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Charles Solomon (politician)
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For information on the New England mobster by the same name, see Charles Solomon (racketeer).
Charles "Charley" Solomon (1889-1963) was a socialist politician from New York City, elected to the New York State Assembly in 1919 and expelled with four of his fellows on the first day of the legislative session, one week after the sensational Palmer Raids. The case of the "Five Socialist Assemblymen" became a cause célèbre of the Red Scare of 1919-20 and its resolution started the process of curbing war hysteria in the United States.
les Solomon was born in 1889 and was a resident of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.
mon was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1918 and 1919, the later term marked by his expulsion at the hands of speaker Thaddeus C. Sweet and the Republican majority for alleged disloyalty due to membership in the Socialist Party of America.
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For information on the New England mobster by the same name, see Charles Solomon (racketeer).
Charles "Charley" Solomon (1889-1963) was a socialist politician from New York City, elected to the New York State Assembly in 1919 and expelled with four of his fellows on the first day of the legislative session, one week after the sensational Palmer Raids. The case of the "Five Socialist Assemblymen" became a cause célèbre of the Red Scare of 1919-20 and its resolution started the process of curbing war hysteria in the United States.
Biography
Early years
Charles Solomon was born in 1889 and was a resident of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.
Political career
Solomon was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1918 and 1919, the later term marked by his expulsion at the hands of speaker Thaddeus C. Sweet and the Republican majority for alleged disloyalty due to membership in the Socialist Party of America. Suspended from the Assembly with Solomon were four of his Socialist comrades — Louis Waldman, Benjamin Orr, August Claessens, and Samuel DeWitt. Following a lengthy trial, the defense of which was conducted by Socialist Party leader Morris Hillquit, the five were expelled from the body.
Solomon was reelected to the Assembly as a Socialist in 1920 for the session beginning in January 1921. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and Solomon was allowed to take his seat.
Solomon was a Socialist candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1924; for Justice of the New York Supreme Court in 1928; for New York State Senate in the 8th District in 1930; for US Senate in 1932; for Mayor of New York in 1934; running once again for New York Supreme Court Justice once again in 1938.
Activity in Socialist Party politics
Solomon was a social democrat, believing in gradualist ameliorative reform and the use of the ballot box rather than relying upon violent seizure of power. In the 1932-36 party controversy, Solomon stood with the "Old Guard" faction headed by Morris Hillquit, James Oneal, and Louis Waldman.
Following its loss on the floor of the Detroit Convention, the SP's Old Guard took its case to the rank and file of the party, which had been called upon to either approve or defeat the new Declaration of Principles in referendum vote. A Committee for the Preservation of the Socialist Party was established and Solomon was called on to write an agitational pamphlet entitled Detroit and the Party. In this polemical piece, Solomon decried the Detroit Declaration of Principles as "reckless," observing pointedly that "furious phrases cannot take the place of organized mass power." Solomon declared that
"The Declaration does not stand by itself, in a vacuum, as it were. Important as it is, it does not alone account for the vital struggle that is now being waged in the party. It represents the culminating point of a deep seated antagonism. It is like the straw that breaks or threatens to break the camel's back.
"The Declaration of Principles has brought to the surface divergences which are deep, antagonisms which make of our party not a coherent political organization working harmoniously for a common objective but a battle ground of internecine strife."
Solomon charged that the "so-called 'left'" was "making its position clear" with the Declaration of Principles: "There was no mistaking the flag it had unfurled. It was the banner of thinly veiled communism." While he declared that "the Declaration of Principles must be decisively rejected in the referendum," he nevertheless indicated in no uncertain terms that even this would not avert a factional split. "However, that is not enough," he wrote, "The Socialist Party must be made safe for Socialism, for social democracy."
When the resolution passed, the Old Guard immediately set about organizing to lock up the party's New York-based assets under its factional control. The state organization, the Socialist Party of New York, was expelled from the Socialist Party by its governing National Executive Committee in January 1936, and Solomon left with them to help establish the Social Democratic Federation.
Solomon died in 1963.
Footnotes
Writings by Charles Solomon
- Detroit and the Party. New York: Committee for the Preservation of Socialist Policies, n.d. [1934].
Further Reading
- Waldman, Louis, Albany: The Crisis in Government: The History of the Suspension, Trial and Expulsion from the New York State Legislature in 1920 of the Five Socialist Assemblymen by their Political Opponents. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1920.
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