Early years Lucien Sanial was born September 12, 1835 in France, the son of a man who was a
medical doctor and
scientist. Sanial attended secondary school in France before enrolling in the Polytechnical School of the
University of Charlemagne. Sanial pursued a career in journalism, working as the editor of a series of politically oriented newspapers, including
The Toiler,
The Issue, and the
Daily Telegraph. The SLP suffered an organizational split in 1889 over the matter of tactics, pitting a group dedicated to political action headed by
Wilhelm Rosenberg against others favoring an orientation based upon the development of socialist influence in the
trade unions. Sanial emerged as a prominent leader of the latter orientation, which won the day in the factional war. For the next decade Sanial would stand alongside DeLeon, Vogt, and Executive Secretary
Henry Kuhn as one of the most influential figures of the SLP. Sanial played a lasting role as the primary author of the SLP's 1889 party platform, a document which broke from previous tradition of presenting a short summary of socialist principles including instead the favor of colorful oratory basing its case upon the arguments advanced in the
Declaration of Independence. Sanial's language would be readopted with only minor revisions by SLP conventions for decades after. Also participating in the formation of the New York Nationalist Club was the 35-year-old DeLeon, employed at the time as a lecturer at
Columbia University. He would remain in this position for about two years, stepping down as editor in August 1891, ostensibly for reasons of failing eyesight and so he could attend the Brussels Congress of the
Second International on behalf of the SLP. Sanial was succeeded by his pugnacious associate editor, Daniel DeLeon—a man who would famously remain in the role of SLP newspaper editor until his death more than two decades later.
Battles with Gompers New York's socialists and left wing trade unionists were deeply dissatisfied with the
Central Labor Union (CLU) of New York, which they believed to be dominated by conservatives, and in February 1889 established a rival
Central Labor Federation (CLF), which included 38 trade unions and the Section New York of the SLP, whose delegate was Sanial. This group received a charter from the
American Federation of Labor (AF of L), headed by
Samuel Gompers, as a constituent member of that organization. In 1895 the SLP admitted defeat in its effort at
boring from within in an effort to radicalize the AF of L and established a new socialist labor federation of its own, the
Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance.
Further SLP activities Sanial was twice a political candidate of the SLP for Mayor of New York, standing for election to that post in the campaigns of 1894 and 1897. He also ran as the SLP's candidate for
United States Congress in the 16th District of
New York state in 1896. During the last years of the 19th Century Sanial would become involved with the question of
imperialism, intrigued by the pattern of American expansion in the era of the
Spanish–American War. Sanial would publish on the theme in 1901 in a seminal pamphlet entitled
Territorial Expansion, anticipating the work of
John A. Hobson (1902) and
Vladimir Ul'yanov (Lenin) (1916). In 1893 Sanial was tapped to write the annual report of the United States government's
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Socialist Party and after In 1899 the trade union-oriented SLP split again, this time pitting party regulars seeking to continue the party's
dual unionist approach of supporting the
Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance against those who favored the support of the established unions affiliated to the
American Federation of Labor. While he did remain in the SLP until about 1902, Sanial eventually decided to cast his lot with the departing elements, becoming a member of the
Socialist Party of America, and organization which the former SLP dissidents had helped establish. During the years of
World War I, Sanial broke with the Socialist Party over its opposition to American intervention in the European war on behalf of the
Entente powers. Sanial found himself teaming up with his old nemesis Samuel Gompers as an active member of the
American Alliance for Labor and Democracy, a political
pressure group established by the AF of L in order to build support among the
working class for the American war effort.
Death and legacy Lucien Sanial died on January 7, 1927, in the village of
Northport in
Suffolk County on
Long Island, New York. He was 91 years old at the time of his death. ==Works==