Benjamin Gitlow (1891 - 1965) was a prominent American socialist of the early twentieth century. Year 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ...

Birth

Benjamin Gitlow was born on December 22, 1891 in Elizabethport, New Jersey. His father, Lewis Albert Gitlow, emigrated from Russia in 1888, followed by his mother, Kate Gitlow, in 1889. is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Container port facilities at Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, seen from Bayonne, New Jersey. ...

Political career

Gitlow was a member of the Socialist Party. He became a member in 1909 at the age of eighteen, and served as the first president of the Retail Clerks Union of New York just four years later. He was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1917 as a member from the Bronx. Along with John Reed, Gitlow helped to publish The Revolutionary Age, a leftist newsletter. In 1919 the more revolutionary socialists, led by Reed and Gitlow, split from the Socialist Party and later formed the Communist Labor Party. At the behest of the Communist International, the two parties later merged as the Communist Party USA. Gitlow was the Communist candidate for Vice President in 1924 and 1928. The Socialist Party of America (SPA) is a socialist political party in the United States. ... The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York. ... For other uses, see Bronx (disambiguation). ... John Reeds signature John Jack Silas Reed (October 22, 1887 – October 19, 1920) was an American journalist, poet, and communist activist, famous for his first-hand account of the Bolshevik Revolution, Ten Days that Shook the World. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... The Communist Labor Party together with the Communist Party of America was one of the predecessors of the Communist Party USA. It was formed August 31, 1919 by John Reed, Benjamin Gitlow and others who had been expelled from the Socialist Party of America. ... The first edition of Communist International, journal of the Comintern published in Moscow and Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) in May 1919. ... The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is a Marxist-Leninist political party in the United States. ... Introduction Incumbent President Coolidge was relatively popular, and the economy was booming. ... Presidential electoral votes by state. ...

Arrest and trial

He was arrested and convicted for violating the New York Criminal Anarchy Law of 1902, which made it a crime to encourage the violent overthrow of government, and was sentenced to 5-10 years in prison. He served three years at Sing Sing prison and was released in 1922. Just three years later, in 1925, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction in Gitlow v. New York, arguing that the publication of a manifesto in the Revolutionary Age was incitement. Despite his conviction, New York's Governor, Al Smith, subsequently pardoned him and he returned to politics. The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the acronym SCOTUS[1]) is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. ... Holding Though the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits states from infringing free speech, the defendant was properly convicted under New Yorks criminal anarchy law for advocating the violent overthrow of the government, through the dissemination of Communist pamphlets. ... Alfred Emanuel Al Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was Governor of New York, and Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928. ...

Dissent from the party

Although he was a founder of the Communist Party USA, Gitlow was permanently expelled in 1933 (along with Jay Lovestone) for openly criticizing the crimes of Joseph Stalin. Between 1933 and 1935, he continued to be active in politics, founding several small organizations, including the Workers Communist League, the Organization Committee for a Revolutionary Workers Party, and Labor Party Association. After rejoining the Socialist Party in 1934, he resigned. Jay Lovestone (1897-1990) was at various times head of the Communist Party, leader of a small oppositionist party, and foreign policy advisor to the leadership of the AFL-CIO and various unions within it. ... Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Georgian: , Ioseb Besarionis Dze Jughashvili; Russian: , Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) (December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1878[1] – March 5, 1953), better known by his adopted name, Joseph Stalin (alternatively transliterated Josef Stalin), was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Unions Central Committee from...

He later became an anti-communist. In 1939, he publicly rejected the Communist Party in testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, or HUAC. He also published several books throughout the 1940s and 1950s rejecting Communism. The House Committee on Un-American Activities or HUAC (1945-1975) was an investigating committee of the United States House of Representatives. ...

Death

Gitlow died in Crompond, New York on July 19, 1965. His survivors included his wife, Badana Zeitlin, whom he had wed in 1924. Crompond is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the town of Yorktown in Westchester County, New York. ... is the 200th day of the year (201st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ...

Publications

Newsletter, The Revolutionary Age, 1920s.

Book, "I Confess: The Truth About American Communism," 1940.

Book, The Whole of Their Lives: Communism in America: A Personal History and Intimate Portrayal of Its Leaders, 1948.

See also

• J. Murrey Atkins Library: Benjamin Gitlow Manuscript Collection
• Communist Party of America History, 1919-1946