Passionate commitments: Race, sex, and communism at Schenectady General Electric, 1932-1954

Journal of American History

Volumn 83, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 514-547

  Zahavi, Gerald ^a,b  

^a STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK   (United States)

^b Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Project

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0041169694     PISSN: 00218723     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2944945     Document Type: Review

References (163)

1. G. W. Craig to Chief Inspector Francis S. McGarvey, memo, Aug. 10, 1951, item 2, case file 505, box 10, Non-criminal Investigation Case Files, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, New York State Division of State Police (New York State Archives, Albany).
2. Dante "Danny" DeCesare interview by Gerald Zahavi, Oct. 23, 1992, audiotape, side 1, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project (Department of History, State University of New York, Albany).
3. For introductions to historiographical debates on American communism, see Michael Kazin, "The Agony and Romance of the American Left," American Historical Review, 100 (Dec. 1995), 1488-1512;
4. Michael E. Brown, "Introduction: The History of the History of U.S. Communism," in New Studies in the Politics and Culture of U.S. Communism, ed. Michael E. Brown et al. (New York, 1993), 15-44;
5. Maurice Isserman, "Three Generations: Historians View American Communism," Labor History, 26 (Fall 1985), 517-45;
6. Theodore Draper, "American Communism Revisited," New York Review of Books, May 9, 1985, pp. 32-37;
7. Theodore Draper, "The Popular Front RevisitedNew York Review of Books, ," ibid., May 30, 1985, pp. 44-50;
8. and Theodore Draper, "The Life of the PartyNew York Review of Books, ," ibid., Jan. 13, 1994, pp. 45-51.
9. Schenectady Union-Star, May 2, 1932, p. 4; "Headquarters Second Corps Area, Monthly Summary of the Subversive Situation," June 17, 1932, file 10110-2662-11, box 2841, Office of the Director of Intelligence, Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, RG 165 (National Archives, Washington, D.C.);
10. Schenectady Herald-Journal, Jan. 22, 1932, p. 1;
11. Schenectady Herald-Journal, ibid., March 4, 1932, p. 5;
12. Schenectady Herald-Journal, ibid., March 25, 1932, p. 1;
13. Schenectady Herald-Journal, ibid., June 3, 1932, p. 1;
14. Sadie Van Veen Amter, "Schenectady in the Crisis" chapter draft, typescript, Israel and Sadie Van Veen Amter autobiographical manuscript, box 1, Israel and Sadie Van Veen Amter Papers (Tamiment Institute Library, New York University, New York, N.Y.); "To the Workers of General Electric," n.d., file 10110-2662-11, box 2841, Office of the Director of Intelligence, Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs; "Headquarters Second Corps Area, Monthly Summary of Subversive Activities," Sept. 9, 1932, file 10110-2662-15, box 2842, ibid.; Schenectady Gazette, Sept. 6, 1933, p. 5;
15. Schenectady Gazette, ibid., Oct. 4, 1933, p. 4; Jim West, "Schenectady," typescript, 1994 (in Gerald Zahavi's possession); Charles Rivers, "Random Thoughts," typescript, [1993] p. 14 (in Ron Rivers's possession).
16. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, vol. III, pt. 2:
17. Population (Washington, 1932), 278, 300-304;
18. Robert R. Pascucci, "Electric City Immigrants: Italians and Poles of Schenectady, N.Y., 1880-1930" (Ph.D. diss., State University of New York, Albany, 1984), 1-51;
19. Julius Emspak, "The Reminiscences of Julius Emspak," 1972, pp. 27-46, part I, Columbia University Oral History Collection, in New York Times Oral History Program (microfiche, Microfilming Corporation of America, 1979), fiche 1
20. ; David Hill, "The Lure of One Big Union': The IWW in Schenectady, N.Y., 1905-1906," typescript, 1993, pp. 4-32 (in Zahavi's possession).
21. Salvatore Joseph Bella, "Boulwarism and Collective Bargaining at General Electric" (Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 1962), 120-57;
22. Joseph A. McCartin, "Labor's 'Great War': American Workers, Unions, and the State, 1916-1920" (Ph.D. diss., State University of New York, Binghamton, 1990), 192-249;
23. Philip S. Foner, History of the Labor Movement in the United States, vol. IV: The Industrial Workers of the World, 1905-1917 (New York, 1965), 88-89;
24. David Montgomery, The Fall of the House of Labor: The Workplace, the State, and American Labor Activism, 1865-1925 (New York, 1987), 438-57;
25. Ronald R. Kline, Steinmetz: Engineer and Socialist (Baltimore, 1992), 200-238; "General Electric Industrial Relations," [1920], G.E. Labor Relations Box, Owen D. Young Papers (Van Horne House, Hornesville, N.Y.). My thanks to Ronald Schatz for providing me with a copy of this document. "General Electric's Century: A History of General Electric from Its Origins to 1986," typescript, 1989, pp. 164-372 (Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, State University of New York, Albany).
26. Charles Rivers interview by Debra Bernhardt, April 29, 1991, audiotape, side 1, tape 2, Oral History of the American Left (Tamiment Institute Library); Charles Rivers interview by Ronald Schatz, July 9, 1976, audiotape, side 1, tape 1 (in Ronald Schatz's possession); Rivers, "Random Thoughts," 16-22; James J. Matles and James Higgins, Them and Us: Struggles of a Rank-and-File Union (Englewood Cliffs, 1974), 3-21;
27. Ronald L. Filippelli and Mark McColloch, Cold War in the Working Class: The Rise and Decline of the United Electrical Workers (Albany, 1995), 21-22;
28. Lithuanian Hall was a center of Communist party (CP) activities. See, for example, Schenectady Gazette, April 26, 1933, p. 18.
29. On the origins of Local 301, see Ronald W. Schatz, The Electrical Workers: A History of Labor at General Electric and Westinghouse, 1923-60 (Urbana, 1983), 83;
30. People's Press (UE&RW edition), May 9, 1936, p. 5;
31. People's Press ibid., Sept. 26, 1936, p. 5;
32. Matles and Higgins, Them and Us, 23-30;
33. Bella, "Boulwarism and Collective Bargaining at General Electric," 133-35;
34. Blaise Farina, "Challenge and Showdown: Local 301's Crusade for Industrial Unionism at the Schenectady Works of the General Electric Company, 1936," 1993, typescript (in Zahavi's possession); U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Education and Labor, Investigation of Communist Infiltration of UERMWA: Hearing before a Special Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, 80 Cong., 2 sess., Sept. 30, 1948, pp. 192-207; and Max Gordon interview by Fraser Ottanelli and Winifred Wandersee, June 13, 1985, audiotape, side 1, tape 1 (in Zahavi's possession). I would like to thank Ottanelli for providing me a copy of this interview.
35. Alfred C. Stevens interview by Zahavi and Elizabeth Griffin, May 22, 1991, transcript, p. 26, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Donald C. Hay interview by Zahavi, Nov. 5, 1991, audiotape, side 2, tape 1, Investigation of Communist Infiltration of UERMWA: Hearing before a Special Subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, 1948, pp. 192-207; and Max Gordon interview by Fraser Ottanelli and Winifred Wandersee, June 13, 1985, audiotape, side 1, tape 1 (in Zahavi's possession). I would like to thank Ottanelli for providing me a copy of this interview. ibid.
36. DeCesare interview, Sept. 10, 1991, side 2, tape 1; Salvatore Vottis to Julius Emspak, Sept. 24, 1936, file 182, Local 301, District 3, District/Locals Series, 1975 Accession, United Electrical Workers National Office Records, United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America Archives (Archives of Industrial Society, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.); Joseph Mangino interview by Zahavi, Sept. 6, 1991, audiotape, side 1, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Schenectady People's Press, May 1, 1937, p. 5;
37. Schenectady People's Press, ibid., May 8, 1937, p. 9;
38. Schenectady People's Press, ibid., May 22, 1937, p. 8;
39. Schenectady People's Press, ibid., May 29, 1937, p. 8; Vottis to Emspak, Sept. 22, 1936, file 182, Local 301, District 3, District/Locals Series, 1975 Accession, United Electrical Workers National Office Records, United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America Archives.
40. Schenectady People's Press, July 10, 1937, p. 4; Sadie Fernandez interview by Zahavi and Griffin, Nov. 14, 1991, audiotape, side 2, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project. For more on the left-wing union's efforts to recruit and promote blacks and women, see Mary M. [McCartin] Nuzzaco and Tom Nuzzaco interview by Zahavi and Griffin, March 25, 1992, audiotape,
41. Schenectady People's Press, 1937, p. 4; Sadie Fernandez interview by Zahavi and Griffin, Nov. 14, 1991, audiotape, side 2, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project. For more on the left-wing union's efforts to recruit and promote blacks and women, see Mary M. [McCartin] Nuzzaco and Tom Nuzzaco interview by Zahavi and Griffin, March 25, 1992, audiotape, ibid.;
42. John Snipes interview by Zahavi, May 19, 1992, audiotape, Schenectady People's Press, 1937, p. 4; Sadie Fernandez interview by Zahavi and Griffin, Nov. 14, 1991, audiotape, side 2, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project. For more on the left-wing union's efforts to recruit and promote blacks and women, see Mary M. [McCartin] Nuzzaco and Tom Nuzzaco interview by Zahavi and Griffin, March 25, 1992, audiotape, ibid.; and Helen Quirini interview by Zahavi and Griffin, June 6, 1991, audiotape, side 2, tape 2, ibid. 12 Emanuel Fernandez interview by Zahavi, Oct. 9, 1992, audiotape, side 1, tape 2, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; DeCesare interview, Aug. 3, 1991, audiotape, side 2, tape 1,
43. Schenectady People's Press, 1937, p. 4; Sadie Fernandez interview by Zahavi and Griffin, Nov. 14, 1991, audiotape, side 2, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project. For more on the left-wing union's efforts to recruit and promote blacks and women, see Mary M. [McCartin] Nuzzaco and Tom Nuzzaco interview by Zahavi and Griffin, March 25, 1992, audiotape, ibid.; Mangino interview, side 1, tape 1.
44. Quirini interview by Zahavi and Griffin, June 6, 1991, side 1, tape 2.
45. Pasquale M. Vottis interview by Zahavi, Sept. 21, 1992, audiotape, side 2, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Gordon interview, side 2, tape 1; James C. Carey interview by Zahavi, June 29, 1991, audiotape, side 1, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project.
46. For a general account of the left-right split, see John Bennett Sears, "Labor Opposition to the Cold War: The Electrical Unions and the Cold War Consensus, 1945-1973" (Ph.D. diss., Temple University, 1988), 149-84. For detailed autobiographical profiles of members of the anticommunist opposition, see Carey interview, June 27, 1991; Benjamin Tafler interview by Zahavi, March 27, 1992, audiotape, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Frank Fiorillo interview by Zahavi, Nov. 22, 1991, audiotape, ibid.; and Ralph Miranda interview by Zahavi, July 24, 1991, audiotape, ibid.
47. See Sears, "Labor Opposition," 149-84;
48. Schatz, Electrical Workers, 167-243;
49. Filippelli and McColloch, Cold War in the Working Class, 113-66; and
50. Matles and Higgins, Them and Us, 153-226.
51. Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States, vol. III, pt. 2, 278;
52. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, A Report of the Seventeenth Decennial Census of the United States: 1950, vol. II, pt. 32: Characteristics of the Population: New York (Washington, 1952), 96.
53. See also Emspak, "Reminiscences," 36; Ralph Boyd interview by Zahavi, June 2, 1992, audiotape, side 1, tape 2, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Edna Miller interview by Griffin, July 8, 1991, audiotape, side 1, tape 1, ibid.; and James Stamper interview by Zahavi, May 8, 1992, audiotape, side 1, tape 1, A Report of the Seventeenth Decennial Census of the United States: 1950, vol. II, 1952), 96.ibid.
54. David Myers interview by Zahavi, Nov. 11, 1992, audiotape, side 1, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Vottis interview, side 2, tape 1. For similar testimony, see Allen E. Townshend interview by Zahavi, July 15, 1991, audiotape, side 2, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project.
55. Martha Myers (pseudonym) interview by Zahavi, Feb. 4, 1993, audiotape, side 2, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Vottis interview, side 2, tape 1; DeCesare interview, Oct. 23, 1992, side 2, tape 1. DeCesare recalled that when he was seven, his father strongly reprimanded him for reciting the ditty, "Hi ho, hi ho, join the CIO/Pay my dues to feed the Jews." Stamper interview, side 2, tape 1; David Myers interview, side 1, tape 1.
56. Martha Myers interview, side 1, tape 1; Leo Jandreau to J. W. Burnison, Dec. 3, 1942, file 168, Local 301, District 3, District / Locals Series, 1975 Accession, United Electrical Workers National Office Records, United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America Archives; Electrical Union News (Local 301, UE), June 12, 1942, p. 3; Emanuel Fernandez interview; Oct. 9, 1992, side 2, tape 1. For more on the racial egalitarianism of left-wingers, see Quirini interview, June 6, 1991; Miller interview, July 8, 1991; Quirini interview by Zahavi and Griffin, June 26, 1991; Quirini interview by Griffin, Aug. 20, 1992, audiotape, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; and Miller interview, Aug. 12, 1991. For a more general picture of CP reaction to black gains and losses in the electrical industry,
57. see Schatz, Electrical Workers, 129-30.
58. G.E. Worker, Jan. 1951, p. 2, G.E. Worker File, subject files, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Project (Department of History, State University at New York, Albany);
59. Electrical Union News, June 30, 1950, p. 4;
60. Electrical Union News, ibid., July 7, 1950, p. 4;
61. Electrical Union News, ibid., July 28, 1950, p. 2;
62. Carey interview, June 27, 1991.
63. "Application for Charter of Schenectady Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People," June 12, 1928, Schenectady, N.Y., 1913-28 File, Box G136, group I, Papers of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.); NAACP membership list, [1954], Membership List, 1954 File, Series III (microfilm: reel 2), NAACP Schenectady (New York) Branch Records (Special Collections and Archives, University Library, State University of New York, Albany); Dawn Force interview by Zahavi, April 16, 1993, audiotape, side 1, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Fiorillo interview, side 2, tape 1; Carey interview, June 29, 1991, side 1, tape 2; DeCesare interview, Oct. 23, 1992, side 1, tape 2; "Stenographic Record, U.S. House of Representatives, Deposition of Jean Amedee Arsenault before Executive Session of the [House] Committee on Un-American Activities," July 11, 1953, pp. 9-26, case file 539, box 11, Non-criminal Investigation Case Files, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, New York State Division of State Police; "Confidential," list of Communist party members, May 11, 1950, file 6, box 153, J. B. Matthews Papers (William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, N.C.).
64. Gerald Horne, Communist Front? The Civil Rights Congress, 1946-1956 (Cranbury, 1988), 131-54;
65. Herbert Hill, "The Communist Party - Enemy of Negro Equality," Crisis, 58 (June-July 1951), 424;
66. Executive Committee Minutes, July 13, 1951, Executive Committee Minutes, July 1951-Dec. 1954 File, series I (reel 1), NAACP Schenectady (New York) Branch Records; Executive Committee minutes, May 28, 1951, ibid.; Edward Gamarekian to Arthur K. Davis, Oct. 26, 1951, Outgoing Correspondence, 1949-1964 File, series IV (reel 2), ibid.; Gamarekian to Walter White, Oct. 23, 1951, ibid.; Malinda Myers interview by Zahavi, Oct. 30, 1992, audiotape, side 2, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Gamarekian to Mrs. Julius Mondschein, July 23, 1951, Outgoing Correspondence, 1949-1964 File, series IV (reel 2), NAACP Schenectady (New York) Branch Records; "Special Meeting of the NAACP," Dec. 11, 1951, Executive Committee Minutes, scries I (reel 1), Herbert Hill, "Crisis, 58 (1951), 424;ibid.
67. Boyd interview, June 2, 1992, side 1, tape 2; "To members and friends of the NAACP," memo, [1951], Outgoing Correspondence, 1949-1964 File, series IV (reel 2), NAACP Schenectady (New York) Branch Records; Executive Committee Minutes, Oct. 1, 1952, Executive Committee Minutes, July 1951-Dec. 1954 File, series I (reel 1), ibid.; Gamarekian to Davis, Aug. 1, 1951, Outgoing Correspondence, 1949-1964 File, series IV (reel 2), Herbert Hill, "Crisis, 58 (1951), 424;ibid.
68. United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, Proposed Resolutions and Constitutional Amendments, 16th International Convention, New York, Sept. 17-21, 1931 (New York, 1951), 102.
69. Emspak to Vottis, June 29, 1936, file 179, Local 301, District 3, District/Locals Series, 1975 Accession, United Electrical Workers National Office Records, United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America Archives; "What Divisions Should Do at First Meeting Tuesday Night," memo, [Dec. 1936], file 210, ibid.; Jandreau to Emspak, Feb. 4, 1937, file 161, ibid.; Live Current, Dec. 1930, p. 4, box 2841, Office of the Director of Intelligence, Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs; People's Press (UE&RW edition), May 30, 1936, pp. 8, 9;
70. People's Press ibid., Oct. 24, 1936, p. 4;
71. S. L. Archer to Emspak, March 11, 1943, file 149, Local 301, District 3, District/Locals Series, 1975 Accession, United Electrical Workers National Office Records, United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America Archives. UE national leaders also showed gender bias. See Lisa A. Kannenberg, "From World War to Cold War: Women Electrical Workers and Their Union, 1940-1955" (M.A. thesis, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, 1990), 14-16;
72. Van Gosse, "'To Organize in Every Neighborhood, in Every Home': The Gender Politics of American Communists between the Wars," Radical History Review, 50 (Spring 1991), 110, 134.
73. Stevens interview, May 22, 1991, p. 37. Also see the extensive discussion of women's rates scattered through Stevens interview, May 30, 1991. Frank H. MacIntosh interview by Zahavi, Oct. 23, 1991, transcript, p. 17, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Schenectady People's Press, Dec. 21, 1935, p. 5.
74. On boys' wages, see People's Press (UE&RW edition), Oct. 10, 1936, p. 4;
75. People's Press and ibid., March 20, 1937, p. 8. On left-wing unions' commitment to achieving gender equality,
76. see Ruth Milkman, Gender at Work: The Dynamics of Job Segregation by Sex during World War II (Urbana, 1987), 42; and
77. Nancy F. Gabin, Feminism in the Labor Movement: Women and the United Auto Workers, 1935-1973 (Ithaca, 1990), 146.
78. United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, Proceedings of the Eighth International Convention of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (Cleveland, 1942), 38;
79. Electrical Union News, Aug. 24, 1942, p. 1;
80. Martin Alpern, UAW Politics in the Cold War Era (Albany, 1988), 47;
81. United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, Proceedings of the Tenth International Convention of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (New York, 1944), 253;
82. Kannenberg, "From World War to Cold War," 26;
83. Milkman, Gender at Work, 89;
84. Maurice Isserman, Which Side Were You On? The American Communist Party during the Second World War (Middletown, 1983), 140-41;
85. Dorothy Healey and Maurice Isserman, Dorothy Healey Remembers: A Life in the American Communist Party (New York, 1990), 66.
86. For more on Ruth Young's career, see her Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) files, autobiographical tapes, and personal writings in the Ruth Young Jandreau Papers, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Project (being processed). Papers and letters from Young's time as an officer of the UE form part of the District 4 records, District/Locals Series, 1975 Accession, United Electrical Workers National Office Records, United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America Archives. Milkman, Gender at Work, 89; United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America,
87. Proceedings of the Tenth International Convention, 255; United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America,
88. Victory, Peace, and Jobs: Report of UE-CIO Officers for 1943-44 (New York, 1944), 34;
89. United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, Report of General Officers, 1946 (New York, 1946), 38;
90. United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, Report of General Officers, 1947 (New York, 1947), 27.
91. "Exhibit 4," enclosure with George H. Pfeiff to Aileen Lenk, Oct. 1, 1945, file 111-17208-D, Records of the National War Labor Board (World War II), RG 202 (National Archives). My thanks to Lisa Kannenberg for providing me a copy of this item. Henry Antonelli and Helen Quirini, The Story of Local 301, IUE-AFL-CIO: Reflections (Schenectady, 1987), 17. On one woman's wartime experience, see
92. Helen Quirini, "Helen Quirini and General Electric: A Personal Memoir of World War II," [1996], typescript, file 1, box 1, series 1, Helen Quirini Papers, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Project (being processed); Stevens interview, May 22, 1991, p. 34,
93. Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Electrical Union News, Feb. 24, 1945, p. 1;
94. New York State Department of Labor, Division of Industrial Relations, Women in Industry, and Minimum Wage, Post-War Plans of Women Workers in New York State (Albany, 1945), 23.
95. Emanuel Fernandez interview, Oct. 14, 1992, side 2, tape 1; Martha Myers interview, side 2, tape 1.
96. Emanuel Fernandez interview, Oct. 9, 1992, side 2, tape 1. See also Nuzzaco and Nuzzaco interview; Sadie Fernandez interview; Sadie Fernandez, Edna Miller, and Helen Quirini interview by Griffin, Aug. 26, 1992, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Martha Myers interview; and memorandum to C. A. LaForge, n.d., item 11, case file 520, box 11, Non-criminal Investigation Case Files, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, New York State Division of State Police.
97. Martha Myers interview, side 2, tape 1; Milkman, Gender at Work, 80-82;
98. Kannenberg, "From World War to Cold War," 17-20, 30-36, 43-44.
99. Kannenberg, "From World War to Cold War," 74. See also Lisa Kannenberg, "The Impact of the Cold War on Women's Trade Union Activism: The UE Experience," Labor History, 34 (Spring-Summer 1993), 309-23;
100. and Daniel Horowitz, "Rethinking Betty Friedan and The Feminine Mystique: Labor Union Radicalism and Feminism in Cold War America," American Quarterly, 48 (March 1996), 1-42 .
101. United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, 16th Convention: Proceedings (New York, 1951), 248-50; District Council 11 (United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America), "The Fight for Women Workers: A Factual Survey," Jan. 12, 1952, file w-11, box 3, series 2, Quirini Papers. For a more skeptical view of UE's commitment to women's rights, see
102. Nancy B. Palmer, "Gender, Sexuality, and Work: Women and Men in the Electrical Industry, 1940-1955" (Ph.D. diss., Boston College, 1995), 107-34.
103. See Electrical Union News, Nov. 30, 1951, p. 2;
104. Electrical Union News, ibid., Dec. 7, 1951, p. 3;
105. Electrical Union News, ibid., Dec. 21, 1951, p. 2;
106. Electrical Union News, ibid., May 23, 1952, p. 4;
107. "Never Underestimate the Power of a Women," leaflet, [1952], file 145, box 5, series 2, Quirini Papers; Electrical Union News, May 9, 1952, p. 1;
108. Electrical Union News, ibid. May 16, 1952, p. 4; /'£/
109. Mona Lare, "Brides of Marx," American Mercury, May 1938, cited in Robert Shaffer, "Women and the Communist Party, USA, 1930-1940," Socialist Review, 9 (May-June 1979), 114;
110. Socialist Review, ibid., 90;
111. "Communist Activities in the State of Montana," report, June 16, 1941, FBI Butte File 100-721-50, p. 83 (in Zahavi's possession); Robin D. G. Kelley, Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Great Depression (Chapel Hill, 1990), 79.
112. Rosalyn Baxandall, "The Question Seldom Asked: Women and the CPUSA," in New Studies in the Politics and Culture of U.S. Communism, ed. Brown et al., 151;
113. Sam Darcy conversation with Zahavi, Nov. 28, 1993, notes (in Zahavi's possession); Peggy Dennis, The Autobiography of an American Communist: A Personal View of a Political Life, 1925-1973 (Westport, 1977), 77;
114. Mangino interview, side 2, tape 1; Robert Fowler Hall interview by Zahavi, July 19, 1991, audiotape, side 1, tape 1 (in Zahavi's possession); Healey and Isserman, Dorothy Healey Remembers, 67;
115. Bernard Burton, "This Old Red," 1988, pp. 57-60, typescript (in Zahavi's possession).
116. For an example of a novel that explores left-wing politics and interracial sexuality, see Dorothy Doyle, Journey through Jess (Inglewood, 1989). On distortion of left-wing sexuality for right-wing political purposes, see
117. Kate Weigand, "The Red Menace, the Feminine Mystique, and the Ohio Un-American Activities Commission: Gender and Anti-Communism in Ohio, 1951-1954," Journal of Women's History, 3 (Winter 1992), 70-94;
118. Ellen Schrecker, "The Bride of Stalin: Gender and Anticommunism during the McCarthy Era," paper delivered at the Berkshire Conference on Women's History, Poughkeepsie, New York, June 1993
119. (in Zahavi's possession); and Nancy Palmer, "Loyalty, Seduction, and Betrayal: Narrating the Postwar Crisis in the Electrical Industry," paper delivered at the North American Labor History Conference, Detroit, Oct. 1992, ibid. (in Zahavi's possession).
120. Marshall Garcia phone interview, Jan. 22, 1996, audiotape, side 1, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Virginia Durr, Outside the Magic Circle: The Autobiography of Virginia Durr, ed. Hollinger F. Barnard (University, 1985), 123;
121. Kelley, Hammer and Hoe, 78-91;
122. Mark Naison, Communists in Harlem during the Depression (Urbana, 1983), 137; David Myers interview, side 1, tape 1.
123. Boyd interview, June 2, 1992, side 1, tape 2.
124. Martha Myers interview, side 1, tape 2. Leo Jandreau's "womanizing," until his marriage to Ruth Young in 1951, was widely recalled by local female UE activities. Myers shared with me her memories of an event she had kept to herself for close to half of a century - Jandreau's affair with a visiting CP organizer, and the latter's subsequent pregnancy and decision to have an abortion. No one in the party ever exploited Jandreau's private sex life against him, even after he had abandoned his comrades and the UE.
125. Live Current, April 1932, p. 3, box 2841, Office of the Director of Intelligence, Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs;
126. People's Press (UE&RW edition), March 21, 1936, p. 8.
127. For examples of UE cartoons, see Electrical Union News, June 24, 1942, p. 4;
128. Electrical Union News, and ibid., May 13, 1949, p. 2.
129. For one noncartoon example, sec "If you destroy the leisure class you destroy civilization," People's Press (UE&RW edition), March 21, 1936, p. 8.
130. For information on the role of Joseph P. Lamanna and other clerics in the fratricidal struggle between left- and right-wing unionists, see Philip Cognetta interview by Zahavi and Griffin, June 24, 1991, audiotape, side 1, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project; Martha Kriss and Virginia Kriss interview by Zahavi, Oct. 24, 1991, side 1, tape 1, ibid.; Edward J. Bloch interview by Zahavi, May 19, 1987, audiotape, side 2, tape 1. ibid.; Quirini interview by Zahavi and Griffin, June 6, 1991, side 2, tape 1; Carey interview, June 27, 1991, side 1, tape 2; Miranda interview, side 1, tape 2. Fiorillo interview, side 2, tape 1; Schenectady Gazette, March 2, 1967, p. 8; Schenectady Union-Star, April 13, 1954, p. 11; untitled verse enclosure, typescript, 1951/52 shop floor diary, box 1, series 2, Quirini Papers. On Vottis' affair, see Vottis interview, side 1, tape 1; and Dolores Lombardi interview by Zahavi and Griffin, Nov. 5, 1992, audiotape, side 1, tape 2, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project.
131. Sears, "Labor Opposition to the Cold War," 149-84;
132. "Red Pipe Line into Our Defense Plants," Saturday Evening Post, Oct. 18, 1952, pp. 18-21, 106, 108, 110;
133. New York Times, Jan. 4, 1955, sec. 1, p. 13; DeCesare interview, Sept. 19, 1991, side 1, tape 2; Martha Myers interview, side 1, tape 2;
134. Schenectady Union-Star, Feb. 19, 1954, p. 1;
135. Schenectady Gazette, Feb. 20, 1954, p. 1;
136. Albany Knickerbocker News, April 7, 1954, p. 1.
137. "Jandreau and GE Company Exposed," leaflet, Jan. 16, 1950, Electrical Union News (UE), Local 301 News (IUE), and Miscellaneous Document Collection (microfilm: reel 1), Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Project; Stevens interview, May 30, 1991, pp. 29-32; Stevens interview, June 21, 1991, pp. 19-20; Schatz, Electrical Workers, 170-74;
138. Lemuel R. Boulware, The Truth about Boulwarism: Trying to Do Right Voluntarily (Washington, 1969).
139. Stevens interview, May 30, 1991, p. 19. For good examples of Charles A. LaForge's forwarded reports, see General Electric (GE) - Schenectady File, case 520, box 11, Non-criminal Investigation Case Files, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, New York State Division of State Police. Bessie Hunt and Edna Miller interview by Zahavi and Griffin, Aug. 24, 1992, audiotape, side 2, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project.
140. DeCesare interview, Oct. 23, 1992, side 2, tape 1; Garcia interview, Jan. 22, 1996, side 1, tape 1.
141. Joseph R. Starobin, American Communism in Crisis, 1943-1957 (Berkeley, 1972), 201, 199.
142. For more on this campaign, see David A. Shannon, Decline of American Communism (New York, 1959), 244-47;
143. "Ruth Young" report, Oct. 8, 1945, file 100-280549-13, 8, FBI files, FBI-FOIA, Ruth Young Jandreau Papers; and Sunday Worker, July 9, 1948, p. 4
144. DeCesare interview, Oct. 23, 1992, side 1, tape 2.
145. Ibid., side 2, tape 1; Garcia interview, Jan. 22, 1996, side 1, tape 1.
146. Starobin, American Communism in Crisis, 24;
147. Shannon, Decline of American Communism, 248;
148. Elsa Jane Dixler, "The Woman Question: Women and the American Communist Party, 1929-1941" (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1974), 225, 228;
149. Sara Evans, Personal Politics: The Roots of Women's Liberation in the Civil Rights Movement & the New Left (New York, 1979), 116, 117;
150. Kate Weigand, "Vanguards of Women's Liberation: The Old Left and the Continuity of the Women's Movement in the United States, 1945-1970s" (Ph.D. diss., Ohio State University, 1995), 118-83; Garcia interview, Jan. 22, 1996, side 1, tape 1.
151. Garcia interview, Jan. 22, 1996, side 1, tape 1; DeCesare interview, Oct. 23, 1992, side 2, tape 1.
152. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Eighteenth Decennial Census of the United States, vol. I, pt. 34:
153. Population, 1960: New York (Washington, 1961), 140; Garcia interview, Jan. 22, 1996, side 1, tape 1; DeCesare interview, Oct. 23, 1992, side 2, tape 1.
154. Garcia interview, Jan. 22, 1996, side 1, tape 1.
155. Lillian Garcia tried aggressively to recruit and organize local black women, consistent with the party's emphasis on the "triple oppression" of black women. On the notion of "triple oppression," see Weigand, "Vanguards of Women's Liberation," 187-217. Garcia interview, March 15, 1994, side 1, tape 1; DeCesare interview, Oct. 23, 1992, side 1, tape 2; Hunt and Miller interview, side 2, tape 1. For examples of the party's community activities see "Conference for Civil and Human Rights" (New York City), case 197, box 7, Non-criminal Investigation Case Files, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, New York State Division of State Police; "Tri-City Civil Liberties Committee," case 445, box 10, ibid.; "Schenectady Peace Council," case 499, box 11, ibid.; and Carey interview, June 27, 1991, side 2, tape 1.
156. On Leo Jandreau, see Schenectady Gazette, July 2, 1954, p. 8; Leo Eugene Jandreau Files, FBI-FOIA, Leo Jandreau Papers, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Project (being processed); and "Leo Jandreau," case 634, box 14, Non-criminal Investigation Case Files, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, New York State Division of State Police.
157. Ruth Young Jandreau interview by Ruth Milkman and Meredith Tax, Aug. 29, 1985, transcript, pp. 48-49, Interviews File, box 1, Ruth Young Jandreau Papers. For background on her decision to abandon the party and trade union activism, see Ruth Young Jandreau, "My Story (some splinters of a life)," 1979, in Autobiographical Writings File, box 1, ibid.; and autobiographical tapes in Audiotapes Box, ibid. 57 Vottis interview, side 1, tape 1; Committee on Education and Labor, Investigation of Communist Infiltration of UERMWA, 191-217; "To the Tune of McNamara's Band," n.d., box 20, Les Finnigen Files, International Union of Electrical Workers Archives (Special Collections, Rutgers University Library, New Brunswick, N.J.); Miranda interview, side 2, tape 1; Fiorillo interview, side 2, tape 1. Retired Schenectady General Electric executive Frank MacIntosh recalled that GE vice-president Lemuel R. Boulware pressured local managers to expose Jandreau as a "red." They resisted. Macintosh believed their protection of Jandreau led Jandreau to withdraw the local from participation in a 1960 nationwide strike. MacIntosh interview, side 2, tape 1.
158. "Leo Eugene Jandreau" report, Aug. 21, 1950, file 100-290802-24, FBI files, FBI-FOIA, Leo Jandreau Papers; Berkshire Evening Eagle, June 30, 1954, p. 4; Ruth Young Jandreau interview, 50; DcCesare interview, Oct. 23, 1992, side 2, tape 1; Rosemary Feurer, "William Sentner, the UE, and Civic Unionism in St. Louis," in
159. The CIO's left-Led Unions, ed. Steve Rosswurm (New Brunswick, 1992), 95-117.
160. IUE-CIO News, July 5, 1954, p. 3; DeCesare interview, Oct. 23, 1992, side 2, tape 1.
161. Marshall Perlin phone conversation with Zahavi, Sept. 3, 1992, notes (in Zahavi's possession); "Leo Eugene Jandreau" report, Aug. 19, 1949, file 100-290802, FBI files, FBI-FOIA, Leo Jandreau Papers; G.E. Worker, Jan. 1951, pp. 1-2, G.E. Worker File, subject files, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Project; Executive Board Meeting Notes, Jan. 1954, 1954 shop floor diary, box 1, series 2, Quirini Papers; Helen Quirini, speech given at UE Women's Conference, May 15, 1954, audiotape, side 1, tape 1, box 1, series 5, ibid.; Townshend interview, side 1, tape 1; Quirini interview, June 26, 1991, side 2, tape 1; Cognetta interview, side 1, tape 1; "Release of GE Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1953," file 895, Local 301, District 3, District/Locals Series, 1975 Accession, United Electrical Workers National Office Records, United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America Archives; Schenectady Union-Star, Feb. 26, 1954, p. 1.
162. David Montgomery to Gerald Zahavi, June 26, 27, 1994 (in Zahavi's possession); Schenectady Gazette, July 1, 1954, p. 1.
163. Ruth Young Velson Union Dues Book, Union Records File, box 1, Ruth Young Jandreau Papers; Nina Youkelson to Ruth Jandreau, March 16, 1954, Correspondence File, ibid.; Rubin Youkelson to Ruth Young Jandreau, March 20, 1954, ibid. On Young's father's career within the Jewish Left, see I. B. Bailin, "Rubin Youkelson at Sixty, "Jewish Fraternalist (IWO), 1 (Oct. 1945), 14; Karen J. Clark and Rosanne Jandreau Tubbs interview by Zahavi, Dec. 30, 1991, audiotape, side 2, tape 1, Schenectady General Electric in the 20th Century Oral History Project.