Moses Baritz (1883 – 29 March 1938) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

music journalist and socialist activist.

Early life

Baritz was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

to a

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 ...

family, originally from

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

. He initially worked in the city's sweatshops, and there became interested in socialism; he was a founding member of the

Socialist Party of Great Britain The Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) is a small socialist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1904 as a split from the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), it advocates using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes and ...

(SPGB). He also developed a great interest in music, particularly the

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

, and began public lectures on this subject.

Socialism

Baritz remained loyal to the SPGB, at times as its only member in Manchester, and he became known for heckling at meetings of rival socialist groups. In particular, on one occasion when he was banned from entering a meeting of the

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James ...

, he climbed on the roof and blew a

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

down the ventilator shaft, ensuring that the meeting could not continue until he was eventually permitted to take a seat inside.W. Waters,
Moses Baritz
, ''

Socialist Standard ''Socialist Standard'' is a monthly socialist magazine published without interruption since September 1904 by the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB). The magazine is written in a simple, direct style and focuses mainly on socialist advocacy a ...

'', September 1954 Baritz visited

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1911, and there gave speeches on the position of the SPGB. This encouraged a group of supporters to form the Socialist Party of North America, splitting away from the

Socialist Party of Canada The Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) was a political party that existed from 1904 to 1925, led by E. T. Kingsley. It published the newspaper, '' Western Clarion''. History Establishment The Socialist Party of Canada was founded at the Sociali ...

. He opposed British involvement in

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 ...

, and in order to avoid conscription, he and fellow SPGB member Adolf Kohn moved to

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

in 1915. Again, he gave speeches on socialism, attracting considerable crowds of members of 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 ...

. A study group of supporters was formed, and the following year they founded the Socialist Party of the United States.Peter E. Newell,
Marxian education in the United States
, ''

'', July 2004 By this point, Baritz had moved to New York, where he was interned for speaking against the war. Once released, he travelled to Australia and New Zealand, from which he was deported after only a brief stay. He spent several months at sea and was refused entry to numerous countries before finally returning to Manchester.

Music journalist

Back in the UK, Baritz managed to find work as a music critic for the ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and began broadcasting on the Manchester radio station 2ZY. In June 1924, he presented a programme mixing speech and music, which has led some works to describe him as Britain's first radio

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

. He also worked for the

Columbia Gramophone Company Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Phonograph Company, it became an independent British-owned company in 1922 in a manageme ...

, lecturing on its behalf and acting as a musical adviser. Despite requests from the company that he relocate to London, he refused to leave Manchester, claiming that he could not do his job without access to the Henry Watson Music Library. Baritz's health began to fail in the mid-1930s, and he died on 29 March 1938."Re: Moses Baritz, Deceased", ''

'', 23 May 1938

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baritz, Moses 1883 births 1938 deaths English Jews Jewish socialists Journalists from Manchester Socialist Party of Great Britain members