Victor L. Berger

Victor Berger
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 5th district
In office March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1929
Preceded by	William H. Stafford
Succeeded by	William H. Stafford
In office March 4, 1919 – November 10, 1919 Unseated
Preceded by	William H. Stafford
Succeeded by	William H. Stafford (1921)
In office March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1913
Preceded by	William H. Stafford
Succeeded by	William H. Stafford
Personal details
Born	Victor Luitpold Berger (1860-02-28)February 28, 1860 Nieder-Rehbach, Austria (now Romania)
Died	August 7, 1929(1929-08-07) (aged 69) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political party	Socialist

Victor Luitpold Berger (February 28, 1860 – August 7, 1929) was an

In 1919, Berger was convicted of violating the

Berger was born into a Jewish family[3]^[4] on February 28, 1860, in Niederrehbach, Austrian Empire (modern Romania).^[5][6] He was the son of Julia and Ignatz Berger.^[7] He attended the Gymnasium at Leutschau (today in Slovakia), and the major universities of Budapest and Vienna.^[8] In 1878, he immigrated to the United States with his parents,^[6][9] settling near Bridgeport, Connecticut.^[10]

Berger's wife,

Berger was credited by trade union leader Eugene V. Debs for having won him over to the cause of socialism. Jailed for six months for violating a federal anti-strike injunction in the 1894 strike of the American Railway Union, Debs turned to reading:

Books and pamphlets and letters from socialists came by every mail and I began to read and think and dissect the anatomy of the system in which workingmen, however organized, could be shattered and battered and splintered on a single stroke [...] It was at this time, when the first glimmerings of socialism were beginning to penetrate, that Victor L. Berger — and I have loved him ever since — came to Woodstock [prison], as if a providential instrument, and delivered the first impassioned message of socialism I had ever heard — the very first to set the wires humming in my system. As a souvenir of that visit there is in my library a volume of Capital by Karl Marx, inscribed with the compliments of Victor L. Berger, which I cherish as a token of priceless value.^[16]

In 1896, Berger was a delegate to the

Berger was short and stocky, with a studious demeanor, and had both a self-deprecating sense of humor and a volatile temper. Although loyal to friends, he was strongly opinionated and intolerant of dissenting views.[18] His ideological sparring partner and comrade Morris Hillquit later recalled of Berger that

He was sublimely egotistical, but somehow his egotism did not smack of conceit and was not offensive. It was the expression of deep and naive faith in himself, and this unshakable faith was one of the mainsprings of his power over men.^[19]

Berger was a founding member of the Social Democracy of America in 1897 and led the split of the "political action" faction of that organization to form the Social Democratic Party of America (SDP) in 1898. He was a member of the governing National Executive Committee of the SDP for its entire duration.

Berger was a founder of the

Berger was a man of the written word and back room negotiation, not a notable public speaker. He retained a heavy German accent and had a voice which did not project well. As a rule he did not accept outdoor speaking engagements and was a poor campaigner, preferring one-on-one relationships to mass oratory.[25] Berger was, however, a newspaper editorialist par excellence. Throughout his life he published and edited a number of different papers, including the German language Vorwärts! ("Forward") (1892–1911), the Social-Democratic Herald (1901–1913), and the Milwaukee Leader (1911–1929).^[2]

First term in Congress

Berger ran for Congress and lost in

Comrades, the trouble with our party is that we have men in our councils who claim to be in favor of political action when they are not. We have a number of men who use our political organization — our Socialist Party — as a cloak for what they call direct action, for IWW-ism, sabotage and syndicalism. It is anarchism by a new name. ...

Comrades, I have gone through a number of splits in this party. It was not always a fight against anarchism in the past. In the past we often had to fight utopianism and fanaticism. Now it is anarchism again that is eating away at the vitals of our party.

If there is to be a parting of the ways, if there is to be a split — and it seems that you will have it, and must have it — then, I am ready to split right here. I am ready to go back to Milwaukee and appeal to the Socialists all over the country to cut this cancer out of our organization.

The regulars won the day handily at the Indianapolis convention of 1912, with a successful recall of IWW leader

World War I

Although Berger's views on World War I were complicated by the Socialist view and the difficulties surrounding his German heritage, he supported his party's stance against the war. When the United States entered the war and passed the Espionage Act of 1917, Berger's continued opposition made him a target. He and four other Socialists were indicted under the Espionage Act in February 1918. The trial followed on December 9 of that year, and on February 20, 1919, Berger was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

During the 1918 Wisconsin special Senate election, Berger ran for the seat despite being under federal indictment. His newspaper, the Milwaukee Leader, had printed a number of anti-war articles, leading the postal service to revoke the paper's second-class mail privileges. Despite these circumstances, Berger won 26% of the vote statewide in an April special election to fill a Senate vacancy, including winning 11 counties, in a three-way race.^[30]

The espionage trial was presided over by Judge

On July 16, 1929, while crossing the street outside his newspaper office, Berger was struck by a streetcar travelling on North Third Street (now Dr. Martin Luther King Drive) at the intersection with West Clarke Street in Milwaukee. The accident fractured his skull, and he died of his injuries on August 7, 1929. Prior to burial at Forest Home Cemetery his body lay in state at City Hall. 75,000 residents of the city came to pay their respect.^[36]

Legacy

According to historian Sally Miller:^[37]

Berger built the most successful socialist machine ever to dominate an American city....[He] concentrated on national politics...to become one of the most powerful voices in the reformist wing of the national Socialist party. His commitment to democratic values and the non-violent socialization of the American system led the party away from revolutionary Marxist dogma. He shaped the party into force which, while struggling against its own left wing, symbolize participation in the political order to attain social reforms.... In the party schism of 1919, Berger opposed allegiance to the emergent Soviet system. His shrunken party echoed his preference for peaceful, democratic, and gradual transformation to socialism.

Berger's papers are housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society, with smaller numbers of items dispersed to other locations.^[17] The complete run of the

Works

Victor Berger's writing was voluminous, but rarely reproduced in book or pamphlet form outside of the newspapers in which it first appeared. In 1912, the Social-Democratic Publishing Co published a collection of his works in a publication entitled Berger's Broadsides.

Pulitzer Prize-winning The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (1990), at the time the general public considered the Standard Oil conglomerate which was controlled by a small group of directors to be "all-pervasive" and "completely unaccountable".^[41]

^: 96–98

[Y]et as long as capitalism lasts, speculation is absolutely necessary and unavoidable in order to protect the system from stagnation." So this is another evil that is inherent in this system. It cannot be avoided any more than malaria in a swampy country. And the speculators are the mosquitos. We should have to drain the swamp-change the capitalist system-if we want to get rid of those mosquitos. Teddy Roosevelt, by starting a little fire here and there to drive them out, is simply disturbing them. He is causing them to swarm, which makes it so much more intolerable for us poor, innocent inhabitants of this big capitalist swamp.

— Victor L. Berger. Berger's Broadsides (1860–1912)

See also

• Meyer London
• Espionage Act of 1917
• First Red Scare
• List of Jewish members of the United States Congress
• Palmer Raids
• Sewer Socialism
• Socialist Party of America
• Social-Democratic Party of Wisconsin
• Unseated members of the United States Congress

Footnotes

1. ^ "The Espionage Act and the "Golden Key" to Stop the State". Center for a Stateless Society.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Victor L. Berger | Encyclopedia of Milwaukee". emke.uwm.edu. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
3. ^ See: Rafael Medoff, Jewish Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2002, p. 330.
4. ^ Mark Avrum Ehrlich, Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture, Volume 1, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2009, p. 593.
5. interwar Romania do not coincide with modern Romania, it has retained Transylvania entirely. The modern name for Niederrehbach is unclear; it may not have been an urban settlement
   .
6. ^
   ISBN 978-0-203-94216-1
   .
7. ISBN 978-0-8242-0705-2
   .
8. ISBN 978-0-16-073176-1
   .
9. ^ Sally M. Miller, "Victor Louis Berger," Historical Dictionary of the Progressive Era, 1890–1920. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988, p. 38.
10. ^ Miller 1973, p. 17.
11. ISBN 978-0-299-22890-3
    .
12. ^ Quint 1964, p. 286.
13. ^ Chronicling America. Browse Issues: Vorwärts!
14. ISBN 978-0-252-01742-1
    .
15. ^ Miller 1973, p. 22.
16. ^ Eugene V. Debs, "How I Became a Socialist." The Comrade, v. 1, no. 7 (April 1902), pp. 147–148.
17. ^ ^{a b} US Congress item B000407
18. ^ Miller 1973, pp. 22–23.
19. ^ Morris Hillquit, Loose Leaves from a Busy Life. New York: Macmillan, 1934; p. 53.
20. ^ Miller 1973, p. 38, which notes that Berger "opposed orthodox Marxists, who, in turn, called [Berger] an opportunist". This refers to the revolutionary socialist left wing rather than the "orthodox Marxist" followers of Karl Kautsky, which was the majority tendency in the Socialist Party of this era.
21. JSTOR 27673131, later adapted as Jones, William P. (August 11, 2015). "Something to Offer". Jacobin
    . Retrieved February 29, 2024.
22. ^ Kipnis 1952, p. 287.
23. ^ Kipnis 1952, pp. 277–288.
24. ^ ^{a b} Berger, Victor L. (31 May 1902). "The Misfortune of the Negroes" (PDF). Social Democratic Herald. For a less charitable reading of the editorial, see Shannon, David A. (1967) [1955]. The Socialist Party of America. Chicago: Quadrangle Books. p. 50.
25. ^ Miller 1973, pp. 23–24.
26. ^ House Member Introduces Resolution To Abolish the Senate
27. ^ "FEDERAL OWNERSHIP URGED FOR WIRELESS; Berger, Socialist Representative, Introduces Bill Based on Titanic's Chaos of Messages." The New York Times, April 25, 1912
28. ^ Amendment to Article 2, Section 6, proposed by William Lincoln Garver of Missouri. John Spargo (ed.), National Convention of the Socialist Party Held at Indianapolis, Ind., May 12 to 18, 1912: Stenographic Report. Chicago: The Socialist Party, [1912], p. 122. Hereafter: 1912 National Convention Stenographic Report.
29. ^ Speech of Victor Berger 1912 National Convention Stenographic Report, p. 130.
30. ^ "Victor Berger Campaign Banner," United States Senate campaign banner for Milwaukee Socialist Congressman Victor L. Berger, April 1918 (Museum object #1992.168) and Historical Essay, from the Wisconsin Historical Society.
31. ^ Transcript of the trial
32. ^ Berger et al. v. United States, 255 U.S. 22, 41 S.Ct. 230 (1921).
33. ^ "Chapter 157: The Oath As Related To Qualifications", Cannon's Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives, vol. 6, January 1, 1936
34. ^ "In regard to the first question, your committee concurs with the opinion of the special committee appointed under House resolution No. 6, that Victor L. Berger, the contestee, because of his disloyalty, is not entitled to the seat to which he was elected, but that in accordance with the unbroken precedents of the House, he should be excluded from membership; and further, that having previously taken an oath as a Member of Congress to support the Constitution of the United States, and having subsequently given aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States during the World War, he is absolutely ineligible to membership in the House of Representatives under section 3 of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States."
35. ^ United States Congress. "William Henry Stafford (id: S000777)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
36. ^ Beck 1982, Vol. I, p. 133.
37. ^ Sally Miller, "Berger, Victor Louis," in John A. Garraty, ed., Encyclopedia of American Biography (1974) pp 87–88.
38. ^ The Milwaukee Leader, University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, MadCat.
39. ^ Victor L. Berger (1912), Berger's Broadsides (1860–1912), Milwaukee: Social-Democratic Publishing Co, retrieved February 21, 2017
40. ^ Victor L. Berger, Voice and Pen of Victor L. Berger: Congressional Speeches and Editorials (1860–1929), Milwaukee Leader via Princeton University, retrieved February 21, 2017
41. ISBN 978-0-671-50248-5
    .

Further reading

• Beck, Elmer A. The Sewer Socialists: A History of the Socialist Party of Wisconsin, 1897–1940. (2 vols.) Fennimore, WI: Westburg, 1982.
• Benoit, Edward A. "A Democracy of Its Own: Milwaukee's Socialisms, Difference and Pragmatism". Thesis. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2009.
• Brookhiser, Richard. "Thunder on the Left: Victor Berger". HistoryNet, February 8, 2019.
• Kates, James. "Editor, publisher, citizen, socialist: Victor L. Berger and his Milwaukee Leader." Journalism History 44.2 (2018): 79–88.
• Kipnis, Ira. The American Socialist Movement, 1897–1912. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952.
• Miller, Sally M. "Victor L. Berger and the Promise of Constructive Socialism, 1910–1920" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1966. NK00653); later republished
  Greenwood Press
  (1973).
• Muzik, Edward J. "Victor L. Berger: A Biography". (Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, 1960; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1960. 6004782).
• Muzik, Edward J. "Victor L. Berger: Congress and the Red Scare". Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 47, no. 4 (Summer 1964).
• Nash, Roderick. "Victor L. Berger: Making Marx Respectable". Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 47, no. 4 (Summer 1964).
• Quint, Howard H. The Forging of American Socialism: Origins of the Modern Movement. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1953. 2^nd edition Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1964.
• United States Congress. "Berger, Victor Luitpold (id: B000407)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Wachman, Marvin. History of the Social Democratic Party of Milwaukee, 1897–1910. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1945.

Primary sources

• Berger, Victor L. "A Leading American Socialist's View Of the Peace Problem." Current History 27.4 (1928): 471–477.
• Stedman, Seymour. "Victor L. Berger [and Others] Plaintiffs in Error, Vs. United States of America, Defendant in Error: Error to the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. Brief for Plaintiffs in Error" (1918).
• Stevens, Michael E. & Ellen D. Goldlust-Gingrich, (eds.). The Family Letters of Victor and Meta Berger, 1894–1929. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society, 2009.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Victor L. Berger.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Victor L. Berger.

• Victor Berger Archive at
  marxists.org
• Works by or about Victor L. Berger at Internet Archive
• Representative Victor Berger of Wisconsin, the First Socialist Member of Congress U.S. House of Representatives Archives
• "Burgher Berger.", Time Magazine, Aug. 19, 1929.
• Dreier, Peter. "Why Has Milwaukee Forgotten Victor Berger?"
• Glende, Philip M. "Victor Berger's Dangerous Ideas"
• Harrison, Emily. "The Case of Victor L. Berger: Drawing the Line Between Dissent and Disloyalty"
• Spargo, John. "Hon. Victor L. Berger: The First Socialist Member of Congress," The American Magazine, 1911.
• House Member Introduces Resolution to Abolish the Senate
• "Berger, Victor L." . Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
• Constitutional Minutes episode about Victor Berger at the American Archive of Public Broadcasting

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by William H. Stafford	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 5th congressional district 1911–1913	Succeeded by William H. Stafford
	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 5th congressional district Unseated 1919
	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 5th congressional district 1923–1929