Sources on Jews and Communism

[Karl Radl]

Jews and Communism according to Louis Budenz

One of the major defectors from the Communist Party USA was the former editor of the ‘Daily Worker’ and Politburo member Louis Budenz; of Hungarian and Irish origin, who; like Whittaker Chambers, ‘defected’ after the ‘defeat of fascism’. He was; like many members of the CPs across the world at the time, originally drawn into communism as a way to defeat ‘the evils of Fascism’ in what we call the ‘Popular Front’ epoch of 1934/36 to 1939. Budenz; with Whittaker Chambers and Elizabeth Bentley, was a star witness on the organisation and attitude of the Communist Party USA as well as its underground organisation (the secret apparat) and the illicit funding that it received from the USSR through the medium of the Comintern to enable its attempted conquest of North America.

Budenz was something of a celebrity in his own lifetime and published four books on the basis of his communist experiences. He has; however, suffered from a hail of what can only be called abuse from left-leaning; or outright Marxist, academics who have questioned his testimony repeatedly and even simply dismissed him as a ‘lying reactionary’. The basis of this charge is largely because Budenz; like Chambers and former Marxist intellectuals like James Burnham, switched from a Marxist milieu to a conservative one, but what those who argue the ‘absurdity’ of the testimony; which has now been shown to be correct by archival documentation from the Comintern archives themselves, forget is that at this time the GRU (Soviet Military Intelligence); as well as the GPU, NKGB and SMERSH, still killed perceived or real high-profile traitors to their cause. A good example is Walter Krivitsky who was betrayed by Soviet mole Kim Philby in 1945 and the GRU simply smashed their way into his hotel room and killed him. Another is Leon Trotsky who the NKVD went to great trouble to kill and in whose killing Budenz indirectly assisted as a facilitator.

Critics of the ex-Communist witnesses also tend to forget that both Chambers and Budenz came from highly religious backgrounds; Catholic in these particular cases, and both of them confess; perhaps with too much hindsight, to having had longings for their faith during their time as Communists. Indeed much as their Christian faith made them susceptible; and paved the way for them, to become Communists: it was that same religious urge that actually; if their testimony is to be taken as read, got them out again. Indeed Budenz makes clear that he was influenced in his choice of socialism by Catholic intellectuals such as Hilaire Belloc: who argued for a form of Socialism; partly derived from Papal Bulls and the economic ideas of Saint Thomas Aquinas, known as Distributism.

Whether or not one is a Christian: this is interesting as it indicates; perhaps uncomfortably for some, that Christianity has a tendency to pave the way for Communism in at least some of its believer’s minds (‘Liberation Theology’ is another good example of it). As Christianity is a philosophy built on the idea of communalism and pacifism (well at least in most of its forms), which has lent itself to the tradition of Christian Socialism but perhaps more relevantly: Christianity in any variant is a complete belief system that must influence the choices made in any secular/terrestrial context, because if it doesn’t then how can one say that one actually believes in the Christian God?

That; when taken to its logical conclusion, means that Christianity in general is a form of weltanschauung; or philosophy of life, and if one strips away the belief in the Christian God then one can easily be left with not dissimilar; and highly emotive, assumptions to those made as the basis for socialism and communism. In essence Marxism simply offers an alternative; albeit secular, religion: although this has long been disputed by Marxists: most recently by Cohen. No prizes for guessing that yet another member of the tribe turns up as an academic Communist apologist.

This was the intellectual journey that both Budenz and Chambers document, which allowed them to become Communist high-flyers, but at the same time also prevented them from becoming hard-core materialists and thus also became a bit like Diogenes and his lamp in their minds. I have already covered Chambers’ innumerable mentions of the hugely disproportionate number of jews involved in Communist subversive activity in the United States, but Budenz is another man who; while not anti-Semitic or against jews in any way, shape or form, does in fact indirectly do a very good job of documenting their influence and power in the Communist Party USA.

I will adopt the same format that I used with my article on Chambers and simply list the jewish individuals Budenz mentions and then give the point he makes about them with the necessary reference. I also hasten to note that those I have listed below I have been able to find confirmatory evidence of having been jewish and I have left out any whom I can find no additional evidence; aside from my suspicion, of having been so.

To wit:

Solomon Adler

Soviet agent in the US Treasury Department (Budenz, ‘Techniques’, p. 281)

Israel Amter

Communist leader (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 101)

In charge of ‘national groups’; i.e. ‘civil rights’, pro-negro and pro-jewish, propaganda and organisation (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 205)

Leader of the Communist Party USA in New York State (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 173)

John Arnold

Chief Editor of the Communist Party USA’s Yiddish newspaper: ‘Daily Freiheit’ (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 56)

Sol Auerbach (better known as James Allen)

Comintern representative in the Philippines (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 56)

Foreign Affairs editor of the Sunday edition of the ‘Daily Worker’ (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 307; ‘Cry’, p. 56)

Conducted espionage against the US military (Budenz, ‘Story’., p. 311)

Rudy Baker (nee Rudolph Blum)

Writer for the ‘New Masses’ (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 18)

Carried out espionage activities against US and Canadian governments (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 18)

Leonard Berkowitz

Communist Hollywood Film Script Writer (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 23)

Soviet agent in US Office of War Information (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 23; ‘Techniques’, p. 285)

Lionel Berman

Writer for the ‘Daily Worker’ (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 219; ‘Techniques’, pp. 33-34)

Alexander Bittelman

Long-time communist leader and representative of the Comintern in North America (Budenz, ‘Men’, pp. 18; 78)

Chief Theoretician of the Communist Party USA (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 76; ‘Techniques’, p. 49)

Alfred Blumberg

Former Professor at John Hopkins University (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 162)

Communist leader in Washington D.C. (Budenz, ‘Men’, pp. 105; 253) and Maryland areas (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 162)

David Bohm

Soviet agent inside the United States’ atomic program (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 17)

Joseph Brodsky

Communist Party USA’s legal advisor and lawyer (Budenz, ‘Men’, pp. 44; 78)

Facilitated the Comintern’s funding of the Communist Party USA (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 108)

Boris Bykov

Head of the GRU (Soviet Military Intelligence) in North America (till 1938) (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 61)

Esther Cantor

Writer for the ‘Daily Worker’ (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 84)

In charge of distributing Communist propaganda to negroes; and inciting them against the government, in the US (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 84)

Sam Carr (nee Schmil Kogan)

Long-time member of the National Committee of the Communist Party of Canada (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 280)

Morris Childs (nee Moishe Chilovsky)

Managed Communist Party USA’s funding from the Comintern (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 86)

Worked as a Soviet espionage agent in North and Central America (Budenz, ‘Men’, pp. 86-87)

Joe Clark (nee Joseph Cohen)

Professor at Brooklyn College (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 161)

Writer for the ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘New Masses’ (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 161)

Judith Coplon

Soviet agent in the US Department of Justice (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 72

Crystal Eastman

Wife of Communist leader: Max Eastman (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 60)

Edited the Communist ‘Masses’ magazine (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 60)

Max Eastman

Edited the Communist ‘Masses’ magazine (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 60)

Gerhard Eisler
(former leader of the German Communist Party [the KPD])

Representative of the Comintern in the United States (Budenz, ‘Story’, pp. 240-241)

Joseph Fields (nee Joseph Felshin)

Staff writer for ‘The Communist’ (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 219)

Wrote for the ‘Daily Worker’ (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 219)

Benjamin Gitlow

Leading communist functionary until 1928 (Budenz, ‘Story’, pp. 102-103; ‘Men’ p. 12

Advised against helping striking and by then desperate miners (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 93)

Later became a leading exponent of ‘anti-Communism’ (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 188; ‘Cry’, p. 117; ‘Techniques’, p. 310)

Arthur Gleason

Wrote for and was employed by left-wing magazine: ‘The Nation’ (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 61)

Member of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 61)

Founded the communist magazine: ‘Labor Age’ (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 61)

Ben Gold

Head of the International Fur and Leather Goods Workers Union. (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 190; ‘Techniques’, p. 193)

Actively conspired to manipulate the American Federation of Labor while pretending not to be a Communist. (Budenz, ‘Men’, pp. 190; 202; ‘Cry’, pp. 75-76; ‘Techniques’, p. 188)

Jacob Gollos (nee Yakov Naumovich Reizen)

Chairman of the Communist Party USA’s Control Commission (Budenz, ‘Men’, pp. 39; 78; ‘Cry’, p. 66)

Headed the Communist holiday company: ‘World Tourists’ (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 238; ‘Men’, p. 55)

Was a Soviet espionage agent (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 238; ‘Techniques’, p. 123)

Michael Greenberg

Soviet agent in the Whitehouse (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 68)

Worked with the pro-Communist Institute of Pacific Relations (Budenz, ‘Techniques’, p. 284)

Abraham Heller

Managed the financial support given to the Communist Party USA by the Soviet Union (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 132)

Annalee Jacoby

Pro-Communist writer associated with the ‘Daily Worker’ (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 46; ‘Techniques’, p. 228)

Phillip Jaffe

Soviet espionage agent in China (Budenz, ‘Men’, pp. 53; 278; ‘Techniques’, p. 281)

Used US government documents; given to him by Soviet agents, to help the Chinese Communist Party. (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 35; ‘Techniques’, p. 286)

Important figure in the pro-Communist Institute for Pacific Relations (Budenz, ‘Men’, pp. 264-265; ‘Cry’, pp. 45; 50; 59; 63)

Albert Kahn

Communist author. (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 99)

Felix Kuzman

Soviet espionage and underground network courier (Budenz, ‘Men’, pp. 42; 74; 253)

Former member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 81)

Harold Laski

British Communist author (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 100)

Confident of Karl Radek; a leading jewish Bolshevik, who told him of his opposition to Stalin and support of Trotsky. (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 138)

Avram Landy

In charge of Communist propaganda amongst Slavic groups in the United States (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 237)

Adam Lapin

Washington D.C. and a foreign correspondent of the ‘Daily Worker’ (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 230; ‘Men’; p. 269)

Daniel de Leon

Set up and ran communist and socialist trade unions to deliberately try and rival the American Federation of Labor (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 44)

Claimed everyone who disagreed with him was a ‘scallywag’ and a ‘scavenger’ (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 66)

Sam Liptzin

Writer for the Communist Party USA’s Yiddish newspaper: ‘Daily Freiheit’. (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 70)

Jay Lovestone

General Secretary of the Communist Party USA (until 1928) (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 88)

Jacob Mindel

Soviet espionage agent in North America (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 98)

Trained female Communists to seduce US military officers to learn military secrets (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 130; ‘Techniques’, p. 116)

George Mink

High-Ranking Officer in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 124)

Steve Nelson (nee Steve Mesarosh)

Soviet espionage agent in North America (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 34; ‘Cry’, p. 17)

High-Ranking Officer in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (Budenz, ‘Men’, pp. 36; 124)

Helped the Chinese and German Communist parties (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 37)

Moissaye Olgin

Communist leader (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 42)

Author of ‘Why Communism?’ (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 42; ‘Techniques’, p. 22)

Joseph Peters

Representative of the Comintern in the United States (Budenz, ‘Story’, pp. 138-139; ‘Men’, p. 78)

Joseph Pogany
(former minister in the Bela Kuhn regime)

Representative of the Comintern in the United States (till 1938) (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 240; ‘Techniques’, p. 26)

Conducted espionage activities against the US Government (Budenz, ‘Techniques’, p. 26)

Abraham Lincoln Polonsky

Communist Hollywood Film and Radio Script Writer (Budenz, ‘Cry’, pp. 23-24)

Soviet agent in Office of Strategic Services (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p.24)

Julia Stuart Poyntz

High-Ranking Communist Party USA Leader (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 263)

Assassinated by the GRU (Soviet Military Intelligence) in 1938 for preparing to break away from the Communist Party USA (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 263; ‘Cry’, p. 130)

Mattias Rakosi

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Hungary (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 211)

Morris Rappoport

Communist leader in Washington state (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 105)

Andrew Roth

Stole US Military documents for the Soviet Union (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 10)

Harry Sacher

Communist Party USA Lawyer (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 82)

Solomon Schwarz

Writer for the ‘Daily Worker’ (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 303)

Nathan Gregory Silvermaster

Soviet spy in the US government (Budenz, ‘Men’, pp. 105-106)

Jacob ‘Jack’ Stachel

Communist leader and representative to the Comintern (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 127; ‘Men’, p. 143; ‘Techniques’, p. 120)

Took his orders from Joseph Peters, Alexander Bittelman and Joseph Pogany. (Budenz, ‘Story’, pp. 188-189; 245; 251; 274; 335; ‘Men’, pp. 18; 40; 51; 267; 269)

Endorsed lying to serve the Communist cause (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 216)

Joseph Starobin

Foreign Affairs editor of the ‘Daily Worker’ (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 278; ‘Men’, p. 154)

Sid Stein

Communist Party USA’s Labor Commissar (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 84)

Alexander Trachtenberg

Long-time member of the Communist Party USA’s Central Committee (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 230; ‘Men’, pp. 78; 219; ‘Techniques’, p. 119)

Joseph Woodrow Weinberg

Soviet espionage agent inside the United States’ atomic program (Budenz, ‘Cry’, p. 17)

Robert William Weiner

Treasurer of the Communist Party USA (Budenz, ‘Story’, p. 226; ‘Men’, p. 78)

In charge of a large private communist slush fund. (Budenz, ‘Men, pp. 107-108)

Louis Weinstock

Communist union leader (Budenz, ‘Men’, pp. 96; 197)

Max Weiss

Secretary of the Young Communist League (Budenz, ‘Men’, p. 46)

Harry Dexter White (nee Weiss)

Soviet agent in the US Treasury Department (Budenz, ‘Techniques’, p. 281)

Bibliography

Louis Budenz, 1947, ‘This is My Story’, 1st Edition, McGraw-Hill: New York (‘Story')
Louis Budenz, 1948, ‘Men without Faces: The Communist Conspiracy in the U.S.A.’, 1st Edition, Harper: New York (‘Men’)
Louis Budenz, 1952, ‘The Cry is Peace’, 1st Edition, Henry Regnery: Chicago (‘Cry’)
Louis Budenz, 1954, ‘The Techniques of Communism’, 1st Edition, Henry Regnery: Chicago (‘Techniques’)

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