David P. Berenberg
David Paul Berenberg (March 17, 1890 – March 7, 1974) was an American socialist teacher, editor, and writer. He is best remembered as a founder and editor of ''The American Socialist Quarterly,'' the theoretical magazine of the Socialist Party of America (SPA) during the 1930s. Biography Early years David P. Berenberg was born March 17, 1890, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Bernhard Berenberg, a real estate broker.Solon DeLeon with Irma C. Hayssen and Grace Poole, ''The American Labor Who's Who.'' New York: Hanford Press, 1925; pg. 15. Berenberg attended public schools in Brooklyn before going on to attend City College of New York, from which he graduated in 1912. Upon graduation from City College, Berenberg was employed as a public school teacher, a vocation which he continued from 1913 until 1918, when he resigned his post under fire for his socialist political views. He was not relicensed as a teacher in New York state until 1923. At the end of the 1920s, Berenberg went ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alfred Wagenknecht
Alfred Wagenknecht (August 15, 1881 – August 26, 1956) was an American Marxist activist and political functionary. He is best remembered for having played a critical role in the establishment of the American Communist Party in 1919 as a leader of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party. Wagenknecht served as executive secretary of the Communist Labor Party of America and the United Communist Party of America in 1919 and 1920, respectively. Biography Early years Alfred Wagenknecht, called "Wag" (pronounced "Wog") by many of his friends, was born August 15, 1881, in Görlitz, Imperial Germany, the son of Ernst Wagenknecht, a shoemaker. The family emigrated to the United States in 1884, and thus the German-born Wagenknecht essentially grew up as an American, living in Cleveland before departing as a young man for Washington state, on the West Coast. The Wagenknecht family was politically radical from Alfred's early years, with his father making a cash donation to the colon ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Communist Labor Party Of America
The Communist Labor Party of America (CLPA) 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. Although a legal political party at the time of its formation, with a form of organization closely resembling that of the Socialist Party whence it sprung, the group was quickly forced underground by the Palmer Raids of January 1920 and thereafter conducted its activities in secret. The group merged with a dissident faction of the Communist Party of America in May 1921 to form the United Communist Party of America. Organizational history Background With the end of World War I and the consolidation of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918, long running tension in the Socialist Party of America (SPA) between the revolutionary socialist left-wing and the electorally-oriented center deepened. Radicals were particularly disheartened by the tepid 1916 campa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Communist Party Of America
The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revolution. The history of the CPUSA is closely related to the history of the American labor movement and the history of communist parties worldwide. Initially operating underground due to the Palmer Raids which started during the First Red Scare, the party was influential in American politics in the first half of the 20th century and it also played a prominent role in the history of the labor movement from the 1920s through the 1940s, becoming known for opposing racism and racial segregation after sponsoring the defense for the Scottsboro Boys in 1931. Its membership increased during the Great Depression, and it also played a key role in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. The CPUSA subsequently declined due to event ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1919 Emergency National Convention
The 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America was held in Chicago from August 30 to September 5, 1919. It was a seminal gathering in the history of American radicalism, marked by the bolting of the party's organized left wing to establish the Communist Labor Party of America. History The 1919 Emergency Convention was convened in response to pressure from the organized Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party, which originally sought the convention to solidify the SPA's position towards the socialist revolution in Russia. Instead, the gathering wound up being the nexus of the great showdown between the party Regulars, headed by National Executive Secretary Adolph Germer, National Executive Committee member James Oneal, and New York State Secretary Julius Gerber, and the Left Wing Section, headed by Alfred Wagenknecht and L.E. Katterfeld. Although initially slated to be attended by 200 delegates, a list of just 117 credentialed delegates from 22 states w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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April Fool's Day
April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day. The custom of setting aside a day for playing harmless pranks upon one's neighbour has been relatively common in the world historically. Origins Although the origins of April Fools’ is unknown, there are many theories surrounding it. A disputed association between 1 April and foolishness is in Geoffrey Chaucer's '' The Canterbury Tales'' (1392). In the " Nun's Priest's Tale", a vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox on "Since March began thirty days and two," i.e. 32 days since March began, which is 1 April. However, it is not clear that Chaucer was referencing 1 April since the text of the "Nun's Priest's Tale" also states that the story takes place on the day when the sun is "in the sign of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Louis Waldman
Louis Waldman (January 5, 1892 – September 12, 1982) was a leading figure in the Socialist Party of America from the late 1910s and through the middle 1930s, a founding member of the Social Democratic Federation, and a prominent New York labor lawyer. He was expelled from the New York State Assembly in 1920 during the First Red Scare. Early life Louis Waldman was born on January 5, 1892, in Yancherudnia, Ukraine, not far from Kiev, the son of a Jewish innkeeper who was one of the few literate men of the village. Waldman emigrated to America in the summer 1909 at the age of 17, arriving in New York City to join his sisters on September 17. Waldman first worked in a metal shop before becoming an apprentice garment lining cutter in one of the sweatshops of the city. He joined a union and participated in the 11-week New York cloakmakers' strike of 1910, while attending high school in the evenings. Upon conclusion of the strike and resumption of his job, Waldman was fired and b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New York Communist
The ''New York Communist'' was a short-lived weekly newspaper issued by the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party of Local Greater New York, encompassing the New York City metro area. The paper was edited by the radical journalist and war correspondent John Reed. Only 10 issues of the paper were produced during 1919 before the publication was absorbed by '' The Revolutionary Age'' following the Left Wing National Conference of June 1919. History According to a declaration in its inaugural issue, no doubt written by editor John Reed, "thousands of members" of the Left Wing Section living in New York City were engaged in "fighting for control of the local Party machinery, against a fierce and unscrupulous resistance by the petty politicians who direct the Party machine." While noting enormous contributions to this movement made by the long-established Left Wing weekly of the Left Wing Section of Local Boston, ''The Revolutionary Age,'' "as long as the entire machinery is not in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Reed (journalist)
John "Jack" Silas Reed (October 22, 1887 – October 17, 1920) was an American journalist, poet, and communist activist. Reed first gained prominence as a war correspondent during the Mexican Revolution for ''Metropolitan'' and World War I for '' The Masses''. He is best known for his coverage of the October Revolution in Petrograd, Russia, which he wrote about in his 1919 book ''Ten Days That Shook the World''. Reed supported the Soviet takeover of Russia, even briefly taking up arms to join the Red Guards in 1918. He hoped for a similar Communist revolution in the United States, and co-founded the short-lived Communist Labor Party of America in 1919. He died in Moscow of spotted typhus in 1920. At the time of his death he may have soured on the Soviet leadership, but he was given a hero's burial by the Soviet Union, and is one of only three Americans buried at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. Early life John Silas Reed was born on October 22, 1887, in his maternal grandparents ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Julius Gerber
Julius Gerber (born Israel Getzel Gerber; 1872–1956) was a leading Socialist Party of America party official and politician during the first two decades of the 20th century. Gerber headed the important Socialist Party unit for New York City and its environs from 1911 through 1922. He played a key role in the party split of 1919, out of which the Communist Party emerged. Biography Early years Gerber was born December 24, 1872, in Riga, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire. His father was a tradesman. The Gerbers were Jewish, and as members of a persecuted minority, the family fled Tsarist Russia in 1886, landing in New York. Young Julius took a job as a sheet metal worker at the age of 14, a task at which he remained until 1911. He was a member of the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union. There is no record substantiating Julius Gerber arrived in the United States with any family member. According to his USA passport applications of 1928 and 1931, he arrived in the United States i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Oneal
James J. "Jim" Oneal (March 13, 1875 – December 12, 1962), a founding member of the Socialist Party of America (SPA), was a prominent socialist journalist, historian, and party activist who played a decisive role in the bitter party splits of 1919–21 and 1934–36. Early years Oneal was born March 13, 1875 in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of an iron worker. Upon the death of his father, Oneal was forced to leave school to go to work in a steel mill to help support his family."Socialist Pioneer Dies," ''New America'' ew York vol. 3, no. 3 (December 24, 1962), pg. 8. Oneal attended public school only to the 6th grade, relying instead upon self-education. Oneal was an early convert to social democratic politics, joining the Socialist Labor Party of America in 1895 before leaving to join the Chicago-based Social Democratic Party of America (SDP) of Victor L. Berger and Eugene V. Debs shortly after its founding in 1897. Long a resident of Terre Haute, Indiana, Oneal was a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |