Algernon Lee

Algernon H. Lee (September 15, 1873 – January 5, 1954) was an American socialist politician and educator. In addition to serving as a member of the New York City Council (then the New York City Board of Aldermen) during World War I, Lee was one of three co-authors of the controversial anti-war resolution at the 1917 St. Louis emergency convention of the Socialist Party of America. He is best remembered as the Director of Education at the Rand School of Social Science for 35 years.

Biography

Early years

Algernon Lee was born September 15, 1873, in Dubuque, Iowa, the son of a millwright and carpenter. He was educated in public schools in Fishkill, New York, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Lee attended the University of Minnesota from 1892 through 1897. In May 1920, he presided over the graduation of the second-largest class ever at Rand, whose members included: John J. Bardsley, William D. Bavelaar, Annie S. Buller, Louis Cohan, Harry A. Durlauf, Clara Friedman, Rebecca Goldberg, William Greenspoon, Isabella E. Hall, Ammon A. Hennsey, Hedwig Holmes, Annie Kronhardt, Anna P. Lee, Victoria Levinson, Elsie Lindenberg, Selma Melms, Hyman Neback, Bertha Ruvinsky, Celia Samorodin, Mae Schiff, Esther T. Shemitz, Nathan S. Spivak, Esther Silverman, Sophia Ruderman, and Clara Walters.

During the first two decades of the 20th century, Algernon Lee was recognized as one of the Socialist Party's leading members. He was a frequent delegate to socialist gatherings, both national and international. In addition to attending nearly every National Convention of the SPA, Lee was elected a delegate of the party to the 1904 Amsterdam Congress, the 1907 Stuttgart Congress and the 1916 Hague Congress of the Second International.

Lee was a consistent opponent of American entry into World War I and he, together with his political co-thinker Morris Hillquit and future Communist leader C. E. Ruthenberg was one of three co-authors of the vigorously anti-militarist St. Louis resolution at the 1917 Emergency National Convention in that city. He was narrowly defeated for re-election in 1919, but after a two-year recount process it was discovered he and one other Socialist, Edward F. Cassidy, had actually won. By the time they took their seats on November 3, 1921, their terms were almost over.

In 1916, Lee was the Socialist candidate for Governor of New York. He was twice a Socialist candidate for Congress: in the 14th District in 1920, and in 1926 in the 13th District. Lee also ran for U.S. Senator from New York in 1922. He was three times the Socialist Party's nominee for the New York State Senate, running in 1928 and 1930 in the 14th District, and in 1932 in the 17th District. Lee was also a delegate to New York convention to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, which ended Prohibition, in 1933.

During the internal struggle which swept the Socialist Party during the second half of the 1930s, Lee sided with the so-called "Old Guard faction", headed prominently by Louis Waldman and James Oneal. He was a member of the "Provisional Executive Committee" of the Committee for the Preservation of the Socialist Party in 1934. Lee left the Socialist Party with his "Old Guard" comrades to help form the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) in 1936.

Death and legacy

Algernon Lee died on January 5, 1954, in Amityville, New York, on Long Island. He was 80 years old at the time of his death.

Works

Lectures on the Development of Society. Minneapolis, MN: Socialist Educational Club, 1898. Labor Politics and Socialist Politics. New York: Socialistic Co-operative Publishing Association, July 1901. "Socialism in America" in American Almanac and Year Book, 1903. New York: New York American and Journal, Hearst's Chicago American, and San Francisco Examiner, 1903. A Study Course in Socialism. New York: Rand School of Social Science, Correspondence Dept., n.d. [c. 1913]. "Tidings of the Times," Metropolitan Magazine, vol. 37, no. 5 (March 1913), pp. 56–57. Social History and Economics: Twenty-two Lessons. New York: Rand School of Social Science, Correspondence Dept., 1915. "Story of the Rand School" in Samuel Untermeyer et al., The Case of the Rand School. New York: Rand School of Social Science, 1919. The Essentials of Marx, including The Communist Manifesto and Wage-Labor and Capital; Value, Price and Profit and Other Selections. . Editor. New York: Vanguard Press, 1926. Reissued 1927, 1946. Issues Between the Parties. With Frederick Morgan Davenport and Lindsay Rogers. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, n.d. . Debate: Should the United States Keep Out of Anti-Fascist War? With Harry Elmer Barnes. New York: Rand School of Social Science, 1939. On to Social Democracy! : "Rugged Individualism" Out of Date — Dictatorship even Worse than Capitalism — We Must Socialize our Democracy. New York: Social Democratic Federation, n.d. [c. 1940].

Footnotes