Morris Schappes
Encyclopedia
Morris U. Schappes was a Jewish-American
educator, writer, radical political activist, historian, and magazine editor. Schappes is best remembered for a 1941 perjury
conviction obtained in association with testimony before the Rapp-Coudert Committee
investigating Communism in education in New York, and as the long-time editor of the radical magazine Jewish Currents.
, Ukraine
, then part of the Russian empire
. The Shapshilevich family left Tsarist Russia when Morris was a small child, living first in Brazil
before emigrating to the United States in 1914. The family name was truncated to "Schappes" by Brazilian immigration authorities and Moishe's mother later Americanized his name to "Morris" upon the family's arrival in North America. His middle initial, "U," referred to nothing, but was inserted by Schappes as a collegiate journalist to add zest to his byline
.
Schappes earned a Bachelor of Arts
degree from City College of New York
and a Masters degree from Columbia University
. Schappes joined the faculty of City College in 1928 when he accepted a position as a lecturer in the English Department there.
Schappes was regarded as an effective teacher and was awarded annual pay raises seven times during his career at City College. He was regarded as a scholar by his peers and frequently contributed reviews and commentary to the popular and academic press, including such magazines as Saturday Review, the New York Post
, The Nation
, Poetry
, and American Literature
.
On April 23, 1936, a new head of the English Department at City College wrote to Schappes announcing that his position at City College was to be regarded as temporary, and that he was therefore summarily dismissed from the staff. Students at City College erupted at what they perceived to be a politically-motivated personnel decision, with 1500 students signing a petition calling for Schappes' reinstatement and protest meetings held by the American Student Union
and former students of Schappes.
from the public education system of New York state.
In sworn testimony given to the Committee, Schappes stated that he only knew three members of the Communist Party at City College — two of whom were dead and one who was a well-known party organizer. After another City College Communist had "named names," implicating fifty employees of City College as party members, Schappes was indicted for having committed perjury
in his testimony.
In the aftermath of Nikita Khrushchev's
February 1956 "Secret Speech"
and the violent repression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 in the fall of that year, Jewish Currents aligned with a dissident liberal faction of the CPUSA headed by John Gates
. The magazine ultimately decided to leave the Communist Party orbit altogether to pursue an independent existence.
In his later years, Schappes garnered professional recognition for his work as a historian. In 1993 he was awarded the Torchbearer Award of the American Jewish Historical Society
.
Schappes' papers reside in two collections, one held by the Tamiment Library of New York University
in New York City and the other by the American Jewish Historical Society
. In 1983, Schappes submitted an oral history of his life to Columbia University
in New York City, material which was transcribed into 66 pages.
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
educator, writer, radical political activist, historian, and magazine editor. Schappes is best remembered for a 1941 perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
conviction obtained in association with testimony before the Rapp-Coudert Committee
Rapp-Coudert Committee
The Rapp-Coudert Committee was the colloquial name of the Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate the Educational System of the State of New York — a committee of the New York State Legislature. The Rapp-Coudert Committee, which conducted its business from 1940 to 1942, sought to identify the...
investigating Communism in education in New York, and as the long-time editor of the radical magazine Jewish Currents.
Early years
Morris U. Schappes was born Moishe ben Haim Shapshilevich in Kamianets-PodilskyiKamianets-Podilskyi
Kamyanets-Podilsky or Kamienets-Podolsky is a city located on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine, to the north-east of Chernivtsi...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, then part of the Russian empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. The Shapshilevich family left Tsarist Russia when Morris was a small child, living first in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
before emigrating to the United States in 1914. The family name was truncated to "Schappes" by Brazilian immigration authorities and Moishe's mother later Americanized his name to "Morris" upon the family's arrival in North America. His middle initial, "U," referred to nothing, but was inserted by Schappes as a collegiate journalist to add zest to his byline
Byline
The byline on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name, and often the position, of the writer of the article. Bylines are traditionally placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines place bylines at the bottom of the page, to leave more room for graphical...
.
Schappes earned a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree from City College of New York
College of the City of New York
The College of the City of New York is the former name of New York University's undergraduate college when the university was named "University of the City of New York"....
and a Masters degree from 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...
. Schappes joined the faculty of City College in 1928 when he accepted a position as a lecturer in the English Department there.
Schappes was regarded as an effective teacher and was awarded annual pay raises seven times during his career at City College. He was regarded as a scholar by his peers and frequently contributed reviews and commentary to the popular and academic press, including such magazines as Saturday Review, the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, Poetry
Poetry (magazine)
Poetry , published in Chicago, Illinois since 1912, is one of the leading monthly poetry journals in the English-speaking world. Published by the Poetry Foundation and currently edited by Christian Wiman, the magazine has a circulation of 30,000 and prints 300 poems per year out of approximately...
, and American Literature
American Literature (journal)
American Literature is a literary journal published by Duke University Press. It is sponsored by the American Literature Section of the Modern Language Association , known as the MLA. The current editor is Priscilla Wald. The first volume of this journal was published in March 1929.Coverage...
.
Political career
Schappes joined the Communist Party, USA in 1934.On April 23, 1936, a new head of the English Department at City College wrote to Schappes announcing that his position at City College was to be regarded as temporary, and that he was therefore summarily dismissed from the staff. Students at City College erupted at what they perceived to be a politically-motivated personnel decision, with 1500 students signing a petition calling for Schappes' reinstatement and protest meetings held by the American Student Union
American Student Union
The American Student Union was a national left-wing organization of college students of the 1930s, best remembered for its protest activities against militarism. Founded by a 1935 merger of Communist and Socialist student organizations, the ASU was affiliated with the American Youth Congress...
and former students of Schappes.
Rapp-Coudert affair
In 1941, Schappes was one of 40 educators fired in conjunction with an investigation by the Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate the Educational System of the State of New York, commonly known as the Rapp-Coudert Committee, a body which attempted to identify and remove members of 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....
from the public education system of New York state.
In sworn testimony given to the Committee, Schappes stated that he only knew three members of the Communist Party at City College — two of whom were dead and one who was a well-known party organizer. After another City College Communist had "named names," implicating fifty employees of City College as party members, Schappes was indicted for having committed perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
in his testimony.
Later years
After his removal from the halls of academia, Schappes went to work as the editor of Jewish Life (later known as Jewish Currents), an English-language of the Communist Party, USA dealing with Jewish issues and targeted to a Jewish readership. He served as editor of this publication for the next four decades.In the aftermath of Nikita Khrushchev's
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
February 1956 "Secret Speech"
On the Personality Cult and its Consequences
On the Personality Cult and its Consequences was a report, critical of Joseph Stalin, made to the Twentieth Party Congress on February 25, 1956 by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. It is more commonly known as the Secret Speech or the Khrushchev Report...
and the violent repression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 in the fall of that year, Jewish Currents aligned with a dissident liberal faction of the CPUSA headed by John Gates
John Gates
John "Johnny" Gates, born Solomon Regenstreif was a prominent American Communist journalist, best remembered as one of the individuals spearheading a failed attempt at liberalization of the Communist Party USA in 1957.-Early years:...
. The magazine ultimately decided to leave the Communist Party orbit altogether to pursue an independent existence.
In his later years, Schappes garnered professional recognition for his work as a historian. In 1993 he was awarded the Torchbearer Award of the American Jewish Historical Society
American Jewish Historical Society
The American Jewish Historical Society was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of the American Jewish heritage and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American...
.
Death and legacy
Morris Schappes died on June 3, 2004 in New York City. He was 97 years old at the time of his death.Schappes' papers reside in two collections, one held by the Tamiment Library of 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...
in New York City and the other by the American Jewish Historical Society
American Jewish Historical Society
The American Jewish Historical Society was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of the American Jewish heritage and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American...
. In 1983, Schappes submitted an oral history of his life to 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...
in New York City, material which was transcribed into 66 pages.
Works
- Letters from the Tombs. Foreword by Richard Wright. New York: Schappes Defense Committee, 1941.
- The Daily Worker: Heir to the Great Tradition. New York: Daily Worker, 1944.
- Resistance is the Lesson: The Meaning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. New York: Jewish Life, n.d. (1948).
- Anti-Semitism and Reaction, 1795-1800. Philadelphia: Publications of the Jewish Historical Society, n.d. (1948).
- Problems of Jewish Culture. New York: School of Jewish Studies, 1950.
- A Documentary History of the Jews in the United States, 1654-1875. New York: Citadel Press, 1950.
- The Jews in the United States: A Pictorial History, 1654 to the Present. New York: Citadel Press, 1958.
- Shylock and Anti-Semitism. New York: Jewish Currents, 1962.
- The Strange World of Hannah Arendt. New York: Jewish Currents, 1963.
- Jewish Currents Reader: A Selection of Short Stories, Poems and Essays from Jewish Currents Years 1956-1966. Editor. New York: Jewish Currents, 1966.
- Jewish Identity: Dialogue with Jewish Youth. With Michael H. Agronoff and Judith Kerman. New York: Jewish Currents, 1967.
- The Jewish Question and the Left — Old and New: A Challenge to the New Left. New York: Jewish Currents, 1970.
- Irving Howe's 'The World of Our Fathers': A Critical Analysis. New York: Jewish Currents, 1977.