Benjamin Gitlow
Encyclopedia
Benjamin "Ben" Gitlow was a prominent American socialist politician
of the early twentieth century and a founding member of the Communist Party USA. From the end of the 1930s, Gitlow turned to conservatism
and wrote two sensational
exposés of American Communism, books which were very influential during the McCarthy
period. Gitlow remained a leading anticommunist up to the time of his death.
. The Gitlows were ethnic Jews
, an oppressed minority nationality in Tsarist Russia. Ben's father, Lewis Albert Gitlow, emigrated from the Russian Empire
in 1888, followed by his mother, Katherine, in 1889. In America Ben's father worked part-time for insufficient hours in various factories, while his mother helped the impoverished family to make ends meet by stitching piecework at home for garment factories.
Radicalism seems to have run deeply in the family. Guests to the family home told stories about their personal and political experiences in Tsarist Russia. Ben later recalled this experience as formative to his own political development:
In later years, Ben's mother would herself achieve some notice as an important Communist women's leader, serving as Secretary of the Women's Committee of the Workers Party of America
in 1924.
The young Ben studied law while working in a department store in Newark, New Jersey
. He helped to organize the Retail Clerks Union
, political activity for which he was discharged from his job and blacklist
ed by the Merchants' Association. In June 1914, Gitlow testified before the US Commission on Industrial Relations on conditions prevalent in American department stores. His testimony included descriptions of mandatory overtime, spying on workers, and what is now called quid pro quo sexual harassment.
Following his blacklisting from the retail sales industry, Gitlow worked briefly as a cutter in the garment industry before entering the world of radical journalism in 1919.
. Ben was a committed and active member of the party and he was elected a delegate to the New York state convention of the SPA in 1910, the year after his joining. In the fall of 1917, Gitlow was elected to the New York State Assembly
on the Socialist ticket, filling a seat for a district in the Bronx. He was one of 10 Socialists elected to the Assembly at this time, all of them from New York City.
Despite (or perhaps because of) his two years as a Socialist parliamentarian, Ben Gitlow professed a belief in revolutionary Socialism
. From its earliest days in 1919, Ben Gitlow was an adherent of the proto-Communist Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party
, working closely with renowned radical journalist
and war correspondent
John Reed. In April 1919, the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party of Local Greater New York established an official weekly newspaper called The New York Communist. Reed was named the editor of the new publication, with Maximilian Cohen
handling the day-to-day operations of the publication as its business manager. Effective with the June 14, 1919, issue, Max Cohen exited the scene and Ben Gitlow assumed the post of business manager.
Following the Left Wing National Conference in June 1919, Reed's New York Communist was merged with the older and better established newspaper of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party, Local Boston, The Revolutionary Age, edited by Louis C. Fraina
. This publication was moved to New York and thereafter recognized as the "National Organ of the Left Wing Section, Socialist Party," with the former New Yorker Fraina continuing as editor and Ben Gitlow taking over as business manager.
John Reed was named the editor of the a new monthly labor magazine of the Left Wing Section, called Voice of Labor. Ben Gitlow also served as business manager of this publication, which was adopted by the Communist Labor Party in the fall, shortly before its termination due to lack of finances.
during the night of November 7/8, 1919. Gitlow was charged with violation of the New York Criminal Anarchy Law of 1902, which made it a crime to encourage the violent overthrow of government. It was contended that the publication of the Left Wing Manifesto
by The Revolutionary Age earlier that year constituted such illegal action.
Ben Gitlow's widely publicized trial began in New York City
on January 22, 1920 and went to the jury on February 5. Gitlow addressed the jury in his own defense in the case, saying:
The attempt of the Gitlow defense to declare the publication of the Left Wing Manifesto an expression of historical analysis rather than an act of practical advocacy was unsuccessful, however. Gitlow was convicted of the charge against him and on February 11, 1920, was sentenced to 5 to 10 years in prison. He served over two years at Sing Sing
prison before being released on bail related to his filing of a writ of error. Gitlow's appeal motion was ultimately granted on December 13, 1922, followed by further hearings by the state.
Ben was elected as a delegate to the Communist Party's ill-fated August 1922 convention
held at Bridgman, Michigan
, a gathering which was infiltrated by a Justice Department spy and raided by police. Gitlow was arrested and jailed in the aftermath, eventually released on bail. Ultimately only 2 of the delegates to this convention were tried, trade union leader William Z. Foster (freed when then jury failed to agree) and Workers Party Executive Secretary C.E. Ruthenberg, who was convicted but who died before appeals were finalized and the sentence imposed.
From May 1923 until early in 1924, Gitlow — a devoted partisan of the party faction headed by C.E. Ruthenberg and an opponent of the faction headed by William Z. Foster — was named the editor of the Workers' Party's Yiddish language
daily, the Morgen Freiheit
, this despite the American-born and educated Gitlow's faltering familiarity with the language. The appointment was political in nature and Gitlow was removed from the paper as soon as the Foster faction achieved majority control of the party apparatus.
upheld his conviction in the case of Gitlow v. New York
, by a vote of 7 to 2, confirming that the publication of the Left Wing Manifesto in The Revolutionary Age did, in fact, constitute a punishable act under the law. As the legal wrangling and backstage politics continued, Ben Gitlow prepared to return to jail.
In November 1925, former candidate for Vice President of the United States Ben Gitlow was ordered back to Sing Sing Prison by the court to finish his sentence. This would not be "hard time," however. Gitlow was immediately transferred to a new section of the prison located on a hill, a much more comfortable facility than that in which he had previously been confined. Gitlow was assigned to a cleaning detail which only occupied about one hour of his time. The cells had fresh air, a comfortable mattress, hot water in the basin, and clean, smoothly painted steel walls. Gitlow later recalled that "had a bath been included, it would have been equivalent to a good small room in a modern hotel." Gitlow anticipated a short stay in the facility as the American Civil Liberties Union
assured him that they had obtained a verbal commitment from Governor Al Smith that Gitlow would be pardoned expeditiously.
On December 11, 1925, Gitlow's first wedding anniversary, he was visited by his wife, who showed him a letter from an ACLU attorney stating that Ben would be free to leave Sing Sing on parole if he agreed to the conditions of his release. Gitlow considered this an unfortunate turn of events, as he sought freedom to continue his political activities without the constraint of parole supervision and the threat of a rapid return to jail. Gitlow's wife received word by telephone at that time that his decision on whether to accept a parole was moot, however, as the Governor had decided to grant Ben a full pardon. Freed from jail the next day, Gitlow arrived by train to a packed Grand Central Station, where he received a rousing hero's welcome from the assembled party members and friends.
In 1926, Gitlow ran on the ticket of the Workers (Communist) Party
for Governor of New York
.
In 1928, Gitlow was once again named the candidate of the Workers Party of America for Vice President of the United States, running for a second time on a ticket headed by William Z. Foster
.
Gitlow reached the summit of his political life as a Communist Party leader shortly after the conclusion of the 1928 campaign, when on March 16, 1929, Gitlow was named to the 3 man Secretariat at the helm of the Communist Party, assuming the post of Executive Secretary. His time at the top proved to be momentary, however, as on March 23 he boarded an ocean liner for Moscow as part of a 10 person delegation seeking to appeal the Comintern's decision to remove Jay Lovestone from America. The job of Executive Secretary was turned over to factional ally Robert Minor
in the interim.
, Ben Gitlow was expelled from the party as purported supporters of Nikolai Bukharin
in the USSR in opposition to the hardline faction of Joseph Stalin
. The expelled Communists followed Lovestone into a new organization, the so-called Communist Party (Majority Group), which actually included a small fraction of the membership of the regular Communist Party.
Gitlow was named a member of the governing National Council of the CP(MG) in October 1929. At the 1st National Conference of the organization, held July 4–6, 1930 in New York City, Gitlow was elected Secretary of the Lovestone political organization, a role in which he continued at least through 1932. In the fall of 1930, Gitlow was sent on a month-long tour of the United States on behalf of the Lovestoneites, taking him to Detroit, Chicago
, and Superior, Wisconsin
before returning to the east coast.
Throughout the first 5 years of its existence the Lovestone organization continued to seek accommodation with the regular Communist Party. Gitlow's own views had gradually changed, however. In May 1933 he and Lazar Becker split from the Lovestoneites to found the Workers Communist League, which in turn merged with a group around B.J. Field to form the Organization Committee for a Revolutionary Workers Party the next year.
of Texas
.
In 1940, Gitlow published his first work of political autobiography
, I Confess: The Truth About American Communism. The book was controversial and widely noticed, pushing Gitlow into the public eye as a leading opponent of American Communism. The book remains an important primary document for the study of American Communism in the 1920s and 1930s.
Gitlow followed his 1940 memoir with a steamier retelling of old tales called The Whole of Their Lives: Communism in America. Non-specialists should use the historical accounts in this later book, written as a potboiler
for the popular market, with great caution as some of its details are at variance with the same stories told by the same author nearly a decade earlier.
Ben Gitlow's final pamphlets, written in the early 1960s, were published by fundamentalist
preacher Billy James Hargis
's Christian Crusade Ministries, an organization committed to stopping the spread of Communism in the world.
on July 19, 1965. His survivors included his wife, Badana Zeitlin, whom he had wed in 1924.
Gitlow's papers are housed at the Hoover Institution Archives
, located at Stanford University
in Palo Alto, California
and at the University of North Carolina
, located at Charlotte
.
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
of the early twentieth century and a founding member of the Communist Party USA. From the end of the 1930s, Gitlow turned to conservatism
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
and wrote two sensational
Sensationalism
Sensationalism is a type of editorial bias in mass media in which events and topics in news stories and pieces are over-hyped to increase viewership or readership numbers...
exposés of American Communism, books which were very influential during the McCarthy
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
period. Gitlow remained a leading anticommunist up to the time of his death.
Early life
Benjamin Gitlow was born on December 22, 1891 in Elizabethport, New JerseyElizabethport, New Jersey
A neighborhood in the City of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Formerly home of the Singer Manufacturing Company, makers of Singer Sewing Machines....
. The Gitlows were ethnic Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, an oppressed minority nationality in Tsarist Russia. Ben's father, Lewis Albert Gitlow, emigrated from the Russian Empire
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
in 1888, followed by his mother, Katherine, in 1889. In America Ben's father worked part-time for insufficient hours in various factories, while his mother helped the impoverished family to make ends meet by stitching piecework at home for garment factories.
Radicalism seems to have run deeply in the family. Guests to the family home told stories about their personal and political experiences in Tsarist Russia. Ben later recalled this experience as formative to his own political development:
"I would listen intently to the adventures of the Russian revolutionary leaders, of their experiences with the police, the days and years spent in prisons and their exile to the wastes of Siberia. I would grow indignant hearing how the Tsar mistreated the people. I thrilled at the stories of the underground movement, of the conspiring activities, how deeds of violence against the Tsarist oppressors were planned... The stories of personal experiences when raids were made by the secret police upon revolutionists' homes held me spellbound. I anticipated every incident that would be related. I also listened to discussions, very idealistic in their essence, in which the participants showed how Socialism would transform the world, and to arguments over methods of how Socialism would be achieved.
In later years, Ben's mother would herself achieve some notice as an important Communist women's leader, serving as Secretary of the Women's Committee of the Workers Party of America
Workers Party of America
The Workers Party of America was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. As a legal political party the Workers Party accepted affiliation from independent socialist groups such as the African Blood Brotherhood,...
in 1924.
The young Ben studied law while working in a department store in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
. He helped to organize the Retail Clerks Union
Retail Clerks International Union
The Retail Clerks International Union , was a labor union that represented retail employees. The RCIU was chartered as the "Retail Clerks National Protective Union" in 1890 by the American Federation of Labor. It later adopted the name Retail Clerks International Association, and subsequently...
, political activity for which he was discharged from his job and blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
ed by the Merchants' Association. In June 1914, Gitlow testified before the US Commission on Industrial Relations on conditions prevalent in American department stores. His testimony included descriptions of mandatory overtime, spying on workers, and what is now called quid pro quo sexual harassment.
Following his blacklisting from the retail sales industry, Gitlow worked briefly as a cutter in the garment industry before entering the world of radical journalism in 1919.
Entry into radical politics
As soon as he turned 18 and became eligible for membership, Ben Gitlow joined the Socialist Party of AmericaSocialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
. Ben was a committed and active member of the party and he was elected a delegate to the New York state convention of the SPA in 1910, the year after his joining. In the fall of 1917, Gitlow was elected to the New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
on the Socialist ticket, filling a seat for a district in the Bronx. He was one of 10 Socialists elected to the Assembly at this time, all of them from New York City.
Despite (or perhaps because of) his two years as a Socialist parliamentarian, Ben Gitlow professed a belief in revolutionary Socialism
Revolutionary socialism
The term revolutionary socialism refers to Socialist tendencies that advocate the need for fundamental social change through revolution by mass movements of the working class, as a strategy to achieve a socialist society...
. From its earliest days in 1919, Ben Gitlow was an adherent of the proto-Communist Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party
Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party
The Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party was an organized faction within the Socialist Party of America in 1919 which served as the core of the dual communist parties which emerged in the fall of that year — the Communist Party of America and the Communist Labor Party of America.-Precusors:A...
, working closely with renowned radical journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
John Reed. In April 1919, the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party of Local Greater New York established an official weekly newspaper called The New York Communist. Reed was named the editor of the new publication, with Maximilian Cohen
Maximilian Cohen
Maximilian "Max" Cohen was an American socialist politician of the early 20th Century. Cohen held a series of important posts during the pivotal year of 1919, including Secretary of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party for Local Greater New York, Secretary of the Left Wing National Council,...
handling the day-to-day operations of the publication as its business manager. Effective with the June 14, 1919, issue, Max Cohen exited the scene and Ben Gitlow assumed the post of business manager.
Following the Left Wing National Conference in June 1919, Reed's New York Communist was merged with the older and better established newspaper of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party, Local Boston, The Revolutionary Age, edited by Louis C. Fraina
Louis C. Fraina
Louis C. Fraina was a founding member of the American Communist Party in 1919. After running afoul of the Communist International in 1921 over the alleged misappropriation of funds, Fraina left the organized radical movement, emerging in 1930 as a left wing public intellectual by the name of Lewis...
. This publication was moved to New York and thereafter recognized as the "National Organ of the Left Wing Section, Socialist Party," with the former New Yorker Fraina continuing as editor and Ben Gitlow taking over as business manager.
John Reed was named the editor of the a new monthly labor magazine of the Left Wing Section, called Voice of Labor. Ben Gitlow also served as business manager of this publication, which was adopted by the Communist Labor Party in the fall, shortly before its termination due to lack of finances.
Arrest and trial
For his publicized connection on the staff of The Revolutionary Age Benjamin Gitlow was targeted for arrest during the coordinated raid of the Communist movement conducted by New York state authorities and the Department of JusticeUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
during the night of November 7/8, 1919. Gitlow was charged with violation of the New York Criminal Anarchy Law of 1902, which made it a crime to encourage the violent overthrow of government. It was contended that the publication of the Left Wing Manifesto
Left Wing Manifesto
The Left Wing Manifesto is the name rather confusingly bestowed upon two distinct programmatic documents of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party during the factional war in the Socialist Party of America of 1919...
by The Revolutionary Age earlier that year constituted such illegal action.
Ben Gitlow's widely publicized trial began in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on January 22, 1920 and went to the jury on February 5. Gitlow addressed the jury in his own defense in the case, saying:
"I am charged in this case with publishing and distributing a paper known as The Revolutionary Age, in which paper was printed a document known as the Left Wing Manifesto and Program. It is held that that document advocates the overthrow of government by force, violence, and unlawful means. The document itself, the Left Wing Manifesto, is a broad analysis of conditions, economic conditions, and historical events in the world today. It is a document based upon the principles of socialism from their earliest inception. The only thing that the document does is to broaden those principles in the light of modern events.... The socialists have always maintained that the change from capitalism to socialism would be a fundamental change, that is, we would have a complete reorganization of society, that this change would not be a question of reform; that the capitalist system of society would be completely changed and that that system would give way to a new system of society based on a new code of laws, based on a new code of ethics, and based on a new form of government. For that reason, the socialist philosophy has always been a revolutionary philosophy and people who adhered to the socialist program and philosophy were always considered revolutionists, and I as one who maintain that, in the eyes of the present day society, I am a revolutionist."
The attempt of the Gitlow defense to declare the publication of the Left Wing Manifesto an expression of historical analysis rather than an act of practical advocacy was unsuccessful, however. Gitlow was convicted of the charge against him and on February 11, 1920, was sentenced to 5 to 10 years in prison. He served over two years at Sing Sing
Sing Sing
Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services in the town of Ossining, New York...
prison before being released on bail related to his filing of a writ of error. Gitlow's appeal motion was ultimately granted on December 13, 1922, followed by further hearings by the state.
Political activity after prison
Following his release from prison on bail in the spring of 1922, Ben Gitlow was made a full-time employee of the Communist Party of America. The governing Central Executive Committee named Ben as Industrial Organizer (party organizer in the unions) for a large area which stretched from New York City to Philadelphia and which encompassed the entire New England region.Ben was elected as a delegate to the Communist Party's ill-fated August 1922 convention
1922 Bridgman Convention
The 1922 Bridgman Convention was a secret conclave of the underground Communist Party of America held in August 1922 near the small town of Bridgman, Michigan, about outside of the city of Chicago on the banks of Lake Michigan...
held at Bridgman, Michigan
Bridgman, Michigan
Bridgman is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,428 at the 2000 census. The Bridgman post office, with ZIP code 49106 opened with the name "Laketon" on November 11, 1862. The name changed to Bridgman on April 9, 1874...
, a gathering which was infiltrated by a Justice Department spy and raided by police. Gitlow was arrested and jailed in the aftermath, eventually released on bail. Ultimately only 2 of the delegates to this convention were tried, trade union leader William Z. Foster (freed when then jury failed to agree) and Workers Party Executive Secretary C.E. Ruthenberg, who was convicted but who died before appeals were finalized and the sentence imposed.
From May 1923 until early in 1924, Gitlow — a devoted partisan of the party faction headed by C.E. Ruthenberg and an opponent of the faction headed by William Z. Foster — was named the editor of the Workers' Party's Yiddish language
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
daily, the Morgen Freiheit
Morgen Freiheit
The New York city-based Morgen Freiheit was a daily Yiddish language newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party, USA, founded by Moissaye Olgin in 1922. After the end of World War II the paper's editors developed criticisms of the Soviet Union and thereby clashed with the leaders of the...
, this despite the American-born and educated Gitlow's faltering familiarity with the language. The appointment was political in nature and Gitlow was removed from the paper as soon as the Foster faction achieved majority control of the party apparatus.
Return to prison
Three years after his release on bail, on June 8, 1925, the US Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
upheld his conviction in the case of Gitlow v. New York
Gitlow v. New York
Gitlow v. New York, , was a decision by the United States Supreme Court, which ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution had extended the reach of certain provisions of the First Amendment—specifically the provisions protecting freedom of speech and freedom of the...
, by a vote of 7 to 2, confirming that the publication of the Left Wing Manifesto in The Revolutionary Age did, in fact, constitute a punishable act under the law. As the legal wrangling and backstage politics continued, Ben Gitlow prepared to return to jail.
In November 1925, former candidate for Vice President of the United States Ben Gitlow was ordered back to Sing Sing Prison by the court to finish his sentence. This would not be "hard time," however. Gitlow was immediately transferred to a new section of the prison located on a hill, a much more comfortable facility than that in which he had previously been confined. Gitlow was assigned to a cleaning detail which only occupied about one hour of his time. The cells had fresh air, a comfortable mattress, hot water in the basin, and clean, smoothly painted steel walls. Gitlow later recalled that "had a bath been included, it would have been equivalent to a good small room in a modern hotel." Gitlow anticipated a short stay in the facility as the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
assured him that they had obtained a verbal commitment from Governor Al Smith that Gitlow would be pardoned expeditiously.
On December 11, 1925, Gitlow's first wedding anniversary, he was visited by his wife, who showed him a letter from an ACLU attorney stating that Ben would be free to leave Sing Sing on parole if he agreed to the conditions of his release. Gitlow considered this an unfortunate turn of events, as he sought freedom to continue his political activities without the constraint of parole supervision and the threat of a rapid return to jail. Gitlow's wife received word by telephone at that time that his decision on whether to accept a parole was moot, however, as the Governor had decided to grant Ben a full pardon. Freed from jail the next day, Gitlow arrived by train to a packed Grand Central Station, where he received a rousing hero's welcome from the assembled party members and friends.
In 1926, Gitlow ran on the ticket of the Workers (Communist) Party
Workers Party of America
The Workers Party of America was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. As a legal political party the Workers Party accepted affiliation from independent socialist groups such as the African Blood Brotherhood,...
for Governor of New York
Governor of New York
The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...
.
In 1928, Gitlow was once again named the candidate of the Workers Party of America for Vice President of the United States, running for a second time on a ticket headed by William Z. Foster
William Z. Foster
William Foster was a radical American labor organizer and Marxist politician, whose career included a lengthy stint as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA...
.
Gitlow reached the summit of his political life as a Communist Party leader shortly after the conclusion of the 1928 campaign, when on March 16, 1929, Gitlow was named to the 3 man Secretariat at the helm of the Communist Party, assuming the post of Executive Secretary. His time at the top proved to be momentary, however, as on March 23 he boarded an ocean liner for Moscow as part of a 10 person delegation seeking to appeal the Comintern's decision to remove Jay Lovestone from America. The job of Executive Secretary was turned over to factional ally Robert Minor
Robert Minor
Robert Berkeley "Bob" Minor was political cartoonist, a radical journalist, and a leading member of the American Communist Party.-Early life:...
in the interim.
Radical oppositionist
In 1929 Communist Parties around the world were purged of so-called "Right Oppositions" by the Communist International as the world Communist movement lurched towards the revolutionary left. Together with his factional co-thinker Jay LovestoneJay Lovestone
Jay Lovestone was at various times a member of the Socialist Party of America, a leader of the Communist Party USA, leader of a small oppositionist party, an anti-Communist and Central Intelligence Agency helper, and foreign policy advisor to the leadership of the AFL-CIO and various unions...
, Ben Gitlow was expelled from the party as purported supporters of Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin , was a Russian Marxist, Bolshevik revolutionary, and Soviet politician. He was a member of the Politburo and Central Committee , chairman of the Communist International , and the editor in chief of Pravda , the journal Bolshevik , Izvestia , and the Great Soviet...
in the USSR in opposition to the hardline faction of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
. The expelled Communists followed Lovestone into a new organization, the so-called Communist Party (Majority Group), which actually included a small fraction of the membership of the regular Communist Party.
Gitlow was named a member of the governing National Council of the CP(MG) in October 1929. At the 1st National Conference of the organization, held July 4–6, 1930 in New York City, Gitlow was elected Secretary of the Lovestone political organization, a role in which he continued at least through 1932. In the fall of 1930, Gitlow was sent on a month-long tour of the United States on behalf of the Lovestoneites, taking him to Detroit, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, and Superior, Wisconsin
Superior, Wisconsin
Superior is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 26,960 at the 2010 census. Located at the junction of U.S. Highways 2 and 53, it is north of and adjacent to both the Village of Superior and the Town of Superior.Superior is at the western...
before returning to the east coast.
Throughout the first 5 years of its existence the Lovestone organization continued to seek accommodation with the regular Communist Party. Gitlow's own views had gradually changed, however. In May 1933 he and Lazar Becker split from the Lovestoneites to found the Workers Communist League, which in turn merged with a group around B.J. Field to form the Organization Committee for a Revolutionary Workers Party the next year.
Conservative years
After briefly rejoining the Socialist Party in 1934, Gitlow became disillusioned with radicalism of all shades and emerged as an outspoken anti-communist. In 1939, he publicly rejected the Communist Party in testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, chaired by Martin DiesMartin Dies
Martin Dies was a Texas politician and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives. His son, Martin Dies, Jr. was also a member of the United States House of Representatives....
of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
In 1940, Gitlow published his first work of political autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, I Confess: The Truth About American Communism. The book was controversial and widely noticed, pushing Gitlow into the public eye as a leading opponent of American Communism. The book remains an important primary document for the study of American Communism in the 1920s and 1930s.
Gitlow followed his 1940 memoir with a steamier retelling of old tales called The Whole of Their Lives: Communism in America. Non-specialists should use the historical accounts in this later book, written as a potboiler
Potboiler
Potboiler or pot-boiler is a term used to describe a poor quality novel, play, opera, or film, or other creative work that was created quickly to make money to pay for the creator's daily expenses . Authors who create potboiler novels or screenplays are sometimes called hack writers...
for the popular market, with great caution as some of its details are at variance with the same stories told by the same author nearly a decade earlier.
Ben Gitlow's final pamphlets, written in the early 1960s, were published by fundamentalist
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
preacher Billy James Hargis
Billy James Hargis
Billy James Hargis was a fundamentalist Protestant Christian evangelist. At the height of his popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, his Christian Crusade ministry was broadcast on more than 500 radio stations and 250 television stations...
's Christian Crusade Ministries, an organization committed to stopping the spread of Communism in the world.
Death
Benjamin Gitlow died in Crompond, New YorkCrompond, New York
Crompond is a community and census-designated place located in the town of Yorktown in Westchester County, New York. The population was 2,292 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Crompond is located at ....
on July 19, 1965. His survivors included his wife, Badana Zeitlin, whom he had wed in 1924.
Gitlow's papers are housed at the Hoover Institution Archives
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded in 1919 by then future U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, an early alumnus of Stanford....
, located at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
and at the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
, located at Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
.
Publications by Benjamin Gitlow
- The "Red Ruby": Address to the Jury; Also, Darrow; The Judge; Giovanitti. n.c. [New York]: Communist Labor PartyCommunist Labor PartyThe Communist Labor Party of America was one of the organizational predecessors of the Communist Party USA. The group was established at the end of August 1919 following a three-way split of the Socialist Party of America...
, n.d. [1920]. - Acceptance speeches. With William Z. Foster. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1928.
- Some Plain Words on Communist Unity. New York: Workers Age Publishing Association, n.d. [1932]. alternate link
- America for the People!: Why We Need a Farmer Labor Party. New York: Labor Party Association, 1933.
- Why the Boycott of Nazi Germany? London: British Section of the World Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi Council to Champion Human RightsNon-Sectarian Anti-Nazi LeagueThe Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League to Champion Human Rights, was founded in 1933 to enact an economic boycott against Nazi Germany....
, n.d. [middle 1930s]. - I Confess: The Truth About American Communism. New York:E. P. DuttonE. P. DuttonE. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. In 1986, the company was acquired by Penguin Group and split into two imprints: Dutton Penguin and Dutton Children's Books.-History:Edward Payson Dutton founded...
, 1940. - The Whole of Their Lives: Communism in America: A Personal History and Intimate Portrayal of Its Leaders. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1948.
- How to Think about Communism. Whitestone, N.Y., Graphics Group, 1949. — Illustrated reprint of selections from "The Whole of Their Lives."
- Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev and the Downgrading of Stalin. Tulsa, OK: Christian Crusade, n.d. [c. 1962].
- Communism — A World-Wide Failure? Tulsa, OK: Christian Crusade, n.d. [c. 1962].
- The Negro Question: Communist Civil War Policy. Tulsa, OK: Christian Crusade, n.d. [c. 1962].
Related Publications
- Women in politics by Kate Gitlow New York: United Council of Working Women, 1924
- Is the Stalin general line correct? New York, N.Y: Workers Communist League, 1933.
External links
- J. Murrey Atkins Library: Benjamin Gitlow Manuscript Collection
- Communist Party of America History, 1919-1946 - Early American Marxism website history page.
- "Footnote for Historians" by Max ShachtmanMax ShachtmanMax Shachtman was an American Marxist theorist. He evolved from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL-CIO President George Meany.-Beginnings:...
in New International, Vol.4, No.12 (Dec. 1938), pp. 377–379.