Mr.Dolge’s Money is a new
novel loosely inspired by the final years of Alfred Dolge, the
visionary founder of Dolgeville, New York. The historical Alfred
Dolge was much influenced by his father, Christian, who was
imprisoned for his part in the anti-monarchist
uprisings of 1848. As a youth
Alfred’s thinking was also
guided by his father’s
friend, Wilhelm Leibknecht, founder of the German Socialist Party. By
the time he arrived in
the United States in 1866, Alfred had already imbibed the stirring
but contradictory ideas of Karl Marx and Adam Smith.
He came to what was then known as
Brocketts Bridge in 1874, committed to building a utopian society
that combined his highest ideals with a profitable business. Over the
next twenty-four years, he build an industrial village founded
primarily on the manufacture of pains and piano components but also
including an autoharp factory and extensive lumber holdings. He also
back Daniel Green in creating the shoe and slipper company that was a
major employer in the area until 1999. Although Dolge provided a very
good life for himself and his family, he never lost sight of his goal
of improving the lives of his workers, many of whom he imported from
Germany. The old age pensions he offered to his workers led him to
credited as a forerunner of Social Security on that agency’s
website. He also provided sick benefits, life insurance and
profit-sharing far exceeded those available to American workers
today, However, in 1898 his entire financial complex collapsed and he
declared bankruptcy. For more on this intriguing history, see my
short biography of Alfred Dolge or visit the
Dolgeville-Manheim Historical society.
The novel takes up where this history
ends and explores the implications of Dolge’ s ideas on a stage far
larger than the small village at the edge of the Adirondack forests.
One of the main characters is a fictional grandson who grows up in
Venezuela where Dolge’s son Rudolf has gone after giving to his
father’s enemies a power of attorney which they used to destroy
everything he had built. Another leading character is Helen Schloss
whom some readers may know from The Red Nurse or
her own series of articles on
the 1912 Little Falls strike, published recently as Tales from the Rock City.
Dolge’s grandson, known
both as Jose and Joseph, is dispatched by the elderly Mr. Dolge to
Europe as soon as the first world war ends in order to access funds
secretly hidden during the debacle of 1898. In the resulting struggle
for this money, Joseph becomes caught up in the beginnings of the Red
Terror in Russia and fierce warfare between communist and fascist
factions from Berlin to Barcelona.
With the old monarchies in collapse, Joseph finds that the ideas of
Karl Marx and Adam Smith which inspired his grandfather’s
benevolent policies have become a pretext for unimaginable violence.
Beset by treachery on every side, he sees Rosa Luxembourg murdered
and is held prisoner by
a crazed
band of anti-Semites
who will become the leaders of the Nazi party.
His survival depends on women
whose motivations he cannot understand, the Comintern agent and
former I.W.W. agitator Helen Schloss and the Nazi mystic Maria Orsic.
Mr. Dolge’s Money is available exclusively on Kindle for $2.99.
Among the historical figures and events in the novel:
Teffi, the Russian humorist and writer
who helped Joseph flee from the Bolsheviks
Karl Leibknecht, murdered head of the German
Communist Party whom Joseph met at the height
of the Spartacist uprising
Karl Leibknecht, murdered head of the German
Communist Party whom Joseph met at the height
of the Spartacist uprising
The Spartacist uprising in Berlin, 1919
Erich von Ludendorff, an early supporter of the Nazis
Maria Orsic, a fortune-teller and mystic
popular with the early Nazis
Prince Rupprecht and Princess Antonia of Bavaria,
whom both Joseph and Helen met at their castle
whom both Joseph and Helen met at their castle
IWW activist Helen Schloss
who traveled to Russia with Joseph in 1919,
later a disillusioned Comintern agent
who traveled to Russia with Joseph in 1919,
later a disillusioned Comintern agent
Anarchist fighter in Barcelona,
where Joseph Dolge arrived in 1937
Most recent article on Alfred Dolge appears at Utica Sojourner Post
where Joseph Dolge arrived in 1937
Most recent article on Alfred Dolge appears at Utica Sojourner Post
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