Harry W. Laidler


Harry Wellington Laidler was an American socialist writer, magazine editor, and politician. He is best remembered as Executive Director of the League for Industrial Democracy, successor to the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, and for his close political association with perennial Socialist Party Presidential nominee Norman Thomas. He also served a two-year term on the New York City Council.

Early years

Harry W. Laidler was born February 18, 1884, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a salesman. The Laidler family was comfortable, middle-class, and politically liberal. Young Harry attended public school in Brooklyn, before graduating to attend Wesleyan University, from which he obtained a Bachelor's degree in 1907.
Upon graduation, Laidler worked as a reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper, attending Brooklyn Law School at night. Laidler's graduation from law school in 1910 also marked the end of his career as a news reporter. He subsequently enrolled in Columbia University in New York City, from which he obtained his Ph.D. in 1914.

Political career

Harry Laidler was a committed socialist from his teenage years, enrolling in the Socialist Party of America in 1903. In 1905 became a founding member of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, a national organization dedicated to advancing the study of socialism on college campuses around the country through lectures, debates, and publications. Laidler was named to the ISS's executive committee as a representative of undergraduates. Upon his graduation from law school in 1910, he was named Secretary of the ISS, serving as well as editor of its magazine, The Intercollegiate Socialist, from the time of its launch in 1913. He continued to edit this publication and its successor, The Socialist Review, until 1921.
In 1921, with much of the youth section of the socialist movement departed to the Communist Party of America and Communist Labor Party, the ISS determined to change its name to the League for Industrial Democracy. The name change marked a shifting of orientation, from an exclusive concentration upon college campuses to bringing socialist ideas to trade unions and the general public. Harry Laidler was named the Executive Director of the revamped organization — a position which he would continue to hold until 1957.
Laidler was a close associate of pacifist minister Norman Thomas in the LID. Thomas was a fellow New Yorker born in the same year as Laidler, and the pair shared a middle-class upbringing and a rather academic and technocratic view towards the American Socialist movement. A trusted confidante, Laidler helped to manage Thomas' 1928 and 1932 runs for President as the nominee of the Socialist Party.
During the faction fight between a Left Wing loyal to Thomas and an organized Old Guard faction that wracked the Socialist Party from 1934 to 1936, Laidler played a key role for the young insurgents, running for and winning election as State Secretary of the Socialist Party of New York in a hotly contested race with Old Guard leader Louis Waldman.
Laidler was president of the National Bureau of Economic Research from 1930 to 1932 and again from 1948 to 1949. He also served as head of its Board of Directors from 1932 to 1934. He frequently contributed book reviews to scholarly journals in this period, a long list which included the American Journal of Sociology, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, The Journal of Political Economy, and the American Economic Review.
Laidler was twice a candidate on the Socialist Party ticket, running for Governor of New York in 1936 and for U.S. Senator from New York in 1938. He was later a successful candidate of the American Labor Party for New York City Council in 1940, serving a 2-year term as an alderman.

Death and legacy

Harry Laidler died on July 14, 1970, two years after his friend Norman Thomas.

Footnotes

Works

Books and pamphlets