Vito Marcantonio
Vito Anthony Marcantonio (December 10, 1902 – August 9, 1954) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the socialist leader of East Harlem for seven terms in the United States House of Representatives.[1]
Vito Marcantonio
James J. Lanzetta
20th district (1939–1945)
18th district (1945–1951)
James J. Lanzetta
December 10, 1902
New York City, U.S.
August 9, 1954 (aged 51)
New York City, U.S.
American Labor (1937–1954)
Republican (1935–1937)
For most of his political career, he was a member of the American Labor Party, believing that neither major American political party supported the interests of the working class. For two years prior to his party switching to Labor, he was a New Deal coalition member of the progressive branch of the Republican Party as a supporter of Fiorello LaGuardia (the progressive, pro-New Deal Republican mayor of New York at the time). Marcantonio was a socialist and avid supporter of political causes and positions which he deemed in the interests of the working class, poor, immigrants, labor unions, and African-American civil rights.[2]
Marcantonio represented the neighborhood of East Harlem in New York City (containing the smaller neighborhoods of Italian Harlem and Spanish Harlem), which was home to many ethnic Italians, Jews, African-Americans, and Puerto Ricans. He spoke Spanish, Italian, and English. Marcantonio advocated fiercely for the rights of African-Americans, Italian-American immigrants, and Puerto Rican immigrants in Harlem, as well as for unions and workers in general.
Early life and education[edit]
Marcantonio was the son of an American-born father and Italian-born mother, both with origins in Picerno, in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy.[3] He was born on December 10, 1902, in the impoverished Italian Harlem ghetto of East Harlem, New York City.[1] He attended New York City public schools, becoming the only member of his class from East Harlem to graduate from De Witt Clinton High School in Hell's Kitchen, and eventually received his LL.B. from the New York University School of Law in 1925.
Career[edit]
In the 1920 United States presidential election, Marcantonio campaigned for Parley P. Christensen, the candidate of the Farmer-Labor Party.[1] In 1924, he became campaign manager for the congressional campaign of Fiorello La Guardia, then a Progressive–Socialist.[1] Together, LaGuardia and Marcantonio also campaigned for U.S. Senator Robert M. La Follette for President.[1][4] Marcantonio also became secretary of the Tenants League, which fought high rents and evictions.[1]
After passing the New York bar examination in 1925, Marcatonio began practicing law, first for Foster, La Guardia, and Cutler.[1] He clerked at the law firm of Swinburne Hale, Walter Nelles, and Isaac Shorr, known for its representation of politically radical individuals and organizations. There, he worked with labor lawyer Joseph R. Brodsky, who "significantly contributed to his left orientation" toward Marxism.[4]
From 1926 to 1932, Marcantonio ran La Guardia's campaigns every two years.[1] From 1930 to 1931, he worked as an assistant United States attorney.[1]
Later life and death[edit]
After his defeat in mayoral and congressional elections, Marcantonio continued to practice law. It was his law practice, maintained while in Congress, that had generated the money by which he substantially self-financed his political campaigns. At first, he practiced in Washington, D.C., but he soon returned to New York City. At the time of his death in 1954, Marcantonio was running for Congress as the candidate of a newly formed third party, the Good Neighbor Party.[18] He died on August 9, 1954, from a heart attack after coming up the subway stairs on Broadway by City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan. As a devout Catholic, he was given conditional absolution and extreme unction, the last sacrament of the Church.[26][27]
Legacy[edit]
Tony Kushner's play The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures has a main character who is a fictional cousin of Marcantonio, whose collection of speeches, I Vote My Conscience (1956), edited by Annette Rubinstein, influenced the next generation of young radicals.[28] His defense of workers rights, his mastery of parliamentary procedure, his ability to relate to the workers in his district while also engaging in worldwide issues, made him a hero to a certain section of the left. Rubinstein's book was reprinted in a new edition in 2002.[28]
Pamphlets written by Marcantonio include: