary of the American Left'' (Bernard K. Johnpoll and

Harvey Klehr Harvey Elliott Klehr (born December 25, 1945) is a professor of politics and history at Emory University. Klehr is known for his books on the subject of the American Communist movement, and on Soviet espionage in America (many written jointly wit ...

editors ( "Arnold Petersen" by John Gerber, pp. 314–5. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press. 1986

Other sources

*Girard, Frank and Ben Perry, ''Socialist Labor Party, 1876–1991: A Short History'' (Philadelphia, PA: Livra Books, 1991) * Hass, Eric ''The Socialist Labor Party and the Internationals'' (New York Labor News Co. 1949) *Quint, Howard ''The Forging of American Socialism: Origins of the Modern Movement: The Impact of Socialism on American Thought and Action, 1886–1901'' (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1953)

External links

Arnold Petersen Selected quotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Arnold People from Odense 1885 births 1976 deaths American socialists Danish emigrants to the United States Members of the Socialist Labor Party of America People from Teaneck, New Jersey