Manya Reiss (also known as Maria Aerova, sometimes spelled Ayerova, , 1900–1962) was an American Marxist–Leninist and a founding member 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 ...

(CPUSA). Manya Reiss was born in China to a family of

Russian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...

origin and then immigrated to the United States in 1912.Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes, Kirill Mikhailovich Anderson (1998): The Soviet world of American communism, Yale University Press In the United States, she was a garment worker as well as a communist activist.China reconstructs, Issues 1-12, page 13 In 1931, she attended the

International Lenin School The International Lenin School (ILS) was an official training school operated in Moscow, Soviet Union, by the Communist International from May 1926 to 1938. It was resumed after the Second World War and run by the Communist Party of the Soviet Uni ...

. After this, she worked for the Eastern Secretariat of the

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

and was later sent on missions to Germany and France. She returned to the United States in the late 1930s to work for the propaganda department of the Communist Party USA and to teach at a party school. By 1940, she had returned to Moscow. In 1957,Women of China , Issues 1-2, page 24 a few years after the death of Stalin, Reiss went to Beijing, China to work for the Beijing DailyMary M. Leder, Laurie Bernstein (2001): My life in Stalinist Russia: an American woman looks back, Indiana University Press and the

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

.Pan Guang, Jews in China, China Intercontinental Press, 2005 Manya Reiss died of cancer in Beijing

Anne-Marie Brady Anne-Marie Sharon Brady (born 1966) is a New Zealand academic and Professor of Political Science at the University of Canterbury. She specialises in Chinese domestic and foreign politics, Antarctic and Arctic politics, Pacific politics, and ...

(2003): Making the foreign serve China: managing foreigners in the People's Republic, Rowman & Littlefield and was buried at the

Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery The Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery () is Beijing's main resting place for the highest-ranking revolutionary heroes, high government officials and, in recent years, individuals deemed of major importance due to their contributions to society. In ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reiss, Manya 1900 births 1962 deaths Members of the Communist Party USA American expatriates in China American people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish Chinese history Chinese Jews Chinese people of Russian-Jewish descent International Lenin School alumni Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery American expatriates in the Soviet Union Xinhua News Agency people