Antoinette Konikow
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Antoinette F. Buchholz Konikow (November 1869 – 2 July 1946) was an American
physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
,
Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
, and radical political activist. Konikow is best remembered as one of the pioneers of the American
birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
movement and as a founding member of the Communist Party of America, forerunner of the
Communist Party, USA 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 Revo ...
. Expelled from the Communist Party as a supporter of
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
in the fall of 1928, Konikow went on to become a founder of the
Communist League of America The Communist League of America (Opposition) 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(O) was the United States section of Leon Trotsky's I ...
, the main Trotskyist organization in the United States. Konikow's 1923 book, ''Voluntary Motherhood,'' is regarded as a seminal work in the history of 20th Century American feminism.


Biography


Early years

Antoinette F. Buchholz was born on November 11, 1869, in the
Russian empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, the daughter of Theodor Buchholz and Rosa Kuhner Buchholz, both of whom were ethnic Jews.John William Leonard (ed.), ''Woman's Who's Who of America, 1914-1915: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada.'' New York: American Commonwealth Co., 1914. She attended secondary school in
Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
in the
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
before emigrating to Zurich, Switzerland to attend the university there. She married a fellow student, Moses J. Konikow ''(pronounced KO-ni-koff),'' in Zurich in 1891. While in
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, Konikow joined the
Emancipation of Labor Emancipation of Labour (russian: Освобождение труда) was the first Russian Marxist group. It was founded in exile by Georgi Plekhanov, Vasily Ignatov, Vera Zasulich, Leo Deutsch, and Pavel Axelrod, at Geneva (Switzerland) in 18 ...
group headed by
Georgii Plekhanov Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov (; rus, Гео́ргий Валенти́нович Плеха́нов, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj vəlʲɪnˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ plʲɪˈxanəf, a=Ru-Georgi Plekhanov-JermyRei.ogg; – 30 May 1918) was a Russian revoluti ...
. The Konikows subsequently came to America in 1893. Antoinette attended
Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
, near
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, from which she graduated with honors in 1902 with a medical degree. The couple had two children, Edith Rose Konikow (b. 1904) and William Morris Konikow (b. 1906) before divorcing in 1908. She remained a practicing medical doctor in Boston up through the 1930s.


Political career

Antoinette Konikow was politically active from an early age, joining the
Socialist Labor Party of America The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...
(SLP) in 1893 and writing and speaking on the organization's behalf. She was a delegate to the organization's 1896 National Convention at which it determined to establish the dual union to the
American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...
, the
Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance The Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance of the United States and Canada - commonly abbreviated STLA or ST&LA - was a revolutionary socialist labor union in the United States closely linked to the Socialist Labor Party (SLP), which existed from 189 ...
.Diane Feeley, "Antoinette Bucholz Konikow," in Mari Jo Buhle, Paul Buhle, and Dan Georgakas (eds.), ''Encyclopedia of the American Left.'' First Edition. New York: Garland Publishers, 1990; pg. 405. Konikow also worked closely with the Boston Workman's Circle (Yiddish: אַרבעטער־רינג, ''Arbeter Ring''), a socialist Jewish social aid organization. In order to participate in the organization, Konikow learned
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
, one of five languages which she learned in her lifetime. She left the SLP in 1897 over what she believed to be the narrow and dogmatic policies of the organization.Priscilla Murolo, "Antoinette Konikow," in
Judy Barrett Litoff Judy Barrett Litoff (December 23, 1944 – July 3, 2022) was an American editor and author, best known for her editorial work on books on American women's history. A graduate of the University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) ...
and Judith McDonnell (eds.), ''European Immigrant Women in the United States: A Biographical Dictionary.'' New York: Garland Publishing, 1994; pp. 167-168. Murolo incorrectly has the date of Konikow's ''expulsion'' as 1897. For the correct date, see: "Bravo! New Bedford, Mass., Big Socialist Labor Party Vote: Massachusetts and Pennsylvania State Conventions," ''The People'' ew York vol. 8, no. 10 (June 5, 1898), pg. 1, columns 2-3.
Instead, Konikow cast her lot with the
Social Democracy of America The Social Democracy of America (SDA), later known as the Cooperative Brotherhood, was a short lived political party in the United States that sought to combine the planting of an intentional community with political action in order to create a s ...
headed by
Eugene V. Debs Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialism, socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five times the candidate ...
and
Victor L. Berger Victor Luitpold Berger (February 28, 1860August 7, 1929) was an Austrian–American socialist politician and journalist who was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party of America and its successor, the Socialist Party of America. Born in ...
, going so far as to sign a petition to the Massachusetts SLP convention inviting it to merge with the fledgling Chicago group."Bravo! New Bedford, Mass., Big Socialist Labor Party Vote: Massachusetts and Pennsylvania State Conventions," ''The People'' ew York vol. 8, no. 10 (June 5, 1898), pg. 1. For her trouble the May 1898 Massachusetts State Convention of the SLP saw fit to formally expel Konikow from the organization. Konikow followed Debs and Berger in an 1898 split which established the
Social Democratic Party of America The Social Democratic Party of America (SDP) was a short-lived political party in the United States established in 1898. The group was formed out of elements of the Social Democracy of America (SDA) and was a predecessor to the Socialist Party of ...
and in 1901 became a founding member the
Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a 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 of Ameri ...
(SPA) when that organization was created through a merger of the Social Democratic Party and an Eastern organization by the same name composed of former SLP dissidents. Konikow was a delegate to the SPA's 1908 National Convention, and was later instrumental in the establishment of several
Socialist Sunday Schools Socialist Sunday Schools (SSS) were set up to replace or augment Christian Sunday Schools in the United Kingdom, and later the United States. They arose in response to the perceived inadequacy of orthodox Sunday schools as a training ground fo ...
, institutions designed to train working class children in
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
principles and ethics as an alternative to religious instruction. When the Socialist Party split at its
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 lef ...
, Konikow cast her lot with the Communist Party of America (CPA), in which the radical foreign language federations of the old SP played a large role. Konikow participated as a delegate to the founding convention of the CPA in Chicago in September 1919. Konikow was also active in the Communist Party's "aboveground" activities in this period, serving as chair of the
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
Division of the
National Defense Committee The International Labor Defense (ILD) (1925–1947) was a legal advocacy organization established in 1925 in the United States as the American section of the Communist International, Comintern's International Red Aid network. The ILD defended Sacco ...
, a party organization dedicated to raising funds to pay for its legal defense needs. Konikow was a delegate to the second convention of the
Workers Party of America The Workers Party of America (WPA) 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. Background As a legal political party, the Workers Party accepted affiliation fr ...
, successor to the underground Communist Party of America, held in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
from December 24 to 26, 1922. In 1924, Konikow stood as the Workers Party's candidate for
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...
from
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
.Lawrence Kestenbaum
"Antoinette Konikow,"
Political Graveyard.com, Ann Arbor, MI. Retrieved April 8, 2010.
Konikow was also deeply committed to the cause of
birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
, a taboo topic in this era. She was a member of the Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, one of the leading birth control organizations of the day. In the mid-1920s, she and her son-in-law,
Joseph Vanzler Joseph "Usick" Vanzler (November 29, 1901 – June 21, 1956), best known by the pseudonym John G. Wright, was a Jewish-American socialist, activist and translator. Vanzler is best known as the translator of a number of the important works of Leon Tr ...
(a.k.a. John G. Wright), jointly developed an inexpensive spermicidal jelly, the formula of which she shared with officials in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
when she visited there as a birth control specialist in 1926. While in the USSR, Konikow was won over to the political ideas of
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
, then embroiled in a bitter factional dispute with the leadership of the
Russian Communist Party Communist Party of Russia might refer to: * Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, founded in 1898 – the forerunner of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) * Communist Party of the Soviet Union, formally established in 1912 and known origina ...
headed by
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
and
Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Буха́рин) ( – 15 March 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician, Marxist philosopher and economist and prolific author on revolutionary theory. ...
. From 1927, Konikow was open in her support with the program of the United Opposition of Trotsky with Grigorii Zinoviev and
Lev Kamenev Lev Borisovich Kamenev. (''né'' Rozenfeld; – 25 August 1936) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. Born in Moscow to parents who were both involved in revolutionary politics, Kamenev attended Imperial Moscow Uni ...
in the USSR.Emily Turnbull and James Robertson, "Introduction," to ''James P. Cannon and the Early Years of American Communism: Selected Writings and Speeches, 1920-1928.'' New York: Prometheus Research Library, 1992; pg. 53-54. This did not lead to her immediate removal from the party, however, only to the loss of her position as an instructor in the local party training school. Konikow was expelled from the Communist Party headed by Executive Secretary Jay Lovestone in November 1928 as a
Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...
. Upon her expulsion, she formed a tiny group in Boston calling itself the Independent Communist League. This group later merged with the
Communist League of America The Communist League of America (Opposition) 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(O) was the United States section of Leon Trotsky's I ...
headed by
James P. Cannon James Patrick Cannon (February 11, 1890 – August 21, 1974) was an American Trotskyist and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party. Born on February 11, 1890, in Rosedale, Kansas, the son of Irish immigrants with strong socialist convictio ...
,
Martin Abern Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...
, and
Max Shachtman Max Shachtman (; September 10, 1904 – November 4, 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. He went from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL–CIO President George Meany. Beginnings S ...
at the time of its formation later that same year.Keith Anwar, "Antoinette Konikow," in ''James P. Cannon and the Early Years of American Communism: Selected Writings and Speeches, 1920-1928.'' New York: Prometheus Research Library, 1992; pg. 586. She remained active in this movement until her death, contributing frequently to the party press on women's issues. At the convention establishing the Socialist Workers Party in January 1938, Konikow was named an honorary member of its governing National Committee.


Death and legacy

Antoinette Konikow died of a heart attack in Boston in July 1946. Konikow's 1923 book, ''Voluntary Motherhood,'' is regarded as a seminal work in the history of 20th century American feminism.


Footnotes


Works


''Voluntary Motherhood: A Study of the Physiology and Hygiene of Prevention of Conception.''
Boston: Buchholz Publishing Co., 1923. Revised: 2nd edition 1926, 3rd edition 1928, 4th edition 1933, and 5th edition 1938. This link gives access to 4 of the five revisions of this pamphlet and to her main Marxists Internet Archive page.
''Physicians' Manual of Birth Control.''
New York: Buchholz Publishing Co., 1931.


Further reading

* William Kruse
"Socialist Sunday School Organizes on National Scale,"
''The Young Socialists’ Magazine'' hicago v. 12, no. 9 (Sept. 1918). pg. 2. {{DEFAULTSORT:Konikow, Antoinette 1869 births 1946 deaths Physicians from Massachusetts Writers from Boston American socialists American Marxists American people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish American writers Jewish women writers Members of the Socialist Labor Party of America Socialist Party of America politicians from Massachusetts Members of the Communist Party USA Members of the Communist League of America Members of the Workers Party of the United States Members of the Socialist Workers Party (United States) Jewish feminists Jewish socialists American women's rights activists American birth control activists Ukrainian Jews 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers Communist women writers American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Massachusetts socialists American socialist feminists Tufts University School of Medicine alumni