“I am confident that our present intoxication can not last much longer.”

DARROW, CLARENCE. (1857-1938). American lawyer. Autograph Letter Signed, “Clarence Darrow,” on his name-imprinted Law Offices Darrow, Smith, Cronson & Smith letterhead. One page, oblong quarto. “Chicago Temple Building, 77 W. Washington Street, Chicago,” December 12, 1926. Very fine condition. Accompanied by his original law office envelope addressed to “Mr. John R. McMahon, Little Falls, N.Y., Box 144,” in Darrow’s hand, with two-cent stamp and postal cancellations. Darrow writes:

“My Dear Mr. McMahon, Your book was received a few days ago. I have been quite ill all summer and fall and am slowly gaining strength but am not doing anything that I can possibly avoid. I don’t see how I could possibly read the book as I haven’t the strength and time. I am obliged to do some things with what strength I have. I don’t like to keep a book indefinitely so I am returning it and if I’ve a chance later I’ll write you for it. Am going south soon when I can be out of town. I know the book may be good for I know you can write. I presume the reason they don’t publish it is because socialism seems dead. Well I am confident that our present intoxication can not last much longer and then there will be a change. With best wishes I’m always Your friend Clarence Darrow.”

Early in his legal career Clarence Darrow encountered the book Our Penal Machinery and Its Victims, which convinced him that the U.S. criminal system favored the rich over the poor, and inspired him to champion the cause of labor unions throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During the 1894 Illinois Pullman Strike, Darrow, the attorney to the Chicago and North Western Railway, acted upon his sympathies for the trade unions and offered his services to its leaders. By defending a number of these individuals, including Eugene Debs, Darrow quickly established himself as America’s leading labor lawyer. In one prominent case Darrow successfully defended William “Big Bill” Haywood, leader of the Industrial Workers of the World, when he was charged with murdering the former governor of Idaho.

The once bright prospects for American labor groups darkened following the First World War. From 1917-1920 an upsurge in revolutionary ideals provoked a powerful counter reaction from conservative groups in the U.S. This led to the first “Red Scare,” which effectively destroyed the American Socialist Party. In addition, the party’s failure during this period was due to its inability to appeal to the upwardly mobile worker, and its internal divisions along racial and ethnic lines. By the time Darrow penned this letter in 1926 the party was deeply divided and severely weakened. Though his sentiment that “our present intoxication can not last much longer” was proved true when the stock market crash of 1929 inaugurated the Great Depression, the socialist party failed to revive itself during these years and continued to weaken over the course of the following decades.

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