Morris Iushewits or Iushewitz (November 7, 1901 – September 18, 1981) was a union activist and leader of the

Newspaper Guild The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practic ...

, the

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of Labor unions in the United States, unions that organized workers in industrial unionism, industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in ...

(CIO), and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

Background

Morris Iushewitz was born in 1901 in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and emigrated age one with his family to the United States. In 1916 during

World War I 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 ...

, he served in the Canadian Army in France, Italy, and Palestine. Returning, he held various jobs including farming in the Midwest while finishing high school and then studied at the University of Wisconsin.

Career

In the 1920s, Iushewitz worked for newspapers in Milwaukee and Chicago. In 1930, he moved to New York City, where he rose from freelance report to cable editor of the

Jewish Telegraph Agency The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) is an international news agency and wire service that primarily covers Judaism- and Jewish-related topics and news. Described as the "Associated Press of the Jewish media", JTA serves Jewish and non-Jewish news ...

Newspaper Guild

In 1933, Iushewitz was a founding member of the Newspaper Guild (today, the

NewsGuild-CWA The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practic ...

CIO

Iushewitz served on the New York City Council of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, where duties included research director (1943) and secretary-treasurer (1949). On September 9, 1948, Dubow and

Joseph Forer Joseph Forer (1911 – 20 June 1986) was a 20th-century American attorney who, with partner David Rein, supported Progressive Era, Progressive causes, including discriminated communists and African-Americans. Forer was one of the founders of the N ...

(the best known pro-Communist lawyer in Washington and prominent member of the local chapter of the

National Lawyers Guild The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is a progressive public interest association of lawyers, law students, paralegals, jailhouse lawyers, law collective members, and other activist legal workers, in the United States. The group was founded in 193 ...

) served as legal counsel to Maurice Braverman before HUAC. During a 1952 hearing of the U.S. Senate's Committee on the Judiciary, Benjamin Mandel, director of research, read into the record a letter from Iushewitz concerning the

Teachers Union The New York City Teachers Union or "TU" (1916–1964) was the first New York labor union for teachers, formed as "AFT Local 5" of the American Federation of Teachers, which found itself hounded throughout its history due largely to co-membership ...

(as member of the United Public Works Union):

EXHIBIT No. 21
NEW YORK CITY CIO COUNCIL
New York 1, N.Y., March 1, 1950
Hon. WILLIAM O'DWYER
Mayor of the City of New York
City Hall, New York, N.Y.
Dear Mr. Mayor: I am taking: this means of informing you that the United Public Workers of America has been expelled from the Congress of Industrial Organizations effective today. By an overwhelming vote, the Executive Board of the national Congress of Industrial Organizations concluded that "The policies and activities of the United Public Workers of America are consistently directed towards the achievement of the program and the purposes of the Communist Party rather than the objectives and policies set forth In the CIO constitution."
As a result of this expulsion, the United Public Workers of America is to day outside the ranks of organized labor In our country and has been exposed as an instrument of the Communist Party.
On behalf of the New York City CIO Council, I respectfully request you to please Inform the City Departments of the change in the status of the United Public Workers. I would further ask you instead to recognize the Government and Civic Employes Organizing Committee—CIO which has been set up by the CIO to represent CIO in this field. There are already functioning locals of civil service employees in a number of City Departments which have affiliated with the Government and Civic Employes Organizing Committee—CIO.
It is our sincere hope that you and the Administration which you head will extend cooperation to the duly recognized CIO group of civil service employees.
Sincerely yours,
Morris Iushewitz, Secretary-Treasurer

AFL-CIO

In 1955, when the AFL and CIO merged, Iushewitz carried on as secretary-treasurer of New York City Central Labor Council for the AFL-CIO.

Personal life and death

Iushewitz married Clara Weiner and had three children. During his union years, Iushewitz devoted much time to education matters. He served as the first union official on the

New York City Board of Education The Panel for Educational Policy of the Department of Education of the City School District of the City of New York, abbreviated as the Panel for Educational Policy and also known as the New York City Board of Education, is the governing body of ...

. He also served as a trustee of the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...

. Iushewitz died age 79 in New York City after a long illness.

References

External sources

Library of Congress
Rev. Martin Luther King receiving check for Alabama voter registration drive from

Albert Shanker Albert Shanker (September 14, 1928 – February 22, 1997) was an American union organizer and labor activist. He served as president of the United Federation of Teachers from 1964 to 1985, and president of the American Federation of Teachers (AF ...

, president of the

United Federation of Teachers The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is the labor union that represents most teachers in New York City public schools. , there were about 118,000 in-service teachers and nearly 30,000 paraprofessional educators in the union, as well as about ...

, and Morris Iushewitz (1965)
Cornell University Library
Morris Iuschewitz Interview Audiorecording and Transcript (1972) {{DEFAULTSORT:Iushewitz, Morris 1901 births 1981 deaths American male non-fiction writers Trade unionists from New York (state) University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States State University of New York people Jewish American non-fiction writers 20th-century American Jews