Jack Altman

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Jack Altman (November 20, 1906-January 29, 1959) was an American Socialist Party politician.

Biography

Altman served as the Executive Secretary of the New York City Socialist Party. [1] Altman was a member of the Militant wing of the Socialist Party, wanting to preserve the Party's Social-Democratic character while adopting more vigorous tactics. [2] Before the 1932 Socialist Party Convention in Milwaukee, Altman issued a pamphlet with Devere Allen and Upton Sinclair, opposing reformism in the Socialist Party. [3] Altman was arrested in 1934 under a 1919 law that made it a misdemeanor to display a red flag in public. His conviction was later reversed by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. [4]

Altman participated in 1936 talks with Earl Browder and Jack Stachel discussing the possibility of collaboration between the Communist Party and the Socialist Party. [5] After the 1936 election, Altman expressed interest in collaboration between the Socialist Party and the American Labor Party. [6] This placed Altman and the Militants in opposition to the Clarity Caucus within the Socialist Party, which opposed working with the ALP. [7]

Altman was responsible for the expulsion of the Trotskyist faction from the New York Socialist Party in 1937, which resulted in half of the Young People's Socialist League leaving the SP to join the new Socialist Workers Party. [8] Altman argued that the Trotskyists had attempted to undermine the Socialist Party and had not followed the Party's directives. [9]

Altman worked as an organizer for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union between 1942 and 1953. Altman was a member of the provisional committee of the Union for Democratic Action. [10] He was also active in the American Council for Judaism, serving on its national board. [11]

References

  1. ↑ "Socialists Demand City Relief Probe". Brooklyn Times Union. April 16, 1937. p. 2.
  2. ↑ Johnpoll, Bernard K. (1970). Pacifist's Progress: Norman Thomas and the Decline of American Socialism. Chicago: Quadrangle Books. p. 80.
  3. ↑ Zumoff, Jacob A. (2020-07-05). "The Left in the United States and the Decline of the Socialist Party of America, 1934–1935". Labour / Le Travail. 85: 170. doi:10.1353/llt.2020.0006. ISSN   1911-4842.
  4. ↑ "Red Flag Waver Freed on Appeal". Brooklyn Times Union. May 19, 1934. p. 9.
  5. ↑ Bell, Daniel (1996). Marxian Socialism in the United States. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 170. ISBN   0801483093.
  6. ↑ Warren, Frank A. (1974). An Alternative Vision: The Socialist Party in the 1930's. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 84. ISBN   0253305209.
  7. ↑ Chester, Eric Thomas (2004). True Mission: Socialists and the Labor Party Question in the U.S. London: Pluto Press. p. 156. ISBN   074532214X.
  8. ↑ Ross, Jack (2015). The Socialist Party of America: A Complete History. Potomac Books. p. 384. ISBN   9781612344904.
  9. ↑ Myers, Constance Ashton (1977). The prophet's army : Trotskyists in America, 1928-1941. Westport: Greenwood Press. p. 139.
  10. ↑ Draper, Theodore (1957). The Roots of American Communism. New York: Viking Press. p. 441.
  11. ↑ Ross, Jack (2011). Rabbi Outcast: Elmer Berger and American Jewish Anti-Zionism. Potomac Books. p. 67. ISBN   9781597978293.
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