Louis B. Boudin (December 15, 1874 – May 29, 1952) was a Russian-born American

Marxist theoretician In Marxism, a theoretician is an individual who observes and writes about the condition or dynamics of society, history, or economics, making use of the main principles of Marxian socialism in the analysis. Derivation of the term In ''The Povert ...

, writer, politician, and lawyer. He is best remembered as the author of a two volume history of the Supreme Court's influence on American government, first published in 1932.

Early life

He was born Louis Boudianoff in

Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi ( ) is a small List of cities in Ukraine, city located in Cherkasy Raion, Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The city res ...

Kiev Governorate Kiev Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire (1796–1917), Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–18; 1918–1921), Ukrainian State (1918), and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–19 ...

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 ...

(now Cherkassy Oblast, Ukraine), on February 15, 1874. He was born into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of a shirt manufacturer.Solon DeLeon with Irma C. Hayssen and Grace Poole (eds.), ''The American Labor Who's Who.'' New York: Hanford Press, 1925; pg. 23. The family emigrated to America in June 1891 and settled 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 ...

Paul Buhle Paul Merlyn Buhle (born September 27, 1944) is an American historian, who is (retired) Senior Lecturer at Brown University, author or editor of 35 volumes, including histories of radicalism in the United States and the Caribbean, studies of pop ...

, "Louis B. Boudin" in

Mari Jo Buhle Mari Jo Buhle (born 1943) is an American historian and William J. Kenan Jr. University Professor Emerita at Brown University. Early life and education Buhle was born in 1943 as Mari Jo Kupski. She graduated from North Chicago Community High ...

, Paul Buhle, and Dan Georgakas (eds.), ''Encyclopedia of the American Left.'' New York: Garland Publishing Co., 1990; pp. 102–103. Louis worked in the

garment industry Clothing industry or garment industry summarizes the types of trade and industry along the production and value chain of clothing and garments, starting with the textile industry (producers of cotton, wool, fur, and synthetic fibre), embellishm ...

as a shirtmaker and as a private tutor. At the same time, Boudin began legal studies, gaining a

Master's Degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and being admitted to the

New York State Bar Association The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of New York. The mission of the association is to cultivate the science of jurisprudence; promote reform in the law; facilitate the administration of justice ...

in 1898.

Political career

At first, Boudin was a member of 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, 192 ...

. He was also a member of the governing National Executive Board of the party's trade union affiliate, the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance from 1898 to 1899. Boudin left the Socialist Labor Party during the party fight of 1899, casting his lot with the dissident faction headed by

Morris Hillquit Morris Hillquit (August 1, 1869 – October 8, 1933) was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side. Together with Eugene V. Debs and Congressman Victor L. Berger, Hillqu ...

and Henry Slobodin. This dissident organization eventually became one of the main pillars of the new

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 ...

, established in the summer of 1901. Boudin was elected a delegate of the Socialist Party of America to the International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart in 1907 and the 1910 Copenhagen Congress of the

Second International The Second International, also called the Socialist International, was a political international of Labour movement, socialist and labour parties and Trade union, trade unions which existed from 1889 to 1916. It included representatives from mo ...

. Boudin was frequently a candidate for public office on the Socialist Party ticket. He ran for Judge of the

New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the supreme court, highest court in the Judiciary of New York (state), Unified Court System of the New York (state), State of New York. It consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeal ...

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...

and

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

, and for

Chief Judge Chief judge may refer to: In lower or circuit courts The highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. * Chief judge (Australia) * Chief judge (United States) In supreme courts Some of Chief ...

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored ...

. He also ran for Justice of the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

(2nd District) in 1910, 1912, and 1919.

Writing career

Boudin wrote his first political articles on

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

and the

materialist conception of history Historical materialism is Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx located historical change in the rise of class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. Karl Marx stated that technological development plays an imp ...

(historical materialism). From May 1905 through October 1906, Boudin wrote a series of articles expounding upon

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

which were published in the Chicago magazine '' The International Socialist Review.'' These articles were collected in book form as ''The Theoretical System of Karl Marx in the Light of Recent Criticism'' in February 1907. The title was published by the leading radical publishing house of the day, Charles H. Kerr & Co., and was kept in print continuously over the next two decades through several reissue editions. The book, a defense of such orthodox Marxist tenets as the

labor theory of value The labor theory of value (LTV) is a theory of value that argues that the exchange value of a good or service is determined by the total amount of " socially necessary labor" required to produce it. The contrasting system is typically known as ...

and historical materialism against their critics of the day, established Boudin's place as one of the foremost American authorities on Marxism among a generation of young

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

s. Together with

Ludwig Lore Ludwig Lore (June 26, 1875July 8, 1942) was an American socialist magazine editor, newspaper writer, lecturer, and politician, best remembered for his tenure as editor of the socialist '' New Yorker Volkszeitung'' and role as a factional leader in ...

and Louis C. Fraina, Boudin was a founding editor of '' The Class Struggle,'' a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

theoretical magazine which first saw print in May 1917. ''The Class Struggle'' published news and commentary about revolutionary socialist events in Europe, including translations of works by some of the leading figures of the Zimmerwald Left, and was an important influence on the formation of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party in 1919 — a group which provided the core 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 ...

and Communist Labor Party later in that year. Boudin had left the project by this juncture, however, as a brief notice in the September–October 1918 issue indicated that he had resigned his position as an editor and member of the Socialist Publication Society owing to "differences concerning the policy of the magazine."

Later life

After the formation of the Communist Labor Party of America and the

, Boudin shied away from organized politics but taught in the Communist Party-sponsored Workers' School in New York in the late 1920s and occasionally contributed articles to the CP's artistic magazine, ''

The New Masses ''New Masses'' (1926–1948) was an American Marxist magazine closely associated with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). It was the successor to both '' The Masses'' (1911–1917) and ''The Liberator'' (1918–1924). ''New Masses'' was later merge ...

'', in the second half of the 1930s. Boudin repudiated

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

by 1940, but remained a staunch defender of the

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

of Communist Party members. Throughout the 1930s and the 1940s, Boudin was a frequent contributor of book reviews to scholarly journals such as the ''

Columbia Law Review The ''Columbia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes. It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who s ...

'', '' The American Journal of Sociology'', and ''

The Journal of Politics ''The Journal of Politics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of political science established in 1939 and published quarterly (February, May, August and November) by University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Southern Political Science Assoc ...

''. In addition to working as a lawyer, winning several cases related to the rights of workers to organize

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 ...

s, Boudin also wrote the two volume, ''Government by Judiciary'', revisiting a topic with which he had dealt in a previous shorter book. In it, although it was never much read by the radical movement of his day, Boudin argued that the democratic rights of the people had been usurped by the

judicial branch The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

of government. While not influential with political activists of the period, Boudin's book remained in use among law students for decades, according to historian

Death and legacy

Boudin died after a long illness, in his apartment in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, May 29, 1952."Louis B. Boudin," ''New York Daily News,'' May 31, 1952 His papers reside at

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 ...

in New York City and include the manuscript of an unpublished book, ''Order Out of Chaos,'' a study of economic crises. Boudin's family has continued to be prominent on the political left. His nephew

Leonard Boudin Leonard B. Boudin (July 20, 1912 – November 24, 1989) was an American civil liberties attorney and left-wing activist who represented Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame and Benjamin Spock, the author of '' Baby and Child Care'', who advoca ...

was a civil-liberties attorney who represented clients like

Daniel Ellsberg Daniel Ellsberg (April 7, 1931June 16, 2023) was an American political activist, economist, and United States military analyst. While employed by the RAND Corporation, he precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released th ...

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

Julian Bond Horace Julian Bond (January 14, 1940 – August 15, 2015) was an American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the ea ...

, and William Sloan Coffin. Leonard's children are federal judge

Michael Boudin Michael Boudin ( ; November 29, 1939 – March 24, 2025) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as a United States circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1992 to 2021. He served as Chief Judge of that court ...

and

Weather Underground The Weather Underground was a far-left Marxist militant organization first active in 1969, founded on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan. Originally known as the Weathermen, or simply Weatherman, the group was organized as a f ...

member Kathy Boudin. Kathy's son

Chesa Boudin Chesa Boudin (, ; born August 21, 1980) is an American lawyer who served as the 29th San Francisco District Attorney's Office, District Attorney of San Francisco from January 8, 2020, to July 8, 2022. He is a member of the Democratic Party (Uni ...

was the district attorney of the city of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

until a voter recall removed him from office in June 2022.

Works

Books

*
The Theoretical System of Karl Marx in the Light of Recent Criticism.
' Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1907. * ''Government by Judiciary.'' Boston: Ginn & Company, 1911. *
Socialism and War
'' New York: New Review Publishing Co., 1916. * ''Government by Judiciary.'' In two volumes. New York: William Godwin, 1932. * ''Congressional and Agency Investigations: Their Uses and Abuses.'' n.c.: Virginia Law Review Association, 1949.

Articles

* "Stare Decisis, State Constitutions, and Impairing the Obligation of Contracts by Judicial Decisions." New York University Law Quarterly Review, vol. 11, nos. 1–2 (September–December 1933). * "Has the Writ of Habeas Corpus Been Abolished in New York?" ''Columbia Law Review,'' vol. 35, no. 6 (June 1935), pp. 850–872
In JSTOR
* "The Supreme Court and Civil Rights," ''Science & Society,'' vol. 1, no. 3 (Spring 1937), pp. 273–309
In JSTOR
* "The Sherman Act and Labor Disputes: Part I," ''Columbia Law Review,'' vol. 39, no. 8 (Dec. 1939), pp. 1283–1337
In JSTOR
* "The Sherman Act and Labor Disputes: Part II," ''Columbia Law Review,'' vol. 40, no. 1 (Jan. 1940), pp. 14–51
In JSTOR
* "State Poll Taxes and the Federal Constitution," ''Virginia Law Review,'' vol. 28, no. 1 (Nov. 1941), pp. 1–25
In JSTOR
* "Wanted: An Integrated System of Labor Law," ''Journal of Politics,'' vol. 4, no. 1 (Feb. 1942), pp. 20–46
In JSTOR
* "Organized Labor and the Clayton Act: Part I," ''Virginia Law Review,'' vol. 29, no. 3 (Dec. 1942), pp. 272–315
In JSTOR
* "Organized Labor and the Clayton Act: Part II," ''Virginia Law Review,'' vol. 29, no. 4 (Jan. 1943), pp. 395–439
In JSTOR
* "Congressional and Agency Investigations: Their Uses and Abuses," ''Virginia Law Review,'' vol. 35, no. 2 (Feb. 1949), pp. 143–213
In JSTOR
* "'Seditious Doctrines' and the 'Clear and Present Danger' Rule: Part I," ''Virginia Law Review,'' vol. 38, no. 2 (Feb. 1952), pp. 143–186
In JSTOR
* "'Seditious Doctrines' and the 'Clear and Present Danger' Rule: Part II," ''Virginia Law Review,'' vol. 38, no. 3 (April 1952), pp. 315–356
In JSTOR

References

External links

Louis B. Boudin Archive
at marxists.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Boudin, Louis B. 1874 births 1952 deaths Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States American Marxists American people of Russian-Jewish descent Boudin family Jewish socialists New York (state) lawyers Politicians from New York City Socialist Labor Party of America politicians from New York (state) Socialist Party of America politicians from New York (state) New York University alumni