Ludwig Lore
Encyclopedia
Ludwig Lore was an American
socialist newspaper editor and politician, best remembered for his tenure as editor of the New Yorker Volkszeitung
and role as a factional leader in the early American communist movement. During the middle 1930s, Lore wrote a daily foreign affairs column for the New York Post
and secretly worked recruiting potential agents and gathering information on behalf of the Soviet
foreign intelligence network.
Lore attended gymnasium in Hirschberg, Germany, and later graduated Berlin University where he studied under political economist Werner Sombart
.
Upon completion of his education in 1892, Lore went to work in the textile industry. He remained in that industry until emigrating to the United States in 1903.
While in Germany
, Lore joined the Social Democratic Party
(SPD) of that country, holding office in the party and standing as an SPD candidate for political office.
Lore emigrated to America in 1903 and first settled in the state of Colorado
where he worked at various jobs. While in Colorado, Lore joined the fledgling Industrial Workers of the World
.
Lore later moved to New York City
where he joined the staff of the German-language socialist daily, the New Yorker Volkszeitung.
Lore was editor of the German-language socialist daily published in New York City
, the New Yorker Volkszeitung. Under Lore the paper had more the feel of a tabloid magazine than a typical straight newspaper, an orientation which is said by one historian to have "suited his personality and approach."
The historian Paul Buhle
has written of Lore:
Lore was married to a woman named Lilly and together with her had three boys.
and Louis Boudin.
Lore was a founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America, an organization which, following a decade of splits and mergers, ultimately evolved into the Communist Party USA
.
During this interval, Lore's New Yorker Volkszeitung was brought into the communist orbit, albeit neither fully nor wholeheartedly. The paper professed what was essentially a Communist interpretation of international events and advocated a general Communist policy at home, yet was only partially and unwillingly dragged into the mire of the bitter factional
Communist Party politics of the 1920s.
One historian notes:
Lore was two times a candidate of the Workers Party of America, running for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1922 and for U.S. Congress in the New York 14th District in 1924.
In 1925, fearing proto-Trotskyist
indiscipline, Lore was brought up on charges before the executive of the Workers (Communist) Party's German Language Federation. When the executive refused to expel Lore, changes were made in the composition of the body to make Lore's expulsion inevitable. Lore was expelled from the organization later that same year.
As editor of the Volkszeitung, Lore attempted what has described as a "balancing a feeling for a theoretical Marxist line with a more sensitive reading of American political culture," in which he "tried, and ultimately fialed, to develop a communism that would meet the demands of the aging generation of radical German-Americans in the 1920s and 1930s."
By the end of the 1920s, the Volkszeitung had lost some of its radical edge, taking the form of a more vaguely "socialistic" labor and cultural publication, complete with wire service
photos and non-political fare such as radio listings and classic literature. Lore sought to occupy political space in between social democracy
and communism, a position roughly akin to that of the Independent Labour Party
in Great Britain
.
As the 1920s came to a close and the Communist Party moved into an ultra-sectarian
phase known as the "Third Period
," Lore found himself disaffected from his old party comrades. His Volkszeitung continued to defend the policies of the Soviet Union, however, and sought to support CP-sponsored initiatives in which radicals of various stripes could work together for common objectives, such as the International Workers Order
and the International Labor Defense
.
In 1931, Lore gave up the editorship of the ailing Volkszeitung to become a freelance journalist. Three years later, Lore joined the editorial staff of the New York Post
, for which he wrote a daily foreign affairs column called "Behind the Cables." In his column, Lore frequently emphasized the threat to world peace implicit in the rise to power of Adolf Hitler
and the Nazi party in Germany.
. Whittaker Chambers
knew Lore because they both reported to Markin. By the middle of 1934, Lore had begun to supply information gathered from sources which he had recruited, code-named "Willi" and "Daniel." A January 1935 report described Lore as a recruiter and handler of agents for Soviet intelligence who was responsible for gathering information from four sources. Lore received $350 per month for his services.
Espionage historians John Earl Haynes
, Harvey Klehr
, and Alexander Vassiliev
credit Lore with the recruitment and handling of David A. Salmon
(code-named "Willi"), one of Soviet intelligence's most important information assets in the US government. Citing Soviet archival evidence, the historians charge that from 1934 until early 1937 Lore paid Salmon, chief of the U.S. Department of State's communication and archives division, a stipend of $500 per month in exchange for classified diplomatic communications — information then passed along to the Soviets. While it is not clear whether Salmon was aware he was providing information to a foreign government or merely leak
ing information for a fee to a prominent New York Post journalist, or even whether Salmon was "Willi" at all, the fact remains that for several years Soviet intelligence had unparalleled access to the secret communications of prominent diplomatic and military decision-makers through Lore's connection.
According to John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Lore's contact with Soviet intelligence seems to have been ended in 1937 owing to a belief in Moscow that Lore retained ties to the Trotskyist movement. In the superheated atmosphere of the Great Purge
the Trotskyists were believed by Soviet authorities to be engaged in an international terrorist conspiracy aimed at the overthrow of the Stalin regime and Lore's purported connection cast doubt upon his loyalty and reliability. In addition, Lore was believed by his Soviet handlers to have been guilty of financial improprieties, taking the form of double-dipping for multiple monthly expense stipends. In fact, the real reason for the Soviet's termination of relationship was their discovery that Lore had cheated them about the identity of his sources at the Department of State.
Russian historian Svetlana Chervonnaya
asserts that Lore falsely claimed the high ranking functionary Salmon as his source so as to throw his Soviet handlers off the trail to the fact that he was himself rewriting information obtained from "lower level clerks at the Communications and Records Division." After enhancing the mundane information which he received with his own interpretive content, Lore then pocketed the handsome monthly stipend which was purportedly destined for the top-ranking official Salmon, Chervonnaya charges.
Chervonnaya indicates that in February 1937 Lore's deception was discovered by Soviet intelligence when they rented an apartment across the street from Lore and began round-the-clock surveillance.
Chervonnaya cites the published work of Julius Kobyakov as the basis for her challenge:
According to historians Haynes and Klehr, the exact date of Lore's termination by Soviet intelligence is not known and no record of him is said to be found in secret police archives after April 1937.
In fact, according to Lore's case file, on July 2, 1937, Moscow Centre instructed its New York “illegals” to break off the relationship with Lore and “to take measures to avoid any hostile actions” on his part.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
socialist newspaper editor and politician, best remembered for his tenure as editor of the New Yorker Volkszeitung
New Yorker Volkszeitung
New Yorker Volkzeitung was a German language labor daily newspaper which suspended publishing during the Great Depression, in October 1932. At the time it was the only German language daily in the United States and one of the oldest radical left newspapers in the nation...
and role as a factional leader in the early American communist movement. During the middle 1930s, Lore wrote a daily foreign affairs column for the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
and secretly worked recruiting potential agents and gathering information on behalf of the Soviet
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....
foreign intelligence network.
Early years
Ludwig Lore was born to working class parents of ethnic Jewish extraction in Friedberg, Germany on June 26, 1875.Lore attended gymnasium in Hirschberg, Germany, and later graduated Berlin University where he studied under political economist Werner Sombart
Werner Sombart
Werner Sombart was a German economist and sociologist, the head of the “Youngest Historical School” and one of the leading Continental European social scientists during the first quarter of the 20th century....
.
Upon completion of his education in 1892, Lore went to work in the textile industry. He remained in that industry until emigrating to the United States in 1903.
While in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Lore joined the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
(SPD) of that country, holding office in the party and standing as an SPD candidate for political office.
Lore emigrated to America in 1903 and first settled in the state of Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
where he worked at various jobs. While in Colorado, Lore joined the fledgling 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...
.
Lore later moved to 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 he joined the staff of the German-language socialist daily, the New Yorker Volkszeitung.
Lore was editor of the German-language socialist daily published 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...
, the New Yorker Volkszeitung. Under Lore the paper had more the feel of a tabloid magazine than a typical straight newspaper, an orientation which is said by one historian to have "suited his personality and approach."
The historian Paul Buhle
Paul Buhle
Paul Merlyn Buhle is a Senior Lecturer at Brown University, author or editor of 35 volumes including histories of radicalism in the United States and the Caribbean, studies of popular culture, and a series of nonfiction comic art volumes. He is the authorized biographer of C. L. R...
has written of Lore:
"He was a jolly man whose political and aesthetic inclinations fit no prescribed categories. If he enjoyed a particular writer, in any of the many languages he could understand, he ordered translations made, or did them hmself. He printed classics galore, but he also went out of his way to encourage young artists. He did not, personally, have any great immediate hopes for the dramatic transformation of the United States. Rather, the [New Yorker Volkszeitung] set itself to create an enjoyable publication for the aging reader, whose main political activities centered around fraternal, support, and leisure activities. Unlike the other immigrant papers whose editors had to battle for left positions (likewise readership) against social democratic or conservative elements in their own communities, the [New Yorker Volkszeitung] already had all the readers it would ever require. Lore needed to hold onto them, through chains of loyalty and the charms of literary excellence."
Lore was married to a woman named Lilly and together with her had three boys.
Communist period
In 1917, Lore founded the bi-monthly Marxist theoretical magazine, The Class Struggle, which he edited in conjunction with Louis C. FrainaLouis C. Fraina
Louis C. Fraina was a founding member of the American Communist Party in 1919. After running afoul of the Communist International in 1921 over the alleged misappropriation of funds, Fraina left the organized radical movement, emerging in 1930 as a left wing public intellectual by the name of Lewis...
and Louis Boudin.
Lore was a founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America, an organization which, following a decade of splits and mergers, ultimately evolved into the Communist Party USA
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....
.
During this interval, Lore's New Yorker Volkszeitung was brought into the communist orbit, albeit neither fully nor wholeheartedly. The paper professed what was essentially a Communist interpretation of international events and advocated a general Communist policy at home, yet was only partially and unwillingly dragged into the mire of the bitter 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...
Communist Party politics of the 1920s.
One historian notes:
"For the [New Yorker Volkszeitung] veteran, the struggle for political, electoral socialism in the United States had taken decades of self-sacrifice and many reversals. Readers of the paper had never been happy with the 'underground' mentality of the early Communist movement, because they viewed hyperrevolutionary rhetoric as the worst possible response to repression. The formation of a legal Workers PartyWorkers Party of AmericaThe Workers Party of America was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. As a legal political party the Workers Party accepted affiliation from independent socialist groups such as the African Blood Brotherhood,...
in 1922, and the beginnings of a political campaign structure (minimal though it was), encouraged them greatly."
Lore was two times a candidate of the Workers Party of America, running for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1922 and for U.S. Congress in the New York 14th District in 1924.
Post-Communist Party years
Lore was an independent thinker who was reluctant to take political orders, a personal characteristic which made him unsuited for the increasingly centralized Communist movement of the late 1920s. In addition, his well-known personal fondness for Leon Trotsky, established during Trotsky's time living in New York, during which he wrote for The Class Struggle, made Lore an easy target for factional opponents.In 1925, fearing proto-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...
indiscipline, Lore was brought up on charges before the executive of the Workers (Communist) Party's German Language Federation. When the executive refused to expel Lore, changes were made in the composition of the body to make Lore's expulsion inevitable. Lore was expelled from the organization later that same year.
As editor of the Volkszeitung, Lore attempted what has described as a "balancing a feeling for a theoretical Marxist line with a more sensitive reading of American political culture," in which he "tried, and ultimately fialed, to develop a communism that would meet the demands of the aging generation of radical German-Americans in the 1920s and 1930s."
By the end of the 1920s, the Volkszeitung had lost some of its radical edge, taking the form of a more vaguely "socialistic" labor and cultural publication, complete with wire service
Wire Service
Wire Service is an American drama series that aired on ABC as part of its 1956-57 season lineup.-Synopsis:Wire Service focuses on three reporters for the fictional Trans-Globe wire service, which was similar to real-life news wire services such as the Associated Press and United Press International...
photos and non-political fare such as radio listings and classic literature. Lore sought to occupy political space in between social democracy
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
and communism, a position roughly akin to that of the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
.
As the 1920s came to a close and the Communist Party moved into an ultra-sectarian
Sectarianism
Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...
phase known as the "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....
," Lore found himself disaffected from his old party comrades. His Volkszeitung continued to defend the policies of the Soviet Union, however, and sought to support CP-sponsored initiatives in which radicals of various stripes could work together for common objectives, such as the International Workers Order
International Workers Order
The International Workers Order was a Communist Party-affiliated insurance, mutual benefit and fraternal organization founded in 1930 and disbanded in 1954 as the result of legal action undertaken by the state of New York in 1951...
and the International Labor Defense
International Labor Defense
The International Labor Defense was a legal defense organization in the United States, headed by William L. Patterson. It was a US section of International Red Aid organisation, and associated with the Communist Party USA. It defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was active in the civil rights and...
.
In 1931, Lore gave up the editorship of the ailing Volkszeitung to become a freelance journalist. Three years later, Lore joined the editorial staff of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, for which he wrote a daily foreign affairs column called "Behind the Cables." In his column, Lore frequently emphasized the threat to world peace implicit in the rise to power of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and the Nazi party in Germany.
Espionage allegations
During this interval, Lore was recruited to work for the foreign intelligence network of the Soviet Union, working under the code-names "Leo" and "10." According to Russian historian Julius Kobyakov, who had access to his official files, "Leo" began his work for Soviet intelligence in 1933, recruited by Soviet intelligence rezident Valentin MarkinValentin Markin
Valentin Markin was the chief illegal rezident and director of the espionage operations of the Soviet Union in the United States from 1933 to 1934...
. Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers was born Jay Vivian Chambers and also known as David Whittaker Chambers , was an American writer and editor. After being a Communist Party USA member and Soviet spy, he later renounced communism and became an outspoken opponent later testifying in the perjury and espionage trial...
knew Lore because they both reported to Markin. By the middle of 1934, Lore had begun to supply information gathered from sources which he had recruited, code-named "Willi" and "Daniel." A January 1935 report described Lore as a recruiter and handler of agents for Soviet intelligence who was responsible for gathering information from four sources. Lore received $350 per month for his services.
Espionage historians John Earl Haynes
John Earl Haynes
John Earl Haynes is an American historian who is a specialist in 20th century political history in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress...
, Harvey Klehr
Harvey Klehr
Harvey E. Klehr is a professor of politics and history at Emory University; he is known for his books on the subject of the American Communist movement, and on Soviet espionage in America ....
, and Alexander Vassiliev
Alexander Vassiliev
Alexander Vassiliev is a Russian journalist, writer, and espionage historian living in London. A former officer in the Soviet Committee for State Security , Vassiliev is known for his two books based upon KGB archival documents: Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America, co-authored with John...
credit Lore with the recruitment and handling of David A. Salmon
David A. Salmon
David Aden Salmon was a career government functionary in the U.S. Department of War and the U.S. Department of State. In 1931, Salmon rose to head the State Department's Bureau of Indexes and Archives, a department with over 150 employees at the time...
(code-named "Willi"), one of Soviet intelligence's most important information assets in the US government. Citing Soviet archival evidence, the historians charge that from 1934 until early 1937 Lore paid Salmon, chief of the U.S. Department of State's communication and archives division, a stipend of $500 per month in exchange for classified diplomatic communications — information then passed along to the Soviets. While it is not clear whether Salmon was aware he was providing information to a foreign government or merely leak
Leak
A leak is a hole or other opening, usually unintended and therefore undesired, in a container or fluid-containing system, such as a tank or a ship's hull, through which the contents of the container can escape or outside matter can enter the container...
ing information for a fee to a prominent New York Post journalist, or even whether Salmon was "Willi" at all, the fact remains that for several years Soviet intelligence had unparalleled access to the secret communications of prominent diplomatic and military decision-makers through Lore's connection.
According to John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Lore's contact with Soviet intelligence seems to have been ended in 1937 owing to a belief in Moscow that Lore retained ties to the Trotskyist movement. In the superheated atmosphere of the Great Purge
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...
the Trotskyists were believed by Soviet authorities to be engaged in an international terrorist conspiracy aimed at the overthrow of the Stalin regime and Lore's purported connection cast doubt upon his loyalty and reliability. In addition, Lore was believed by his Soviet handlers to have been guilty of financial improprieties, taking the form of double-dipping for multiple monthly expense stipends. In fact, the real reason for the Soviet's termination of relationship was their discovery that Lore had cheated them about the identity of his sources at the Department of State.
Russian historian Svetlana Chervonnaya
Svetlana Chervonnaya
Svetlana Alexandrovna Chervonnaya is a historian living in Russia specializing in the political history of the Cold War period and Soviet espionage activities in the United States of America. Along with Ellen Schrecker, Chervonnaya is known as one of the leading scholarly voices arguing against...
asserts that Lore falsely claimed the high ranking functionary Salmon as his source so as to throw his Soviet handlers off the trail to the fact that he was himself rewriting information obtained from "lower level clerks at the Communications and Records Division." After enhancing the mundane information which he received with his own interpretive content, Lore then pocketed the handsome monthly stipend which was purportedly destined for the top-ranking official Salmon, Chervonnaya charges.
Chervonnaya indicates that in February 1937 Lore's deception was discovered by Soviet intelligence when they rented an apartment across the street from Lore and began round-the-clock surveillance.
Chervonnaya cites the published work of Julius Kobyakov as the basis for her challenge:
"Throughout the whole period of surveillance, he left his home only once, for four hours. For three nights running, [Lore's] study was bustling with work, with the participation of all the family members; in particular, [Lore's] wife and son were taking turns at the typewriter typing something. When providing us with the materials, [Lore] repeated his usual lies about a trip to Washington and meetings with sources. * * *
"With the results of physical surveillance, the Centre arrived at a preliminary conclusion, that [Lore] was an exceptionally talented compiler. The use of information from open sources, fishing in them for any new data, as well as their analysis and evaluation, often produce outstanding results; many intelligence services do not neglect this method of information-gathering. But such work is considered auxiliary to the main task — obtaining information from agent sources... * * *
"The situation was aggravated in late spring 1937, when the Soviet 'illegals' managed to ascertain that the 'Willie' and 'Daniel' whom Lore had presented to his Soviet handlers, were 'dummies.'"
According to historians Haynes and Klehr, the exact date of Lore's termination by Soviet intelligence is not known and no record of him is said to be found in secret police archives after April 1937.
In fact, according to Lore's case file, on July 2, 1937, Moscow Centre instructed its New York “illegals” to break off the relationship with Lore and “to take measures to avoid any hostile actions” on his part.
Works
- "Our National Executive Committee," The Class Struggle, vol. 2, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1918), pp. 123–125.
- "Leon Trotsky," in Year One of Revolution: Celebrating the First Anniversary of the Russian Soviet Republic, November 7, 1918. Brooklyn, NY: The Class Struggle, 1918; pp. 7–8.
- "In the Throes of the German Revolution," Dance of the Ten Thousand. New York: Rand School of Social Science, December 31, 1918; pp. 12, 15.
- "The National Convention," The Class Struggle, vol. 3, no. 3 (August 1919), pp. 346–348.
- "The Communist Labor Party," The Class Struggle, vol. 3, no. 4 (November 1919), pp. 438–443.
- "My Position Toward the Farmer-Labor Movement," The Daily Worker, vol. 2, no. 239 (December 29, 1924), pg. 5.
- Nazi Politics in America: Are Nazi Agents Spreading Propaganda Here? If So, Who and Where are They? New York: American Jewish Committee, 1933.
- "How Germany Arms," Harper's Magazine, April 1934, pp. 505–517.
- "A Nazi Confesses," New International, vol. 2, no. 1 (January 1935), pp. 19–20.
- "Will Europe Go to War," The Nation, vol. 145, no. 4 (July 24, 1937) and no. 5 (July 31, 1937), pp. 127–129.
External links
- Svetlana Chervonnaya, "Ludwig Lore: A Background File," DocumentsTalk.com. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
- James P. Cannon, The CEC, the Minority and Comrade Lore: How the Minority “Fought” Lore When They Controlled the Party," from James P. Cannon and the Early Years of American Communism: Selected Writings and Speeches, 1920-1928. New York: Spartacist Publishing Company, 1992.