James Connolly wraps up the Western leg of his tour as he prepares to head back East and then home to Ireland after months on the road.

‘James Connolly in San Jose’ from The Weekly People. Vol. 12 No. 37. December 13, 1902.

Addresses Good Audience and Answers Original Questions.

San Jose, California, November 23. The Socialist Labor Parts here manages to keep its end up. This was manifested by a crowd of not less than 175 who at tended the Connolly meeting on the evening of November 19. This, too, under adverse circumstances and conditions. A cold rain had fallen during the day, while in the vicinity of the hall where we held the meeting the Republicans were holding forth in honor of the G.A.R., besides a free literary entertainment on behalf of the Catholic church was being held as a counter attraction.

The crowd while not over demonstrative paid close attention to Connolly’s remarks. His sarcastic, witty and bright references to the “Unholy Trinity.” the wage slave both under the “Green Flag” and the “Star Bangled Banner,” were greeted with laughter and applause. Quite a number of interesting questions were asked, several in particular deserving mention for the reason that they have not been touched upon in the reports of Connolly’s meetings so far.

He was asked as to the attitude of the Catholic church towards Socialism. In reply he stated that this institution would exercise the precaution of not placing all its eggs in one basket for fear they might be broken. It would see that its eggs were distributed among all political parties. In his own country while the priests cautioned the voters to beware of voting for Socialism yet they did as much on taking the platform on behalf of any political party, that is, warning the opposition that all the tortures and furies of purgatory were awaiting them if they did not vote right. Most of the members of the Irish Socialist Republican Party were Catholics, but had the good sense to lay aside their religious beliefs when considering political matters.

On the question as to the difference between the trade and labor organizations of Ireland and this country, he replied that while in his native land the “union” in its nature and character was pure and simple yet they made no habit of endorsing candidates of the capitalist class which seemed quite the custom in this country. When they did endorse candidates it was men of their own class. He considered that one of the principal reasons of corruption in the pure and simple union in the United States was due to the great number of political jobs at the disposal of capitalist politicians. Hence we find here “labor fakirs” holding down all kinds of jobs from that of cleaning spittoons in city halls to that of Commissioner-General of Immigration. The audience remained to the last and seemed well impressed with the lecture. Six subscriptions to The Workers’ Republic were obtained and $5.55 was the amount of the collection.

New York Labor News Company was the publishing house of the Socialist Labor Party and their paper The People. The People was the official paper of the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP), established in New York City in 1891 as a weekly. The New York SLP, and The People, were dominated Daniel De Leon and his supporters, the dominant ideological leader of the SLP from the 1890s until the time of his death. The People became a daily in 1900. It’s first editor was the French socialist Lucien Sanial who was quickly replaced by De Leon who held the position until his death in 1914. Morris Hillquit and Henry Slobodin, future leaders of the Socialist Party of America were writers before their split from the SLP in 1899. For a while there were two SLPs and two Peoples, requiring a legal case to determine ownership. Eventual the anti-De Leonist produced what would become the New York Call and became the Social Democratic, later Socialist, Party. The De Leonist The People continued publishing until 2008.

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