An outburst of antisemitism at the Socialist Party’s national convention here, though promptly suppressed, still left bitter feeling as the convention concluded its session last night.
The issue was raised over the re-election of Mr. Morris Hilquit, as Chairman of the Executive Committee.
Some of those who supported the rival candidate, Mr. Daniel Hoan, the Mayor of Milwaukee, gave the “American issue” as their reason.
Succeeding speakers thereupon dwelt more on the racial issue and their feeling toward Jews, until Heywood Broun, the well known Journalist, declared that “it is a shameful and disgraceful thing to bring up the question of antisemitic prejudice”. He called on the convention to rise and support him in his contention that “there is no racial discrimination in the party”. Most of the gathering stood up.
Mr. Hilquit, in accepting the nomination as chairman, referred to the fact that he was a Jew and challenged his opponents to say directly they objected to him on that ground. I made the unfortunate choice, he said, of being born in an un-American country of Jewish parents.
There is no such issue here, Mr. B. C. Vladeck, manager of the “Jewish Daily Forward, declared, seconding Mr. Hoan’s nomination, as a matter of party unity, and to “recognise the practical work of the Milwaukee Socialists.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
