Forging American communism: the life of William Z. Foster
A major figure in the history of twentieth-century American radicalism, William Z. Foster (1881-1961) fought his way out of the slums of turn-of-the-century Philadelphia to become a professional revolutionary as well as a notorious and feared labor agitator. Drawing on private family papers, FBI fil...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Princeton, NJ
Princeton Univ. Press
1994
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| Online Access: | Inhaltsverzeichnis |
| Summary: | A major figure in the history of twentieth-century American radicalism, William Z. Foster (1881-1961) fought his way out of the slums of turn-of-the-century Philadelphia to become a professional revolutionary as well as a notorious and feared labor agitator. Drawing on private family papers, FBI files, and recently opened Russian archives, this first full-scale biography traces Foster's early life as a world traveler, railroad worker, seaman, hobo, union activist, and radical journalist, and also probes the origins and implications of his ill-fated career as a top-echelon Communist official and three-time presidential candidate. Even though Foster's long and eventful life ended in Moscow, where he was given a state funeral in Red Square, he was, as portrayed here, a thoroughly American radical. The book not only reveals the circumstances of Foster's poverty-stricken childhood in Philadelphia but also vividly describes his work and travels in the American West. Also included are fascinating accounts of his early political career as a Socialist, "Wobbly," and anarcho-syndicalist, and of his activities as the architect of giant organizing campaigns by the American Federation of Labor, involving hundreds of thousands of workers in the meat-packing and steel industries. The author views Foster's influence in the American Communist movement from the perspective of the history of American labor and unionism, but he also offers a realistic assessment of Foster's career in light of factional intrigues at the highest levels of the Communist International. |
| Physical Description: | XIV, 433 S. Ill. |
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Record in the Search Index
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| adam_text | Forging
American Communism
THE LIFE OF
WILLIAM Z FOSTER
Edward P Johanningsmeier
PRINCETONUNIVERSITYPRESS
PRINCETON,NEWJERSEY
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Note on Sources xiii
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER 1
Beginnings 10
CHAPTER 2
Socialist and Syndicalist 31
CHAPTER 3
The Syndicalist Leagues 56
CHAPTER 4
Labor Organizing in The Jungle 88
CHAPTER 5
The Great Steel Strike 111
CHAPTER 6
Labor Organizer and Communist 150
CHAPTER 7
The Free Lance and the Communist Party 175
CHAPTER 8
Phrases Learned in Europe 214
CHAPTER 9
The Reluctant Agitator 249
CHAPTER 10
The Democratic Front 272
CHAPTER 11
Browderism 293
CHAPTER 12
Unionism, Politics, and the Cold War 314
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER 13
Final Struggles 333
EPILOGUE 353
Notes 355
Index 423
ILLUSTRATIONS
Foster as a street railwayman, 1901, age twenty, New York City
His first union (William Z Foster Papers, Moscow) 27
Jay Fox (Special Collection Division, University of Washington
Libraries, neg no WW893) 51
Esther Abramowitz and her children, Sylvia and David, at
Home Colony (Courtesy Joseph Manley Kolko; Just Black and
White, Inc , Portland, Maine) 53
Foster ca 1912, railroad worker and syndicalist (Courtesy
Joseph Manley Kolko; Just Black and White, Inc , Portland,
Maine) 67
Esther and William (Courtesy Joseph Manley Kolko; Just Black
and White, Inc , Portland, Maine) 82
Foster addressing a meeting of packinghouse workers, 1918
(Courtesy People s Weekly World) 97
Foster with Mary Harris (Mother) Jones and steel organizers
(William Z Foster Papers, Moscow) 128
Breaking up a suspected strike meeting (William Z Foster
Papers, Moscow) 131
Foster addressing an open-air meeting, Braddock, Pennsylvania
(William Z Foster Papers, Moscow) 131
Parade of strikers, unidentified steel mill (William Z Foster
Papers, Moscow) 137
Pennsylvania Constabulary (William Z Foster Papers, Moscow) 141
Foster with Charles Ruthenberg, St Paul, Minnesota, 1924
(Courtesy People s Weekly World) 208
Foster with editors of Gudok, the railroad workers union
newspaper, in the Soviet Union (William Z Foster Papers,
Moscow) 233
William and Esther in the Soviet Union, 1926 (William Z Foster
Papers, Moscow) 233
Foster under arrest with Robert Minor, following March 6, 1930,
unemployed demonstration in New York City (William Z Foster
Papers, Moscow) 253
x ILLUSTRATIONS
Foster with Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Rose Wortis, 1937
(Courtesy People s Weekly World) 274
Foster with Earl Browder, 1945 (Courtesy People s Weekly
World) 294
Foster with his great-grandson, Joe Kolko, ca 1948 (Courtesy
Joseph Manley Kolko; Just Black and White, Inc , Portland,
Maine) 323
Foster with Benjamin Davis and Paul Robeson (Courtesy
Joseph Manley Kolko; Just Black and White, Inc , Portland,
Maine) 334
Foster with Benjamin Davis, Eugene Dennis, and Robert Thompson
(Courtesy People s Weekly World) 335
Foster s eightieth birthday, with Frol Kozlov, Nikita Khrushchev,
and Mikhail Suslov (Courtesy People s Weekly World) 351
Pallbearers at Lenin Mausoleum (Courtesy Joseph Manley Kolko;
Just Black and White, Inc , Portland, Maine) 352
Memorial service, Red Square (Courtesy Joseph Manley Kolko;
Just Black and White, Inc , Portland, Maine) 352
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| spelling | Johanningsmeier, Edward P. Verfasser aut Forging American communism the life of William Z. Foster Edward P. Johanningsmeier Princeton, NJ Princeton Univ. Press 1994 XIV, 433 S. Ill. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier A major figure in the history of twentieth-century American radicalism, William Z. Foster (1881-1961) fought his way out of the slums of turn-of-the-century Philadelphia to become a professional revolutionary as well as a notorious and feared labor agitator. Drawing on private family papers, FBI files, and recently opened Russian archives, this first full-scale biography traces Foster's early life as a world traveler, railroad worker, seaman, hobo, union activist, and radical journalist, and also probes the origins and implications of his ill-fated career as a top-echelon Communist official and three-time presidential candidate. Even though Foster's long and eventful life ended in Moscow, where he was given a state funeral in Red Square, he was, as portrayed here, a thoroughly American radical. The book not only reveals the circumstances of Foster's poverty-stricken childhood in Philadelphia but also vividly describes his work and travels in the American West. Also included are fascinating accounts of his early political career as a Socialist, "Wobbly," and anarcho-syndicalist, and of his activities as the architect of giant organizing campaigns by the American Federation of Labor, involving hundreds of thousands of workers in the meat-packing and steel industries. The author views Foster's influence in the American Communist movement from the perspective of the history of American labor and unionism, but he also offers a realistic assessment of Foster's career in light of factional intrigues at the highest levels of the Communist International. Foster, William Z. <1881-1961> Foster, William Zebulon 1881-1961 (DE-588)118534513 gnd rswk-swf Communist Party of the United States Communists United States Biography USA (DE-588)4006804-3 Biografie gnd-content Foster, William Zebulon 1881-1961 (DE-588)118534513 p DE-604 HEBIS Datenaustausch application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=006484797&sequence=000002&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Inhaltsverzeichnis |
| spellingShingle | Johanningsmeier, Edward P. Forging American communism the life of William Z. Foster Foster, William Z. <1881-1961> Foster, William Zebulon 1881-1961 (DE-588)118534513 gnd Communist Party of the United States Communists United States Biography |
| subject_GND | (DE-588)118534513 (DE-588)4006804-3 |
| title | Forging American communism the life of William Z. Foster |
| title_auth | Forging American communism the life of William Z. Foster |
| title_exact_search | Forging American communism the life of William Z. Foster |
| title_full | Forging American communism the life of William Z. Foster Edward P. Johanningsmeier |
| title_fullStr | Forging American communism the life of William Z. Foster Edward P. Johanningsmeier |
| title_full_unstemmed | Forging American communism the life of William Z. Foster Edward P. Johanningsmeier |
| title_short | Forging American communism |
| title_sort | forging american communism the life of william z foster |
| title_sub | the life of William Z. Foster |
| topic | Foster, William Z. <1881-1961> Foster, William Zebulon 1881-1961 (DE-588)118534513 gnd Communist Party of the United States Communists United States Biography |
| topic_facet | Foster, William Z. <1881-1961> Foster, William Zebulon 1881-1961 Communist Party of the United States Communists United States Biography USA Biografie |
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