Journalist, Former Communist Party Official and Smith Act Victim–His mother was a leader of the Bund, a Jewish revolutionary group in Czarist Russia. He was born in 1913 and joined the Young Communist League at age 15. At 19 he worked as an organizer for the Marine Workers Industrial Union. His career as a journalist […]
Evelyn Velson
“It got so bad—Walter Winchell, on his national radio show, would mention my husband’s name followed by saboteur, espionage agent, communist, then give out our address, and as much as imply ‘go for him.’” Averting nuclear war and establishing world peace have been the major focuses of her life. An organizer of Women for Peace […]
Elaine Black Yoneda
The District Secretary of the International Labor Defense, The ILD provided bail, attorneys and community support for those arrested in labor, unemployed and political struggles. She was active in the campaign to free Tom Mooney, the unemployed councils, the San Francisco Maritime-General strike and the Salinas Valley Agricultural Workers’ strike. The Hearst press labeled her […]
Ray Thompson
“In 1947 I was arrested for the most heinous crime anybody in the state of California has ever been arrested for. I was arrested for voting.” Community Organizer, Civil Rights Activist–Born in San Francisco in 1905, at the time discrimination was acute. Childhood memories include being barred from public swimming pools for fear by whites […]
“Are You Now or Have You Ever Been . . .”
“Are you know or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party or associated with members of the Party….” was the question posed by the House Committee of Un-American Activities, or HUAC to witnesses before the investigative committee of the US House of Representatives. Those answered were often fired from their jobs and […]
Harold Rossman
“In terms of style and methodology there were a lot of things wrong; on the other hand in terms of what we were trying todo, I have no apologies.” HAROLD ROSSMAN, Newspaper Guild Organizer, Labor Journalist, Communist By Richard Bermack The books on his shelf range from a Long View From The Left, by Al […]