1916: Marxist political leader Morris Hillquit (also Hillkowit | This day in jew history

1916: Marxist political leader Morris Hillquit (also Hillkowitz) was part of a three person delegation, including fellow Talmudist Meyer London and Marxist James Maurer, to President Wilson to advocate the Socialist Party's Internationalism aka 'the League of Nations', which proposed that "the President of the United States convoke a congress of neutral nations, which shall offer mediation to the belligerents and remain in permanent session until the termination of the war." (At this point the US was not a participant in the first world war and most of her citizens wanted it to stay that way.  In the fall, Wilson would be re-elected on a platform of He Kept Us Out of War.)
Being from a jew family who had migrated from Europe in the late 19th century, he immediately found common ground with the radical jews and anarchists of New York and in August 1887 joined the Socialist Labor Party of America.
From his point of view, "workingmen of backward races (Chinese, Negroes, etc.) are often imported by capitalists to keep down the native workingmen by means of cheap labour", which would hamper their efforts for a socialist society.
Thus, he led a dissident group out of the revolutionary SLP and worked with
Chicago-based Victor Berger and Eugene V. Debs to form the Socialist Party of America (SPA) in August 1901.
He was elected to the SP's governing National Executive Committee on multiple occasions and was a frequent speaker at national conventions of the party. 
Feeling public sentiment beginning to tear away from the Socialists, he began in 1917 to take up posts as chief defense lawyer in a series of high-profile cases on behalf of various socialist magazines and newspapers.
Hillquit was twice a candidate for Mayor of New York City and five times a nominee for Congress, though he did not win any of these races.
He also authored several books on communist Socialism.