Laidler, Harry W. (Harry Wellington), 1884-1970

Economist.

Harry Laidler, economist, author, educator and socialist activist, was born in Brooklyn, New York, February 18, 1884. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University (1907) where he was one of the founders of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society. He received a LL.B. from Brooklyn Law School in 1910 and a Ph.D. in political economy from Columbia in 1914. He was executive director of the League for Industrial Democracy (LID) from 1910-1957 and a frequent candidate for political office for the Socialist Party. He served on the New York City Council from 1940 to 1941, having been elected as a candidate of the American Labor Party, which he helped to found. He was the author of many books and articles on social issues.

Harry Laidler, economist, author, educator and socialist activist, was born in Brooklyn, New York, February 18, 1884. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University (1907) where he was one of the founders of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society. He received a LL.B. from Brooklyn Law School in 1910 and a Ph.D. in political economy from Columbia in 1914. He was executive director of the League for Industrial Democracy (LID) from 1910 to 1957 and a frequent candidate for political office for the Socialist Party. He served on the New York City Council from 1940 to 1941, having been elected as a candidate of the American Labor Party, which he helped to found. He was the author of many books and articles on social issues.

Harry Wellington Laidler (1884-1970) was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William E. Laidler and Julia Heary Laidler, but he was brought up by an uncle, Thomas (or Theodore?) Atworth, a former president of the Photo Engravers' Union and a socialist. Laidler attended Ruskin College for workers in Missouri, and American Socialist College in Kansas, before he received a scholarship to Weslyan University, Connecticut. He graduated from Weslyan in 1907, and spent the next three years working as a newspaper reporter for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle . In 1911 he completed his studies at Brooklyn Law School and was admitted to the New York State bar; in 1914, he received a doctorate in political economy from Columbia University. In, he 1919 married Agnes Fuller Armington. They had two children: John and Rosamond.

Laidler served as the executive director of the League for Industrial Democracy (LID) for almost fifty years (from 1910 to 1957). While still a college student, he joined the Inter-Collegiate Socialist Society (ISS)-the predecessor organization of LID--in its founding year of 1905. Laidler and the ISS emphasized the study of socialism rather than the promotion of socialist views. But the issue of whether or not to support U.S. participation in World War I caused divisions in the ISS as did opinion about the 1917 Russian Revolution. In 1921, the organization changed its name to the League for Industrial Democracy and also changed its emphasis. At that point, it became the educational arm for the Socialist Party, sponsoring a speakers bureau and publishing pamphlets.

Although he worked on Norman Thomas' presidential campaigns in 1928 and 1932, Harry Laidler later founded (with other socialists) the American Labor Party (ALP). In 1939, Laidler ran successfully on the ALP ticket for a position on the New York City Council. In spite of working for such causes as low- income housing, elimination of racial discrimination and guaranteed collective bargaining, Laidler lost the backing of the Socialist Party, the leadership of the ALP or of the Communist Party. His views favoring aid to the Allies while refusing to support Stalin after the German invasion of the Soviet Union lost him the support of these groups. Hence, Laidler was defeated when he ran for City Council a second time. In 1944, he helped to found the Liberal Party, in opposition to the ALP.