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Student Activism in the 1930s
Wesleyan University Connecticut From the time of my initial appearance upon the scene of the class struggle on April 9, l9l5 in Brooklyn, Mass., there was very little in the way of heredity or environment to indicate that I might later be taking an active interest in matters of the socialist world which on the surface would seem to be of little concern to me directly. My father came from a long line of sea captains engaged in the East India trade during the early days of this country, and my maternal ancestors go back to puritan England, whence they are traced to America in 1628, most of them fighting in various capacities during the American Revolution, from drummer boys to generals. More recently they were connected with the wholesaling of shoes from the factories of Lynn, Mass. With the possible exception of the early migration to America in search of better living conditions, probably largely in a religious connection, and the subsequent participation in the Revolution and in the Civil War on the northern side, there seems to be little which might influence me toward an interest in social conditions in this country at the present time. At an early age my family moved to New Haven, Conn., where my father was engaged in the distributing end of the motion picture industry, first in the capacity of salesman end later as the manager of the Connecticut branch of various large companies. The position of manager was uncertain at the best, for with the frequent changes made in the ownership of these companies, there were corresponding changes made in the personnel much after the fashion of political customs when a new party comes into office. When one of these changes came at the time of the Florida land boom, my father decided to go south and see if he might get something out of it. He distinctly did not, and when the crash came returned to New Haven, where my mother and I had remained during his two year's absence. After some time without having anything definite in the line of employment, he started a film poster exchange run on a rental basis, instead of the outright selling basis as did the poster departments of the various film companies, and is still engaged in this occupation. First as a manager and later as the owner of his own $3,000 to $4,000 a year business, my father created a typical middle class environment for me whether I would or no. Entering kindergarten at the age of four, I led a very uneventful life through the early public school grades until the time I reached Junior High School. There I joined a Boy Scout Troop which had excellent camping facilities. I suspect that this may have been my primary interest in the organization. Whatever it was, I remained in the organization with varying amounts of activity for several years and may be a member yet if my former troop has considered my services in absentia to be of enough value to pay for my renewed registration. In addition to this, I first took up newspaper work at the time, being connected with the editorial end of the Junior High School monthly magazine. Preceding on to High School my path continued uninterrupted and commonplace enough, most of my extracurricular efforts being devoted to the New Haven High School weekly newspaper and the annual literary magazine. Although both of these publications received 'A' ratings in the Columbia National Interscholastic Press Association Contest, the policies of both were conservative and unexciting. At the age of seventeen I entered my freshman year at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. My choice of a university came largely through the influence of a close friend of mine who had entered Wesleyan the previous year. Having lived for a number of years in a town in which a large university was situated, it was not difficult to convince me that a small college had definite advantages over the larger 'plants'. I think that my interest in social and political problems must have been very gradual and largely unconscious. As I think back now, knowing some of the professors I had in my first two years more intimately, I realize that they must have played some role in the connection. Another important influence must have mess my fraternity associates. It is the custom at Wesleyan for a majority of the freshman class to join fraternities shortly after matriculation; nearly eighty-percent of the class being pledged at that time. Somewhat naturally I joined the fraternity of which my close friend was a member. Although the members represented a very mixed group, it was definitely not a 'rich man's fraternity'. With the 1932 elections coming in my freshman year, there was naturally a good deal of discussion around the college and especially in the fraternity about the many issues involved. In a poll conducted by the college newspaper it happened that a large block was in support of the socialist party and several of those most interested in this field were in my house, my closest friends. It might not be appropriate to mention my religious history at this time. Although my mother and especially my father were not what might be called active church members, at an early age I was sent to the Sunday school of a Congregational church located near our home. I continued more or less regularly here until the time I entered college, although it was more of a semi-conscious duty which impelled me than anything else. I frankly placed little stock in the ritual and the supposed message of the church, remaining impassively tolerant. In college however it was a different story. Although there was compulsory church, the speakers were always of highest caliber, including such men as Fosick [?], Parks, and Niebuhr. I soon began to perceive that outside of the ritualistic end of the church, which I scorn to this day, definite good might be done by men who could point out the things for which Christ stood without exalting him too highly as an idol. I have since discovered that my home pastor and a great majority of other clergymen are perhaps, on the whole, the group most interested in building a new society that exists today. By the time I had reached my sophomore year I had definitely made the editorial board of the campus newspaper. I drifted through the year taking a mild and purely academic interest in social affairs which the world was facing. In the early part of my Junior year, however, one of my closest friends became actively interested in Communism, and I began to discuss and read up on the subject. At the time he was running a column in the campus paper entitled 'Let Freedom Ring' which discussed the capitalistic system in a manner which was intended to do it no good. Shortly after he resigned due to the marked increase in the cancellation of subscriptions by alumni, the annual college body parley was held that year on the topic of 'political philosophies'. The parley lasted for two and a half days, with two speakers presenting opposing points of view in seven different sessions. Largely due to the fact that conservative speakers were either unable or unwilling to accept the invitation to speak when the program was being arranged, those men representing communism and socialism completely overbalanced the Fascists, New Dealers, and those upholding the good old school of Individualistic Democracy. Prominent among the speakers were Norman Thomas, Scott Nearing, Harry Laidler, and Max Eastman, while the conservative group included such men its Colonel Breckenridge, Professor Isaacs, and the Hon. Ham Fish. Following the parley, in my position on the campus newspaper, I conceived and conducted a poll to discover the amount of shift in the political stand of the students on the campus. An overwhelming majority were to the left of New Dealism, the main coming at Socialism, with l0%(approx.) Communists. Shortly after the parley my Communist friend and the student who had been chairman of the parley organized the L.I.D. on the campus and I became a charter member. From the time of its inception I was quite active, becoming a member of the executive committee and this past February was elected to the office of the Presidency. During that period we have organized a Hearst Censorship of the three motion picture houses in town have fought the Oath of Allegiance Bill which came up before the state legislature, have worked against the gag rule at Conn. State College, have published a regular bulletin discussing recommendations for action for or against and distributed this bulletin to all fraternity houses, faculty members, and members of the L.I.D., have staged the first successful anti-war demonstration on the campus with 500 in attendance out of the 600 students in the college, and have spent the last two months of the spring working to raise funds and picketing with the strikers at the Colt plant in Hartford, Conn., which was violating section 7A of the N.R.A. This spring I became an Associate Editor on both the campus newspaper and the campus monthly literary magazine. Since the son of the president of the college is the editor of the newspaper, and he is supported by five fraternity brothers who are all conservative if not reactionary, the only work which can be done of propagandist mature has to come through what was before the present regime an exclusively literary magazine. The editor of that is one of the most active members of the L.I.D. and six out of the seven on the editorial board are members. In addition to the above, I have been actively engaged in work with the Peace Action League on the campus, about two-thirds of whose members are in the L.I.D. Thus endeth the reading of the scripture. At one time this spring I had hoped to be able to work either with the Socialist Party or with a labor or socialist newspaper this summer. After thinking the matter over for some time, however, I came to the conclusion which most persons interested in work along this line are constantly facing: a feeling that one needs a more thorough knowledge of what it is all about. And here I am. Home | Historical Essay | Documents | Credits |
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