Haim Kantorovitch was an American socialist teacher, writer, and Marxist

Marxism

Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

 theoretician

Theoretician (Marxism)

A theoretician is a term from the vernacular of Marxism relating to an individual who observes and writes about the condition or dynamics of society, history, or economics, making use of the main principles of Marxian socialism in the analysis....

. Kantorovitch is best remembered as one of the intellectual

Intellectual

An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...

 leaders of the Militant faction

Militant faction

The Militant faction was an organized grouping of Marxists in the Socialist Party of America who sought to steer that organization from its orientation towards electoral politics and towards direct action and revolutionary socialism. The faction emerged during 1930 and 1931 and achieved practical...

 of the Socialist Party of America

Socialist Party of America

The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...

 in the early 1930s and as a founder and editor of The American Socialist Quarterly, the SP's theoretical magazine.

Early years

Haim Kantorovitch was born of ethnic Jewish parents in Lakhva

Lakhva

Lakhva is a small town in southern Belarus, with a population of approximately 2100. Lakhva is considered to have been the location of one of the first, and possibly the first, Jewish ghetto uprisings of the Second World War.-Geography:Lakhva is located in the Luninets district of the Brest...

, Belorus, then part of the Russian empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

, on November 4, 1890. Kantorovitch came to radical politics as a young man, joining the Bund  (Yiddish: אַלגעמײַנער ײדישער אַרבעטער בּונד אין ליטע פוילין און רוסלאַנד — Algemeyner Yidisher Arbeter Bund in Lite, Poyln un Rusland, the General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia.)

Kantorovitch emigrated to the United States in 1907, following the failure of the 1905 Russian Revolution. In America he worked in the garment industry of Boston, Massachusetts making raincoats. Kantorovitch helped to unionize the factory in which he worked, with the union first affiliating with the Industrial Workers of the World

Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...

 before moving to the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union at a later juncture.

Kantorovitch was a native speaker of Yiddish but he was also able to read and write fluently in Russian, German, and English. He wrote two books in Yiddish — The History of the Labor Movement in America and In the Light of Marxism.

Political career

In America, Kantorovitch was initially a "labor Zionist," a member of the Poale-Zion movement

Poale Zion

Poale Zion was a Movement of Marxist Zionist Jewish workers circles founded in various cities of the Russian Empire about the turn of the century after the Bund rejected Zionism in 1901.-Formation and early years:Poale Zion parties and organisations were started across the Jewish diaspora in the...

. Highly regarded for his knowledge of political history and Marxist theory, in the 1920s Kantorovitch was employed as a teacher in the high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 operated by the Workman's Circle (Yiddish: אַרבעטער־רינג — Arbeiter Ring), a Jewish fraternal organization based in New York City. Kantorovitch was also the director of the children's camps sponsored annually by the Workman's Circle organization.
In 1926, Kantorovitch left the Poale-Zion movement to join the successor to the Jewish Socialist Federation

Jewish Socialist Federation

The Jewish Socialist Federation was a secular Jewish Yiddish-oriented organization founded in 1912 which acted as a language federation in the Socialist Party of America . Many of the founding members of the JSF had previously been members of the Bund in Eastern Europe and sought to bring Bundist...

 of the Socialist Party of America

Socialist Party of America

The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...

 — the Jewish Socialist Verband. Kantorovitch was a frequent contributor to the publications of the Verband before becoming the editor of the official organ of the organization, a newspaper called Der Wecker.

Kantorovitch continued to teach at various Workmen's Circle schools in Baltimore, Waterbury

Waterbury, Connecticut

Waterbury is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, on the Naugatuck River, 33 miles southwest of Hartford and 77 miles northeast of New York City...

, Newark

Newark, New Jersey

Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

, and New York City. While in Baltimore he published his first English-language article, "The Rise and Decline of Neo-Communism," a critical analysis of Communism and the Russian Revolution of 1917. The editor of the Modern Monthly, V.F. Calverton, was so impressed with Kantorovitch and his ideas that he was made an Associate Editor of the magazine, to which he frequently contributed.

As the 1930s began, Kantorovitch moved his main activity to the English-speaking Socialist movement. He was an early and enthusiastic adherent to the Militant faction

Militant faction

The Militant faction was an organized grouping of Marxists in the Socialist Party of America who sought to steer that organization from its orientation towards electoral politics and towards direct action and revolutionary socialism. The faction emerged during 1930 and 1931 and achieved practical...

 of the Socialist Party which emerged in 1930-31. At the end of 1931 Kantorovitch joined forces with two teachers at the Rand School of Social Science

Rand School of Social Science

The Rand School of Social Science was formed in New York City by adherents of the Socialist Party of America in 1906. The school aimed to provide a broad education to workers, imparting a politicizing class-consciousness, and additionally served as a research bureau, a publisher, and the operator...

, Anna Bercowitz and David P. Berenberg

David P. Berenberg

David Paul Berenberg was an American socialist teacher, editor, and writer. He is best remembered as a founder and editor of The American Socialist Quarterly, the theoretical magazine of the Socialist Party of America during the 1930s....

, as a founder and co-editor of the American Socialist Quarterly, a magazine dedicated to socialist theory and in depth analysis of current questions of policy. The magazine would gain official status as the theoretical journal of the Socialist Party of America during its second year of publication. It was also approximately this same time that Kantorovitch first contracted tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

, the disease which would later claim his life at the age of 46.

Kantorovitch was the author of several political pamphlets

Pamphlet

A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...

 advocating a move of the SPA towards a perspective of revolutionary socialism

Revolutionary socialism

The term revolutionary socialism refers to Socialist tendencies that advocate the need for fundamental social change through revolution by mass movements of the working class, as a strategy to achieve a socialist society...

. Despite this perspective, Kantorovitch was consistently critical of the Communist Party

Communist Party USA

The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....

 (CPUSA), particularly hostile to the party's equation of social democrats with fascists

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

 and their activity building dual trade unions up through 1934 under the aegis of the Trade Union Unity League

Trade Union Unity League

The Trade Union Unity League was an industrial union umbrella organization of the Communist Party of the United States between 1929 and 1935...

.

When in 1935 the Militants made common cause with the "Progressives" around SP Presidential candidate Norman Thomas

Norman Thomas

Norman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...

 and launched a newspaper of their own called The Socialist Call in opposition to the organ of the Old Guard faction

Old Guard faction

The Old Guard faction was an organized grouping of Marxists in the Socialist Party of America who sought to retain the organization's traditional orientation towards electoral politics by fighting generally younger party members who factionally organized to promote greater efforts at direct action...

, The New Leader, Kantorovitch was a regular contributor. Although in ill health throughout his life with chronic tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

, he continued to write for The Call and The American Socialist up to the time of his death.

Death and legacy

Haim Kantorovitch died on August 17, 1936, at a sanitarium operated by the Workman's Circle in Liberty, New York

Liberty (village), New York

Liberty is a village in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was 3,975 at the 2000 census.The Village of Liberty is centrally located in the Town of Liberty and is adjacent to New York Route 17.- History :...

. His body was returned to New York City where it lay in state for two days in the auditorium of the Young Circle League, located at 15 Union Square in New York City. A funeral was held on Friday, August 21 in that same location.

A measured and intelligent man, Kantorovitch's death oddly parallel the October 1933 death from tuberculosis of his equivalent in the Old Guard faction, Morris Hillquit

Morris Hillquit

Morris Hillquit was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side during the early 20th century.-Early years:...

. Devoid of these two respected leaders, more acrimonious voices held sway for both factions in the Socialist Party and a party split soon followed with Old Guard leaders Louis Waldman

Louis Waldman

Louis Waldman was a leading figure in the Socialist Party of America from the late 1910s and through the middle 1930s, a founding member of the Social Democratic Federation, and a prominent New York labor lawyer.-Early years:...

 and James Oneal

James Oneal

James "Jim" Oneal , a founding member of the Socialist Party of America , was a prominent socialist journalist, historian, and party activist who played a decisive role in the bitter party splits of 1919-21 and 1934-36.-Early years:...

 exiting the party to form the Social Democratic Federation during the second half of 1936. Those remaining in the Socialist Party were rent with several other factional divisions and the membership of the party atrophied as a result of factional warfare and expulsions.

Kantorovitch's colleague David Berenberg eulogized his co-worker in an article published shortly after his death:

"After the death of The Class Struggle [in 1919], an interim of ten years followed during which the Socialist Party had no English publication other than the daily and weekly propaganda papers. Few, apparently, felt the need for something more substantial... For some years the writer cast about among his friends in the party in the hope of finding those few whose enthusiasm could be concretized into action. Then he found Anna Bercowitz, and through her Haim Kantorovitch, who had been making the same search independently. * * *


"For the last five years the [American Socialist Quarterly], and in the last year the [American Socialist Monthly], were Haim Kantorovitch's life. He gave to it the greater part of his time. He took its problems to the sanitorium. In the long hours of his loneliness in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 and at Liberty [NY] he pondered its future course. In his last days he summoned up the remnants of his strength to write for it an article of pungent warning to that party for which he was giving up his life. * * *


"He is gone now. Other theoreticians will arise. Other writers full of cogency and wit will fill his place. He knew he was not indispensable to the movement. But few among those who follow will have that combination of broad knowledge, deep human understanding, poetic vividness, and human kindness that made up Haim Kantorovitch. He was no angel. He had a tendency to emphasize and subtly caricature the failings of his opponents. He was often cynical and bitter. He was sometimes unjust. But these flaws in him merely prove his humanity. We who have lost him would not have had him otherwise than he was."

Haim Kantorovitch was survived by his wife, Jenny, and two daughters, Miriam ("Mary") and Malka.

Books and pamphlets

• Di geshikhṭe fun der Ameriḳaner arbeyṭer baṿegung. New York: Poalei Zion, Branch Six, 1920.
• The Rise and Decline of Neo-Communism. Baltimore, MD: The Modern Quarterly, n.d. [c. 1924].
• In likht fun Marksizm. New York: Hoyptfarkoyf: M.N. Mayzel, 1925.
• Oyfn ṿeg tsum sotsyalizm. New York: Ṿeḳer, 1930.
• A shmuʻes tsṿishn tsṿey arbeṭer: Ṿegn sotsyalizm un ḳapiṭalizm. New York: Farlag Ṿeḳer fun Idishn sotsyalisṭishn farband, 1932.
• Marksizm in unzer tzeiṭ: Zamlbuch lekoved dem 50ṭn jortzeiṭ fun Karl Marks. New York: Ṿeḳer, 1933.
• Towards Socialist Reorientation. ASQ American Socialist Quarterly Reprints no. 1. Chicago, IL: Education Committee, Socialist Party of America, n.d. [c. 1933].
• The Socialist Party at the Cross Roads: Notes on the Declaration of Principles Adopted at the National Convention, Socialist party, Detroit, June 3, 1934. New York, NY: Max Delson, 1934.
• Problems of Revolutionary Socialism. New York, NY: American Socialist Monthly, 1936.

Articles

• "The New Capitalism — And After," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 1, no. 1 (January 1932), pp. 17–32.
• "The Social Philosophy of Marxism," American Socialist Quarterly, Part 1: vol. 1, no. 2 (April 15, 1932), pp. 44–52. Part 2: vol. 1, no. 3 (Summer 1932), pp. 42–49.
• "Proletarian Literature in America," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 1 (Winter 1933), pp. 3–11.
• "Living Marxism," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 2 (Spring 1933), pp. 17–26.
• "The German Tragedy: A Warning to International Socialism," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 3 (Summer 1933), pp. 3–13.
• "Towards Reorientation," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 4 (Autumn 1933), pp. 13–19.
• "The Socialism of the Hopeless," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 3, no. 1 (Spring 1934), pp. 47–53.
• "Refreshing Voices from Germany," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 3, no. 2 (Summer 1934), pp. 51–56.
• "Notes of a Marxist," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 3, no. 3 (Autumn 1934), pp. 9–34.
• "The United Front," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 3, no. 4 (December 1934), pp. 16–25.
• "Marxism for Today," The Socialist Call, Part 1: vol. 1, no. 2 (March 13, 1935), pg. 5. Part 2: vol. 1, no. 3 (April 6, 1935), pg. 8. Part 3: vol. 1, no. 7 (May 4, 1935), pg. 8. Part 4: vol. 1, no. 8 (May 11, 1935), pg. 8. Part 5: vol. 1, no. 9 (May 18, 1935), pg. 8. Part 6: vol. 1, no.10 (May 25, 1935), pg. 8.
• "Reflections: May Day, 1935," The Socialist Call, vol. 1, no. 6 (April 27, 1935), pg. 20.
• "Problems of Revolutionary Socialism," The Socialist Call, Part 1: vol. 1, no. 16 (July 6, 1935), pg. 3. Part 2: vol. 1, no. 17 (July 13, 1935), pg. 9. Part 3: vol. 1, no. 18 (July 20, 1935), pg. 10. Part 4: vol. 1, no. 19 (July 27, 1935), pp. 8–9. Part 5: vol. 1, no. 20 (August 3, 1935), pg. 8. Part 6: vol. 1, no. 21 (August 19, 1935), pg. 8.
• "The Socialist Party and the Trade Unions," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 3 (November 1935), pp. 34–44.
• "The Thomas-Browder Debate," The Socialist Call, vol. 1, no. 38 (December 7, 1935), pg. 9.
• "The Old Guard: An Analysis of its History and of its Principles," 'The Socialist Call, vol. 1, no. 39 (December 14, 1935), sec. 2, pg. 1.
• "Book Review: What is Communism? by Earl Browder," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 2 (April 1936), pp. 28–29.
• "Notes on the United Front Problem," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 3 (May 1936), pp. 7–11.
• "The Left Wing at the Cleveland Convention," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 5 (July 1936), pp. 8–12.
• "On Reading Trotsky's Book The Third International After Lenin," American Socialist Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 6 (August 1936), pp. 29–32.
• "Some Notes on an All-Inclusive Party," American Socialist Monthly, vol. 5, no. 8 (December 1936), pp. 14–16.

Translations

• Heinrich Ehrlich, Problems of Revolutionary Socialism. Translation by Kantorovitch and Anna Bercowitz. New York: Bund Club of New York, 1934.