Abraham "Abram" Jakira ( 1889–1931) was an American

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

political activist, newspaper editor, and Communist Party functionary. He is best remembered as one of the early Communist Party's factional leaders of the 1920s.

Biography

Early years

Abram Jakira is believed to have been born in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

around 1889. Little is known of his life prior to his coming to the United States in 1912.

Political career

Jakira was an active member of 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 America ...

and was supportive of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party which emerged in 1919. Later that year he became a founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America (CLP) and served as the Secretary of that organization's Russian- language federation. He served as a member of the editorial board of the CLP, in charge of production of the party's Russian-language "underground" (secret and illegal) newspaper and pamphlets. Jakira moved with the rest of the CLP into the new

United Communist Party of America United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

(UCP) in May 1920. He was one of six members of that organization who prepared the UCP's program. In the summer of 1920, Jakira was named the organizer of the UCP's Russian Federation. During this period he used the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

"A. Dubner." He also later used the pseudonyms "A. Duboff," "Post," and "J. Miller" among other names. On April 29, 1920, the U.S. Department of Justice and the so-called "bomb squad" of the

New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

conducted a raid on an apartment which proved to be the national headquarters of the United Communist Party. Jakira was one of those arrested in the sensational raid. He was held and released on $5,000 bail in May 1921. Jakira briefly served on the governing Central Executive Committee of the UCP in June 1921, resigning due to "family matters" resulting from his need to regularly commute from

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

to party headquarters in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The United Communist Party and the old Communist Party of America united in the summer of 1921 to form a new, unified organization also called the Communist Party of America. In this organization Jakira was one of the primaries in the so-called "Goose Caucus" group which, seeing open operations in the face of law enforcement pressure as potentially disastrous, advocated continuation of the secret form of organization then being employed by the party. Jakira was elected Executive Secretary of the CPA at the ill-fated August 1922 Bridgman Convention of the CPA, while also sitting on the governing Central Executive Committee of the party's "legal" and aboveground arm, the Workers Party of America (WPA). In the six month interval which followed, the secret organization's size and influence withered, while the WPA, fueled particularly by an influx of new blood from the Finnish Socialist Federation, grew dramatically. Early in 1923 the decision was made to terminate the parallel underground organization which Jakira headed, leaving the "legal" WPA headed by C.E. Ruthenberg as the sole communist organization in the field. Called by one of his contemporaries "modest and friendly," Jakira was a factional loyalist to Workers (Communist) Party leaders Ruthenberg and

Jay Lovestone Jay Lovestone (15 December 1897 – 7 March 1990) was an American activist. He 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 Cen ...

in the middle 1920s.Vera Buch Weisbord, ''A Radical Life.'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1977; pg. 153. In January 1924, Jakira was appointed the District Organizer of the WPA's Philadelphia district. He remained in that post for at least a year before taking on a similar role in

Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the Unite ...

as DO of the

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

district, a position which he retained through the end of the decade."Party Organizers Endorse Comintern Address," ''The Daily Worker,'' vol. 6, no. 64 (May 22, 1929), pg. 1. Late in the spring of 1929 Communist Party Executive Secretary Jay Lovestone was deposed by the decision of the

Executive Committee of the Communist International The Executive Committee of the Communist International, commonly known by its acronym, ECCI (Russian acronym ИККИ - for ), was the governing authority of the Comintern between the World Congresses of that body. The ECCI, established by the Fo ...

, which aimed to end the ongoing factional war in the American part. Jakira was among the first four of the Communist Party's district organizers to publicly endorse this decision. Jakira was the Communist Party's District Organizer for the Pittsburgh district in 1928 and was influential in helping to organize the National Miners Union, a radical " dual union" established by the party through its Trade Union Unity League arm late in that year. Thereafter, Jakira was named Assistant Secretary of the

International Labor Defense 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 Comintern's International Red Aid network. The ILD defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was active ...

, a mass organization initiated, financed, and controlled by the Communist Party.

Death and legacy

Abram Jakira died of

throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...

on March 20, 1931, in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

Footnotes

Works

* "Pittsburgh District Puts into Motion Plan for Recruiting of New Members and More Activity," ''The Daily Worker,'' vol. 3, no. 254 (November 9, 1926), pg. 4. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jakira, Abram 1880s births 1931 deaths Members of the Socialist Party of America American communists American Marxists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Communist Party USA politicians New York (state) socialists