HAYES, MAX S. (MAXIMILIAN SEBASTIAN) (25 May 1866-11 Oct. 1945), LABOR spokesman and editor of the CLEVELAND CITIZEN, was born in Havanna, Ohio to Joseph and Elizabeth (Borer) Hayes. He was educated in common schools until 13, when he was apprenticed in printing. He completed his apprenticeship in Cleveland and was initiated as a journeyman in TYPOGRAPHICAL WORKERS UNION NO. 53 in 1884, serving the local as organizer, president, and delegate. In 1891, Hayes helped launch the Cleveland Citizen, editing it for almost 50 years. By 1896, he was a leading activist in the Socialist Labor party and secretary of the Central Labor Union. In 1898 he was CLU delegate to the AFL national convention, beginning his battle with Sam Gompers over demands for union democracy, solidarity, and independent political action by labor. He received one third of the votes for president when he ran against Gompers in 1912. Yet despite his differences with national AFL policies, Hayes argued socialists' correct course was to fight from within rather than divide their forces in dual organizations. Hayes campaigned as a Socialist candidate for Congress in 1900, for Ohio secretary of state in 1902, and as Farmer-Labor party candidate for vice-president in 1920. Hayes helped found the CONSUMERS LEAGUE OF OHIO in 1900.
Hayes married Dora Schneider in 1900 and had 1 child, Maxine Elizabeth. She married A. I. Davey, Jr., who became editor of the Citizen when Hayes was incapacitated by a stroke in 1939. Max, Dora, and Maxine are buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.
Max S. Hayes Papers, Ohio Historical Society.