August Claessens

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

August Claessens, known as Gus (June 17, 1885 – December 9, 1954), was a Swiss-born American socialist politician famous for being expelled from the New York State Assembly during the First Red Scare.

Early life
Claessens was born in Bern, Switzerland. His family moved to New York in 1890, where he grew up and was educated in Catholic and public schools. He started working at age 14, doing jobs like newsboy and clerk. He educated himself at the Cooper Union and the Rand School of Social Science, where he became drawn to socialism and learned Yiddish, becoming active in the Jewish socialist movement.

Career and teaching
He built a career as a public speaker and organizer for the Socialist Party, traveling across the country. He taught public speaking at the Rand School, led extension classes for Rutgers University, and ran night school courses on topics from parliamentary procedure to social psychology. He married Hilda Goldstein, a union organizer, and the two traveled the country promoting socialist ideas.

Political career
Claessens first ran for Congress in 1914 on the Socialist ticket. He won election to the New York State Assembly, representing the 17th district in Manhattan, serving in 1918, 1919, and 1920. On the first day of the 1920 session, the Assembly’s Republican leadership suspended him and four other Socialist members, soon after the Palmer Raids. After a controversial trial, all five were expelled in April 1920. They were re-elected later that year; two of Claessens’s colleagues were allowed to sit, but Claessens and two others were expelled again. He was finally seated in February 1922 after challenging the election.

Claessens continued to seek public office, running for Congress again in 1924 and for Lieutenant Governor in 1926, and for New York City Alderman in 1927, all on Socialist lines, without success. During the 1930s, he aligned with the “Old Guard” faction of the Socialist Party. After the party split at the 1934 convention, he joined and helped form the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), serving as Executive Secretary and later National Chairman until his death. He also played a role in the American Labor Party.

Death and legacy
Claessens died of a heart attack in Brooklyn, New York, in 1954. He was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in Flushing, Queens. His papers are held by the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives at New York University.

Selected works
He authored and published many works on socialism and public speaking, including:
- The Socialists in the New York Assembly: The Work of Ten Socialist Members During the Legislative Session of 1918 (with William Morris Feigenbaum)
- The Trinity of Plunder: A Cheerful Slam at Rent, Interest and Profit
- What Organized Labor Wants
- Didn’t We Have Fun! Stories Out of a Long, Fruitful and Merry Life

Claessens is remembered for his role in one of the most famous expulsions of Socialist politicians in U.S. history and for his long commitment to socialist education and organizing.