Emil Seidel
Emil Seidel | |
---|---|
Gerhard A. Bading | |
Personal details | |
Born | Ashland, Pennsylvania, U.S. | December 13, 1864
Died | June 24, 1947 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. | (aged 82)
Political party | Socialist |
Emil Seidel (December 13, 1864 – June 24, 1947) was a prominent
Biography
Early years
Seidel was born December 13, 1864, in the town of
Seidel attended public school up to the age of 13, when he dropped out to become a woodcarver.[1] He continued to study after leaving school, reading extensively.[1] At the age of 19 he started a trade union of local woodworkers, becoming the organization's first secretary.[1]
At the age of 22, Seidel went abroad to refine his skills as a woodcarver.[3] He lived for six years in Berlin, working at his trade during the day and attending school at night.[3] It was in this period that Seidel first became an active socialist.[4]
In 1895, Seidel married the former Lucy Geissel.[3] They had one son, Lucius, who died in infancy, and one daughter, Viola. The pair would ultimately divorce in 1924.[5]
Political career
When Seidel returned to the United States in 1892 he joined the Socialist Labor Party of America.[6] Seidel was a charter member of the first SLP branch in Milwaukee.[3] He also became an active member of the Pattern Makers Union.[3]
Seidel later joined the
In 1904 Seidel was one of nine Socialists to win electoral victory as Milwaukee city
In 1910, Seidel was elected mayor of Milwaukee, becoming the first Socialist mayor of a major city in the United States.[4] During his administration the first public works department was established, the first fire and police commission was organized, and a city park system came into being. Seidel cleaned up the town with strict regulation of bars and the closing of brothels and sporting parlors (modern-day casinos). During his administration Seidel employed the noted American poet and author Carl Sandburg as his personal secretary.[8] Seidel's socialist inclinations had attracted Sandburg to Milwaukee.
In his Spring 1912 bid for re-election, Seidel faced the
Freed of his mayoral duties by electoral defeat, Seidel became a logical choice as the Socialist Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States on the ticket with Eugene V. Debs. The pair won 901,551 votes in the 1912 presidential election, 6% of the total vote.
Seidel tried to win re-election as mayor of Milwaukee in 1914, but was soundly defeated.[5] He was returned to the city council as an alderman at large in the city election of 1916.[5] He won re-election in 1918, remaining at the post until 1920.[5]
Seidel, an opponent of
In 1932, Seidel ran for a seat in the United States Senate from Wisconsin, winning 6% of the vote. He served a final four-year stint as a Milwaukee city alderman from 1932 until 1936.[11]
Later years
Seidel retired from political life in the middle 1930s. He remained a resident of Milwaukee, living on the northwest side of the city, passing his time painting, composing music, creating poetry, and writing his autobiography.[10]
Death and legacy
Seidel died in Milwaukee on June 24, 1947, following an illness of several months' duration related to complications from a heart condition.[10] He was 82 years old.
Seidel's unpublished memoirs reside in Madison at the Wisconsin Historical Society, where they are available to scholars on microfilm.
See also
- List of elected socialist mayors in the United States
- Daniel Hoan
- Frank P. Zeidler
- Social-Democratic Party of Wisconsin
References
- ^ a b c d e f Edward S. Kerstein, Milwaukee's All-American Mayor: Portrait of Daniel Webster Hoan. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966; p. 68.
- ISBN 9781851096282– via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Our Candidates Emil Seidel", Cleveland Socialist, whole no. 48 (September 21, 1912), pg. 2.
- ^ a b c d Kerstein, Milwaukee's All-American Mayor, p. 69.
- ^ a b c d e Kerstein, Milwaukee's All-American Mayor, p. 70.
- ^ "Our Candidates: Emil Seidel" notes that Seidel's was one of only two "Socialist" votes in his precinct in 1892 — a year in which the Socialist Labor Party was the sole socialist party in America.
- ^ "A Remarkable Growth," Appeal to Reason [Girard, KS], no. 311 (Nov. 16, 1901), p. 3.
- ^ Kerstein, Milwaukee's All-American Mayor, p. 59.
- ^ a b Kerstein, Milwaukee's All-American Mayor, p. 67.
- ^ a b c d e Kerstein, Milwaukee's All-American Mayor, p. 71.
- ^ "Wisconsin Historical Society. Dictionary of Wisconsin History "Seidel, Emil 1864 - 1947"". Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
Works
- What We Have Done in Milwaukee. Chicago, IL: National Office of the Socialist Party, 1911.
- Which Must Go? America or Private Ownership of Railroads? Milwaukee: Socialist Party of Wisconsin, 1923.
- Thy Kingdom Come: Sketches from My Life: Autobiography of Emil Seidel. [1944] Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
- Joining the Socialist Movement. Corvallis, OR: 1000 Flowers Publishing, 2013.
- Building the Social Democratic Party. Corvallis, OR: 1000 Flowers Publishing, 2013.
Further reading
- Benoit, Edward A. III (2009). A Democracy of Its Own: Milwaukee's Socialisms, Difference and Pragmatism (MA thesis). University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
External links
- Media related to Emil Seidel at Wikimedia Commons
- Emil Seidel at Find a Grave