Felix Morrow
Encyclopedia
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
movement.
Early life
Felix Morrow was born Felix Mayrowitz to an Orthodox JewishOrthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
family in 1906 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...
. His parents, emigrants from Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, ran a small grocery store in the city. Morrow later recalled his upbringing in a letter to historian Alan Wald:
"I came from a HassidicHasidic JudaismHasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
family, but my father at the age of 15 had fled in disillusionment from the house of the Chortkow RebbeChortkov (Hasidic dynasty)Chortkov is a Hasidic dynasty that originated in Chortkov, present-day Ukraine. It had a large following before the Second World War, but most of its adherents perished in the Holocaust....
where his father was a gabbaiGabbaiA Gabbai is a person who assists in the running of a synagogue and ensures that the needs are met, for example the Jewish prayer services run smoothly, or an assistant to a rabbi...
(rabbai's assistant). But my mother remained religious and I had a traditional Jewish education."
In America, both of Felix Mayrowitz's parents had become socialists
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and Felix had been a participant in the youth section of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist 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...
from an early age, beginning with the Junior division of the Young People's Socialist League
Young People's Socialist League (1907)
The Young People's Socialist League , founded in 1907, was the official youth arm of the Socialist Party of America. Its political activities tend to concentrate on increasing the voter turnout of young democratic socialists and affecting the issues impacting that demographic group.- Foundation and...
. At age 16, Felix was employed as a reporter by the Brooklyn Daily Times. He later went to work for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, using his paychecks there to help finance his education at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
(NYU).
Felix Mayrowitz graduated from NYU in 1928 and enrolled in graduate school at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, also located in New York City, where he studied religion in association with the Philosophy Department. At the time of his enrolling at Columbia, Felix availed himself of advice he had received that his professional progress would be easier with a less ethnic surname; it was at this time that Felix Mayrowitz became Felix Morrow.
Political career
In 1931, the young graduate student applied for membership in the Communist Party USACommunist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
. At the time of his application, Morrow was advised by New York District Organizer Israel Amter
Israel Amter
Israel Amter was a Marxist politician and founding member of the Communist Party USA . Amter is best remembered as one of the Communist Party leaders jailed in conjunction with the International Unemployment Day riot of 1930.-Early years:...
that he would be of greater service to the party as a "secret" member of the organization rather than as a known public figure. Morrow was told by Amter to consider himself a party member, and his application was squirreled away in Amter's desk.
Morrow traveled the country extensively as a reporter for the Communist Party literary-artistic monthly, The New Masses and for its daily newspaper, The Daily Worker
Daily Worker
The Daily Worker was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, some attempts were made to make it appear that the paper reflected a...
, making use of the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"George Cooper." His journalism was latter collected into book form and translated into Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
for publication in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1933 as Life in the United States in this Depression. He also taught courses on American history at the CPUSA's New York party training school, served as a member of the party's speakers' bureau, and assisted Joseph Freeman
Joseph Freeman (writer)
Joseph "Joe" Freeman was an American writer and magazine editor. He is best remembered as a contributor and editor to The New Masses, a literary and artistic magazine closely associated with the Communist Party USA, and as a founding editor of the magazine Partisan Review.-Early years:Joseph...
with editorial tasks at The New Masses.
Morrow was for many years a leading figure in American Trotskyism
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
, best known for his book Revolution and Counter-Revolution In Spain. He joined the Communist League of America
Communist League of America
The Communist League of America was founded by James P. Cannon, Max Shachtman and Martin Abern late in 1928 after their expulsion from the Communist Party USA for Trotskyism. The CLA was the United States section of Leon Trotsky's International Left Opposition and initially positioned itself as...
in 1933 and after Max Shachtman
Max Shachtman
Max 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:...
's minority split in 1940, served as editor of The Militant
The Militant
The Militant is an international Socialist newsweekly connected to the Socialist Workers Party and the Pathfinder Tendency. It is published in the United States and distributed in other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Sweden, Iceland, and New...
, the weekly newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (United States)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far-left political organization in the United States. The group places a priority on "solidarity work" to aid strikes and is strongly supportive of Cuba...
(SWP). He was one of 18 SWP leaders, including the party's National Secretary, James P. Cannon
James P. Cannon
James Patrick "Jim" Cannon was an American Trotskyist and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party.Born on February 11, 1890 in Rosedale, Kansas, he joined the Socialist Party of America in 1908 and the Industrial Workers of the World in 1911...
, imprisoned under the Smith Act
Smith Act
The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 is a United States federal statute that set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S...
during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In 1943 he formed a faction, with Albert Goldman
Albert Goldman (politician)
Albert Goldman was an American Trotskyist and lawyer to the labor movement.Born Albert Verblen in Chicago, he studied at Medhill High School and then the University of Cincinnati. He also studied to be a rabbi at the Hebrew Union College...
which challenged the SWP's "orthodox
Orthodox Trotskyism
Orthodox Trotskyism is a branch of Trotskyism which aims to adhere more closely to the philosophy, methods and positions of Trotsky and the early Fourth International, Lenin, and Marx than other Trotskyists....
" catastrophic perspective. Morrow and Goldman projected the likelihood of a prolonged period of bourgeois democracy in western Europe and emphasised the need for democratic and transitional demand
Transitional demand
In Marxist theory, a transitional demand either is a partial realisation of a maximum demand after revolution or an agitational demand made by a socialist organisation with the aim of linking the current situation to progress towards their goal of a socialist society.-Development of transitional...
s against the maximalism
Maximum programme
In Marxist theory, a maximum programme consists of a series of demands which will achieve socialism.The concept of a maximum programme comes from the Erfurt Programme of the SPD, later mirrored by much of the Socialist International. The maximum is contrasted with a minimum programme of immediate...
advocated by the majority. Although he was expelled from the SWP in 1946 for "unauthorised collaboration" with Shachtman's Workers Party
Workers Party (US)
Not to be confused with the modern Marxist-Leninist party, Workers Party, USA.The Workers Party was a Third Camp Trotskyist group in the United States. It was founded in April 1940 by members of the Socialist Workers Party who opposed the Soviet invasion of Finland. They included Max Shachtman,...
, he did not join Shachtman, and drifted from left-wing politics to the right.
Later years
In the 1960s Morrow headed the Causeway Books publishing house, which specialized in books on the Western occult tradition. He contributed an introduction to The Romance of Sorcery by Sax RohmerSax Rohmer
Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward , better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr...
published by Causeway, the only non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
work by Rohmer, who is best known as the creator of the Fu Manchu
Fu Manchu
Dr. Fu Manchu is a fictional character introduced in a series of novels by British author Sax Rohmer during the first half of the 20th century...
novels.
Death
Morrow died on May 28, 1988. Many of Morrow's personal papers were destroyed shortly after his death and there is currently no archival holding of the material which did survive.Works
- The Bonus March. New York, International Publishers, 1932.
- The Civil War in Spain: Towards Socialism or Fascism? New York, Pioneer Publishers, 1936.
- Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Spain New York, Pioneer Publishers, 1938.
- Labor's Answer to Conscription New York, Pioneer Publishers, 1940.
Further reading
- Alan M. Wald, The New York Intellectuals: The Rise and Decline of the Anti-Stalinist Left. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, 1987.
External links
- Felix Morrow Archive, Marxists Internet Archive. Retrieved January 31, 2010.
- Ernest Mandel, "Morrow on Spain," International, vol.2 no.3 (Summer 1974), pp. 40-42.