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Arnold Petersen (April 16, 1885 – February 5, 1976) was the National Secretary of the Socialist Labor Party of America from 1914 to 1969. Petersen played a major role as spokesman for that party and as a promoter of the De Leonist version of Marxist theory in the 20th century.
Daniel De Leon nominated Petersen to be national secretary a few months before his death in May 1914. As national secretary, Petersen restructured the party and saved it from bankruptcy. He was also a prolific author, writing over fifty books, including a series of biographical monographs on De Leon, collected as Daniel De Leon: Social Architect.
When he retired as Socialist Labor Party of America leader in 1969, he had been the organization's leader for fifty-five of the organization's ninety-four years of existence, and seventy-nine years as a "De Leonist" organization (which the party dates from 1890).
A longtime resident of Teaneck, New Jersey, he died on February 5, 1976, in Paterson, New Jersey.Staff. "ARNOLD PETERSEN, SOCIALIST LABORITE", The New York Times, February 7, 1976. Accessed October 23, 2011. "Arnold Petersen, who retired in 1969 after 55 years as national secretary of the Socialist Labor Party, died Thursday in St. Joseph's Hospital, Paterson, N.J. He was 90 years old and had lived in Teaneck, N.J., for many years."
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