Eleanor Marx, Wilhelm Liebknecht, and He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named were engaged in a fifteen-week speaking tour of the United States as guests of the Socialistic Labor Party in 1886. Their goal was to raise money for the German Social Democratic Party, up the profile of the S.L.P., and participate in the activities around the Haymarket solidarity movement. Eleanor visited Chicago’s Cook County Jail to meet with the imprisoned Haymarket defendants as they waited on their appeals. Arriving in September 1886, they spent three weeks in the New York area that September then traveled through New England, the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley for three months, going as far west as Kansas City before returning to New York City in late November on what would turn out to be a controversial journey. Here, the S.L.P.’s ‘Workmen’s Advocate’ reports on their farewell given at New York City’s legendary Cooper Union.

Wilhelm Liebknecht: The Veteran Socialist’s Farewell to America from Workmen’s Advocate (New Haven). Vol. 2 No. 10. December 5, 1886.

Under the Flag of All Nations-The Catholicity of Socialism. “Let Your Cry Be ‘Forward!’ and Victory is Assured.

Just after the forms of last issue of the paper were closed on Thursday evening, the 24th inst., Comrade William Liebknecht was bidding good-bye to the Socialists of America through, their representatives in New York. The great hall of Cooper Union was crowded with men and women who came to see and hear our distinguished guest for the last time before his departure for Europe. The platform was draped with the red flag of all nations. Secretary Rosenberg called the meeting to order.

The Socialist Singing Society sang Heine’s “Weavers” with good effect, and the orchestra of the Progressive Music Union rendered several selections. Comrade Walther of the New York Executive Board welcomed Mr. Liebknecht back to New York in a short speech. He said, in substance:

“We have arranged this festivity in order to make as pleasant as possible the last days which our good friend Liebknecht will pass on American soil. Our welcome showed Herr Liebknecht, Dr. Aveling and his wife that the Social-Democratic agitation lived and flourished here as well as in Europe. He will now tell you of the impressions obtained during his tour through the country.” Round after round of applause greeted our visiting comrade as he stepped forward. He said:

“Do not expect a set speech from me my friends, but I shall speak to you from my heart the things which dwell therein.” He then proceeded to give his impressions of the situation in this country, lie said he had been struck by the catholicity of Socialism. In every town he visited he addressed a large, intelligent audience of Socialists. This spoke not only for the universality of the socialistic belief, but also for the numerical strength of their party. Referring to the newspaper men whom he had met during his stay in America, Herr Liebknecht said that “at first they misrepresented the movement; they confounded us with anarchists, dynamiters, and goodness knows what. Towards the end of my visit I have noticed a marked improvement. They have treated my comrades and myself with courtesy, and appear to be desirous of finding out what our movement really means.”

In conclusion, he said: “They may say that we are only a few handfuls of Germans who meet together and call ourselves Socialists. In answer I point to the battalion of workingmen, 68,000 strong, who worked and voted for Henry George. There will be five, six, ten men spring up for every one of these at the next election. Courage! It was the opening wedge. Your adversaries only polled about 150,000 for their bourgeois candidates, and these votes were drawn from the dregs of the community. Let your cry be, Forward! and victory is assured.”

Chairman Rosenberg then introduced the following resolution, which was adopted amid great applause:

“We, members of the Socialistic Labor Party and workingmen of New York, in Cooper Union assembled, extend herewith our heartfelt thanks to the Social Democracy of Germany for having on our invitation delegated to us their best, truest representative, Comrade William Liebknecht, not for any purpose of extending financial help to the Party, but for strengthening the Socialistic agitation in this country, as well as the bonds of international brotherhood between the working people of the old and new worlds.

“Together with this expression of thanks, we extend a hearty greeting to our comrade about to depart, and give him the assurance that the Socialists of the United States appreciate fully the work of propaganda done by our brother. William Liebknecht, and that they will never forget to aid their brothers on the other side of the ocean whenever they All need our help in their struggle for the emancipation of the toiling masses.”

The audience then dispersed, singing the inspiring “Marseillaise.”

After leaving the hall Herr Liebknecht and his daughter went to Brooklyn, where they attended a farewell concert and ball given in his honor in the Brooklyn Labor Lyceum.

On Saturday morning Comrade Liebknecht sailed for Europe to return, perhaps, with August Bebel, for a second tour through the United States.

The Workmen’s Advocate (not to be confused with Chicago’s Workingman’s Advocate) began in 1883 as the irregular voice of workers then on strike at the New Haven Daily Palladium in Connecticut. In October, 1885 the Workmen’s Advocate transformed into as a regular weekly paper covering the local labor movement, including the Knights of Labor and the Greenback Labor Party and was affiliated with the Workingmen’s Party. In 1886, as the Workingmen’s Party changed their name to the Socialistic Labor Party, as a consciously Marxist party making this paper among the first English-language papers of an avowedly Marxist group in the US. The paper covered European socialism and the tours of Wilhlelm Liebknecht, Edward Aveling, and Eleanor Marx. In 1889 the DeLeonist’s took control of the SLP and Lucien Sanial became editor. In March 1891, the SLP replaced the Workmen’s Advocate with The People based in New York.

Access to PDF of full issue: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90065027/1886-12-05/ed-1/seq-1/