born Dec. 14, 1852, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles
died May 11, 1914, New York, N.Y., U.S.
Dutch-born U.S. socialist.
Arriving in the U.S. in 1874, he joined joined the Socialist Labor Party in 1890 and soon became one of its leaders. Finding the labour-union leadership insufficiently radical, he led a faction that seceded from the Knights of Labor in 1895, later forming the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance (STLA). In 1905 he helped found the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which absorbed the STLA. In 1908 he was refused a seat at the IWW convention by extremists who rejected political activity of the sort he advocated and who favoured more violent tactics. He then created the unsuccessful Workers' International Industrial Union.