Arnold Petersen

Arnold Petersen (April 16, 1885 – February 5, 1976) was the National Secretary of the Socialist Labor Party of America from 1914 to 1969. Petersen played a major role as spokesman for that party and as a promoter of the De Leonist version of Marxist theory in the 20th century.

Biography Arnold Petersen was born in Odense, Denmark, the son of a tailor. After graduating college, he immigrated to the United States and worked in a paper box factory. In 1907, he joined the Socialist Labor Party.

Daniel De Leon nominated Petersen to be national secretary a few months before his death in May 1914. As national secretary, Petersen restructured the party and saved it from bankruptcy. He was also a prolific author, writing over fifty books, including a series of biographical monographs on De Leon, collected as Daniel De Leon: Social Architect.

When he retired as Socialist Labor Party of America leader in 1969, he had been the organization's leader for fifty-five of the organization's ninety-four years of existence, and seventy-nine years as a "De Leonist" organization (which the party dates from 1890).

A longtime resident of Teaneck, New Jersey, he died on February 5, 1976, in Paterson, New Jersey.

Selected works Unemployment and overproduction (1930) The virus of anarchy: Bakuninism vs. Marxism (1932) Manifesto on War. Decay and corruption of international capitalism (1937) Constitution of the United States : Founding of the Bourgeois Republic New York : New York Labor News Company, 1937 Daniel De Leon: From Reform to Revolution 1886–1936 New York: New York Labor News Co., 1937 De Leon the uncompromising New York: New York Labor News Co., 1939 Daniel De Leon: social architect (1941) From reform to bayonets (1941) Inflation of Prices or Deflation of Labor? (1942) Karl Marx and Marxian science (1943) Daniel de Leon: Internationalist New York: New York Labor News Co., 1944 Daniel De Leon: Social scientist (1945) Marxism vs. Soviet despotism (1959) Socialism and human nature (1962) Bourgeois Socialism: Its Rise and Collapse in America (1963)