George A. Schilling

George A. Schilling (1850 in Baden^[1] - 1936) was a prominent American union leader and Georgist in the late nineteenth century. He was also active in Anarchist circles.^[2] From 1865 to the 1890s, Schilling worked in Chicago for the Arbeiter Zeitung, a German-language newspaper with socialist (and later, anarchist) leanings. He made his mark in the Chicago labor movement as a member of the cooper's union and a leader of the Knights of Labor. In 1886, he was a prominent supporter of the Labor Party in Illinois. In 1886, the Labor Party endorsed John Altgeld for a judgeship, which Altgeld won.^[3]

In 1892, Schilling endorsed Altgeld in a successful race for Governor of Illinois.^[4] In 1893, he was appointed by Governor Altgeld as secretary on the State Board of Labor Commissioners, and in 1903 he was appointed by Altgeld to the Chicago Board of Local Improvements.^[3]

In 1919 Schilling was a signatory to the call to establish the Committee of 48, a liberal political organization which sought to establish a third party in America between the ideological poles of reaction on the one hand and revolution on the other.^[5]