Robert Minor
Encyclopedia
Robert Berkeley "Bob" Minor (18841952) was political cartoonist
, a radical journalist
, and a leading member of the American Communist Party
.
. Minor came from old and respected family lines. On his father's side, General John Minor had served as Thomas Jefferson's
Presidential campaign manager
; his mother was related to General Sam Houston
, first President of the Republic of Texas
. His father was a school teacher and lawyer, later elected as a judge, while his maternal grandfather was a doctor.
Despite the notable family forefathers, Bob Minor was not brought up with a silver spoon in his mouth — rather he was the product of what one historian has called "the hard-up, run-down middle class," living in an "unpainted frontier cottage in San Antonio." Minor was unable to begin school until age 10 due to his family's dire financial straits before leaving school at age 14 to take a job as a Western Union
messenger boy to help support his family. Minor left home two years later, going to work at a variety of different jobs, including time spent as a sign painter, a carpenter, a farm worker, and a railroad laborer.
In 1904, at the age of twenty, Robert Minor was hired as an assistant stereotypist and handyman at the San Antonio Gazette, where he developed his artistic talent in his spare time. Minor emerged as an accomplished political cartoonist.
Minor moved to St. Louis
to take a position as a cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
. Minor's work, initially very conventional in form using pen-and-ink, was transformed by his move to the use of grease crayon on paper. Minor gained recognition as the chief cartoonist at the Post-Dispatch and was considered by many to be among the best in the country.
In 1911, Robert Minor was hired by the New York World
, where he became the highest paid cartoonist in the United States. His father was on a parallel path of advancement, transformed by a 1910 election "from an unsuccessful lawyer to an influential district judge."
but by the beginning of 1912 he had moved towards an anarchist
orientation and support of revolutionary industrial unionism
.
Minor had saved several hundred dollars earned in St. Louis and decided that he wanted to go to Paris
to attend art school
to perfect his craft. In France he enrolled in a class at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the French national art school, but he found the experience unsatisfying. Minor spent the rest of his time in Paris studying art on his own and taking part in the left wing labor movement through the Socialist Party of France. Minor returned to the United States in 1914, just prior to the outbreak of World War I
.
The year 1914 saw Minor in the unusual position of being paid but unable to work, with an old contract he had signed with the New York World continuing to pay him a salary merely to keep him from drawing for other papers. However, with the outbreak of hostilities in August Minor began to make a series of aggressive and provocative cartoons attacking both sides of the European conflict for their imperialism
. While The World initially began to use these cartoons, it was not long before Minor came to the banks of the Rubicon
, when his employer demanded that the artist begin to draw pro-war panels. Minor was unalterably opposed to the World War and was faced with a choice between his paycheck and his beliefs. His convictions won and Minor was successful in having his contract with The World annulled.
On June 1, 1915, Minor moved to the New York Call
, a Socialist Party
-affiliated daily broadsheet
. Minor also began contributing aggressively anti-war cartoons to Max Eastman's
radical
New York monthly, The Masses
. Minor's radical cartoons would later provide fodder for the United States government's prosecution of The Masses for alleged violation of the Espionage Act of 1917
, a legal assault which would eventually lead to the demise of the magazine. Minor was sent as a war correspondent
of The Call to Europe, where he wrote from France and Italy. Part of Minor's European expenses were being borne by a liberal newspaper syndicate in exchange for use of his drawings from the front. The syndicate found themselves unable to use the radical material which Minor was by this time producing and The Call was forced to recall him from Europe.
In 1916, Minor was dispatched by The Call to Mexico
to cover the American intervention there. When the "Mexican War" came to a sudden conclusion, Minor went to California
for a rest. There he became deeply involved in the defense campaign of radical trade unionists Tom Mooney
and Warren Billings in their highly publicized legal case accusing them of bombing of the 1916 San Francisco "Preparedness Day" parade. Minor worked full-time for a year and a half as the publicity director for the International Workers Defense League, an organization established to provide legal support and build public sympathy for Mooney and Billings and their co-defendants. Minor authored several pamphlets in 1917 and 1918 and spoke to a wide range of audiences about the alleged "frame-up" being perpetrated on the radical trade unionists.
The Call, dispatched Minor to Europe as a war correspondent
in 1918, with Minor continuing to contribute material on the European revolutionary movement to the successor to The Masses, The Liberator. In May 1918 Minor arrived in Soviet Russia
, where he remained until November. While there, he met Lenin and wrote anti-war propaganda for distribution to English-speaking troops involved in the invasion of Soviet Russia. The experience proved to be a watershed for Minor, winning him over to the cause of communism
. Minor later traveled to Germany
, where he saw the German Revolution
firsthand, and thereafter to France.
While in Paris
in 1919, Minor was arrested and charged with treason for advising French railway workers to strike against the shipment of munitions to interventionist forces in Soviet Russia. Minor was shipped out to Germany, where he was confined in the American military prison at Coblenz, Germany for several weeks, eventually gaining his release due in large measure to political pressure exerted by his well-connected family in America.
. Minor was a supporter of the United Communist Party in the convoluted factional struggle of the day, joining the newly unified Communist Party of America (CPA) along with the rest of his organization when the UCP merged with the old CPA in the spring of 1921.
After the merger of the UCP with the old CPA in May 1921, Minor, using his underground pseudonym
of "Ballister," was sent to Soviet Russia as the representative of the newly unified party to the Executive Committee of the Communist International
(ECCI). Minor was also a delegate of the CPA to the 3rd World Congress of the Comintern, held in Moscow in June 1921. While there, he met Lenin for a second time. Minor was recalled to America by the CPA in November 1921, replaced as American "Rep" to the Comintern by with L.E. Katterfeld
.
Minor was cooptated to the governing Central Executive Committee of the CPA on April 24, 1922, by decision of the CEC itself. He was re-elected in his own right at the ill-fated August 1922 convention
held on the shores of Lake Michigan
just outside of the tiny Michigan town of Bridgman
. This convention was raided by local and Michigan state authorities, acting in concert with the Bureau of Investigation
of the U.S. Department of Justice, who had an undercover agent sitting as a delegate. Wanted by the police, Minor surrendered with 9 others on March 10, 1923, and was released shortly thereafter on $1,000 bond. He was never tried for this alleged violation of the Michigan criminal syndicalism law.
From 1923 to 1924, Minor sat on the Executive Committee of the Friends of Soviet Russia
, the American affiliate of the Comintern's Workers International Relief organization. He was also elected to the governing Central Executive Committee of the CPA's "legal" political offshoot, the Workers Party of America
, elected by the conventions of that organization in 1922 and 1923.
During the tumultuous factional politics of the middle 1920s, Minor was a loyalist to the faction headed by C.E. Ruthenberg
, John Pepper
, and Jay Lovestone
. He was returned to ECCI in 1926 at the time of the 7th Enlarged Plenum of ECCI and was elected to the ECCI's inner circle, the Presidium, using the party-name "Duncan." Minor was also elected as an alternate to the Comintern's Budget Commission.
On March 6, 1930, Minor was part of a great series of demonstrations of the unemployed conducted around the United States under the guidance of the Communist Party. Minor was arrested at the demonstration held in Union Square
in New York City
, a rally which ended in a riot pitting marchers and police. Minor was arrested in conjunction with these events, together with his Communist Party comrades William Z. Foster
, Israel Amter
, and Harry Felton. The four were sentenced to 3 year terms in the New York state penitentiary. After serving 6 months in jail, Minor fell ill with appendicitis
, which caused him to be taken out in an ambulance to a private hospital for surgery. Minor spent the better part of the next two years attempting to recover his health.
Bob Minor ran for elective political office a number of times. In 1924 he ran for U.S. Congress in Illinois
as a candidate of the Workers Party for an at-large seat. In 1928, he ran on the Workers (Communist) Party ticket for U.S. Senator from New York. He ran for Congress from New York in 1930 and again ten years later. He also ran for Mayor of New York City
in 1933, and in 1936 he headed the state Communist ticket as the party's candidate for Governor of New York
.
At the 7th World Congress of the Comintern in 1935, Minor was elected to the Comintern's International Control Commission, which dealt with personnel assignments and questions of discipline. He was an unflinching supporter of every twist and turn of Soviet foreign policy throughout the decade of the 1930s.
On the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War
in 1936, Robert Minor went to Spain and helped to organize the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, a unit of international volunteered that helped the Spanish Popular Front government in the battle against General Francisco Franco and his Nazi-supported fascists.
In 1941, with Communist Party General Secretary Earl Browder
jailed for passport charges, Minor served as the acting General Secretary of the party.
In 1945, as a member of the CPUSA's governing National Committee, Minor dissociated himself from the discredited Browder, but he was nonetheless relegated to the role of Washington correspondent of The Daily Worker.
when his fellow leaders of the American Communist Party were arrested and imprisoned. Owing to his frail health, the United States government chose not to proceed against him. He died in 1952, survived by his wife, the artist Lydia Gibson
. The couple had no children.
Minor is remembered by some as the inspiration for the fictional character "Don Stevens" in John Dos Passos
' trilogy
USA
.
The historian Theodore Draper
opined:
Robert Minor's papers are housed in the Rare Book & Manuscript section on the 6th floor of Butler Library
at Columbia University
. Approximately 15,000 items are included in the collection, which is housed in some 65 archival boxes.
Editorial cartoon
An editorial cartoon, also known as a political cartoon, is an illustration containing a commentary that usually relates to current events or personalities....
, a radical journalist
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, and a leading member of the American 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....
.
Early life
Robert Minor, best known to those who knew him by the nickname "Bob," was born July 15, 1884, in San Antonio, TexasSan Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. Minor came from old and respected family lines. On his father's side, General John Minor had served as Thomas Jefferson's
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
Presidential campaign manager
Campaign manager
A campaign manager is a paid or volunteer individual, whose role is to coordinate the campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote , and other activities supporting the effort, directly.Apart from the candidate, they are often a campaign's most visible leader...
; his mother was related to General Sam Houston
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...
, first President of the Republic of Texas
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
. His father was a school teacher and lawyer, later elected as a judge, while his maternal grandfather was a doctor.
Despite the notable family forefathers, Bob Minor was not brought up with a silver spoon in his mouth — rather he was the product of what one historian has called "the hard-up, run-down middle class," living in an "unpainted frontier cottage in San Antonio." Minor was unable to begin school until age 10 due to his family's dire financial straits before leaving school at age 14 to take a job as a Western Union
Western Union
The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters is in Englewood, Colorado. Up until 2006, Western Union was the best-known U.S...
messenger boy to help support his family. Minor left home two years later, going to work at a variety of different jobs, including time spent as a sign painter, a carpenter, a farm worker, and a railroad laborer.
In 1904, at the age of twenty, Robert Minor was hired as an assistant stereotypist and handyman at the San Antonio Gazette, where he developed his artistic talent in his spare time. Minor emerged as an accomplished political cartoonist.
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
to take a position as a cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the Midwestern United States, and is available and read as far west as Kansas City, Missouri, as far south as...
. Minor's work, initially very conventional in form using pen-and-ink, was transformed by his move to the use of grease crayon on paper. Minor gained recognition as the chief cartoonist at the Post-Dispatch and was considered by many to be among the best in the country.
In 1911, Robert Minor was hired by the New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
, where he became the highest paid cartoonist in the United States. His father was on a parallel path of advancement, transformed by a 1910 election "from an unsuccessful lawyer to an influential district judge."
Journalistic career
In 1907 Minor joined the Socialist Party of AmericaSocialist 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...
but by the beginning of 1912 he had moved towards an anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
orientation and support of revolutionary industrial unionism
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
.
Minor had saved several hundred dollars earned in St. Louis and decided that he wanted to go to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to attend art school
Art school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...
to perfect his craft. In France he enrolled in a class at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the French national art school, but he found the experience unsatisfying. Minor spent the rest of his time in Paris studying art on his own and taking part in the left wing labor movement through the Socialist Party of France. Minor returned to the United States in 1914, just prior to the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
The year 1914 saw Minor in the unusual position of being paid but unable to work, with an old contract he had signed with the New York World continuing to pay him a salary merely to keep him from drawing for other papers. However, with the outbreak of hostilities in August Minor began to make a series of aggressive and provocative cartoons attacking both sides of the European conflict for their imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
. While The World initially began to use these cartoons, it was not long before Minor came to the banks of the Rubicon
Rubicon
The Rubicon is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, about 80 kilometres long, running from the Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic Sea through the southern Emilia-Romagna region, between the towns of Rimini and Cesena. The Latin word rubico comes from the adjective "rubeus", meaning "red"...
, when his employer demanded that the artist begin to draw pro-war panels. Minor was unalterably opposed to the World War and was faced with a choice between his paycheck and his beliefs. His convictions won and Minor was successful in having his contract with The World annulled.
On June 1, 1915, Minor moved to the New York Call
New York Call
The New York Call was a socialist daily newspaper published in New York City from 1908 through 1923. The Call was the second of three English-language dailies affiliated with the Socialist Party of America to be established, following the Chicago Daily Socialist while preceding the long running...
, a Socialist Party
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...
-affiliated daily broadsheet
Broadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
. Minor also began contributing aggressively anti-war cartoons to Max Eastman's
Max Eastman
Max Forrester Eastman was an American writer on literature, philosophy and society, a poet, and a prominent political activist. For many years, Eastman was a supporter of socialism, a leading patron of the Harlem Renaissance and an activist for a number of liberal and radical causes...
radical
Political radicalism
The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...
New York monthly, The Masses
The Masses
The Masses was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the U.S. from 1911 until 1917, when Federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription. It was succeeded by The Liberator and then later The New Masses...
. Minor's radical cartoons would later provide fodder for the United States government's prosecution of The Masses for alleged violation of the Espionage Act of 1917
Espionage Act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law passed on June 15, 1917, shortly after the U.S. entry into World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code but is now found under Title 18, Crime...
, a legal assault which would eventually lead to the demise of the magazine. Minor was sent as a war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
of The Call to Europe, where he wrote from France and Italy. Part of Minor's European expenses were being borne by a liberal newspaper syndicate in exchange for use of his drawings from the front. The syndicate found themselves unable to use the radical material which Minor was by this time producing and The Call was forced to recall him from Europe.
In 1916, Minor was dispatched by The Call to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
to cover the American intervention there. When the "Mexican War" came to a sudden conclusion, Minor went to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
for a rest. There he became deeply involved in the defense campaign of radical trade unionists Tom Mooney
Thomas Mooney
Thomas Joseph "Tom" Mooney was an American political activist and labor leader, who was convicted with Warren K. Billings of the San Francisco Preparedness Day Bombing of 1916...
and Warren Billings in their highly publicized legal case accusing them of bombing of the 1916 San Francisco "Preparedness Day" parade. Minor worked full-time for a year and a half as the publicity director for the International Workers Defense League, an organization established to provide legal support and build public sympathy for Mooney and Billings and their co-defendants. Minor authored several pamphlets in 1917 and 1918 and spoke to a wide range of audiences about the alleged "frame-up" being perpetrated on the radical trade unionists.
The Call, dispatched Minor to Europe as a war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
in 1918, with Minor continuing to contribute material on the European revolutionary movement to the successor to The Masses, The Liberator. In May 1918 Minor arrived in Soviet Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
, where he remained until November. While there, he met Lenin and wrote anti-war propaganda for distribution to English-speaking troops involved in the invasion of Soviet Russia. The experience proved to be a watershed for Minor, winning him over to the cause of communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. Minor later traveled to 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...
, where he saw the German Revolution
German Revolution
The German Revolution was the politically-driven civil conflict in Germany at the end of World War I, which resulted in the replacement of Germany's imperial government with a republic...
firsthand, and thereafter to France.
While in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1919, Minor was arrested and charged with treason for advising French railway workers to strike against the shipment of munitions to interventionist forces in Soviet Russia. Minor was shipped out to Germany, where he was confined in the American military prison at Coblenz, Germany for several weeks, eventually gaining his release due in large measure to political pressure exerted by his well-connected family in America.
Political career
Upon his return to the America in 1920, Minor immediately joined the underground American Communist PartyCommunist 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....
. Minor was a supporter of the United Communist Party in the convoluted factional struggle of the day, joining the newly unified Communist Party of America (CPA) along with the rest of his organization when the UCP merged with the old CPA in the spring of 1921.
After the merger of the UCP with the old CPA in May 1921, Minor, using his underground pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of "Ballister," was sent to Soviet Russia as the representative of the newly unified party 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). Minor was also a delegate of the CPA to the 3rd World Congress of the Comintern, held in Moscow in June 1921. While there, he met Lenin for a second time. Minor was recalled to America by the CPA in November 1921, replaced as American "Rep" to the Comintern by with L.E. Katterfeld
L.E. Katterfeld
Ludwig Erwin Alfred "Dutch" Katterfeld , most commonly known as L.E. Katterfeld, was an American socialist politician, a founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America, a Comintern functionary, and a magazine editor.-Early life:L.E...
.
Minor was cooptated to the governing Central Executive Committee of the CPA on April 24, 1922, by decision of the CEC itself. He was re-elected in his own right at the ill-fated August 1922 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...
held on the shores of Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
just outside of the tiny Michigan town of Bridgman
Bridgman, Michigan
Bridgman is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,428 at the 2000 census. The Bridgman post office, with ZIP code 49106 opened with the name "Laketon" on November 11, 1862. The name changed to Bridgman on April 9, 1874...
. This convention was raided by local and Michigan state authorities, acting in concert with the Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
of the U.S. Department of Justice, who had an undercover agent sitting as a delegate. Wanted by the police, Minor surrendered with 9 others on March 10, 1923, and was released shortly thereafter on $1,000 bond. He was never tried for this alleged violation of the Michigan criminal syndicalism law.
From 1923 to 1924, Minor sat on the Executive Committee of the Friends of Soviet Russia
Friends of Soviet Russia
The Friends of Soviet Russia was formally established in the United States on August 9, 1921 as an offshoot of the American Labor Alliance for Trade Relations with Soviet Russia...
, the American affiliate of the Comintern's Workers International Relief organization. He was also elected to the governing Central Executive Committee of the CPA's "legal" political offshoot, the Workers Party of America
Workers Party of America
The 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,...
, elected by the conventions of that organization in 1922 and 1923.
During the tumultuous factional politics of the middle 1920s, Minor was a loyalist to the faction headed by C.E. Ruthenberg
Charles 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...
, John Pepper
John Pepper
John Pepper, also known as József Pogány, born József Schwartz was a Hungarian-Jewish Communist politician, active in the radical movements of both Hungary and the United States. He later served as a functionary in the Communist International in Moscow, before being cashiered in 1929...
, and Jay Lovestone
Jay Lovestone
Jay Lovestone was at various times a member of the Socialist Party of America, a leader of the Communist Party USA, leader of a small oppositionist party, an anti-Communist and Central Intelligence Agency helper, and foreign policy advisor to the leadership of the AFL-CIO and various unions...
. He was returned to ECCI in 1926 at the time of the 7th Enlarged Plenum of ECCI and was elected to the ECCI's inner circle, the Presidium, using the party-name "Duncan." Minor was also elected as an alternate to the Comintern's Budget Commission.
On March 6, 1930, Minor was part of a great series of demonstrations of the unemployed conducted around the United States under the guidance of the Communist Party. Minor was arrested at the demonstration held in Union Square
Union Square
Union Square may refer to:Asia* Union Square * Union Square station on Dubai MetroCanada* Union Square, Nova ScotiaUnited States* Union Square, Baltimore, Maryland* Union Square * Union Square, San Francisco, California...
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...
, a rally which ended in a riot pitting marchers and police. Minor was arrested in conjunction with these events, together with his Communist Party comrades William Z. Foster
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...
, Israel Amter
Israel Amter
Israel Amter was a Marxist politician and founding member of the Communist Party USA . Amter is best remembered as one of the Communist Party leaders jailed in conjunction with the International Unemployment Day riot of 1930.-Early years:...
, and Harry Felton. The four were sentenced to 3 year terms in the New York state penitentiary. After serving 6 months in jail, Minor fell ill with appendicitis
Appendicitis
Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...
, which caused him to be taken out in an ambulance to a private hospital for surgery. Minor spent the better part of the next two years attempting to recover his health.
Bob Minor ran for elective political office a number of times. In 1924 he ran for U.S. Congress in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
as a candidate of the Workers Party for an at-large seat. In 1928, he ran on the Workers (Communist) Party ticket for U.S. Senator from New York. He ran for Congress from New York in 1930 and again ten years later. He also ran for Mayor of New York City
Mayor of New York City
The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
in 1933, and in 1936 he headed the state Communist ticket as the party's candidate for Governor of New York
Governor of New York
The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...
.
At the 7th World Congress of the Comintern in 1935, Minor was elected to the Comintern's International Control Commission, which dealt with personnel assignments and questions of discipline. He was an unflinching supporter of every twist and turn of Soviet foreign policy throughout the decade of the 1930s.
On the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
in 1936, Robert Minor went to Spain and helped to organize the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, a unit of international volunteered that helped the Spanish Popular Front government in the battle against General Francisco Franco and his Nazi-supported fascists.
In 1941, with Communist Party General Secretary 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 :...
jailed for passport charges, Minor served as the acting General Secretary of the party.
In 1945, as a member of the CPUSA's governing National Committee, Minor dissociated himself from the discredited Browder, but he was nonetheless relegated to the role of Washington correspondent of The Daily Worker.
Death and legacy
Bob Minor suffered a heart attack in 1948 and was bedridden during the time of McCarthyismMcCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
when his fellow leaders of the American Communist Party were arrested and imprisoned. Owing to his frail health, the United States government chose not to proceed against him. He died in 1952, survived by his wife, the artist Lydia Gibson
Lydia Gibson
Lydia Gibson was an American socialist illustrator who contributed work to The Masses, The Liberator, The Workers' Monthly, The New Masses, and other radical publications.-Early years:...
. The couple had no children.
Minor is remembered by some as the inspiration for the fictional character "Don Stevens" in John Dos Passos
John Dos Passos
John Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
' trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
USA
U.S.A. trilogy
The U.S.A. Trilogy is a major work of American writer John Dos Passos, comprising the novels The 42nd Parallel ; 1919, also known as Nineteen Nineteen ; and The Big Money . The three books were first published together in a single volume titled U.S.A by Harcourt Brace in January, 1938...
.
The historian Theodore Draper
Theodore Draper
Theodore H. "Ted" Draper was an American historian and political writer. Draper is best known for the 14 books which he completed during his life, including work regarded as seminal on the formative period of the American Communist Party, the Cuban Revolution, and the Iran-Contra Affair...
opined:
"Minor is a study in extremes. A truly gifted and powerful cartoonist, he renounced art for politics. He made this gesture of total subservience to politics after years as an anarchist despising and denouncing politics. But he could not transfer his genius from art to politics. The stirring drawings were replaced by boring and banal speeches. He had none of the gifts of the natural politician, his stock in trade was limited to platitudes and slogans. The wild man, tamed, became a political hack. If as an anarchist he had believed that politics was a filthy business, as a Communist he still seemed to believe it was — only now it was his business."
Robert Minor's papers are housed in the Rare Book & Manuscript section on the 6th floor of Butler Library
Butler Library
The Nicholas Murray Butler Library, commonly known simply as Butler Library, is the largest single library in the Columbia University Library System, which contains over 9.3 million books, and is one of the largest buildings on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University.Proposed as...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Approximately 15,000 items are included in the collection, which is housed in some 65 archival boxes.
Books and pamphlets
- War Pictures. [New York]: The New York Call, n.d [c. 1916].
- The Frame-Up System: Story of So-Called Bomb Trials in San Francisco. San Francisco: International Worker's Defense League, n.d. [1917].
- Fickert has Ravished Justice: Story of So-Called Bomb Trials in San Francisco. San Francisco: International Worker's Defense League, 1917.
- Shall Mooney Hang? : Justice Raped in California. San Francisco: International Worker's Defense League, n.d. [c. 1918].
- Stedman's Red Raid. Cleveland: Toiler Publishing Association, n.d. [1920].
- "Resolved: That the Terms of the Third International are Inacceptable to the Revolutionary Socialists of the World": Being the Report of a Debate, Held in Star Casino, New York City, Sunday, January Sixteenth, 1921: Affirmative James Oneal vs. Negative Robert Minor. New York: Academy Press, n.d. [1921].
- The Struggle Against War: And the Peace Policy of the Soviet Union. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1936.
- The Fight Against Hitlerism. With William Z. Foster. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1941.
- One War to Defeat Hitler. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1941.
- Free Earl Browder! New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1941.
- The Year of Great Decision, 1942. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1942.
- Our Ally: The Soviet Union. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1942.
- Invitation to Join the Communist Party. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1943.
- The Heritage of the Communist Political Association. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1944.
- Lynching and Frame-up in Tennessee. New York: Workers Library Publishers, n.d. [1946].
Articles
- "Have You A Country?", Revolt, Vol. I, no. 2 (January 15, 1916), pp. 6-7.
- "Our 'C.E.': In Memory of C.E. Ruthenberg, July 9, 1882 - March 2, 1927," The Communist, vol. 14, no. 3 (March 1935), pp. 217-226.
External links
- Robert Minor cartoon archive at Marxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet Archive is a volunteer based non-profit organization that maintains a multi-lingual Internet archive of Marxist writers and other similar authors...
, www.marxists.org.