Bertram David Wolfe (January 19, 1896 – February 21, 1977) was an American scholar, leading

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

, and later a leading anti-communist. He authored many works related to communism, including biographical studies of

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

, and

Diego Rivera Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...

Background

Bertram Wolfe was born January 19, 1896, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. His mother was a native-born American and his father was an ethnic

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

immigrant from Germany who had arrived in the United States as a boy of 13.Branko Lazitch with Milorad M. Drachkovitch, ''Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition.'' Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1986; pp. 514-515. Wolfe studied to teach English literature and writing and received degrees from the College of the City of New York,

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and the

University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countries. It also has 34 ...

Career

Communist Party

Wolfe was active with 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 ...

in his youth and was an active participant in the Left Wing Section which emerged in 1919. Wolfe attended the June 1919 National Conference of the Left Wing and was elected by that body to its nine-member National Council. He helped draft the manifesto of that organization, together with Louis C. Fraina and John Reed. In 1919 Wolfe became a founding member of the

Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

(CPA). Together with Maximilian Cohen, Wolfe was responsible for ''The Communist World,'' the CPA's first newspaper in New York City."Wolfe Starts Campaign Tour: Communist Candidate to Speak in Many Cities," ''Daily Worker,'' vol. 5, no. 235 (October 4, 1928), pp. 1, 3. During the period of repression of leading Communists in New York conducted by the Lusk Committee, Wolfe fled to California. In 1920 he became a member of the San Francisco Cooks' Union. He also edited a left wing trade union paper called ''Labor Unity'' from 1920 to 1922. Wolfe was a delegate to the ill-fated August 1922 convention of the underground CPA held in Bridgman, Michigan, for which he was indicted under Michigan's " criminal syndicalism" law. In 1923, Wolfe departed for Mexico, where he became active in the

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

movement there. He became a member of the Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Mexico and was a delegate of that organization to the 5th World Congress of the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

, held in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1924. Wolfe was also a leading member the

Red International of Labor Unions The Red International of Labor Unions (, RILU), commonly known as the Profintern (), was an international body established by the Communist International (Comintern) with the aim of coordinating communist activities within trade unions. Formally ...

(Profintern) from 1924 to 1928, sitting on that body's Executive Committee. Wolfe was ultimately deported from Mexico to the United States in July 1925 for activities related to a strike of Mexican railway workers. Upon his return to America, Wolfe took over as head of the Party's New York Workers School, located at 26 Union Square and offering 70 courses in the social sciences to some 1500 students. After his return to the United States, Wolfe became a close political associate of factional leader

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 ...

, who became the leader of the American Communist Party following the death of C.E. Ruthenberg in 1927. He was editor of ''The Communist,'' the official theoretical journal of the Communist Party, in 1927 and 1928. Wolfe was chosen as a delegate of the American Communist Party to the Sixth World Congress of the Comintern in 1928. In 1928, Wolfe was made the national director of agitation and propaganda for the Workers (Communist) Party of America. He also ran for

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

as a Communist in the 10th Congressional District of New York. Late in December 1928, with the election campaign at an end, Wolfe was dispatched by the Lovestone-dominated Central Executive Committee of the American Communist Party to serve as it delegate to 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 ...

(ECCI), where he replaced J. Louis Engdahl. In that capacity, he became involved in the attempt of Jay Lovestone to maintain control of the American organization over the growing opposition of

and

Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov (; – 8 November 1986) was a Soviet politician, diplomat, and revolutionary who was a leading figure in the government of the Soviet Union from the 1920s to the 1950s, as one of Joseph Stalin's closest allies. ...

, who ultimately supported the rival faction headed by William Z. Foster and Alexander Bittelman. According to

Benjamin Gitlow Benjamin Gitlow (December 22, 1891 – July 19, 1965) was a prominent American socialist politician of the early 20th century and a founding member of the Communist Party of the United States, Communist Party USA. At the end of the 1930s, Gitlow t ...

's 1940 memoir, ''I Confess,'' Wolfe was directed by the Comintern in April 1929 to be removed from his post in Moscow and to instead accept a dangerous assignment to

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

- at the time under Japanese rule - as part of the campaign against the Lovestone group in the American Communist Party.Benjamin Gitlow, ''I Confess: The Truth About American Communism.'' New York: E.P. Dutton, 1940; pp. 547-548. Wolfe refused the assignment, providing a long statement of his reasons to ECCI for this decision, according to Gitlow. In June 1929, Wolfe was expelled from the Communist Party, USA for refusing to support the Comintern's decisions regarding the American Communist Party, which effectively removed Lovestone from power.

Communist Party (Opposition)

Upon returning to the United States, he and Lovestone, who had also been expelled from the party, formed the Communist Party (Opposition) to further their views. Having expected a majority of American Communists to join them, they were disappointed at only being able to attract a few hundred followers. Wolfe became editor of the CP(O)'s newspaper ''Worker's Age'' and its chief theorist. Initially, Lovestone and Wolfe hoped to eventually be welcomed back into the Communist movement but when changes in the Comintern's line failed to result in a rapprochement, the CP(O) moved further and further away from communism. Wolfe and Lovestone were sympathisers of

Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (; rus, Николай Иванович Бухарин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ bʊˈxarʲɪn; – 15 March 1938) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and Marxist theorist. A prominent Bolshevik ...

and helped found the International Communist Opposition (also known as the International Right Opposition) which for a time had some influence before petering out. In the 1930s, Wolfe and his wife, Ella Goldberg Wolfe, travelled around the world visiting

and

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

in 1933 and spending time in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

prior to the outbreak of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. By 1940, the Wolfes were living in

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Provi ...

where they befriended

Alfred Kazin Alfred Kazin (June 5, 1915 – June 5, 1998) was an American writer and literary critic. His literary reviews appeared in ''The New York Times'', the '' New York Herald-Tribune'', ''The New Republic'' and ''The New Yorker''. He wrote often a ...

and introduced him to Mary McCarthy and the writers of the

Partisan Review ''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a left-wing small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affi ...

. The CP(O) meanwhile moved further away from the left and went through several name changes finally becoming the Independent Labor League of America in 1938 before dissolving at the end of 1940 in part because of a break between Lovestone and Wolfe on their interpretation of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

- with Lovestone favoring American intervention and Wolfe opposing support for what he argued was an

imperialist Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power ( diplomatic power and cultural imperialism). Imperialism fo ...

war.

Cold War

Wolfe's political perspective changed with time, however, and during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

was a leading

anti-Communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

. In the 1950s, he worked as ideological advisor to the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

's International Broadcasting Office which was in charge of

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

. In his autobiography, "A Life in Two Centuries," Bertram wrote: "When I went to work for the Voice of America in the period from 1950 to 1954, religious leaders and believers were being framed, tortured, and sent to concentration camps in all the countries under Communist rule in Eastern Europe. After trying to get my script writers to write effective radio broadcasts to defend the religious freedom of the churchmen and devout believers who were being thus persecuted, I found that I had write the scripts myself to get the requisite feeling into them. I did not believe what the persecuted believe , but I did believe in their right to freedom to harbor and practice their beliefs without interference." He then joined

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

's Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace's library as senior fellow in Slavic studies and, in 1966, became a senior research fellow at the institution. He also served as a visiting professor at

and the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

. In 1973 Wolfe was one of the signers of the

Humanist Manifesto II ''Humanist Manifesto II'', written in 1973 by humanists Paul Kurtz and Edwin H. Wilson, was an update to the previous ''Humanist Manifesto'' published in 1933, and the second entry in the '' Humanist Manifesto'' series. It begins with a stat ...

Personal life and death

In 1917, Wolfe married Ella Goldberg (May 10, 1896 – January 8, 2000). Wolfe died on February 21, 1977, from burns he suffered when his bathrobe caught fire. He was 81 years old at the time of his death.

Works

''Our Heritage from 1776: A Working Class View of the First American Revolution.''
With

and William F. Dunne, New York: The Workers School, n.d. [1926
alternate link

''How class collaboration works''
Chicago: Daily Worker, 1926 (Little red library #9)
''Revolution in Latin America''
New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1928
''The Trotsky opposition: its significance for American workers''
New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1928 (Workers library #5) * ''Economics of present day capitalism'' New York: New Workers school 1930s * ''The nature of capitalist crisis'' New York: New Workers school 1930s
''What is the communist opposition?''
New York: Workers Age Pub. Ass'n. 1933
''Marx and America''
New York: John Day Co. 1934
''Things We Want to Know''
New York: Workers Age Pub. Association. 1934
''Marxian Economics: An Outline of Twelve Lectures.''
New York: New Workers school 1934 * ''Economics of Present Day Capitalism.'' New York: New Workers School, n.d. 930s * ''Portrait of America'' (with

) New York: Covici, Friede 1934 * ''Portrait of Mexico'' (with Diego Rivera) New York: Covici, Friede 1937
''Civil war in Spain''
(with Andrés Nin) New York: Workers Age Publishers 1937
''The Truth about the Barcelona events''
by Lambda (Introduction) New York: Workers Age 1937 * ''Keep America out of war, a program'' (with

Norman Thomas Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 – December 19, 1968) was an American Presbyterian religious minister, minister, political activist, and perennial candidate for president. He achieved fame as a socialism, socialist and pacifism, pacifis ...

) New York: Frederick A. Stokes 1939 * ''Diego Rivera: his life and times'' New York: A.A. Knopf 1939 * ''The Russian Revolution'' by

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...

Intro. and trans. by Bertram D. Wolfe. New York: Workers Age 1940
''Poland, acid test for a people's peace''
New York: Polish Labor Group 1945
''Diego Rivera''
Washington: Pan American Union 1947 * ''Three who made a revolution, a biographical history'' Washington: Dial Press 1948
''Operation rewrite; the agony of Soviet historians''
New York, N.Y.?:

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

?, 1948 *''An exclusive radio interview with Stalin on peace and war: based on a series of three broadcasts by the Voice of America, October, 1951''(with Catharine de Bary) S.l. : Distributed by the

United States Information Service The United States Information Agency (USIA) was a United States government agency devoted to propaganda which operated from 1953 to 1999. Previously existing United States Information Service (USIS) posts operating out of U.S. embassies wor ...

, 1951 * ''Six keys to the Soviet system'' Boston:

Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as Jame ...

1956
''Khrushchev and Stalin's ghost; text, background, and meaning of Khrushchev's secret report to the Twentieth Congress on the night of February 24-25, 1956.''
New York: Praeger 1957
''The durability of despotism in the Soviet system; Changes in Soviet Society, conference under the auspices of St. Anthony's College in association with the Congress for Cultural Freedom (June 24-29, 1957)''
Oxford: St. Anthony's College 1957 * ''The Russian Revolution, and Leninism or Marxism?'' by Rosa Luxemburg (new introduction) Ann Arbor:

University of Michigan Press The University of Michigan Press is a university press that is a part of Michigan Publishing at the University of Michigan Library. It publishes 170 new titles each year in the humanities and social sciences. Titles from the press have earn ...

1961 * ''The Fabulous Life of Diego Rivera'' (1963) * ''Leninism '' Palo Alto, Calif.: Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace 1964 * ''Strange Communists I have known'' New York:

Stein and Day Stein and Day, Inc. was an American publishing company founded by Sol Stein and his wife Patricia Day in 1962. Stein was both the publisher and the editor-in-chief. The firm was based in New York City, and was in business for 27 years, until cl ...

1965 * ''Marxism, one hundred years in the life of a doctrine'' New York, Dial Press 1965 * ''The bridge and the abyss; the troubled friendship of Maxim Gorky and V.I. Lenin'' New York, Published for the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. by F.A. Praeger 1967 * ''An ideology in power; reflections on the Russian revolution'' New York: Stein and Day 1969 * ''Lenin: notes for a biographer'' by

(introduction) New York: Capricorn Books 1971 * ''Revolution and reality: essays on the origin and fate of the Soviet system'' Chapel Hill:

University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a not-for-profit university press associated with the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the southern United States. It is a mem ...

1981 * ''A life in two centuries: an autobiography'' New York: Stein and Day 1981 * ''Lenin and the twentieth century: a Bertram D. Wolfe retrospective'' Stanford, Calif.:Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University 1984
''Breaking with communism: the intellectual odyssey of Bertram D. Wolfe''
edited and with an introduction by

Robert Hessen Robert Hessen (September 1936 – April 15, 2024) was an American economic and business historian. He was a professor at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and a senior research fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution. He ...

Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University 1990

References

External links

Bertram Wolfe Archive at marxists.org
article on Ella Wolfe
Bertram D. Wolfe materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)
*Bertram Wolfe's

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

files:
HQ-1

HQ-2

HQ-EBF32Letters between Bertram Wolfe and Frida Kahlo
at the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openi ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe, Bertram 1896 births 1977 deaths People from Brooklyn American Comintern people American Marxists American people of German-Jewish descent Historians of communism Jewish socialists Members of the Communist Party USA Members of the Socialist Party of America Right Opposition Accidental deaths in California City College of New York alumni Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty Deaths from fire in the United States American anti-communists