Joseph Zack Kornfeder
Encyclopedia
Joseph Zack Kornfeder, also known as Joseph Zack and to his friends as "Joe," was an Austro-Hungarian
-born American
who was a founding member and top leader of the Communist Party of America in 1919. Zack was a Representative of the Communist International to South America
from 1930 to 1931, before quitting the Communist Party in 1934. After his wife, who he had to leave in the Soviet Union
, was arrested by the secret police
during the Great Terror
of 1937-38, Zack moved to a position of vehement anti-Communism
, testifying before the Dies Committee of the US Congress as a friendly witness in 1939.
, Austria-Hungary
(now Slovakia
) on March 20, 1898. Zack's parents were ethnic Austria
ns and they raised their son as a Roman Catholic.
As a young man, Joseph went to Spain, where he joined the Spanish Socialist Party at age 16.
The family emigrated to the United States in 1915, landing in New York City
, where they made a home. Zack took a job as a garment worker and joined the Socialist Party of America
within a year after his arrival.
in April 1920 to join with the rival Communist Labor Party of America (CLP) in establishing the United Communist Party (UCP). He is known to have used the pseudonyms "A.C. Griffith" and "J.P. Collins" during the underground period, occasionally contributing articles to the party press on trade union-related matters. Zack was elected a member of the unified Communist Party of America following its formation at a unity convention held at the Overlook Mountain House near Woodstock, New York
in May 1921. He emerged as an outspoken advocate of elimination of the underground form of political organization in 1921. Zack resigned from the CEC of the CPA on April 17, 1923, to help make way for Earl Browder
, Robert Minor
, and Alfred Wagenknecht
, who were coopted to the 10-member body at that time.
Zack was a delegate to the ill-fated 1922 Bridgman Convention
of the CPA which was raided by police on August 22. Zack was arrested in the Justice Department-directed operation and was held for about four months, finally being released around the start of 1923 on $5,000 bail. Zack was involved in the Communist Party's activities among the trade unions, conducted by William Z. Foster's
Trade Union Educational League
(TUEL). Zack was chosen as the head of TUEL's National Committee of the Needle Trades Section, which was organized November 22, 1922. During the bitter internecine factional
struggle which swept the American Communist movement during the 1920s, Zack was a loyal partisan of the faction headed by Bill Foster and Jim Cannon.
In 1926, Zack married a Russian woman, with whom he had one son. Zack attended the Comintern's
Lenin Institute and sat as an American representative to the Executive Committee of the Communist International
(ECCI), where he was made a member of ECCI's Anglo-American Secretariat, charged with Communist affairs in the English-speaking countries.
In 1930, Zack was dispatched as a Comintern Rep to South America
, where he remained until the fall of 1931. While Zack was at the Comintern's disposal abroad, his wife and son remained in Moscow
. In the fall of 1931, Zack was jailed in Venezuela
, only gaining his release through the efforts of the United States Department of State
. Home in America, his wife and son still in the USSR, Zack was named the Secretary for the Eastern District of the Trade Union Unity League
(TUUL), successor to TUEL.
In the fall of 1934, Zack abruptly quit the CPUSA, ostensibly over the party's departure from the ultra-radicalism of the so-called "Third Period
." Zack made his way into the Workers Party of the United States
(WPUS), formed at the end of 1934 by the unification of two small political organizations, headed by pacifist A.J. Muste and Trotskyist
James P. Cannon
, respectively. He remained a member of this organization for only a short time.
during the Great Terror
which swept the Soviet Union. Zack's wife was apparently arrested as the relative of an enemy of the people; she ultimately served 18 years in the labor camps of the Gulag
, with the couple's son raised in a special home. The arrest of his wife had the effect of turning Zack into a vigorous opponent of Joseph Stalin
and the USSR.
On September 30, 1939, Zack was called before the Dies Committee, before which he testified extensively as a friendly witness. In succeeding years, Zack established himself as an outspoken anti-communist, addressing conservative gatherings and writing on the dangers of Stalin's dictatorship.
while checking into a Washington, D.C.
hotel on May Day
, 1963.
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
who was a founding member and top leader of the Communist Party of America in 1919. Zack was a Representative of the Communist International to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
from 1930 to 1931, before quitting the Communist Party in 1934. After his wife, who he had to leave in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, was arrested by the secret police
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
during the Great Terror
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
of 1937-38, Zack moved to a position of vehement anti-Communism
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
, testifying before the Dies Committee of the US Congress as a friendly witness in 1939.
Early years
Joseph Zack Kornfeder, perhaps better known by his mother's maiden name as "Joseph Zack," was born in TrenčínTrencín
Trenčín is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 56,000, which makes it the ninth largest municipality of the country and is the seat of the Trenčín Region and the Trenčín District...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
(now Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
) on March 20, 1898. Zack's parents were ethnic Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
ns and they raised their son as a Roman Catholic.
As a young man, Joseph went to Spain, where he joined the Spanish Socialist Party at age 16.
The family emigrated to the United States in 1915, landing in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where they made a home. Zack took a job as a garment worker and joined 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...
within a year after his arrival.
Political career
Zack was a founding member of the Communist Party of America (CPA) in 1919. He seems to have left the CPA along with C.E. RuthenbergCharles Ruthenberg
Charles Emil Ruthenberg was an American Marxist politician and a founder and long-time head of the Communist Party USA .-Biography:Charles Emil Ruthenberg was born July 9, 1882 in Cleveland, Ohio...
in April 1920 to join with the rival Communist Labor Party of America (CLP) in establishing the United Communist Party (UCP). He is known to have used the pseudonyms "A.C. Griffith" and "J.P. Collins" during the underground period, occasionally contributing articles to the party press on trade union-related matters. Zack was elected a member of the unified Communist Party of America following its formation at a unity convention held at the Overlook Mountain House near Woodstock, New York
Woodstock, New York
Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 at the 2000 census.The Town of Woodstock is in the northern part of the county...
in May 1921. He emerged as an outspoken advocate of elimination of the underground form of political organization in 1921. Zack resigned from the CEC of the CPA on April 17, 1923, to help make way for Earl Browder
Earl Browder
Earl Russell Browder was an American communist and General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1934 to 1945. He was expelled from the party in 1946.- Early years :...
, Robert Minor
Robert Minor
Robert Berkeley "Bob" Minor was political cartoonist, a radical journalist, and a leading member of the American Communist Party.-Early life:...
, and Alfred Wagenknecht
Alfred Wagenknecht
Alfred Wagenknecht was an American Marxist activist and political functionary. He is best remembered for having played a critical role in the establishment of the American Communist Party in 1919 as a leader of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party...
, who were coopted to the 10-member body at that time.
Zack was a delegate to the ill-fated 1922 Bridgman Convention
1922 Bridgman Convention
The 1922 Bridgman Convention was a secret conclave of the underground Communist Party of America held in August 1922 near the small town of Bridgman, Michigan, about outside of the city of Chicago on the banks of Lake Michigan...
of the CPA which was raided by police on August 22. Zack was arrested in the Justice Department-directed operation and was held for about four months, finally being released around the start of 1923 on $5,000 bail. Zack was involved in the Communist Party's activities among the trade unions, conducted by William Z. Foster's
William Z. Foster
William Foster was a radical American labor organizer and Marxist politician, whose career included a lengthy stint as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA...
Trade Union Educational League
Trade Union Educational League
The Trade Union Educational League was established by William Z. Foster in 1920 as a means of uniting radicals within various trade unions for a common plan of action. The group was subsidized by the Communist International via the Communist Party of America from 1922...
(TUEL). Zack was chosen as the head of TUEL's National Committee of the Needle Trades Section, which was organized November 22, 1922. During the bitter internecine factional
Political faction
A political faction is a grouping of individuals, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, “parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. The individuals...
struggle which swept the American Communist movement during the 1920s, Zack was a loyal partisan of the faction headed by Bill Foster and Jim Cannon.
In 1926, Zack married a Russian woman, with whom he had one son. Zack attended the Comintern's
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
Lenin Institute and sat as an American representative to the Executive Committee of the Communist International
Executive Committee of the Communist International
The Executive Committee of the Communist International, commonly known by its acronym, ECCI, was the governing authority of the Comintern between the World Congresses of that body...
(ECCI), where he was made a member of ECCI's Anglo-American Secretariat, charged with Communist affairs in the English-speaking countries.
In 1930, Zack was dispatched as a Comintern Rep to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, where he remained until the fall of 1931. While Zack was at the Comintern's disposal abroad, his wife and son remained in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. In the fall of 1931, Zack was jailed in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, only gaining his release through the efforts of the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
. Home in America, his wife and son still in the USSR, Zack was named the Secretary for the Eastern District 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...
(TUUL), successor to TUEL.
In the fall of 1934, Zack abruptly quit the CPUSA, ostensibly over the party's departure from the ultra-radicalism of the so-called "Third Period
Third Period
The Third Period is a ideological concept adopted by the Communist International at its 6th World Congress, held in Moscow in the summer of 1928....
." Zack made his way into the Workers Party of the United States
Workers Party of the United States
The Workers Party of the United States was established in December 1934 by a merger of the American Workers Party led by A.J. Muste and the Trotskyist Communist League of America led by James P. Cannon. The party was dissolved in 1936 when its members entered the Socialist Party of America en...
(WPUS), formed at the end of 1934 by the unification of two small political organizations, headed by pacifist A.J. Muste and Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
James P. Cannon
James P. Cannon
James Patrick "Jim" Cannon was an American Trotskyist and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party.Born on February 11, 1890 in Rosedale, Kansas, he joined the Socialist Party of America in 1908 and the Industrial Workers of the World in 1911...
, respectively. He remained a member of this organization for only a short time.
Break with Communism
In 1936, Zack made an appeal to the US State Department in an attempt to persuade the USSR to allow his wife and child out of the country. The effort proved unsuccessful, a difficulty which became a catastrophe in 1937 when his wife ran afoul of the secret policeNKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
during the Great Terror
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
which swept the Soviet Union. Zack's wife was apparently arrested as the relative of an enemy of the people; she ultimately served 18 years in the labor camps of the Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
, with the couple's son raised in a special home. The arrest of his wife had the effect of turning Zack into a vigorous opponent of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
and the USSR.
On September 30, 1939, Zack was called before the Dies Committee, before which he testified extensively as a friendly witness. In succeeding years, Zack established himself as an outspoken anti-communist, addressing conservative gatherings and writing on the dangers of Stalin's dictatorship.
Death and legacy
Joseph Zack Kornfeder died of a heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
while checking into a Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
hotel on May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
, 1963.
Works
- "What Shall We Do in the Unions?" As "J.P. Collins." The Communist (New York: unified CPA), vol. 1, no. 3 (Sept. 1921), pp. 20-23.
- Communist Front Organizations: Types, Purposes, History and Tactics. Columbus, OH: Ohio Coalition of Patriotic Societies, n.d. [c. 1940].
- Communist Deception in the Churches: An Address before Circuit Riders, Inc., at a National Committee Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 26, 1952. Cincinnati, OH: Circuit Riders, 1952.
- Brainwashing and Senator McCarthy. New York: Alliance, 1954.
- The New Frontier of War. With William Roscoe Kintner. Chicago: Regnery, 1962.
External links
- Max ShachtmanMax ShachtmanMax Shachtman was an American Marxist theorist. He evolved from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL-CIO President George Meany.-Beginnings:...
, "The Case of Joseph Zack," The Socialist Appeal [New York], vol. 3 no. 30 (July 23, 1938).