Jacob Spolansky (born Jacob Sehpoliansky ; 1890 – August 1966) was an American born

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

from the Russian Empire (today Ukraine) who rotated between government and private (corporate) investigative agencies as "part of a class of professional spies fostered by the growth of

anticommunism Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and first

Red Scare A Red Scare is a form of moral panic provoked by fear of the rise of left-wing ideologies in a society, especially communism and socialism. Historically, red scares have led to mass political persecution, scapegoating, and the ousting of thos ...

, perhaps best known as "chief of the '

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

squad'", a "professional enemy of communism," and a key player in the government raid on the 1922 Bridgman Convention.

Background

Jacob Spolansky was born around 1890 near

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, Ukraine (then part of 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 ...

). He studied two years at university in Kiev and another year at the University of Zurich. In 1910 (or 1909 or 1912), he arrived in the United States. He studied two years at a law school in Chicago.

Career

Initially a lumberjack and elevator operator, from 1911 to 1915, Spolansky sold newspapers in Chicago and then "operated a newspaper" in Chicago, the first-ever Russian-language newspaper there. In April 1918, Spolansky joined US Army's Military Intelligence Division for a year. On July 19, 1919, he joined the Bureau of Investigation or BI (the future

Federal Bureau of Investigation 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 ...

or FBI), the latter as a special agent for six years specializing in "subversive activities." He also worked for the Dies Committee. Over the next three decades, whether for governmental or corporate agencies, he "spied on and infiltrated radical and labor organizations." Further, Spolansky worked with government committees, business associations, and media to gather support for legislation against political and industrial radicals. In 1918 during the

First Red Scare The first Red Scare was a period during History of the United States (1918–1945), the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of Far-left politics, far-left movements, including Bolsheviks, Bolshevism a ...

, he ran an informant in Chicago among the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

(IWW or "Wobblies") who posed as a radical agitator at steel factory in Gary, Indiana. In September 1922 during the

Great Railroad Strike of 1922 The Great Railroad Strike of 1922, or the Railway Shopmen's Strike, was a nationwide strike of railroad workers in the United States. Launched on July 1, 1922, by seven of the sixteen extant railroad labor organizations, the strike continued ...

(AKA the Railway Shopmen's Strike), Spolansky led a group of BI and

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...

staff who protected

US Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general acts as the principal legal advisor to the president of the ...

Harry M. Daugherty. In December 1922, he located and led the raid on the Bridgman Convention of the still-nascent US communist party and personally arrested

William Z. Foster William Z. Foster (born William Edward Foster; February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a radical American labor organizer and Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1945 to ...

. (Spolansky, "a Department of Justice stool pidgeon," had infiltrated the event by posing as a member of "the Socialist and other radical parties.") On January 23, 1924, Spolansky submitted his letter of resignation to BI director

William J. Burns William John Burns (October 19, 1861 – April 14, 1932) was an American private investigator and law enforcement official. He was known as "America's Sherlock Holmes" and earned fame for having conducted private investigations into a number of ...

; soon after, articles appeared in the ''

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...

'' under his name with information believed to have come from the BI. In mid-October 1924, the CPUSA's ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPU ...

'' newspaper complained of ''Chicago Daily News'' articles as lies by that "discharged federal fink." The paper ridiculed him: "Spolansky Exposes Own Plots." In late October 1924, the newspaper reported that "Jake" had joined the Burns Detective Agency in Chicago, run by his former BOI boss Burns, "King of Dicks." In February 1926, the a Philadelphia businessman informed the FBI that Spolansky was working for the National Clay Products Industries Association in Chicago. In August 1926, the

Federated Press ''This is not to be confused with the independent, research-based organization of Toronto, Canada, also called that targets executives, lawyers, professionals.'' The Federated Press was a left wing news agency, news service, established in 1920, ...

's '' Labor's News'' outed Spolansky as a "faded stool" and "expert" on Reds (with allegedly 20 years experience from

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

, "U.S. militant and navy intelligence," and the BI), working for the Botany Worsted Mills during the 1926 Passaic textile strike, following the failure of predecessors in a frame-up of strike leader Albert Weisbord. Spolansky also helped track Comintern agent

Mikhail Borodin Mikhail Markovich Gruzenberg, known by the alias Borodin (9 July 1884 – 29 May 1951), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Communist International (Comintern) agent. He was an advisor to Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang (KMT) in China during the ...

in the USA. In 1931, he helped write Michigan's 1931 "Spolansky Act." During the 1920s and 1930s, he donated further time to assist Army and Navy intelligence. In 1933, he became a Michigan state trooper and later that year a detective for

Wayne County, Michigan Wayne County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2020, the United States census placed its population at 1,793,561, making it the List of the most populous counties in the United States, 19th ...

. In 1935, he served as a detective for the

Chrysler Corporation FCA US, LLC, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of ...

. In February 1935, FBI director

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...

refused to back Spolansky's "reputation and reliability" when the ''Detroit Times'' asked for a reference for him as a source. and Later, he served as investigator for the

National Association of Manufacturers The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is an advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C., with additional offices across the United States. It is the nation's largest manufacturing industrial trade association, representing 14,000 s ...

. At some point in time, he worked for the Detroit Sheriff's Office and the Detroit Employers Association. From February to August 1939, Spolansky worked for Gerald L.K. Smith. In 1940, he ran unsuccessfully for sheriff of Wayne County. In late 1940 and into 1942, Spolansky worked for George Mintzer of the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the wi ...

. In the fall of 1941, Spolansky unsuccessfully tried to launch a Nonsectarian League for Americanism. In November 1941, he had a letter from the Dies Committee that claimed he was an investigator for it in the Detroit area regarding Nazis and the National Workers League.

Testimony

In 1930, Spolansky testified before the Fish Committee. At the time, he was considered "the country's leading red-hunter specializing in the labor movement." On October 12, 1938, while serving as a Wayne County detective, Spolansky testified in Detroit, Michigan, before the Dies Committee. He related his involvement in the arrest and deportation of Joseph Kowalski, an alleged communist,

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

, and

Comintern 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 Internatio ...

member, sentenced by Judge

Julian Mack Julian William Mack (July 19, 1866 – September 5, 1943) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Commerce Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the United States Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circui ...

, and deported to Russia. He provided lists of: Slavic-named foreign workers, CPUSA publications, labor publications, CPUSA resolutions, Detroit Workers School materials, a list of communist organizations from 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 mutual ...

(AFL), copies of International Press Correspondence, and other materials he considered incriminating. He boasted of his years in "combating communism... and... combating communistic activities."

Personal life and death

Spolansky married Maria and had two daughters. According to his application to join the US Department of Justice, dated November 8, 1923, Spolansky spoke: Russian, Ukrainian, Bohemian (Czech), Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, French, Yiddish, and Lithuanian (Lithuanian). Jacob Spolansky died age 76 in August 1966.

Legacy

In 1957, a photo of Spolansky dated 1923 appeared in

Theodore Draper Theodore H. Draper (September 11, 1912 – February 21, 2006) was an American historian and political writer. Draper is best known for the 14 books he completed during his life, including work regarded as seminal on the formative period of the Am ...

's book ''The Roots of American Communism''. In the 2006 article "The Founders of American Anti-communism," academic Nick Fischer described the "multi-lingual" Spolansky as "a leading anticommunist agent" who "abhorred radicalism" and helped arrest more than 650 foreigners, of whom 400 faced deportation. In his 2016 book ''Spider Web: The Birth of American Anticommunism'', Fischer devotes an entire chapter to Spolansky.

Works

In his 1951 ''The Communist Trail in America'', Spolansky describes his leadership in finding raw recruits who knew "comparatively little about the radical movements and their methods" and indoctrinating them into "the craft of trailing and investigating the enemies of the United States." Reviewing the book for the ''New York Times'',

Orville Prescott Orville Prescott (September 8, 1906, Cleveland, Ohio – April 28, 1996, New Canaan, Connecticut) was the main book reviewer for ''The New York Times'' for 24 years. Biography Born on September 8, 1906, in Cleveland, Ohio, Prescott graduated f ...

noted that the book contained stories of Spolansky's exploits as well as biographical sketches of communist leaders or fellow travelers but ultimately found it "superficial, disorderly, and tiresome." In a second review, Frank S. Adams ridicules Spolansky for asserting that

Earl Browder Earl Russell Browder (May 20, 1891 – June 27, 1973) was an American politician, spy for the Soviet Union, communist activist and leader of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). Browder was the General Secretary of the CP ...

was trying to create a new Communist International with

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...

and wrote that "his book is most interesting when he confines himself to his personal observations and experiences." ;Bureau of Investigation reports * ''The Conference of Russian Branches of the American Socialist Party in Chicago: Organization, Representation, and Activities'' (August 9, 1919) * ''Communist Party Convention: Day 2 — Sept. 2, 1919'' (September 4, 1919) * ''Communist Party of America Convention Day 3 — Sept. 3, 1919'' (September 4, 1919) * ''In Re: Communist Meeting at West Side Auditorium, Chicago, Sept. 21, 1919'' (September 26, 1919) * ''“The Red Evening”: Bureau of Investigation Report on the Mass Meeting Held at West Side Auditorium, Chicago, Nov. 1, 1919'' (November 3, 1919) * ''The Martens Controversy in the Russian Federation of the CPA: Undercover Report of a Meeting in Chicago'' (December 1, 1919) * ''Military Intelligence Department Undercover Surveillance Reportof the Communist Labor Party'' (January 12, 1920) ;Articles * "Hunt $250,00.00 Smuggled Jews Here," ''Chicago Daily News'' (February 7, 1924) * "Foster at Bridgman" (unsigned), ''St. Joseph Herald-Press'' (March 16, 1923) * "Chicago Plots of the Reds Exposed by a United States Secret Service Agent,"''Chicago Daily News'' (date?) * "'Red' Plotters in America," ''Chicago Daily News'' (October 14, 1924) ;Books * ''The Red Trail in America'' (1924) * ''The Communist Trail in America'' (1951)

References

External sources

Ernie Lazar FOIA
FBI Employees: Spolansky, Joseph 1-2-3
Library of Congress - photo Joseph Spolansky (1938)
* {{cite book , author = Nick Fischer , chapter = Jacob Spolansky: The Rise of the Career Anticommunist Spook , title = Spider Web: The Birth of American Anticommunism , publisher = University of Illinois Press , url = https://doi.org/10.5406/illinois/9780252040023.003.0007 , pages = 128–143 , date = May 2016 , volume = 1 , doi = 10.5406/illinois/9780252040023.003.0007 , access-date = 19 November 2022 1890 births 1966 deaths 20th-century American Jews Detectives Federal Bureau of Investigation agents American private investigators American anti-communists Jewish anti-communists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States