The Joint Committee Against Communism, also known as the Joint Committee Against Communism in New York, was an

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

organization during the 1950s.

Origins

Benjamin Schultz of

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, had studied under Rabbi Stephen S. Wise at the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. He was ordained as a rabbi in 1931 and served a Reform congregation, Temple Emanu-El in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

. From October 14 to 16, 1947, Schultz published a series of articles in the ''

New York World-Telegram The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966. History Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...

'' on Communism among Protestant and Catholic churches and Jewish synagogues. He attacked the Reverend Dr. Harry F. Ward of Union Theological Seminary,

Abraham Cronbach Abraham Cronbach (February 15, 1882 – April 2, 1965) was an American rabbi and teacher, known as a pacifist. He served as a rabbi for congregations in Indiana and Ohio. Cronbach was one of the founders of the Peace Heroes Memorial Society ...

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, and Stephen S. Wise by name. On March 15, 1948, Schultz announced in the ''New York Times'' the founding of the American Jewish League Against Communism, Inc. (AJLAC). AJLAC claimed to side with an "overwhelming majority of American Jewry" against Communism. It praised

David Dubinsky David Dubinsky (; born David Isaac Dobnievski; February 22, 1892 – September 17, 1982) was a Belarusian-born American labor leader and politician. He served as president of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) between 1932 ...

Abraham Cahan Abraham "Abe" Cahan (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם קאַהאַן; July 7, 1860 – August 31, 1951) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish American socialist newspaper editor, novelist, and politician. Cahan was one of the founders of ''The Forward'' (), ...

Walter Winchell Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...

, and David Lawrence. Schultz declared, "Zionism and communism are incompatible." Headquartered at 220 West Forty-second Street, AJLAC sought to remove "all Communist activity in Jewish life, wherever it may be." AJLAC national organizing members included: * Benjamin Schultz (executive director) *

Alfred Kohlberg Alfred Kohlberg (January 27, 1887, San Francisco, California, April 7, 1960, New York City, New York) was an American textile importer. A staunch anti-Communist, he was a member of the pro-Chiang " China lobby", as well as an ally of Wisconsin Sen ...

(chairman), listed as "head of the board of directors of the

American China Policy Association The American China Policy Association (ACPA) was an anti-communist organization that supported the government of Republic of China, now commonly referred to as Taiwan, under Chiang Kai-shek. Origins On July 17, 1946, J. B. Powell, correspond ...

, Inc." * Harry Pasternak, retired realtor (treasurer) *

Benjamin Gitlow Benjamin Gitlow (December 22, 1891 – July 19, 1965) was a prominent American socialist politician of the early 20th century and a founding member of the Communist Party USA. During the end of the 1930s, Gitlow turned to conservatism and wrote t ...

, former general secretary of the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

George Sokolsky George Ephraim Sokolsky (1893–1962) was a weekly radio broadcaster for the National Association of Manufacturers and a columnist for the ''New York Herald Tribune'', who later switched to ''The New York Sun'' and other Hearst newspapers. He was ...

, nationally syndicated columnist *

Eugene Lyons Eugene Lyons (July 1, 1898 – January 7, 1985) was an American journalist and writer. A fellow traveler of Communism in his younger years, Lyons became highly critical of the Soviet Union after several years there as a correspondent of United P ...

, nationally syndicated columnist *

Isaac Don Levine Isaac Don Levine (January 19, 1892 – February 15, 1981) was a 20th-century Russian-born American journalist and anticommunist writer, who is known as a specialist on the Soviet Union. He worked with Soviet ex-spy Walter Krivitsky in a 1939 exp ...

, nationally syndicated columnist and editor of ''

Plain Talk ''Plain Talk'' was an American monthly anticommunist magazine that lasted for 44 months (1946–1950). Its editor-in-chief was Isaac Don Levine. Description ''Plain Talk'' featured articles by many conservative writers of the time, including J ...

'' * Rabbi David S. Savitz * Rabbi Ascher M. Yager * Mrs. Harry Lang * Allen Lesser * Nathan D. Shapiro * Maurice Tishman * Mrs. Vivienne T. Wechter * Charles Kreindler, International Ladies Garment Workers Union, AFL * Louis Nelson, International Ladies Garment Workers Union, AFL (Pasternak had a seat on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

.) Roy Cohn joined as a member of the board of directors. Anti-communist journalist

was also a co-founder. On May 31, 1948, Schultz testified in support of the Mundt-Nixon Bill. In July 1948, Sokolsky mentioned formation of an AJLAC office in Los Angeles. In early 1949, Schultz testified to the Brooklyn Board of Education against the Jewish Peoples Fraternal Order, a member of the Communist-controlled

International Workers Order The International Workers Order (IWO) was an 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 on the grounds that the organizatio ...

; a week later, the board followed his recommendation and banned the group from classrooms. In March 1949, he publicly opposed a Soviet delegation led by

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...

from entering the United States. In July 1949, Schultz also attacked

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

during the latter's hearings before the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

Formation

In late January 1950, the committee formed in response to a call from George Craig, head of the American Legion, when 60 national organizations. The founders of the Joint Committee Against Communism were: * Rabbi Benjamin Schultz, executive director, American Jewish League Against Communism * Alfred Kohlberg, chairman, American Jewish League Against Communism * Theodore Kirkpatrick, managing editor, ''

Red Channels ''Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television'' was an anti-Communist document published in the United States at the start of the 1950s. Issued by the right-wing journal ''Counterattack'' on June 22, 1950, the pamphle ...

'' and founder, ''

Counterattack A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in "war games". The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, while the specific objectives typically seek ...

'' Kohlberg, a prominent member of the

China Lobby In American politics, the China lobby consisted of advocacy groups calling for American support for the Republic of China during the period from the 1930s until US recognition of the People's Republic of China in 1979, and then calling for clo ...

and publisher of ''

'' magazine, bankrolled the committee. As of July 1949, Rabbi Schultz named AJLAC's executive board members as: "Gen. Julius Klein, a past national commander of the Jewish War Veterans; your own colleague, the Hon.

Abraham J. Multer Abraham Jacob Multer (December 24, 1900 – November 4, 1986) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served ten terms as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York from 1947 to 1967. Biography ...

;

; Morrie Ryskind, of Hollywood; Rabbi David S. Savitz; and Rabbi Ascher M. Yager, leading orthodox rabbis of New York." In 1948, Multer ran for office against ex-CIO general counsel

Lee Pressman Lee Pressman (July 1, 1906 – November 20, 1969) was a labor attorney and earlier a US government functionary, publicly alleged in 1948 to have been a spy for Soviet intelligence during the mid-1930s (as a member of the Ware Group), following hi ...

. Multer used Pressman's communist association against him early on by claiming that he had received his "certificate of election" from the ''

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, attempts were m ...

'' (

CPUSA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

newspaper), thanks to its condemnation of him.) The Joint Committee Against Communism drew together a coalition of several New York State groups and sub-groups including the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

, the

Veterans of Foreign Wars The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as military service members fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or a ...

, and Catholic War Veterans, and the Veterans Division of AJLAC. In 1954, board members of the committee's core group, AJLAC, included: Alfred Kohlberg (chair), Benjamin Schultz (executive director), Harry Pasternak (treasurer) as well as

Bern Dibner Bern Dibner (18August 18976January 1988) was an electrical engineer, industrialist, and historian of science and technology. He originated two major US library collections in the history of science and technology. Biography Dibner was born in Lis ...

, Lawrence Fertig, Theodore Fine, Benjamin Gitlow, Walter R. Hart, Herman Kashins, Eugene Lyons, Norman L. Marks, Morris Ryskind, David S. Savitz, Nathan D. Shapiro, George E. Sokolsky, Maurice Tishman, and Ascher M. Yager.

Activities

In 1950, the Joint Committee Against Communism called on the New York Board of Education to ban the New York City

Teachers Union The New York City Teachers Union or "TU" (1916–1964) was the first New York labor union for teachers, formed as "AFT Local 5" of the American Federation of Teachers, which found itself hounded throughout its history due largely to co-membership ...

(TU), which since the 1930s come under the control of the

. (Former TU vice president Dr. Bella Dodd would testify before Congress about Communist control of the TU later in the 1950s.) That same year, the committee helped keep actress

Jean Muir Jean Elizabeth Muir ( ; 17 July 1928 – 28 May 1995) was a British fashion designer. Early life and career Jean Muir was born in London, the daughter of Cyril Muir, a draper's floor superintendent, and his wife, Phyllis Coy. Her father ...

banned from radio, soon after her name had appeared in ''Red Channels''. Also in that year, the committee scared

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

away from recording the song "Old Man Atom", written by

Vern Partlow Vern is a masculine given name, often a short form (hypocorism) of Vernon, Lavern or other names. People named Vern include: * Vernon Vern Bakalich (1929–2015), New Zealand rugby league player * Verdi Vern Barberis (1928–2005), Australian ...

of the ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado-based Digital First Media. The offices of the ''Dai ...

'' and finally recorded by Sam Hinton. (The song's lyrics included the lines, "

Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

's scared, and when Einstein's scared, I'm scared.") Partlow was a member of

People's Songs People's Songs was an organization founded by Pete Seeger, Alan Lomax, Lee Hays, and others on December 31, 1945, in New York City, to "create, promote, and distribute songs of labor and the American people."People's Songs Inc. ''People's Songs Ne ...

, a left-wing publisher based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and founded by folk-singer

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

. In 1951, Schultz attacked the reputation of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and US Secretary of Defense General

George C. Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the US Army under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry ...

. That same year, conservative journalist

Westbrook Pegler Francis James Westbrook Pegler (August 2, 1894 – June 24, 1969) was an American journalist and writer. He was a popular columnist in the 1930s and 1940s famed for his opposition to the New Deal and labor unions. Pegler aimed his pen at president ...

wrote a supportive syndicated article called "Let Me Introduce Rabbi Benjamin Schultz." In 1952, the committee honored US Senator

Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...

with a dinner at the

Astor Hotel Hotel Astor was a hotel on Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built in 1905 and expanded in 1909–1910 for the Astor family, the hotel occupied a site bounded by Broadway, Shubert Alley, and 44th and 45th Stre ...

. That same year, the committee named 18 college professors as "politically objectionable" and called for legislation against them; the committee declared that "it is up to the professors to prove their fitness to teach in the face of its accusations." In a speech in Lansing, Michigan, Schulz denounced both former First Lady

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

and

Americans for Democratic Action Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is a liberal American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA views itself as supporting social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research, and supporting prog ...

(ADA), a group she supported and which he called "an organizational extension of that lady's personality... more dangerous than Communism." By 1953, the committee's original members in AJLAC had become known among leading Jewish "anti-Reds" and included: Eugene Lyons,

, David Lawrence, George Sokolsky, Benjamin Mandel,

Barney Balaban Barney Balaban (June 8, 1887 – March 7, 1971) was an American film executive who was the president of Paramount Pictures from 1936 to 1964 and an innovator in the cinema industry. Life and career Barney Balaban (formerly Birnbaum) was the el ...

, Rabbi Ben Schultz, Maurice Tishman, and

Victor Riesel Victor Riesel (; March 26, 1913 – January 4, 1995) was an American newspaper journalist and columnist who specialized in news related to labor unions. At the height of his career, his column on labor union issues was syndicated to 356 newspape ...

. In 1954, the committee honored Roy Cohn with a dinner at the

; US Senator

was the principal speaker at the dinner. Also in 1954, Rabbi Schultz spoke before an American Legion gathering in Boston. In 1955, the committee honored Myers Lowman for exposing communist influence. AJLAC honored

Ruth Shipley Ruth Bielaski Shipley (April 20, 1885 – November 3, 1966) was an American government employee who served as the head of the Passport Division of the United States Department of State for 27 years, from 1928 to 1955. Her decisions to refuse pass ...

with an award for "a lifetime of service to the American people."

Legacy

In 1950, ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine lumped the Joint Committee Against Communism and its founder Benjamin Schultz with the newsletter ''

'' and its founder Theodore Kirkpatrick. It was the committee's 1952 attack on actress Jean Muir that first brought it to public attention.

Works

* ''Soviet Russia and Jews'' (undated pamphlet) (AJLAC)

References

External links

Group Research Inc. records, 1955-1996
box 184 "Joint Committee Against Communism in New York"
Register of the Alfred Kohlberg papers
box 98 "Joint Committee Against Communism in New York"
Archive.org
American Jewish League Against Communism – Los Angeles 80-236 {{Authority control Organizations established in 1950 Political advocacy groups in the United States Conservative organizations in the United States 1950 establishments in the United States United States political action committees Anti-communist organizations in the United States