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Old June 5th, 2010 #18
Karl Radl
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Location: The Unseen University of New York
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Appendix IV

Jews and American Communism


Of the thirty-four autobiographical manuscripts owned by New York University’s Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives; the fact that thirteen are written by jews about themselves is truly remarkable. This means that a whopping thirty-eight percent of these important manuscripts regarding American communism and the far left are jewish in origin, which is well above the proportion of jews in the American population and of note as many of these individuals were leaders or important figures inside the American far left during the early to mid twentieth century. For the sake of completeness we list the names and quote part of the biographical added by New York University’s archivists: (1)

Israel Amter (1881-1954), was a founding member of the Communist Party, USA and served as its representative to the Comintern, and as head of the New York State Communist Party.

Alexander Bittelman (1890-1982), was a Communist activist and theoretician. His typescript "Things I Have Learned," describes his childhood and radical activities in Russia, arrival in the United States in 1912, early Socialist connections, formation of the American Communist Party, factional feuds within the Communist movement, comments on its important personalities such as Earl Browder, William Z. Foster, Jay Lovestone, Charles E. Ruthenberg; contains reflections on the New Deal and Cold War; thoughts on Bittelman's imprisonment for Communist activities; concern for Jewish survival; and reflections on the world ca. 1963.

Harry Fleischman (1914-2004), was a labor and socialist activist who, as a teenager joined the Young People's Socialist League. His activities in the Socialist Party included serving as National Chairman of the Red Falcons, the Party's organization for children (1936), regional director of the Indiana-Illinois Socialist Party (1942-50), and campaign manager for Norman Thomas's presidential campaigns in 1944 and 1948. These experiences informed his book, Norman Thomas: A Biography (1964). Fleischman also worked as labor and political editor of the Voice of America (1951-53), as director of labor and race relations at the American Jewish Committee, and was a board member, and later chair of the Workers Defense League, a nonprofit worker advocacy organization.

David Greenberg. This collection includes contains the manuscript of the unpublished anthology, "Behind Bars: The Prison Experiences of War Resisters," edited by David F. Greenberg and Beverly D. Houghton. The anthology contains essays by resisters to the Vietnam War regarding their experiences in various prisons and jails.

J. B. S. (Jacob Benjamin Salutsky) Hardman (1882-1968) was a Russian-born author, social philosopher, labor editor and leader. His incomplete autobiographical manuscript titled Odyssey, along with research files for projected chapter titles, covers his work for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America as director of education and cultural activities and as editor of its organ, The Advance (1920-44), Brookwood Labor College, the Jewish Socialist Federation, his editorship of the American Labor Monthly, his service on the C.I.O.-New York State Radio, Press, and Education Committee, family matters, writing projects, and other political activities.

Israel Kugler (1917-2007) was a graduate of City College, earned a Ph.D. from New York University in sociology and taught for many years at New York Community College. He was a member of the Young People's Socialist League and later of the Socialist Party. He was a founding member and president of the United Federation of College Teachers (UFCT) and a founding member and officer of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), the faculty/staff union at the City University of New York (CUNY). He led the historic 1966-1967 faculty strike at St. John's University. Raised in the traditions of immigrant Jewish socialism, he was a life-long devotee of Yiddish culture and served as national president of the Workmen's Circle, board member of the Jewish Labor Committee and president of the Three Arrows Cooperative Society.

Miriam Moskowitz. The collection contains an autobiographical typescript "Phantoms of Spies Run Amok and An Odyssey of Surviving McCarthyism," describing her 1950 arrest, conviction and prison sentence for conspiracy to obstruct justice for impeding a grand jury investigation of atomic espionage - she was charged with the knowledge that Harry Gold had intended to lie to the grand jury. The typescript also includes her memories of her time, along with Ethel Rosenberg, in the Women's House of Detention in New York City, her life after release from prison, and the continuing debates about the guilt or innocence of those accused of espionage.

Charles C. Recht (1887-1965) was born in Bohemia to Jewish parents, emigrated to the United States, graduated from New York University Law School, and served as general counsel for the New York Bureau of Legal Advice, which provided free legal service to men who resisted the new draft laws related to the entry of the United States into World War I. Recht also represented many radicals who faced deportation at that time, and later served as an officer of the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born. From 1921 until 1933, when diplomatic relations were established, Recht officially represented Soviet interests in the U.S., and thereafter he continued to represent many Soviet citizens and organizations.

Morris Rosen was a carpenter, and a communist trade unionist.

This collection contains a 56 pp. manuscript by Jack Schmulewitz, about his parents Julius Schmulewitz (1895-1966) and Lilly Jacobowitz Schmulewitz (1902-1968). Julius was a member of the Bakery and Confectionary Workers International Union, Local 3.

Helen Sobell was the wife of Morton Sobell, who was convicted, in 1951,along with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, of espionage, for transmitting information about the construction of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.

Baruch Vladeck (1886-1938), a socialist and Jewish leader, was born near Minsk, Russia in 1886. He was involved in radical activities in Russia until in 1908, fearful of arrest and exile, he fled to the United States. Vladeck was subsequently a leader in the American Socialist Party and editor of the Jewish Daily Forward and served on the New York City Board of Aldermen (1916), City Housing Authority (1934) and City Council (1937). He was one of the founders of the American Labor Party. He headed a number of organizations, including the Jewish Labor Committee, which organized rescue work in Europe, and the Joint Distribution Committee, the coordinating agency of Jewish philanthropic disbursements abroad. He was active in his efforts to aid the daring underground operations of a group of dissident socialists known as the "New Beginning" in Germany during the early days of Hitler's rule.

Isidor Wisotsky (1895-1970). The collection contains a typescript of Isidor Wisotsky's unpublished autobiography, "Such a Life," in which he recounts his experiences as a Russian Jewish immigrant working in New York City's Lower East Side in the early twentieth century, his anarchist and Industrial Workers of the World activities, and his personal recollections of radical leaders.

References


(1) It should be noted that I am not exerting copyright over this material, but rather reproducing it for educative purposes per fair use as it is simpler to use what has already been written than to re-write it in my own words for such a short article. Further I have bolded the names of those of jewish origin who are mentioned in the biographical text provided by New York University.

This was originally published at the following address: http://semiticcontroversies.blogspot...communism.html
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Last edited by Karl Radl; June 5th, 2010 at 06:50 PM.