London, Meyer, 1871-1926

<p>Meyer London (December 29, 1871 – June 6, 1926) was an American politician from New York City. He represented the Lower East Side of Manhattan and was one of only two members of the Socialist Party of America elected to the United States Congress.</p>

<p>London was born in Kalvarija, Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire) on December 29, 1871. Meyer's father, Efraim London, was a former Talmudic scholar who had become politically revolutionary and philosophically agnostic, while his mother had remained a devotee of Judaism. His father had established himself as a grain merchant in Zenkov, a small town located in Poltava province of the Ukraine, but his financial situation was poor and in 1888 his father emigrated with Meyer's younger brother to the United States, leaving Meyer behind.</p>

<p>Meyer attended Cheder, a traditional Jewish primary school in which he learned Hebrew, before entering Russian-language schools to begin his secular education. In 1891, when Meyer was 20, the family decided to follow his father to America so Meyer terminated his studies and departed for New York City, taking up residence in the city's largely Jewish Lower East Side.</p>

<p><b>RACES</b>
<ul>
<li>11/07/1922 NY District 12 Lost 32.56% (-28.29%)</li>
<li>11/02/1920 NY District 12 Won 54.13% (+8.26%)</li>
<li>11/05/1918 NY District 12 Lost 47.00% (-5.87%)</li>
<li>11/07/1916 NY District 12 Won 47.42% (+2.64%)</li>
<li>11/03/1914 NY District 12 Won 49.54% (+8.48%)</li>
<li>11/04/1913 New York County District Attorney Lost 5.42% (-89.16%)</li>
<li>11/05/1912 NY District 12 Lost 31.22% (-8.10%)</li>
<li>11/08/1910 NY District 9 Lost 33.78% (-13.06%)</li>
<li>11/07/1905 NY Assembly - New York 04 Lost 6.29% (-44.25%)</li>
<li>11/08/1904 NY Assembly - New York 04 Lost 16.32% (-33.60%)</li>
</ul>
</p>

LONDON, Meyer, a Representative from New York; born in Kalvaria, Russia, December 29, 1871; attended a primary school and also received private instruction, principally in languages; immigrated to the United States October 1, 1891, and settled in New York City; admitted to citizenship in the United States in 1896; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1896 and practiced in New York City; active in the Socialist and labor movements for more than thirty years; leader of the garment workers' strike in New York City in 1910; elected as a Socialist to the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1915-March 3, 1919); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1918 to the Sixty-sixth Congress; elected to the Sixty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1921-March 3, 1923); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1922 to the Sixty-eighth Congress; engaged in the practice of law until his death in New York City on June 6, 1926, as the result of an automobile accident; interment in ``Writers' Lane,'' a plot in Mount Carmel Cemetery, New York City.