Background

Gitlow was born on December 22, 1891, in Elizabethport, New Jersey, and raised in New York City. His parents, Louis Albert Gitlow and Katherine Golman, emigrated from Russia in 1888 and worked in the New York garment industry. They became socialists, Kate Gitlow gaining prominence as a Socialist party organizer. Later she became one of the "matriarchs" of the Communist party.

Education

Gitlow graduated from Stuyvesant High School.

Career

Gitlow held various jobs, but these always took secondary importance to his political activities. In 1909 he followed his parents into the Socialist party, and eight years later (1917) he was elected to the New York Assembly. He served only one term. Captivated by the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Gitlow joined the left-wing faction of the Socialist party in 1918 and a year later helped organize the Communist Labor party, one of two Communist parties organized in the United States that year. That November, at the height of the "red scare, " he was arrested in a massive raid by New York officials against radical organizations. Because he was the first Communist tried under the state's Criminal Anarchy Act, Gitlow's case received widespread publicity. In 1925 the Supreme Court upheld his conviction in Gitlow v. New York, a landmark First Amendment decision. Gitlow was in and out of prison from 1920 to 1925, serving a total of three years. On the first anniversary of Gitlow's marriage, Governor Al Smith pardoned him, stating that he had served sufficient time for a "political" crime. Gitlow's trial and imprisonment brought him much notoriety in radical circles. The Communist party kept his name before the public and presented him as its candidate for mayor of New York City and for Congress while he was in Sing Sing Prison. In 1924 and in 1928 the party nominated him as its vice-presidential candidate on a ticket headed by William Z. Foster. Throughout the 1920's Gitlow remained near the top of the Communist party hierarchy and was honored by Moscow with an appointment to the Presidium, the permanent governing body of the Executive Committee of the Communist International. Despite his prominence and popularity, Gitlow fell victim to the machinations of Josef Stalin and in 1929 was expelled from the party. With Jay Lovestone, Bertram Wolfe, and several others who had been expelled, he organized the Communist Party, U. S. A. (Majority Group), but it had little impact. Throughout most of the 1930's he wandered from one radical organization to another and even rejoined the Socialist party for a while. Gitlow became increasingly disillusioned not only with Communism but also with radical politics in general. Bitterness toward his former comrades, the rise of fascism in Europe, and the Hitler-Stalin nonaggression pact led him to a strong anti-Communist position by the end of the decade. The first public pronouncement of Gitlow's new position came in September 1939, when he testified before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He followed this with the publication of I Confess: The Truth About American Communism (1940). In both his testimony and his writing he claimed that American Communists were controlled and directed by the Soviet Union, and that their primary purpose was to undermine American institutions for the benefit of Moscow. Gitlow's allegations were generally ignored during World War II, for the United States and the Soviet Union joined as allies to defeat Hitler. Shortly after the war, however, he and several other former Communists gained the public's attention. Their portrayal of a massive Communist conspiracy that threatened American life and society found favor with both conservative politicians and a frustrated public bewildered by the successes of Communism in eastern Europe and Asia. Gitlow now found himself in demand both as a witness and as a public speaker. During the late 1940's and the early 1950's he testified at numerous congressional hearings and at state and federal trials. He lectured around the country, and wrote books and articles on Communism. By the mid-1950's the intense anti-Communist crusade had run its course. The government ceased to pay former Communists for their testimony at hearings and trials. Lecture fees and royalties on the subject of Communism were no longer forthcoming. In the decade before his death, Gitlow continued as a free-lance lecturer and writer, but he did not find it a lucrative endeavor. He died in Crompond, New York on July 19, 1965. Throughout his later years Gitlow remained interested in politics, but his warnings about the dangers facing the United States and his recommendations for action were accepted by only the most conservative Americans.

Achievements

• Benjamin Gitlow has been listed as a notable author by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Whole of Their Lives

    (From one of the organizers of the American Communist Part...)

  • I Confess: The Truth About American Communism

    (Expose/history of American Communist Party.)

Connections

On December 11, 1924, Gitlow married Badana Zeitlin; they had one son.

Father:

Lewis Albert Gitlow

Mother:

Katherine Golman

Spouse:

Badana Zeitlin

References

• The Roots of American Communism
• Gitlow v. New York: Every Idea an Incitement (Landmark Law Cases and American Society)
• Gitlow v. New York: Case Brief (Court Case Briefs)