Walter Lowenfels
Encyclopedia
Walter Lowenfels was an American
poet
, journalist
, and member of the Communist Party USA
. He also edited
the communist
newspaper
the Daily Worker
.
to a successful butter
manufacturer. He graduated from a preparatory school
in 1914, and served in the military during World War I
, after which he began writing poetry. He worked for his father's company from 1914 until 1926. He met Lillian Apotheker, who later co-edited several of the anthologies of poetry he edited, in 1924, and the couple married in 1926. In 1925, with the financial assistance of Apotheker, he published his first collection of poems, Episodes & Epistles.
In 1926 he left the family business to hone his poetic craft in Europe, spending time in Florence
and Paris
. There he was exposed to the literary scene, meeting Henry Miller
, T. S. Eliot
, Ford Madox Ford
, and other luminaries.
In 1930, while still in Paris, he co-founded Carrefour Press with Michael Fraenkel, which published the pamphlet
Anonymous: The Need for Anonymity. The pamphlet was a manifesto
declaring the need for anonymous
publication in order to "avoid artistic competition and alienation."
In 1931 he shared the Richard Aldington
Poetry Prize with e. e. cummings
.
Carrefour later anonymously published Lowenfels' play USA with Music, but was forced to reveal the identity of the playwright in 1932 when it filed a plagiarism
suit against composer George Gershwin
. Thereafter, the publishing house attributed its publications to their authors, effectively ending the anonymity movement. He continued to write and publish his poetry, which showcased his leftist
political views, as well as editing the poetry of others. He also became concerned about the rise of fascism
in Germany
and Italy
.
, and went back to work for his father. He continued to write poetry at night. He wrote to Henry Miller about the transition from poet to businessperson: "I butter from nine to five and then I change into a butterfly and go ahead with poems."
In 1938, he published Steel 1937, which began with an open letter to Philip Murray
, the CIO
organizer behind the unionization drive at Little Steel. The poems in the book commemorated the 18 steelworkers killed by US Steel during the 1937 Little Steel strike
, and also discussed the Spanish Civil War
. Following the publication of Steel 1937, Lowenfels quit writing poetry and would not resume for 17 years.
In 1938, Lowenfels moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, where he became involved in the Civil Rights movement
and the struggles of working people. He began writing for the Pennsylvania edition of the Daily Worker, later rising to the position of editor, which he held from the late 1930s until 1953. As a journalist and editor, his work focused on the lives of working people, especially African American
s. He was active in various causes, including the campaigns to free the Scottsboro Boys
and Willie McGee, an African American veteran accused rape
in Laurel, Mississippi
. (McGee was later executed.) He also supported striking coal miners, and campaigned to draft Franklin Roosevelt for a fourth presidential term.
During this time, he only worked half time for the paper, supplementing his income by selling intercommunication devices door-to-door. His primary means of support, however, was his wife's teaching salary.
On Christmas Day, 1949, Lowenfels published an article in the Worker entitled "Santa Claus or Comrade X?," in which he mused about the "difficulties" of living with five women (his wife and four daughters) who spent their time washing, sewing and worrying about their clothes. The article was fiercely criticized by the paper's feminist readership, and the paper published several letters to the editor critical of the piece. Lowenfels' attempts to redeem himself in subsequent articles served only to anger his critics further, and the incident damaged his standing within the Party and the larger movement. The incident was examined as an example of efforts to confront male supremacy within progressive movements in a book by the historian Kate Weingard.
In about 1951, Lowenfels suffered a heart attack, from which he recovered. He purchased a cabin in rural Weymouth, New Jersey, where he and his wife took up residence.
raided Lowenfels' cabin and arrested him. He was charged with conspiracy
to overthrow the US government
, a violation of the Smith Act
. He was tried with five co-conspirators, a number that later grew to nine and also included Robert Klonsky
. In a meeting of the accused to determine a defense strategy, it was agreed that Lowenfels' best contribution to would be to continue writing poetry. During the trial, he also took up the translation of poetry by French and Italian authors. During this period, Lowenfels completed Sonnets of Love and Liberty, a work dedicated "to Peace, the loveliest prisoner of our time."
During the trial, the government never used his own writings as evidence against him. "[T]hey chose, rather, passages fromState and Revolution
, as interpreted by FBI Marxists." Lowenfels characterized the witnesses against him as "former communists who had become informers and agents for the FBI at a fair rate of pay". He and the co-conspirators were kept segregated from the general prison population in the maximum security division of Holmsburg County Prison in Philadelphia. Nonetheless, due to his health, was often allowed to visit friends who lived near the courthouse, and even made a cross-country trip with Lillian, during which he read poems publicly to raise money for his defense. He was convicted in 1954, but his conviction was overturned in higher courts shortly therefter for lack of evidence.
or illegal deer."
He became best-known as an anthologist of avant-garde
poetry. He edited an anthology of Walt Whitman
's poetry, but his most famous anthology was the 1967 Where is Vietnam?, a compilation of the poetic responses to the Vietnam War
. He was active in the anti-Vietnam War peace movement
, serving as the associate editor of the anti-war publication Dialog, and joining a group of writers and editors who refused to pay taxes in protest of the war.
In total, he wrote more than two dozen books of poetry. He also wrote an autobiography, My Many Lives, the second half of which is published in The Portable Walter, an anthology of his writings.
Lowenfels died in Tarrytown, New York
. His papers are housed in the special collections
department of the Olin Library, the main library of the Washington University
Library System, and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
of Yale University
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, and member of 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....
. He also edited
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
the communist
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...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
the Daily Worker
Daily Worker
The Daily Worker was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, some attempts were made to make it appear that the paper reflected a...
.
Early career
Lowenfels was born in New York CityNew 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...
to a successful butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
manufacturer. He graduated from a preparatory school
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
in 1914, and served in the military during 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...
, after which he began writing poetry. He worked for his father's company from 1914 until 1926. He met Lillian Apotheker, who later co-edited several of the anthologies of poetry he edited, in 1924, and the couple married in 1926. In 1925, with the financial assistance of Apotheker, he published his first collection of poems, Episodes & Epistles.
In 1926 he left the family business to hone his poetic craft in Europe, spending time in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and 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...
. There he was exposed to the literary scene, meeting Henry Miller
Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
, T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
, Ford Madox Ford
Ford Madox Ford
Ford Madox Ford was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals, The English Review and The Transatlantic Review, were instrumental in the development of early 20th-century English literature...
, and other luminaries.
In 1930, while still in Paris, he co-founded Carrefour Press with Michael Fraenkel, which published the pamphlet
Pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
Anonymous: The Need for Anonymity. The pamphlet was a manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
declaring the need for anonymous
Anonymity
Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...
publication in order to "avoid artistic competition and alienation."
In 1931 he shared the Richard Aldington
Richard Aldington
Richard Aldington , born Edward Godfree Aldington, was an English writer and poet.Aldington was best known for his World War I poetry, the 1929 novel, Death of a Hero, and the controversy arising from his 1955 Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Inquiry...
Poetry Prize with e. e. cummings
E. E. Cummings
Edward Estlin Cummings , popularly known as E. E. Cummings, with the abbreviated form of his name often written by others in lowercase letters as e.e. cummings , was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright...
.
Carrefour later anonymously published Lowenfels' play USA with Music, but was forced to reveal the identity of the playwright in 1932 when it filed a plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
suit against composer George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
. Thereafter, the publishing house attributed its publications to their authors, effectively ending the anonymity movement. He continued to write and publish his poetry, which showcased his leftist
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
political views, as well as editing the poetry of others. He also became concerned about the rise of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
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...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Return to the United States
Lowenfels returned to the United States in 1934, settling in Mays Landing, New JerseyMays Landing, New Jersey
Mays Landing is a census-designated place located within Hamilton Township, in Atlantic County, New Jersey. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 2,321. It is the county seat of Atlantic County...
, and went back to work for his father. He continued to write poetry at night. He wrote to Henry Miller about the transition from poet to businessperson: "I butter from nine to five and then I change into a butterfly and go ahead with poems."
In 1938, he published Steel 1937, which began with an open letter to Philip Murray
Philip Murray
Philip Murray was a Scottish born steelworker and an American labor leader. He was the first president of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee , the first president of the United Steelworkers of America , and the longest-serving president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations .-Early...
, the CIO
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
organizer behind the unionization drive at Little Steel. The poems in the book commemorated the 18 steelworkers killed by US Steel during the 1937 Little Steel strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
, and also discussed 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...
. Following the publication of Steel 1937, Lowenfels quit writing poetry and would not resume for 17 years.
In 1938, Lowenfels moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, where he became involved in the Civil Rights movement
American Civil Rights Movement (1896-1954)
The Civil Rights Movement in the United States was a long, primarily nonviolent struggle to bring full civil rights and equality under the law to all Americans...
and the struggles of working people. He began writing for the Pennsylvania edition of the Daily Worker, later rising to the position of editor, which he held from the late 1930s until 1953. As a journalist and editor, his work focused on the lives of working people, especially African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s. He was active in various causes, including the campaigns to free the Scottsboro Boys
Scottsboro Boys
The Scottsboro Boys were nine black teenage boys accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial...
and Willie McGee, an African American veteran accused rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
in Laurel, Mississippi
Laurel, Mississippi
Laurel is a city located in Jones County in Mississippi, a state of the United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 18,393 although a significant population increase has been reported following Hurricane Katrina. Located in southeast Mississippi, southeast of...
. (McGee was later executed.) He also supported striking coal miners, and campaigned to draft Franklin Roosevelt for a fourth presidential term.
During this time, he only worked half time for the paper, supplementing his income by selling intercommunication devices door-to-door. His primary means of support, however, was his wife's teaching salary.
On Christmas Day, 1949, Lowenfels published an article in the Worker entitled "Santa Claus or Comrade X?," in which he mused about the "difficulties" of living with five women (his wife and four daughters) who spent their time washing, sewing and worrying about their clothes. The article was fiercely criticized by the paper's feminist readership, and the paper published several letters to the editor critical of the piece. Lowenfels' attempts to redeem himself in subsequent articles served only to anger his critics further, and the incident damaged his standing within the Party and the larger movement. The incident was examined as an example of efforts to confront male supremacy within progressive movements in a book by the historian Kate Weingard.
In about 1951, Lowenfels suffered a heart attack, from which he recovered. He purchased a cabin in rural Weymouth, New Jersey, where he and his wife took up residence.
Trial
At 2 a.m. on July 29, 1953, the Federal Bureau of InvestigationFederal 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...
raided Lowenfels' cabin and arrested him. He was charged with conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
to overthrow the US government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
, a violation of the Smith Act
Smith Act
The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 is a United States federal statute that set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S...
. He was tried with five co-conspirators, a number that later grew to nine and also included Robert Klonsky
Robert Klonsky
Robert Klonsky was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, which fought on the side of the Spanish Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, a prelude to World War II.-Biography:...
. In a meeting of the accused to determine a defense strategy, it was agreed that Lowenfels' best contribution to would be to continue writing poetry. During the trial, he also took up the translation of poetry by French and Italian authors. During this period, Lowenfels completed Sonnets of Love and Liberty, a work dedicated "to Peace, the loveliest prisoner of our time."
During the trial, the government never used his own writings as evidence against him. "[T]hey chose, rather, passages fromState and Revolution
State and Revolution
The State and Revolution , by Vladimir Lenin, describes the role of the State in society, the necessity of proletarian revolution, and the theoretic inadequacies of social democracy in achieving revolution to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat.Citing Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, Lenin...
, as interpreted by FBI Marxists." Lowenfels characterized the witnesses against him as "former communists who had become informers and agents for the FBI at a fair rate of pay". He and the co-conspirators were kept segregated from the general prison population in the maximum security division of Holmsburg County Prison in Philadelphia. Nonetheless, due to his health, was often allowed to visit friends who lived near the courthouse, and even made a cross-country trip with Lillian, during which he read poems publicly to raise money for his defense. He was convicted in 1954, but his conviction was overturned in higher courts shortly therefter for lack of evidence.
Later life
Following his release, Lowenfels stopped editing the Pennsylvania Worker and returned to writing poetry. He never suffered any repurcussions from his community; he later wrote, "In our area, people seemed to put "overthrow the government" in the same category as moonshineMoonshine
Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...
or illegal deer."
He became best-known as an anthologist of avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
poetry. He edited an anthology of Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
's poetry, but his most famous anthology was the 1967 Where is Vietnam?, a compilation of the poetic responses to the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. He was active in the anti-Vietnam War peace movement
Peace movement
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...
, serving as the associate editor of the anti-war publication Dialog, and joining a group of writers and editors who refused to pay taxes in protest of the war.
In total, he wrote more than two dozen books of poetry. He also wrote an autobiography, My Many Lives, the second half of which is published in The Portable Walter, an anthology of his writings.
Lowenfels died in Tarrytown, New York
Tarrytown, New York
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
. His papers are housed in the special collections
Special collections
In library science, special collections is the name applied to a specific repository or department, usually within a library, which stores materials of a "special" nature, including rare books, archives, and collected manuscripts...
department of the Olin Library, the main library of the Washington University
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
Library System, and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was a 1963 gift of the Beinecke family. The building was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft of the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and is the largest building in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books...
of Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
External links
- Walter Lowenfels Papers at Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.