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‘“Partisans of the Proletariat’: The Socialist Working Class and the Milwaukee Schools, 1890–1920”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

William J. Reese
William J. Reese*
Affiliation:
University of Delaware
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Extract

“Socialists are not non-partisan. They are partisans of the proletariat.”

— Victor Berger, 1911

The contours of urban school reform in the Progressive era have now assumed a familiar form. While the most influential interpretations of the past decade differ somewhat in intent and emphasis, they all emphasize the essential elitism, conservatism, and importance of various school reforms enacted in the early twentieth century. This is true of scholars with a wide range of political interests and ideological concerns. This essay, which is a social analysis of organized labor, socialism, and the Milwaukee schools during the Progressive era, examines the political fortunes of one of the most successful labor movements in American history. Besides constituting a compelling story in its own right, Milwaukee Socialism highlights well the process of Progressive era educational reform; indeed, it reveals the complex historical interactions that produced the distinctive reform coalitions of the age. A study of Milwaukee's socialist labor movement demonstrates how particular working people influenced school reform in a time of rapid social change, and it also demonstrates how they in turn were shaped by the reform groups that helped inaugurate many of the period's innovative educational programs.

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , Spring 1981 , pp. 3 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 by History of Education Society 

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References

Notes

1. The new paradigm was best represented in Wiebe, Robert, The Search for Order, 1877–1920 (New York, 1967) and has been widely adopted by historians. For a social portrait of the school superintendency, see Tyack, David B., “Pilgrim's Progress: Toward a Social History of the School Superintendency, 1860–1960,” History of Education Quarterly, 16 (Fall 1976): 257–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2. An important exception is Hogan, David, “Education and the Making of the Chicago Working Class, 1880–1930,” History of Education Quarterly, 18 (Fall 1978): 227–270. Buenker's, John D. Urban Liberalism and Progressive Reform (New York, 1978) retrieves laborers from the dustbin of history but too often exaggerates their singular influence on Progressivism.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. Tyack, David B., The One Best System (Cambridge, 1974), passim.; Karier, Clarence et. al., Roots of Crisis (Chicago, 1973), p. 109, note 4, 143; Spring, Joel, Education and the Rise of the Corporate State (Boston, 1972); and Bullough, William, Cities and Schools in the Gilded Age (Port Washington, 1974), p. 75. Violas', Paul new book, The Training of the Urban Working Class (Chicago, 1978), unlike this essay, is a non-dialectical analysis, focusing more on the anti-working class concerns of school managers than on the behavior of workers themselves. A pathbreaking study of the relationship between labor and Progressive reform is Rice, Bradley Robert, Progressive Cities (Austin, 1977). Rice reveals the complexity and variety of labor responses to reform in different urban contexts, superseding some of the earlier evaluations of Samuel P. Hays and James Weinstein.Google Scholar

4. The social control model has already been critiqued from several perspectives; see, for example, Muraskin, William A., “The Social-Control Theory in American History: A Critique,” Journal of Social History, 9 (June 1976): 558–569.Google Scholar

5. Laslett, John H. M., Labor and the Left: A Study of Socialist and Radical Influences in the American Labor Movement, 1881–1924 (New York, 1970), p. 6. The literature on Socialism and labor is voluminous. A convenient bibliography is by Jones, Clifton, “The Socialist Party of the United States, 1901–1920: A Bibliography of Secondary Sources, 1945–1974,” Labor History, 19 (Spring 1978): 253–279.Google Scholar

6. Case studies are prolific. See especially Bedford, Henry Frederick, Socialism and the Workers in Massachusetts, 1886–1912 (Amherst, 1966); Dubovsky, Melvyn, “Success and Failure of Socialism in New York City, 1900–1918; A Case Study,” Labor History, 9 (Fall 1968): 361–375; Hendrickson, Kenneth E. Jr., “George R. Lunn and the Socialist Era in Schenectady, New York, 1909–1916,” New York History, 47 (January 1966): 22–44; Olson, Frederick I., “The Milwaukee Socialists, 1897–1941,” (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1952); Stettler, Harry, The Socialist Movement in Reading, Pennsylvania, 1896–1936 (Storrs, 1943); Wachman, Marvin, The History of the Social-Democratic Party of Milwaukee (Urbana, 1945); and the essays in Stave, Bruce M., ed., Socialism and the Cities (Port Washington, 1975).Google Scholar

7. The importance of Milwaukee in the Socialist movement in the Progressive era is undeniable. For a framework of Socialist development in Milwaukee and in the nation, see the following: Bimba, Anthony, The History of the American Working Class (New York, 1928); Fine, Nathan, Labor and Farmer Parties in the United States, 1828–1928 (New York, 1928); Quint, Howard, The Forging of American Socialism (Indianapolis, 1953); Shannon, Daniel, The Socialist Party of America (New York, 1955); Bell, Daniel, Marxian Socialism in the United States (Princeton, 1967); Weinstein, James, The Decline of Socialism in America, 1912–1925 (New York, 1967); and Herreshof, David, American Disciples of Marx: From the Age of Jackson to the Progressive Era (Detroit, 1967).Google Scholar

8. Milwaukee Leader (7 July 1915).Google Scholar

9. Every researcher in labor history has been stimulated by the studies by Gutman, Herbert G., especially “Work, Culture, and Society in Industrializing America, 1815–1919,” American Historical Review, 78 (June 1973): 531–587, reprinted along with other essays in his Work, Culture, and Society (New York, 1977). See also Thompson, E. P., The Making of the English Working Class (New York, 1966).Google Scholar

10. While often stereotyped as criminals and undesirables in Milwaukee's English language press, the Italians are more sympathetically handled in LaPiana's, The Italians in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Prepared under the Direction of the Associated Charities, 1915).Google Scholar

11. Gavett, Thomas W., Development of the Labor Movement in Milwaukee (Madison, 1965), Chs. 10–11.Google Scholar

12. On the decades of struggle, see Gavett, , Development, Chs. 1–7, especially pp. 93–96.Google Scholar

13. Sources include a letter, “Secretary of Socialist Society to the Central Committee of the People's Party of Milwaukee, September 16, 1896,” (William Pieplow Papers, Milwaukee County Historical Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Box 1, File 1); and Cooper, Jerry M., “The Wisconsin National Guard in the Milwaukee Riots of 1886,” Wisconsin Magazine of History 55 (Autumn 1971). The Germania Und Abend-Post (24 April 1898) traced the history of the F.T.C., but the Wisconsin Vorwarts, a Socialist paper edited by Berger, Victor, contained the best analyses of Milwaukee Populism and Socialism.Google Scholar

14. Wisconsin Vorwarts (23 March 1898).Google Scholar

15. Gavett, , Development, p. 92; and Olson, Frederick I., “The Milwaukee Socialists,” 7. A landmark study of the Poles and Socialism is Pienkos, Donald, “Politics, Religion, and Change in Polish Milwaukee, 1900–1930,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, 61 (Spring 1978): 179–209. Complaints against the corruption of the major political parties were constantly advanced by the Socialists. Some of the best Socialist techniques of caricature is summed up in “King Graft, the Great and Bading Prince of Wails,” Milwaukee Leader (2 April 1912). See also Berger, Victor, Broadsides (Milwaukee, 1913), p. 8, pp. 117–118, 179, 185, where he proclaims that “More than any other citizens, more than any political party, the Social-Democrats are interested in unearthing corruption, weeding out grafters and fighting boodlers.” Also see History of the Milwaukee Social-Democratic Victories (Milwaukee, 1911), pp. 12–13, 47–48. Daniel Hoan characteristically stated that, prior to the Socialist victories of 1910, Milwaukee was controlled by “the sinister and slimy hand of special interests, dive keepers, crooked contractors, petty racketeers, and political bosses. The city was then as graft-ridden as any other.” In City Government: The Record of the Milwaukee Experiment (Westport, 1974), p. x. The book was originally published in 1936.Google Scholar

16. Wachman, , The History of the Social-Democratic Party, p. 22; and Miller, Sally, Victor Berger and the Promise of Constructive Socialism (Westport, 1973), pp. 35–36. The Populist Party had endorsed several of these programs; see, for example, the Wisconsin Vorwarts' long interest in free textbooks prior to the formation of the S.D.P. (26 March 1896); (18 November 1896); and (1 December 1896).Google Scholar

17. Thomas, Elizabeth H., “The Milwaukee Election,” International Socialist Review, 4 (March 1904): 520–521.Google Scholar

18. Undated pamphlet entitled Rose on Socialism, 1, in the Milwaukee pamphlet collection at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. The close tie between the working class and the S.D.P. is highlighted in Thompson, Carl D., Labor Measures of the Social-Democrats (ca. 1911), p. 3.Google Scholar

19. Berger, Victor, “What is the Matter With Milwaukee?” Independent, 68 (April 21, 1910): 841. On the social backgrounds of individuals active in the Socialist movement, see Weinstein, , The Decline of Socialism in America, and James Green's essay in Stave, , ed., Socialism and the Cities .Google Scholar

20. F.T.C. Minutes (19 December 1900). (Federated Trades Council of Milwaukee Papers, 1900–1950, State Historical Society of Wisconsin).Google Scholar

21. Die Munizipal-Platform der Sozial-Demokratischen von Milwaukee fur das Neujahr 1904 (n. p.) Google Scholar

22. See especially the Social-Democratic Herald (1 July 1905) and (6 April 1907); and the Milwaukee Leader (22 March 1913); (22 January 1914); (9 March 1915); (5 January 1917); (10 March 1917); and (15 March 1917).Google Scholar

23. Howe, Frederick, “Milwaukee: A Socialist City,” Outlook, 95 (June 25, 1910): 415–416; and Seidel, Emil, “Address of Welcome,” Proceedings of the Fifty-Eighth Annual Session of the Wisconsin Teachers' Association (Madison, 1911): 149. Seidel's work for child welfare is examined in Mooney, Patricia Melvin, “Make Milwaukee Safe for Babies: The Child Welfare Commission and the Development of Urban Health Centers,” Journal of the West, 17 (April 1978): 83–93.Google Scholar

24. Milwaukee Leader (5 January 1917).Google Scholar

25. Milwaukee Leader (6 March 1915).Google Scholar

26. Milwaukee Leader (10 March 1917).Google Scholar

27. Hoan, , City Government, p. 63.Google Scholar

28. This estimate does not include labor organizations and is based on available membership figures for various civic organizations, found especially in the annual reports of the Wisconsin Federation of Women's Clubs, in several newspapers, and in the records of important voluntary organizations. The City Club, which had roughly 1,000 members by World War 1, collected useful statistics on several groups. In addition to the various manuscript collections cited in this essay, I have also read the minute books of the Social Economics Club (1893–1920) and of the Social Science Club (1902–1920), which helped shape my understanding of women and reform. (The former collection is at the Milwaukee County Historical Society, the latter is, at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.) Google Scholar

29. A sense of national development can be gleaned from Reese, William J., “Between Home and School: Organized Parents, Club Women, and Urban Education in the Progressive era,” School Review, 87 (November 1978): 3–28. Also see Thelen, David P., The New Citizenship: Origins of Progressivism in Wisconsin 1885–1900 (Columbia, Mo., 1973), Part 2; Steeples, Douglas, “The Panic of 1893: Contemporary Reflections and Reactions,” Mid-America, 47 (1965): 155–175; and Caine, Stanley P., “The Origins of Progressivism,” in Gould, Lewis L., ed., The Progressive Era (Syracuse, 1974), pp. 11–34.Google Scholar

30. Hoan, , City Government, p. 63.Google Scholar

31. Repeated efforts to locate the original records of the W.S.A. have failed, even though the organization existed until a few years ago. Hence this interpretation has been pieced together from disparate sources, including: Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (7 April 1891); (2 June 1891); (6 October 1891); (1 November 1892); (2 April 1895); (5 November 1895); (20 December 1895); (6 November 1896); (6 July 1897); Milwaukee Sentinel (7 October 1891); (4 July 1893); (23 February 1895); (4 March 1896); (10 March 1896); (19 May 1896); and (11 November 1896).Google Scholar

32. Milwaukee Sentinel (19 April 1908).Google Scholar

33. Milwaukee Sentinel (8 April 1891).Google Scholar

34. Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (5 May 1896).Google Scholar

35. Milwaukee Sentinel (2 October 1891).Google Scholar

36. Like the W.S.A., the South Side Educational Association has not left any original records. Many of the members of the society later organized the South Division Civic Association, whose involvement in school and social reform is told in Pieplow, William, History of the South Division Civic Association (Milwaukee, 1947). For the S.S.E.A. in the Nineties, see Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (5 March 1895); (9 November 1897); (27 December 1899); Milwaukee Sentinel (16 November 1894); (22 February 1895); (22 May 1895); (18 January 1896); (10 February 1897); (20 October 1897); (17 December 1898); Milwaukee Daily News (21 December 1894) and (4 February 1896). School director Immler described well the potential for social centers and community involvement in an interview with the Germania Und Abend-Post (22 February 1898).Google Scholar

37. Letter, William Pieplow to the Members of the Building Grounds Committee, April 25, 1898). (Box 1, File 2); and undated, untitled address to a parent's organization (ca. 1900). (Box 3, File 1, all in the Pieplow Papers).Google Scholar

38. Milwaukee Sentinel (26 February 1899).Google Scholar

39. Germania Und Abend-Post (14 January 1900).Google Scholar

40. Milwaukee Sentinel (27 April 1896); and The Polish Language in the Public Schools (Milwaukee, 1896) pp. 1–11.Google Scholar

41. The Municipal League is analysed in Thelen, , The New Citizenship, Ch. 8. Also see the Milwaukee Sentinel (12 January 1897); (13 January 1897); (14 January 1897); and (10 April 1897).Google Scholar

42. The literature is reviewed and listed in Reese, William J., “The Control of Urban School Boards during the Progressive Era: A Reconsideration,” Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 68 (October 1977): 164, note 1. A critical estimate of the ward system is found in Pelt, Mark Van, “The Teacher and the Urban Community: Milwaukee, 1860–1900,” (Unpublished Master's Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1978).Google Scholar

43. Milwaukee Daily News (20 April 1897); and (2 February 1897).Google Scholar

44. Wisconsin Vorwarts (20 April 1897).Google Scholar

45. Proceedings of the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee (Milwaukee, 1890), 16 December 1899. The vote was 17 to 16. Geuder, William, prominent ward official, mentions the scandal in the Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (5 May 1891).Google Scholar

46. For internal complaints, see the Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (1 May 1889); (5 May 1891); (3 May 1892); (5 July 1892); (2 May 1893); and (19 March 1895). On Geuder's work with the Municipal League, see Butler, John A., “School System,” Annals of the American Academy, 25 (January 1905): 177.Google Scholar

47. See especially the sources in footnote 15 concerning honesty and integrity by public officials.Google Scholar

48. On vacation schools, peruse the Fortieth Annual Report of the Board of School Directors (Milwaukee, 1899), p. 88–89; Milwaukee Sentinel (5 June 1899); (24 March 1900); (2 May 1900); (18 May 1901); and (7 July 1901); Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (10 April 1900) and (30 April 1900); Milwaukee Journal (10 July 1899); and the Germania Und Abend-Post (10 April 1900); (8 July 1901); and (13 October 1901). The Milwaukee Free Press (19 July 1903) noted that “The Woman's Club has the satisfaction of feeling that it has scored a veritable triumph in converting the school board to a belief in the desirability of vacation schools. None of the women … doubted its ultimate success since the first session showed how eagerly it was welcomed by both parents and children. Several vacation schools could have been filled as readily as one had funds and teachers been forthcoming.” Google Scholar

49. Milwaukee Free Press (28 February 1909).Google Scholar

50. F.T.C. Minutes (18 September 1901).Google Scholar

51. Social-Democratic Herald (7 December 1901). Preferences for evolution over revolution were also indicated in the Herald on numerous other occasions. See especially (28 June 1902); (31 October 1903); (30 December 1905); and (23 May 1908); and the Milwaukee Leader (7 December 1911), as well as Berger, Victor, Broadsides, pp. 3, 29, 41–42, 228–229; Miller, Sally, Victor Berger, Ch. 2; and “Milwaukee's Socialist Mayor,” Current Literature, 48 (May 1910): 477–78. The increasing variety of social welfare and educational programs in the Social Democratic platform can be traced in the Wisconsin Vorwarts (1 April 1900); (4 February 1906); and (8 March 1908).Google Scholar

52. Milwaukee Leader (14 October 1913).Google Scholar

53. History of the Milwaukee Social-Democratic Victories, p. 16; and Miller, Sally, Victor Berger, Ch. 1. Also see the Social-Democratic Herald (23 May 1908) and Olson, Frederick, “The Milwaukee Socialists, 1897–1941,” 55. Berger's ability to adapt Marx to an American environment, which permitted him to appeal to a larger number of social classes, is the concern of Nash, Roderick, “Victor L. Berger: Making Marx Respectable,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, 47 (Summer 1964): 301–308.Google Scholar

54. Social-Democratic Herald (1 July 1905).Google Scholar

55. History of the Milwaukee Social-Democratic Victories, pp. 9–10, 45–46; and Olson, Frederick, “The Milwaukee Socialists, 1897–1941:” 81–83. As the History stated (p. 45), “Scores of hall meetings of all sizes were held in every nook and corner of the city, and the people addressed on the issues of the campaign from a working-class standpoint in whatever language the people of a given section could best understand.” Google Scholar

56. The statement was made by William George Bruce in the Social-Democratic Herald (13 May 1905).Google Scholar

57. See the F.T.C. Minutes (16 April 1902) and (3 December 1902); Milwaukee Daily News (15 November 1902); Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (9 December 1902); and the Social-Democratic Herald (17 May 1902). On April 13, 1907, the Herald proclaimed that the workingman's interests could not be served by electing “holier-than-thous” to the school board.Google Scholar

58. Social-Democratic Herald (17 May 1902).Google Scholar

59. See especially the Social-Democratic Herald (7 February 1903); (21 February 1903); (4 April 1903); (14 November 1903); (19 November 1904); (7 October 1905); and (26 May 1906). On the last date cited, the editor asserted: “These school lectures is (sic) one of the grandest works yet undertaken in Milwaukee and it is to be hoped that the most popular lectures (of) the coming year will be given in enough schools to overcome the crowding that has been the case this past Winter.” Google Scholar

60. See, for example, Korman, Gerd, Industrialization, Immigrants, and Americanizers: The View from Milwaukee, 1866–1921 (Madison, 1967), pp. 52–53. The literature is surveyed and analyzed extensively in Pienkos, Donald, “Politics, Religion, and Change in Polish Milwaukee.” Google Scholar

61. Gavett, , Development, pp. 24–26. On the Germans and Poles in Milwaukee, see Conzen, Kathleen Neils, Immigrant Milwaukee 1836–1860 (Cambridge, 1976); and Simon, Roger David, “The Expansion of an Industrial City: Milwaukee, 1880–1910,” (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1971), Ch. 2 Google Scholar

62. History of the Social-Democratic Victories, p. 14, 35–39.Google Scholar

63. The Socialist concern with organizing the Poles is revealed in the F.T.C. Minutes (2 October 1907). On Catholic opposition, see the Social-Democratic Herald (12 March 1904); (21 January 1905); (1 July 1905); (20 March 1909); and (25 March 1911); and the Milwaukee Leader (16 November 1912); (28 January 1914); (16 March 1915); and (4 April 1917); as well as Reverend Blied, Benjamin J., Three Archbishops of Milwaukee (Milwaukee, 1955), pp. 132–33, 141.Google Scholar

64. Milwaukee Leader (29 September 1912).Google Scholar

65. Olson, Frederick I., “The Milwaukee Socialists, 1897–1941:” 123; Berger, Meta, unpublished autobiography, (Meta Berger Papers, State Historical Society of Wisconsin), p. 67. Marc Karson's American Labor Unions and Politics (Carbondale, 1958) underlines the tension between Catholicism and radicalism on the national level (Ch. 9) Google Scholar

66. History of the Milwaukee Social-Democratic Victories, pp. 23–28; Hoan, Daniel W., City Government, p. 8; Social-Democratic Herald (6 August 1904) and (3 November 1906); and Milwaukee Leader (15 June 1914) and (7 April 1916).Google Scholar

67. Pienkos, Donald, “Politics, Religion, and Change in Polish Milwaukee,” 194, especially note 39.Google Scholar

68. Ibid., 195.Google Scholar

69. Information on the Polish School Society is from the Social-Democratic Herald (29 May 1909) and the Milwaukee Leader (23 January 1913); (21 March 1913); and (9 October 1913).Google Scholar

70. F.T.C. Minutes (2 October 1907); and the History of the Milwaukee Social-Democratic Victories , p. 14, 35–39.Google Scholar

71. On playgrounds, see the Social-Democratic Herald (19 July 1902) and (27 March 1909); and Thompson, Carl D., “Socialists and Slums — Milwaukee,” Survey 25 (December 3, 1910), 367–376; on tuberculosis, see the Herald (17 May 1902); (27 May 1905); (10 March 1906); (21 April 1906); (12 May 1906); (25 May 1907); (5 December 1908); and F.T.C. Minutes (20 December 1905); (17 January 1906); (16 May 1906); and (2 December 1908); on free lunches, see the Herald (15 February 1902); (12 May 1906); (17 April 1909); (29 May 1909); (7 August 1909); (25 September 1909); and (2 October 1909), as well as England, George Allen, “Milwaukee's Socialist Government,” Review of Reviews, 42 (October 1910): 446.Google Scholar

72. F.T.C. Minutes (4 August 1909). On March 13, 1910, the Vorwarts editorialized: “At least one warm meal should be served to the children free. This should be essential and the city should pay for it.” Google Scholar

73. Milwaukee Sentinel (1 October 1904); Milwaukee Daily News (1 November 1904); (19 February 1905); (3 January 1906); (13 April 1907); (1 March 1909); and Mowry, Duane Mrs., “Penny Lunches in Milwaukee Schools,” American City, 4 (June 1911): 283–285.Google Scholar

74. Milwaukee Daily News (26 January 1907).Google Scholar

75. Milwaukee Daily News (17 April 1909).Google Scholar

76. Social-Democratic Herald (25 June 1904) and (4 September 1909). Whitnall's husband was a leading Social Democrat and prominent in planning Milwaukee's modern parks and playgrounds.Google Scholar

77. Because of the paucity of W.S.A. records, the earliest citation discovered on Meta Berger's official membership was in the Constitution, By-Laws, and Standing Rules of the Woman's School Alliance of Wisconsin (Milwaukee, 1911), p. 11. See, as well, her unpublished autobiography, pp. 53–59, 180.Google Scholar

78. Social-Democratic Herald (30 March 1907).Google Scholar

79. Social-Democratic Herald (6 September 1902). Their animosity toward any appointment plan and ambivalence on ward versus at large elections is documented in the Herald for (21 February 1903); (30 March 1906); (6 April 1907); and the inflamed editorial of (13 April 1907).Google Scholar

80. F.T.C. Minutes (18 January 1905) and (1 February 1905); Gavett, , Development, 120–121; and Social-Democratic Herald (10 December 1904); (2 February 1907); and (5 October 1907).Google Scholar

81. Wisconsin Vorwarts (16 April 1905).Google Scholar

82. Social-Democratic Herald (21 February 1903).Google Scholar

83. Social-Democratic Herald (13 April 1907).Google Scholar

84. Milwaukee Sentinel (17 February 1901); (20 February 1901); (23 February 1901); (26 February 1901); (10 March 1901); and (30 March 1901); and Milwaukee Daily News (8 March 1901) and (22 March 1901).Google Scholar

85. Milwaukee Sentinel (21 March 1907) and (30 March 1907). The Milwaukee newspapers were filled with commentary on the proposed reorganization of the school board in March, April, and May of 1907.Google Scholar

86. Younger, Richard D., “The Grand Jury That Made Milwaukee Officials Quake,” Historical Messenger of the Milwaukee County Historical Society 11 (March 1955): 7–9; and Hoan, Daniel W., City Government, Ch. 7.Google Scholar

87. Social-Democratic Herald (2 November 1907).Google Scholar

88. Forty-Seventh Annual Report of the School Directors of the City of Milwaukee (Milwaukee, 1906), pp. 73–75; Milwaukee Sentinel (4 April 1906); and Lamers, William, Our Roots Grow Deep (Milwaukee, 1974), p. 68. In reference to an upcoming bond proposal for over $300,000, the Milwaukee Free Press (18 February 1906) noted: “There is likely to be little if any opposition on the part of the people who will pay the greater share of the taxes … There should be no division of sentiment.” Google Scholar

89. Milwaukee Sentinel (13 March 1909).Google Scholar

90. On the emerging alliance, see the Social-Democratic Herald (23 January 1909); (30 January 1909); (6 February 1909); (13 February 1909); (6 March 1909); (27 March 1909); (1 May 1909); and (8 May 1909); Milwaukee Daily News (24 February 1909) and (26 February 1909); and The Fight for the Rights of the Public Schools in Milwaukee; Being the Report of the School Defense Committee to the Federation of Civic Societies (Milwaukee, 1909), pp. 5–24.Google Scholar

91. Letter, Berger, Victor to Brown, J. E. Dr., September 4, 1913. (Social-Democratic Party Collection, Milwaukee County Historical Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin). The City Attorney, who was also a Socialist, reacted similarly: “The interests are hungry for another feast at the public purse. The interests don't like the Social-Democrats, and I don't blame them. We have nothing in common with the capitalists and it pleases me immensely to hear that they don't like us. It proves that we are true to our principles.” Quoted in the Milwaukee Leader (30 March 1912).Google Scholar

92. Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (30 June 1919).Google Scholar

93. Milwaukee Leader (28 January 1915).Google Scholar

94. Milwaukee Leader (22 February 1915).Google Scholar

95. Milwaukee Sentinel (7 April 1909).Google Scholar

96. Milwaukee Sentinel (30 March 1917). In an earlier editorial (6 June 1913), the Sentinel, already rabidly anti-Socialist working class in outlook, lumped Socialists and club women together as municipal busy-bodies and “sociological fad mongers.” Hence the editor perceived, however dimly, that both groups had tangible effects on each other's development, a major emphasis in my analysis. The only prominent woman school board member from Milwaukee in the Progressive era to receive any scholarly attention thus far is Lizzie Black Kander, the settlement house worker and pacifist; see Waligorski, Ann Shirley, “Social Action and Women: The Experience of Lizzie Black Kander,” (M. A. Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1967). Also useful, however, is Ziedler, Frank P., “Some Women of Good Influence in Milwaukee's History,” Historical Messenger of the Milwaukee County Historical Society, 29 (Summer 1973): 66–75.Google Scholar

97. See “Milwaukee's Socialist Mayor,” 477; and Marcy, Mary E., “The Milwaukee Victory,” International Socialist Review, 10 (May 1910): 991–992.Google Scholar

98. Berger, Meta, unpublished autobiography, p. 71.Google Scholar

99. Milwaukee Daily News (3 April 1912).Google Scholar

100. Upon his election, the new wood-carver mayor declared: “But we are not to do anything revolutionary. That would turn sentiment as strongly against us that we could not even accomplish the good that we can do by being more conservative.” Quoted in “Milwaukee's Socialist Mayor:” 477–478. On the problem of home rule and the dedication of the Milwaukee trade unions to constructive Socialism, see “A Socialist City in America,” World's Work, 20 (June 1910): 12995–12996.Google Scholar

101. “Milwaukee's Socialist Mayor:” 478. The quote is from party chieftain Berger.Google Scholar

102. Berger, Meta, unpublished autobiography, p. 53, 62.Google Scholar

103. Ibid., pp. 59–62, 103–120.Google Scholar

104. Milwaukee Sentinel (27 March 1911) and (30 March 1916). This is of course only a small sampling of the non-partisan rhetoric.Google Scholar

105. Milwaukee Sentinel (25 March 1916); and Milwaukee Daily News (11 March 1910).Google Scholar

106. Milwaukee Sentinel (28 March 1919).Google Scholar

107. See her report in the Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (30 June 1916).Google Scholar

108. Ibid. A cursory look at the various Presidential addresses after about 1905, as well as the annual reports of Superintendent Pearse, Carroll G. (1904–1914), reveals a strong recognition of the reform spirit in the city. Yet an overemphasis on this type of source material is misleading, for much of the social and political life responsible for social change in the schools took place, of course, outside of the formal school system. That is why this essay is based on newspaper articles, personal papers, and minute books, in addition to such “official” resources. Pearse's successor as superintendent, Milton Potter, left few valuable reports from the perspective of the social historian. The history of the Socialist Sunday schools will be examined in Teitelbaum, Kenneth, “Schooling for ‘Good Rebels’: An Historical Analysis of the Political Education Curricula of American Socialists,” (forthcoming Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison).Google Scholar

109. Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (30 June 1916); (5 December 1916); and (6 March 1917); Milwaukee Leader (12 March 1915); (17 January 1917); (13 February 1917); (27 February 1917); and (5 March 1917). The City Club, often an ally with the Social-Democrats on school matters, forcefully endorsed Teachers' Councils, as evidenced in City Club News, 2 (3 March 1917): 3; and 5 (10 June 1920): 7.Google Scholar

110. Milwaukee Sentinel (29 October 1910).Google Scholar

111. Complaints were registered in the Milwaukee Sentinel (7 November 1915) and (3 October 1917); and in the Milwaukee Daily News (23 March 1911). An early statement on the growth of public recreation was penned by a progressive school board member, Duane Mowry, whose wife was a W.S.A. official, in “School and Recreational Activity in Milwaukee,” American City, 6 (May 1912): 748–750.Google Scholar

112. Milwaukee Daily News (30 September 1910).Google Scholar

113. Milwaukee Sentinel (26 April 1910); (3 May 1910); and (4 May 1910). Both the City Club and the Social-Democrats were instrumental in hiring Ward, Edward J., “father” of the social center movement in Rochester.Google Scholar

114. Milwaukee Daily News (23 March 1911).Google Scholar

115. Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (2 June 1914); (2 November 1915); and (1 February 1916). For a long and detailed examination of the social centers by one prominent Socialist, see Paul Ramstack's essay in the Milwaukee Leader (3 November 1913). Meta Berger's championing of social centers and the idea of easy access by adults to the schools is revealed both by her actions on the school board and in the Leader (3 December 1913).Google Scholar

116. Milwaukee Sentinel (7 November 1915).Google Scholar

117. For a sampling of the various activities, see the detailed statistics on the social centers in the Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board for the appropriate years. Examples of the kinds of groups that regularly used the schools can be observed in the Proceedings (2 September 1913) and (3 August 1915). Folk dancing, in particular, was a popular entertainment. On the popularity and expansion of the Milwaukee social center movement, read Berg, H. O., “Public Schools as Municipal Neighborhood Recreation Centers,” American City, 16 (January 1917): 35–43.Google Scholar

118. Milwaukee Sentinel (24 March 1912); (25 March 1912); and (3 April 1912).Google Scholar

119. Allegations of vice, immorality, and urban disorder surfaced in the Milwaukee Sentinel (19 October 1911); (3 October 1913); and (5 January 1914); and in the Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (7 May 1912); (3 September 1912); (5 August 1913); (2 September 1913); (6 October 1914); (3 December 1914); (4 May 1915); and (1 June 1915).Google Scholar

120. Milwaukee Sentinel (3 October 1913).Google Scholar

121. Milwaukee Sentinel (5 January 1914). In the Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (3 December 1914) as well as in the City Club News, 2 (22 November 1915): 1, the City Club attacked any attempts to curtail playground development; so did the North Side Civic Club (Proceedings 1 June 1915). Playgrounds were part of the Social-Democratic platform, like the social centers, and the Socialist press closely observed the civic associations that also championed this reform. See especially the Social-Democratic Herald (12 March 1904); (3 February 1906); (27 March 1909); and (5 November 1910); the Milwaukee Leader (14 October 1913); (29 January 1914); (6 April 1914); (19 January 1915) and (8 April 1915). See also a letter, Enderis, Dorothy C. to Seidel, Emil, January 24, 1944. (Emil Seidel Collection, State Historical Society of Wisconsin). Enderis, writing as a staff member of the Department of Municipal Recreation and Adult Recreation, repeatedly told her staff, in reference to Seidel, , “how deeply indebted Milwaukee is to you for its playgrounds and social centers.” See also Hoan, , City Government, p. 62, 288, 295, on working class interest in safe and pleasant recreation for the city's children.Google Scholar

122. Milwaukee Leader (8 August 1917). Although the vote in favor of purchasing the W.S.A. equipment was unanimous, it hardly reflected the years of struggle and acrimonious debate that preceded the seemingly routine passing of the resolution.Google Scholar

123. Milwaukee Leader (12 February 1912). Like other Socialists, Thompson, Carl D. said the class struggle would continue: “It will be the men who live and labor in Milwaukee against the men who exploit its toil. It will be Milwaukee against Wall Street. The people against the powers of plutocracy.” (Leader 12 April 1912).Google Scholar

124. F.T.C. Minutes (16 June 1915). Anti-war and pacifist sentiment across the country was documented in the Leader throughout the war years, but Miller's Victor Berger provides an excellent overview. Also see Olson, , “The Milwaukee Socialists, 1897–1941:” Ch. 8; and Seidel, Emil, Sketches from My Life, an unpublished autobiography, Vol. 2, p. 185. (Emil Seidel Collection). Because of its German as well as Socialist heritage, Milwaukee received extremely low ratings from national patriotic organizations.Google Scholar

125. F.T.C. Minutes (19 August 1914).Google Scholar

126. F.T.C. Minutes (4 June 1916).Google Scholar

127. Milwaukee Sentinel (8 March 1918) and (27 March 1918). The non-partisans commonly claimed that the Socialists constantly hissed at the American flag and were in league with the Kaiser.Google Scholar

128. Berger, Meta, unpublished autobiography, pp. 59–60.Google Scholar

129. Ibid., p. 60.Google Scholar

130. The war-related tensions of Milwaukee are described and analysed in several sources: Cary, Lorin Lee, “The Wisconsin Loyalty Legion, 1917–1918,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, 53 (Autumn 1969): 33–50; Bruce, William G., I Was Born in America (Milwaukee, 1937), Ch. 17; and Korman, , Industrialization, Immigrants, and Americanizers, Ch. 7. See the letter from the Civic Secretary of the City Club to Mr. C.N. Waldron, January 23, 1917. (City Club of Milwaukee, 1909–1960 Collection, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Folder “T-Z”) explaining that war subjects, like religious topics, were taboo.Google Scholar

131. Ameringer, Oscar, If You Don't Weaken (New York, 1940), p. 305, 323–324. Pienkos, Donald, in “Politics, Religion, and Change,” 189, affirms Ameringer's impressionistic account by stating the Polish electoral support for the Socialists “tailed off due to the war, which pitted local Germans against local Poles. He bases this conclusion on election returns.Google Scholar

132. See, for example, the following letters: Whitnall, Marie K. (S.D.P. Branch #21) to Victor Berger, August 29, 1914; Bohemian Branch “Volnost” to Victor Berger, February 1916; and Berger, Victor to Jecmen, Anton, February 16, 1916. (Social-Democratic Party Collection).Google Scholar

133. The Milwaukee Poles and the war are discussed in the Milwaukee Sentinel (1 March 1917); (18 March 1917); and (25 February 1918).Google Scholar

134. Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (30 June 1916). The Milwaukee Leader described the explosive scene the following day.Google Scholar

135. Milwaukee Sentinel (1 July 1916). The standard history of the war and patriotic movements in the schools is by Todd, Lewis Paul, Wartime Relations of the Federal Government and the Public Schools, 1917–1918 (New York, 1945).Google Scholar

136. Milwaukee Sentinel (20 February 1917).Google Scholar

137. Milwaukee Sentinel (23 March 1917).Google Scholar

138. The Milwaukee Sentinel and the non-partisans enjoyed these defeats immeasurably. See (7 February 1917); (4 April 1917); (14 February 1918); and (6 April 1918). In the last newspaper account cited, “Kiddies of City in Loyalty Parade,” the Sentinel vividly described the march of the Detroit Street School, in the heart of “Little Italy.” Marching to the beat of a drum, “The children marched by fours, carrying flags, Liberty Loan posters and other patriotic slogans.” Google Scholar

139. On the charges of sedition and the curtailment of activities and use, consult the Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board (2 October 1917); (14 December 1917); and (2 January 1918); and the Milwaukee Sentinel (3 October 1917) and (5 October 1917).Google Scholar

140. Milwaukee Sentinel (12 October 1917).Google Scholar

141. Milwaukee Sentinel (2 July 1917).Google Scholar

142. These activities can easily be traced through the Proceedings of the Milwaukee School Board for the war years. Elizabeth Thomas' actions are covered in the Milwaukee Leader (17 October 1917) and more critically discussed in the Milwaukee Sentinel (18 October 1917).Google Scholar

143. Berger, Meta, unpublished autobiography, p. 60.Google Scholar

144. Milwaukee Leader (6 March 1918).Google Scholar

145. Ibid.Google Scholar

146. Milwaukee Leader (8 November 1918); and Muzik, Edward J., “Victor L. Berger: Congress and the Red Scare,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, 47 (Summer 1964): 309–318. In his editorial in the Leader, Berger asserted that the Socialist victories were a protest against the denial of civil liberties: “It was a rebuke to autocracy. There is a limit to the amount of arrogant bullying the people will stand.” Google Scholar

147. Gavett, , Development, Chs. 10 and 11; and Olson, , “The Milwaukee Socialists, 1897–1941.” Google Scholar

148. Milwaukee Leader (30 November 1918).Google Scholar

149. “1932 Municipal Platform of Socialist Party of Milwaukee,” reprinted in Hoan, , City Government, p. 336.Google Scholar

150. Ibid, p. 338. For more elaborate, comparative examination of urban school reform in the Progressive era, see Reese, William J., “Progressivism and the Grass Roots: Social Change and Urban Schooling, 1840–1920.” (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1980).Google Scholar