When Jewish Immigrant Workers Helped Elect a Socialist Congressman
Jewish garment workers in New York City's Lower East Side were central to the Socialist Party. And in 1914, they formed the backbone of the successful Socialist congressional campaign of Meyer London, contributing whatever they could despite their desperate poverty.
Meyer London giving a speech, circa 1915. (Kheel Center / Flickr)
On Wednesday, November 4, 1914, Henry Goldfogle was triumphant. It was the day after the election, and the seven-term Democratic congressman from Manhattan’s Twelfth District had just received the results: a smashing victory of 4,944 votes to his Republican opponent’s 1,133.
The three-month campaign season leading up to the election had been trying, but Goldfogle and his Tammany Hall backers had decades of experience campaigning among the disparate populations of the Twelfth District. Despite the shifting demographics of the neighborhood, and Tammany’s increasingly tarnished reputation, it seemed that the Democratic Party retained its hold on the support of the Lower East Side.
But something was wrong. In the final tally of Republican and Democratic votes, nearly 6,000 votes were unaccounted for. Gradually, election counters realized they had made a serious mistake. Goldfogle, with his 4,944 votes, may have had a vast lead over his Republican opponent, but the real winner of the election was neither a Democrat nor a Republican. With 5,808 votes, the new congressman for the Twelfth Congressional District was Meyer London, a lawyer and labor organizer best known for his participation in the 1910 Cloakmaker’s Strike, and a candidate from the Socialist Party of America.
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