Stanley Williams Moore (July 24, 1914 – December 5, 1997) was an American professor of philosophy, specializing in the study of Karl Marx. He taught at

Reed College Reed College is a private university, private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor style architecture ...

until 1954, when he was subpoenaed by the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

and refused to answer questions about his political beliefs. He was fired by the college and worked part-time for

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Col ...

for the next decade, before being offered a full-time position with the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

Early life

Moore was born on July 24, 1914, in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. Growing up on a ranch near San Jose, he studied philosophy at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. He graduated with a bachelor's of arts degree in 1935 and studied briefly at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, before returning to Berkeley to receive his Ph.D. in 1940. After two years of teaching at Harvard, Moore was drafted into the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

during World War II and was stationed overseas in Britain and Russia. He later spoke about waiting to be drafted before joining the military because, as a Marxist, he was worried that he would not pass the background checks required for direct commission. After he left the military, he spent two terms at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and then began teaching philosophy at

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

Academic career

Moore was a social and political philosopher, specializing in the study of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

. He published four books, ''The Critique of Capitalist Democracy'' (1957), ''Three Tactics'' (1963), ''Marx and the Choice Between Socialism and Communism'' (1980), and ''Marx Versus Markets'' (1993).

Public hearing

Moore was a member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

, although he later claimed to have left the party around 1953 due to a disillusionment with the Soviet Union, particularly citing the US organization's stance on the

doctors' plot The "Doctors' plot" affair, group=rus was an alleged conspiracy of prominent Soviet medical specialists to murder leading government and party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors or killer doctors. In 1951–1953, a gr ...

. Eighteen months later, he was subpoenaed by the

(HUAC), a congressional committee with the aim of identifying communists in the country. He was brought before a public hearing in Portland, where he refused to testify about his political beliefs, relying on the Fifth Amendment. Moore was suspended from his professorship with Reed College due to his testimony. In response, he wrote a 10-page open letter to the university about

academic freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...

, arguing that, "It is an abuse of power for an employer to question an employee about his politics. It is a travesty of justice to do so in an atmosphere created by pressure from influential demagogues". He claimed that the college was aware he was a Marxist and they had nevertheless promoted him to full professorship.

Later career

Moore was fired from the university in August 1954 and struggled to find other work for the next decade, teaching on a part-time basis at

from 1955 to 1965. He spoke alongside

Herbert Marcuse Herbert Marcuse (; ; July 19, 1898 – July 29, 1979) was a German-American philosopher, social critic, and political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Born in Berlin, Marcuse studied at the Humboldt Universi ...

and

Lewis Feuer Lewis Samuel Feuer (December 7, 1912 – November 24, 2002) was an American sociologist. Initially a committed Marxist, he became a neo-conservative. Life Feuer was born in Manhattan, grew up on the Lower East Side, and attended DeWitt Clinto ...

at a symposium titled "Marx Today", hosted by the

in 1964 and on the basis of this talk, he was hired by the university, where he taught from 1965 to his retirement in 1974. In 1981, Reed College issued an official apology to Moore and the college president Steven S. Koblik invited him back in 1993 to give a lecture.

Personal life

Moore was briefly married to

Marguerite Higgins Marguerite Higgins Hall (September 3, 1920January 3, 1966) was an American reporter and war correspondent. Higgins covered World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, and in the process advanced the cause of equal access for female war c ...

, a war correspondent. In 1950, he had a relationship with one of his undergraduate students,

Fay Stender Fay Abrahams Stender (March 29, 1932 – May 19, 1980) was an American lawyer from the San Francisco Bay Area, and a prisoner rights activist. Some of her better-known clients included Black Panther leader Huey Newton, and the Soledad Brothers, in ...

. He later married Daphne and had two daughters, Daisy and Dinah.

Death

Moore died on December 5, 1997, in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coa ...

, at the age of 83.

Works

* '' The Critique of Capitalist Democracy'' (1957)
''Three Tactics: The Background in Mar''x
(1963) * '' Marx and the Choice Between Socialism and Communism'' (1980) * '' Marx Versus Markets'' (1993)