Victor L.

Berger
Victor Berger (February 28, 1860 – August 7, 1929) was an
Victor L. Berger
Austrian-American socialist politician and journalist. founding
member of the Social Democratic Party of America and its
successor, the Socialist Party of America. Born in Austria-
Hungary, Berger immigrated to the United States as a young man
and became an important and influential socialist journalist in
Wisconsin. He helped establish the so-called Sewer Socialist
movement. Also a politician, in 1910, he was elected as the first
Socialist to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing a
district in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In 1919, Berger was convicted of violating the Espionage Act for

publicizing his anti-interventionist views and as a result was
denied the seat to which he had been twice elected in the House
of Representatives.[1] The verdict was eventually overturned by
the Supreme Court in 1921, and Berger was elected to three
successive terms in the 1920s.[2] Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Wisconsin's 5th district
In office
Contents March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1929

Biography Preceded by William H. Stafford

Early years Succeeded by William H. Stafford
Socialist organizing In office
First term in Congress March 4, 1919 – November 10,
World War I 1919
Second stint in Congress Preceded by William H. Stafford
Death
Succeeded by vacant
Legacy
In office
Works March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1913
See also Preceded by William H. Stafford
Footnotes Succeeded by William H. Stafford
Further reading Personal details
External links Born Victor Berger
February 28, 1860
Nieder-Rehbach,
Biography Austria-Hungary
Died August 7, 1929
(aged 69)
Early years
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
Berger was born into a Jewish family[3][4] on February 28, 1860, Political party Socialist Party
in Nieder-Rehbach, Austria-Hungary (today in Romania).[5] He
was the son of Julia and Ignatz Berger.[6] He attended the Gymnasium at Leutschau (today in Slovakia),
and the major universities of Budapest and Vienna.[7] In 1878 he immigrated to the United States with
his parents,[5][8] settling near Bridgeport, Connecticut.[9] Berger's wife, Meta Schlichting, later claimed
that Berger had left Austria-Hungary to avoid conscription into the military.[10]

In 1881 Berger settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, home to a large population of German Americans and a
very active labor movement. Berger joined the Socialist Labor Party (then headed by Daniel de Leon),
and became the editor of two newspapers: the Vorwärts [Forward] and Die Wahrheit. [The Truth] Berger
taught German in the public school system. His future father-in-law was the school commissioner. Berger
later married Meta Schlichting, who was an active socialist organizer in Milwaukee. For many years,
Meta Berger was a member of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents.[11]

Socialist organizing
Berger was credited by trade union leader Eugene V. Debs for having won him over to the cause of
socialism. Jailed for six months for violating a federal anti-strike injunction in the 1894 strike of the
American Railway Union, Debs turned to reading:

Books and pamphlets and letters from socialists came by every mail and I began to read and
think and dissect the anatomy of the system in which workingmen, however organized,
could be shattered and battered and splintered on a single stroke [...] It was at this time,
when the first glimmerings of socialism were beginning to penetrate, that Victor L. Berger
— and I have loved him ever since — came to Woodstock [prison], as if a providential
instrument, and delivered the first impassioned message of socialism I had ever heard — the
very first to set the wires humming in my system. As a souvenir of that visit there is in my
library a volume of Capital by Karl Marx, inscribed with the compliments of Victor L.
Berger, which I cherish as a token of priceless value.[12]

In 1896, Berger was a delegate to the People's Party Convention in St. Louis.[13]

In 1897, he married a former student, Meta Schlichting. The couple raised two daughters, Doris (who
later went on to write television shows such as General Hospital with her husband Frank) and Elsa,
speaking only German in the home. The parents were strongly oriented to European culture.[14]

Berger was short and stocky, with a studious demeanor, and had both a self-deprecating sense of humor
and a volatile temper. Although loyal to friends, he was strongly opinionated and intolerant of dissenting
views.[15] His ideological sparring partner and comrade Morris Hillquit later recalled of Berger that

He was sublimely egotistical, but somehow his egotism did not smack of conceit and was
not offensive. It was the expression of deep and naive faith in himself, and this unshakable
faith was one of the mainsprings of his power over men.[16]

Berger was a founding member of the Social Democracy of America in 1897 and led the split of the
"political action" faction of that organization to form the Social Democratic Party of America (SDP) in
1898. He was a member of the governing National Executive Committee of the SDP for its entire
duration.

Berger was a founder of the Socialist Party of America in 1901

and played a critical role in the negotiations with an east coast
dissident faction of the Socialist Labor Party in the establishment
of this new political party. Berger was regarded as one of the
party's leading revisionist Marxists, an advocate of the trade
union-oriented and incremental politics of Eduard Bernstein. He
advocated the use of electoral politics to implement reforms and
thus gradually build a collectivist society.[17]

Berger was a man of the written word and back room negotiation,
not a notable public speaker. He retained a heavy German accent
and had a voice which did not project well. As a rule he did not
accept outdoor speaking engagements and was a poor
campaigner, preferring one-on-one relationships to mass
oratory.[18] Berger was, however, a newspaper editorialist par 1900 members of the National
excellence. Throughout his life he published and edited a number Executive Committee of the SDP.
of different papers, including the German language Vorwärts
("Forward") (1892–1911), the Social-Democratic Herald (1901–
1913), and the Milwaukee Leader (1911–1929).[2]

First term in Congress

Berger ran for Congress and lost in 1904 before winning Wisconsin's 5th congressional district seat in
1910 as the first Socialist to serve in the United States Congress. In Congress, he focused on issues
related to the District of Columbia and also more radical proposals, including eliminating the President's
veto, abolishing the Senate,[19] and the social takeover of major industries. Berger gained national
publicity for his old-age pension bill, the first of its kind introduced into Congress. Less than two weeks
after the Titanic passenger ship disaster, Berger introduced a bill in Congress providing for the
nationalization of the radio-wireless systems. A practical socialist, Berger argued that the wireless chaos
which was one of the features of the Titanic disaster has demonstrated the need for a government-owned
wireless system.[20]

Although he did not win re-election in 1912, 1914 or 1916, he remained active in Wisconsin and Socialist
Party politics.

Berger was very active in the biggest party controversy of the pre-war years, the fight between the SP's
centrist "regular" bloc against the syndicalist left wing over the issue of "sabotage." The bitter battle
erupted in full force at the 1912 National Convention of the Socialist Party, to which Berger was again a
delegate. At issue was language to be inserted into the party constitution which called for the expulsion
of "any member of the party who opposes political action or advocates crime, sabotage, or other methods
of violence as a weapon of the working class to aid in its emancipation."[21] The debate was vitriolic,
with Berger, somewhat unsurprisingly, stating the matter in its most bellicose form:[22]

Comrades, the trouble with our party is that we have men in our councils who claim to be in
favor of political action when they are not. We have a number of men who use our political
organization — our Socialist Party — as a cloak for what they call direct action, for IWW-
 ism, sabotage and syndicalism. It is anarchism by a new name. ...

Comrades, I have gone through a number of splits in this party. It was not always a fight
against anarchism in the past. In the past we often had to fight utopianism and fanaticism.
Now it is anarchism again that is eating away at the vitals of our party.

If there is to be a parting of the ways, if there is to be a split — and it seems that you will
have it, and must have it — then, I am ready to split right here. I am ready to go back to
Milwaukee and appeal to the Socialists all over the country to cut this cancer out of our
organization.

The regulars won the day handily at the Indianapolis convention of 1912, with a successful recall of
IWW leader "Big Bill" Haywood from the SP's National Executive Committee and an exodus of
disaffected left wingers following shortly thereafter. The remaining radicals in the party remembered
bitterly Berger's role in this affair and the ill feelings continued to fester until erupting anew at the end of
the decade.

World War I
Berger's views on World War I were complicated by the Socialist
view and the difficulties surrounding his German heritage.
However, he did support his party's stance against the war. When
the United States entered the war and passed the Espionage Act
in 1917, Berger's continued opposition made him a target. He and
four other Socialists were indicted under the Espionage Act in
February 1918; the trial followed on December 9 of that year, and
on February 20, 1919, Berger was convicted and sentenced to 20
years in federal prison.

During the 1918 Wisconsin special senate election, Berger ran for
the seat under federal indictment. His newspaper, the Milwaukee
Leader, had printed a number of anti-war articles which lead to
the postal service revoking the paper's second-class mail
privileges. Despite the circumstances, Berger won 26% of the
vote statewide in an April special Senate election to fill a
vacancy, winning 11 counties in a three-way race.[23]

The espionage trial was presided over by Judge Kenesaw

Mountain Landis, who later became the first commissioner of
Major League Baseball.[24] His conviction was appealed, and Victor Berger, in Literary Digest,
1920.
ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court on January 31, 1921,
which found that Judge Landis had improperly presided over the
case after the filing of an affidavit of prejudice.[25]

In spite of his being under indictment at the time, the voters of Milwaukee elected Berger to the House of
Representatives in 1918. When he arrived in Washington to claim his seat, Congress formed a special
committee to determine whether a convicted felon and war opponent should be seated as a member of
Congress. On November 10, 1919, they concluded that he should not, and declared the seat vacant.[26]
He was disqualified pursuant to Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution.[27] Wisconsin promptly held a special election to fill the vacant seat, and on December 19,
1919, elected Berger a second time. On January 10, 1920, the House again refused to seat him, and the
seat remained vacant until 1921, when Republican William H. Stafford claimed the seat after defeating
Berger in the 1920 general election.

Second stint in Congress

Berger defeated Stafford in 1922 and was reelected in 1924 and 1926. In those terms, he dealt with
Constitutional changes, a proposed old-age pension, unemployment insurance, and public housing. He
also supported the diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union and the revision of the Treaty of Versailles.
After his defeat by Stafford in 1928, he returned to Milwaukee and resumed his career as a newspaper
editor.

Death
On July 16, 1929, while crossing the street outside his newspaper office, Berger was struck by a streetcar
travelling on North Third Street (now Dr. Martin Luther King Drive) at the intersection with West Clarke
Street in Milwaukee. The accident fractured his skull, and he died of his injuries on August 7, 1929. Prior
to burial at Forest Home Cemetery his body lay in state at City Hall and was viewed by 75,000 residents
of the city.[28]

Legacy
According to historian Sally Miller:[29]

Berger built the most successful socialist machine ever to dominate an American city....
[He] concentrated on national politics...to become one of the most powerful voices in the
reformist wing of the national Socialist party. His commitment to democratic values and
the non-violent socialization of the American system led the party away from revolutionary
Marxist dogma. He shaped the party into force which, while struggling against its own left
wing, symbolize participation in the political order to attain social reforms.... In the party
schism of 1919, Berger opposed allegiance to the emergent Soviet system. His shrunken
party echoed his preference for peaceful, democratic, and gradual transformation to
socialism.

Berger's papers are housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society, with smaller numbers of items dispersed
to other locations.[13] The complete run of the Milwaukee Leader exists on microfilm published by the
Wisconsin Historical Society and on site at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.[30]

Works
Victor Berger's writing was voluminous, but rarely reproduced in book or pamphlet form outside of the
newspapers in which it first appeared. In 1912, the Social-Democratic Publishing Co published a
collection of his works in a publication entitled Berger's Broadsides.[31] In 1929 the Milwaukee Leader
published the Voice and Pen of Victor L. Berger: Congressional Speeches and Editorials (1860-1929)
which also included an obituary.[32]:108 This publication included Berger's phrase regarding draining the
swamp in reference to his assertion that the economic crises such as the Panic of 1893, were "hastened'
by excessive profits—the $900,000,000 to Standard Oil "magnates." According to Daniel Yergin in his
Pulitzer Prize-winning The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (1990), at the time the
general public considered the Standard Oil conglomerate which was controlled by a small group of
directors to be "all-pervasive" and "completely unaccountable".[33]:96–98

[Y]et as long as capitalism lasts, speculation is absolutely necessary and unavoidable in

order to protect the system from stagnation." So this is another evil that is inherent in this
system. It cannot be avoided any more than malaria in a swampy country. And the
speculators are the mosquitos. We should have to drain the swamp-change the capitalist
system-if we want to get rid of those mosquitos. Teddy Roosevelt, by starting a little fire
here and there to drive them out, is simply disturbing them. He is causing them to swarm,
which makes it so much more intolerable for us poor, innocent inhabitants of this big
capitalist swamp.

— Victor L. Berger. Berger's Broadsides (1860-1912)

See also
Meyer London
Espionage Act
First Red Scare
List of Jewish members of the United States Congress
Palmer Raids
Sewer Socialism
Socialist Party of America
Social-Democratic Party of Wisconsin
Unseated members of the United States Congress

Footnotes
1. "The Espionage Act and the "Golden Key" to Stop the State" (https://c4ss.org/content/3648
0). Center for a Stateless Society.
2. "Victor L. Berger | Encyclopedia of Milwaukee" (https://emke.uwm.edu/entry/victor-l-
berger/). emke.uwm.edu. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
3. See: Rafael Medoff, Jewish Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook
(https://books.google.com/books?id=FSgiR7OD8DsC&pg=PA330), Santa Barbara, CA:
ABC-CLIO, 2002, p. 330.
4. Mark Avrum Ehrlich, Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and
Culture, Volume 1 (https://books.google.com/books?id=NoPZu79hqaEC&pg=PA593), Santa
Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2009, p. 593.
5. Bekker, Jon (2008). "Berger, Victor". In Vaughn, Steven L. (ed.). Encyclopedia of American
Journalism (https://books.google.com/books?id=Wo8IY5oMpX4C&pg=PA49). CRC Press.
p. 49.
6. [1] (https://books.google.com/books?id=1QMaAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Ignatz+Berger+and+Julia
+Berger%22&dq=%22Ignatz+Berger+and+Julia+Berger%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi
1vdvu7dfRAhVBzoMKHcUgAJsQ6AEIFDAA)
7. Dodge, Andrew R. (2005). "Berger, Victor Luitpold". Biographical directory of the United
States Congress, 1774 - 2005 (https://books.google.com/books?id=v9MBIctdjjkC&pg=PA64
7). Government Printing Office. p. 647. ISBN 978-0-16-073176-1.
 8. Sally M. Miller, "Victor Louis Berger," Historical Dictionary of the Progressive Era, 1890-
1920. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988, p. 38.
9. Sally M. Miller, Victor Berger and the Promise of Constructive Socialism, 1910-1920.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1973, p. 17.
10. Thomas, William H. (2008). Unsafe for democracy: World War I and the U.S. Justice
Department's covert campaign to suppress dissent. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 113.
ISBN 978-0-299-22890-3.
11. Constantine, J. Robert, ed. (1990). Letters of Eugene V. Debs, Volume 1 (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=_WvRFGdWjt4C&pg=PA102). University of Illinois Press. p. 102.
ISBN 978-0-252-01742-1.
12. Eugene V. Debs, "How I Became a Socialist." The Comrade, v. 1, no. 7 (April 1902), pp.
147-148.
13. "Victor Luitpold Berger, 1860-1929: Guide to Research Collections," (http://bioguide.congres
s.gov/scripts/guidedisplay.pl?index=B000407) Biographical Dictionary of the United States
Congress, bioguide.congress.gov/
14. Sally M. Miller, Victor L. Berger and the Promise of Constructive Socialism, 1910-1920.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1973; p. 22.
15. Miller, Victor L. Berger and the Promise of Constructive Socialism, 1910-1920, pp. 22-23
16. Morris Hillquit, Loose Leaves from a Busy Life. New York: Macmillan, 1934; p. 53.
17. Miller, "Victor Berger," p. 38. In her short thumbnail sketch, Miller notes that Berger
"opposed orthodox Marxists, who, in turn, called [Berger] an opportunist". This actually
refers to the revolutionary socialist left wing rather than the "orthodox Marxist" followers of
Karl Kautsky, which was the majority tendency in the Socialist Party of this era.
18. Miller, Victor L. Berger and the Promise of Constructive Socialism, 1910-1920, pp. 23-24.
19. House Member Introduces Resolution To Abolish the Senate (https://www.senate.gov/artan
dhistory/history/minute/House_Member_Introduces_Resolution_To_Abolish_the_Senate.ht
m)
20. "FEDERAL OWNERSHIP URGED FOR WIRELESS; Berger, Socialist Representative,
Introduces Bill Based on Titanic's Chaos of Messages." The New York Times, April 25, 1912
(https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10C14FF3E5813738DDDAC0A94DC405
B828DF1D3)
21. Amendment to Article 2, Section 6, proposed by William Lincoln Garver of Missouri. John
Spargo (ed.), National Convention of the Socialist Party Held at Indianapolis, Ind., May 12
to 18, 1912: Stenographic Report. Chicago: The Socialist Party, [1912], p. 122. Hereafter:
1912 National Convention Stenographic Report.
22. Speech of Victor Berger 1912 National Convention Stenographic Report, p. 130.
23. "Victor Berger Campaign Banner," United States Senate campaign banner for Milwaukee
Socialist Congressman Victor L. Berger, April 1918 (Museum object #1992.168) and
Historical Essay, from the Wisconsin Historical Society. (https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/R
ecords/Article/CS2639)
24. Transcript of the trial (https://books.google.com/books?id=B8cuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA193)
25. Berger et al. v. United States, 255 U.S. 22, 41 S.Ct. 230,(1921).
26. "Chapter 157: The Oath As Related To Qualifications" (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/precedent
s/cannon/browse.html), Cannon's Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives, 6,
January 1, 1936
27. "In regard to the first question, your committee concurs with the opinion of the special
committee appointed under House resolution No. 6, that Victor L. Berger, the contestee,
because of his disloyalty, is not entitled to the seat to which he was elected, but that in
accordance with the unbroken precedents of the House, he should be excluded from
membership; and further, that having previously taken an oath as a Member of Congress to
support the Constitution of the United States, and having subsequently given aid and
comfort to the enemies of the United States during the World War, he is absolutely ineligible
to membership in the House of Representatives under section 3 of the fourteenth
amendment to the Constitution of the United States."
28. Elmer Beck, The Sewer Socialists: Vol. I, The Socialists Trinity of the Party, the Unions and
the Press. Fennimore, WI: Westburg Associates Publishers, 1982; p. 133.
29. Sally Miller, "Berger, Victor Louis," in John A. Garraty, ed., Encyclopedia of American
Biography (1974) pp 87-88.
30. The Milwaukee Leader, (http://madcat.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=138860
1) University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, MadCat.
31. Victor L. Berger (1912), Berger's Broadsides (1860-1912) (https://archive.org/details/broadsi
des00bergiala), Milwaukee: Social-Democratic Publishing Co, retrieved February 21, 2017
32. Victor L. Berger, Voice and Pen of Victor L. Berger: Congressional Speeches and Editorials
(1860-1929) (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?
id=njp.32101069164810;view=1up;seq=114), Milwaukee Leader via Princeton University,
retrieved February 21, 2017
33. Daniel Yergin (1991). The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power. New York:
Simon & Schuster. p. 910. ISBN 0-671-50248-4.

Further reading
Beck, Elmer A. The Sewer Socialists: A History of the Socialist Party of Wisconsin, 1897-
1940. (2 vols.) Fennimore, WI: Westburg, 1982.
Benoit, Edward A. A Democracy of Its Own: Milwaukee's Socialisms, Difference and
Pragmatism (https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053955/http://www.edbenoit.com/sites/d
efault/files/Benoit_Final_Thesis.pdf). Thesis. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2009.
Kipnis, Ira. The American Socialist Movement, 1897-1912. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1952.
Muzik, Edward J. Victor L. Berger: A Biography. Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University,
1960.
Muzik, Edward J. "Victor L. Berger: Congress and the Red Scare (http://content.wisconsinhi
story.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/wmh&CISOPTR=23048&CISOSHOW=22990
&REC=2)". Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 47, no. 4 (Summer 1964).
Nash, Roderick. "Victor L. Berger: Making Marx Respectable (http://content.wisconsinhistor
y.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/wmh&CISOPTR=23048&CISOSHOW=22982&RE
C=1)". Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 47, no. 4 (Summer 1964).
Quint, Howard H. The Forging of American Socialism: Origins of the Modern Movement.
Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1953.
Stevens, Michael E. & Ellen D. Goldlust-Gingrich,(eds.). The Family Letters of Victor and
Meta Berger, 1894-1929. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society, 2009.
Wachman, Marvin. History of the Social Democratic Party of Milwaukee, 1897-1910.
Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1945.

External links
Works by or about Victor L. Berger (https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subjec
t%3A%22Berger%2C%20Victor%20Luitpold%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Berger%2C%
20Victor%20L%2E%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Berger%2C%20V%2E%20L%2E%22%
20OR%20subject%3A%22Victor%20Luitpold%20Berger%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Vi
ctor%20L%2E%20Berger%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22V%2E%20L%2E%20Berger%2
2%20OR%20creator%3A%22Victor%20Luitpold%20Berger%22%20OR%20creator%3A%2
2Victor%20L%2E%20Berger%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22V%2E%20L%2E%20Berge
r%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22V%2E%20Luitpold%20Berger%22%20OR%20creator%3
A%22Berger%2C%20Victor%20Luitpold%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Berger%2C%20Vi
ctor%20L%2E%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Berger%2C%20V%2E%20L%2E%22%20O
R%20creator%3A%22Berger%2C%20V%2E%20Luitpold%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Vict
or%20Luitpold%20Berger%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Victor%20L%2E%20Berger%22%2
0OR%20title%3A%22V%2E%20L%2E%20Berger%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Vict
or%20Luitpold%20Berger%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Victor%20L%2E%20Berge
r%22%20OR%20description%3A%22V%2E%20L%2E%20Berger%22%20OR%20descripti
on%3A%22Berger%2C%20Victor%20Luitpold%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Berge
r%2C%20Victor%20L%2E%22%29%20OR%20%28%221860-1929%22%20AND%20Berg
er%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at Internet Archive
United States Congress. "Berger, Victor Luitpold (id: B000407)" (http://bioguide.congress.go
v/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000407). Biographical Directory of the United States
Congress.
Representative Victor Berger of Wisconsin, the First Socialist Member of Congress (http://hi
story.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1851-1900/Representative-Victor-Berger-of-Wisconsin,
-the-first-Socialist-Member-of-Congress/) U.S. House of Representatives Archives
"Burgher Berger." (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737669,00.html), Time
Magazine, Aug. 19, 1929.
Dreier, Peter. "Why Has Milwaukee Forgotten Victor Berger?" (http://www.huffingtonpost.co
m/peter-dreier/why-has-milwaukee-forgott_b_1491463.html)
Glende, Philip M. "Victor Berger's Dangerous Ideas" (http://www.ebhsoc.org/journal/index.p
hp/journal/article/view/4/4)
Harrison, Emily. "The Case of Victor L. Berger: Drawing the Line Between Dissent and
Disloyalty" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140429044821/http://students.washington.edu/w
ulr/archive/Fall_2012/Harrison.pdf)
Spargo, John. "Hon. Victor L. Berger: The First Socialist Member of Congress," (http://sdrc.li
b.uiowa.edu/traveling-culture/chau1/pdf/bergerv/1/brochure.pdf) The American Magazine,
1911.
House Member Introduces Resolution to Abolish the Senate (https://www.senate.gov/artand
history/history/minute/House_Member_Introduces_Resolution_To_Abolish_the_Senate.ht
m)
"Berger, Victor L." (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Collier%27s_New_Encyclopedia_(192
1)/Berger,_Victor_L.). Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
Newspaper clippings about Victor L. Berger (http://purl.org/pressemappe20/folder/pe/00152
7) in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
 U.S. House of Representatives
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Succeeded by
from Wisconsin's 5th congressional district
William H. Stafford William H. Stafford
March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1913
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by from Wisconsin's 5th congressional district Succeeded by
William H. Stafford March 4, 1919 – March 3, 1921 William H. Stafford
Seat was refused by Congress
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Succeeded by
from Wisconsin's 5th congressional district
William H. Stafford William H. Stafford
March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1929

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Victor_L._Berger&oldid=932263834"

This page was last edited on 24 December 2019, at 15:52 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.