In 1912, Legien gave a keynote address at the convention of the Socialist Party of America in Indianapolis which was credited with persuading the convention to reject the anarcho-syndicalist program of Bill Haywood.
At the outbreak of World War I he supported the war with "patriotic fervor"[REF] and the SPD-majority's Burgfriedenspolitik, a "civil truce", which assured the German government not to "obstruct the German war effort" [REF].