J. Henry Stump
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John Henry Stump (June 4, 1880 – May 15, 1949) was an American cigar maker, labor advocate, and
Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
politician who served as Mayor of Reading, Pennsylvania.


Biography

John Henry Stump was born June 4, 1880, in
Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; ) is a city in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 95,112 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fourth-most populous ...
. He ended his education at the age of thirteen, as his father was in ill health and he needed to provide for the family. He was briefly apprenticed to a cigar maker, and worked in that industry throughout his life. Stump joined the Socialist Party's local organization in 1902, and in 1918 became the business manager of the ''Labor Advocate'', a weekly newspaper published by the Socialist Party of Berks County. He was the Socialist candidate for Reading City Council in 1911 and Mayor in 1919 and 1923. In 1927, Stump was elected mayor, with
James H. Maurer James Hudson Maurer (April 15, 1864 – March 16, 1944) was a prominent American socialist politician and trade unionist who twice ran for the office of vice president of the United States on the ticket of the Socialist Party of America. He served ...
and another socialist serving alongside him as city councilmen. This was significant, as Reading became one of the few cities with a majority socialist government. Stump was defeated in his reelection, but regained his office in 1935 and again in 1943.


Split with Socialist Party

Stump left the
Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...
following the
Old Guard faction The Old Guard faction was an organized group in the Socialist Party of America (SPA) that sought to retain the organization's traditional orientation towards electoral politics by fighting the Militant faction of generally-younger party members ...
's split and helped form the
Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James ...
in 1936. He served as vice-chair of the SDF along with John Shenton of Connecticut. At the SDF's founding convention in 1937, Stump spoke critically of his former party, stating:
We came here because we could no longer square our Socialist conscience with remaining in the party which has fallen into the hands of disruptors, of people who do not believe in the idea and ideals of democratic Socialism. I am confident that at this convention we will build an organization that will truly represent these ideas.


See also

*
List of elected socialist mayors in the United States A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
* Mayor of Reading, Pennsylvania


References


External links


J. Henry Stump: Reading's Most Memorable Mayor
By Edwin B. Yeich. Published b

Article originally appeared in the Summer 1958 issue of the Historical Review of Berks County.

Time Magazine. Monday, Jan. 23, 1928


Further reading

* Hendrickson, Jr. Kenneth E. ''The Socialist Administration in Reading, Pennsylvania, Part I, 1927-1931''. Pennsylvania History. October, 1972
Link to article
* Hendrickson, Jr. Kenneth E. ''Triumph and Disaster: The Reading Socialists in Power and Decline, Part II, 1932-1939''. Pennsylvania History. October, 1973
Link to article
1880 births 1949 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Pennsylvania Mayors of Reading, Pennsylvania Socialist Party of America politicians from Pennsylvania Members of the Social Democratic Federation (United States) {{Pennsylvania-politician-stub