Local Socialists Shun Haywood's Price Tag
Everett’s socialist organizers refuse to bring the radical labor leader to town, citing his demand for a $25 speaking fee as 'plutocratic.'
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William D. Haywood, who lectures in Seattle early in June, will not grace an Everett platform according to prominent local socialists. They are hardly willing to divide up the large amount which he demands as recompense for his eloquent services. They complain that $25 to come up here from Seattle and deliver one lecture is rather a stiff price to pay to the man who pleads for the workingmen's cause at so much per plead. They say their own national speakers only receive $4 per day and expenses, and a true socialist should not expect to receive a plutocratic salary for his labor in the cause of humanity.
“A true socialist should not expect to receive a plutocratic salary for his labor in the cause of humanity.”
This friction between labor ideology and speaker fees reflects the persistent tension within progressive movements over the monetization of advocacy. Even in 1909, Everett activists were holding their heroes to strict standards of financial austerity that defined the era's radical politics.
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