Mauritz Alfred Hallgren (June 18, 1899 – November 10, 1956) was an American journalist, editor, and author. Hallgren is remembered as a leading liberal
public intellectual
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...
of the 1930s, writing extensively on current affairs for ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'' magazine.
Biography
Early years
Mauritz A. Hallgren was born in Chicago, Illinois to Swedish immigrant parents.
Career
During the first half of the 1930s Hallgren was a frequent contributor to ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'' magazine, contributing articles on domestic and international affairs and reviewing non-fiction books. In 1934, Hallgren left ''The Nation'' to take a post on the staff of the ''
Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries.
Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...
.''
As an active opponent of
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
and supporter of loyalists to the
Spanish Republic
The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 A ...
in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
, Hallgren was a member 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 ...
-sponsored
League of American Writers
The League of American Writers was an association of American novelists, playwrights, poets, journalists, and literary critics launched by the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in 1935. The group included Communist Party members, and so-called " fell ...
and a signer of the organization's 1939 convention call.
In January 1937, Hallgren made headlines by publicly resigning as a member of the
American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky The American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky was a pseudo-judicial process set up by :American Trotskyists, American Trotskyists as a front organization following the first of the Moscow Trials. It had no powers of subpoena, nor official i ...
, an organization of leading intellectuals which took testimony to test the veracity of political charges made against
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
as part of the
Great Purges
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...
in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. Hallgren charged that the committee had "become an instrument of the
Trotskyists
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a re ...
for political intervention against the Soviet Union." Hallgren's resignation letter to the Committee's secretary,
Felix Morrow
Felix Morrow (June 3, 1906 – May 28, 1988) was an American communist political activist and newspaper editor. In later years, Morrow left the world of politics to become a book publisher. He is best remembered as a factional leader of the Americ ...
, was later published as a 1 cent pamphlet by the Communist Party's
International Publishers
International Publishers is a book publishing company based in New York City, specializing in Marxism, Marxist works of economics, political science, and history.
Company history
Establishment
International Publishers Company, Inc., was founded ...
in 1937.
![Hallgren-cover](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Hallgren-cover.jpg)
In his January 27 letter to Morrow, Hallgren explained that he had joined the Trotsky Defense Committee as an expression of his belief in" the right of
asylum
Asylum may refer to:
Types of asylum
* Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome
* Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute
* Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea
...
for persons exiled because of their political or other beliefs." With the granting of asylum to Trotsky by Mexico, this aspect of the committee's work had come to a close, however, Hallgren noted. However, with the completion of the second out of what was to become the three
Moscow Trials
The Moscow trials were a series of show trials held by the Soviet Union between 1936 and 1938 at the instigation of Joseph Stalin. They were nominally directed against "Trotskyists" and members of "Right Opposition" of the Communist Party of th ...
, Hallgren came to a belief that
"the very unanimity of the defendants, far from proving that this trial is also a 'frame-up,' appears to me to prive directly the contrary. For if these men are innocent, then certainly at least one of the three dozen, knowing that he faced death in any case, would have blurted out the truth. It is inconceivable that out of this great number of defendants, all should lie when lies would not do one of them any good."
Hallgren asserted that while he readily agreed that "Stalin has his faults," nevertheless "every fair-minded person must concede that under its present leadership the Soviet Union has made remarkable progress toward establishing
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
."
[Hallgren, "Why I Resigned from the Trotsky Defense Committee," pg. 11.] It was only among the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
,
fascists
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and th ...
, and
reactionaries
In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the ''status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abse ...
, as well as a handful of
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
adherents of the
Second International
The Second International (1889–1916) was an organisation of socialist and labour parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued th ...
and the Trotskyists who contended that the USSR was not progressing towards socialism, Hallgren wrote to Morrow.
"The outcry against the Moscow trials first came from the Trotskyites," Hallgren charged. Given the weight of the public evidence, Hallgren concluded:
"...I shall remain convinced that the present liberal movement to win justice for him is nothing more than a Trotskyite maneuver against the Soviet Union and against socialism. I am equally convinced, as I must be under the circumstances, that the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky has, perhaps unwittingly, become an instrument of the Trotskyites for political intervention against the Soviet Union. ... I do not intend under any circumstances to allow myself to become a party to any arrangement that has for its objective purpose (whatever may be its subjective justification) the impairment or destruction of the socialist system now being built in Soviet Russia."[Hallgren, "Why I Resigned from the Trotsky Defense Committee," pp. 13-14.]
Others joining Hallgren in resigning from the Trotsky Defense Committee included journalists
Carleton Beals
Carleton Beals (November 13, 1893 – April 4, 1979) was an American journalist, writer, historian, and political activist with special interests in Latin America. A major journalistic coup for him was his interview with Nicaraguan rebel, August ...
and
Lewis Gannett
Lewis Gannett is an American writer. He is the author of the books ''The Living One'', ''Magazine Beach'', ''The Siege'', and two ''Millennium
A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called ...
, as well as ''Nation'' magazine editor
Freda Kirchwey
Mary Frederika "Freda" Kirchwey (September 26, 1893 – January 3, 1976) was an American journalist, editor, and publisher strongly committed throughout her career to liberal causes ( anti-Fascist, pro-Soviet, anti- anti-communist). From 1933 ...
.
[Harvey Klehr, ''The Heyday of American Communism: The Depression Decade.'' New York: Basic Books, 1984; pg. 360.] These resignations were touted by the Communist Party as evidence that the committee was nothing more than a publicity bureau for Leon Trotsky and the political movement which he headed.
Later in 1937, Hallgren published a book entitled ''A Tragic Fallacy,'' a work later hailed by historian
Harry Elmer Barnes
Harry Elmer Barnes (June 15, 1889 – August 25, 1968) was an American historian who, in his later years, was known for his historical revisionism and Holocaust denial. After receiving a PhD at Columbia University in 1918 Barnes became a pr ...
as "the definitive indictment of American interventionist diplomacy from Wilson to Roosevelt."
Death and legacy
Mauritz Hallgren died November 10, 1956 in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. He was 57 years old at the time of his death.
Footnotes
Works
Books and pamphlets
* ''Seeds of Revolt: A Study of American Life and Temper of the American People During the Depression.'' New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1933.
*
Why I Resigned from the Trotsky Defense Committee'. New York: International Publishers, 1937.
* ''The US Plays Ostrich.'' New York: American Friends of Spanish Democracy, n.d.
. 1937
* ''The Tragic Fallacy: A Study of America's War Policies.'' New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1937.
Articles
* "The Patriotic Radio Trust," ''The Nation,'' July 20, 1927.
* "Price-Fixing in Queensland," ''The Nation,'' August 10, 1927.
* "The Radio Trust Rolls On," ''The Nation,'' January 11, 1928.
* "Oil in Venezuela," ''The Nation,'' April 25, 1928.
* "French Prosperity Fades," ''The Nation,'' October 22, 1930.
* "The Polish Terror in Galicia," ''The Nation,'' November 5, 1930.
* "Congress in Confusion," ''The Nation,'' December 3, 1930.
* "Fascism Bankrupt," ''The Nation,'' December 17, 1930.
* "Poland Courts a New War," ''The Nation,'' January 21, 1931.
* "Young Bob La Follette," ''The Nation,'' March 4, 1931.
* "Hard Times and Hard Facts," ''The Nation,'' March 11, 1931.
* "Our Vanishing Liberties," ''The Nation,'' March 18, 1931.
* "Progressives Turn to the Left," ''The Nation,'' March 25, 1931.
* "Secretary Wilbur and the Cancer Cure," ''The Nation,'' April 8, 1931.
* "Chicago Goes Tammany," ''The Nation,'' April 22, 1931.
* "Governor La Follette," ''The Nation,'' April 29, 1931.
* "Easy Times in Middletown," ''The Nation,'' May 6, 1931.
* "Detroit's Liberal Mayor," ''The Nation,'' May 13, 1931.
* "Making the Country Safe for War," ''The Nation,'' May 27, 1931.
* "The Farce of Power Regulation," ''The Nation,'' June 24, 1931.
* "Why Must the Miners Starve?" ''The Nation,'' July 29, 1931.
* "Danger Ahead in the Coal Strike," ''The Nation,'' August 5, 1931.
* "The Manchurian Battleground," ''The Nation,'' October 28, 1931.
* "Japan Defies the Imperialists," ''The Nation,'' November 11, 1931.
* "The Federal Farm-Relief Scandal," ''The Nation,'' Part 1: December 2, 1931; Part 2: December 9, 1931.
* "American Secrecy About Red Russia," ''The Nation,'' February 3, 1932.
* "How Many Hungry?" ''The Nation,'' February 10, 1932.
* "Mass Misery in Philadelphia," ''The Nation,'' March 9, 1932.
* "Panic in the Steel Towns," ''The Nation,'' March 20, 1932.
* "Bankers and Bread Lines," ''The Nation,'' April 6, 1932.
* "Hitler Versus Hindenburg," ''The Nation,'' April 6, 1932.
* "Bloody Williamson is Hungry," ''The Nation,'' April 20, 1932.
* "Pigs, Plows, and Charity," ''The Nation,'' May 4, 1932.
* "Help Wanted — For Chicago," ''The Nation,'' May 11, 1932.
* "Russia Could Help Us," ''The Nation,'' May 18, 1932.
* "Franklin D. Roosevelt," ''The Nation,'' June 1, 1932.
* "Beer, Bums, and Republicans," ''The Nation,'' June 29, 1932.
* "The Milwaukee Miracle," ''The Nation,'' July 13, 1932.
* "The Bonus Army Scares Mr. Hoover," ''The Nation,'' July 27, 1932.
* "Grave Danger in Detroit," ''The Nation,'' August 3, 1932.
* "Judge Manton and the IRT Scandal," ''The Nation,'' October 26, 1932.
* "The Revolutionary Crisis in Japan," ''The Nation,'' November 9, 1932.
* "Billions for Relief," ''The Nation,'' November 20, 1932.
* "The Secret International," ''The Nation,'' January 25, 1933.
* "The Ohio Gang Protects the Bankers," ''The Nation,'' April 19, 1933.
* "A $100,000,000 Tax Scandal," ''The Nation,'' May 10, 1933.
* "The Power Trust Picks Its Own Judge," ''The Nation,'' June 21, 1933.
* "The Recovery Machine Starts," ''The Nation,'' July 12, 1933.
* "More Relief for Farmers," ''The Nation,'' July 26, 1933.
* "Liberia in Shackles," ''The Nation,'' August 16, 1933.
* "The Drive for Spoils," ''The Nation,'' August 23, 1933.
* "Drifting Into Militarism," ''The Nation,'' October 4, 1933.
* "The Right to Strike," ''The Nation,'' November 8, 1933.
* "The NRA Oil Trust," ''The Nation,'' March 7, 1934.
* "Japan Over Asia," ''The Nation,'' July 25, 1934.
* "Soviet China," ''The Nation,'' October 3, 1934.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hallgren, Mauriz A.
1899 births
1956 deaths
American male journalists
Journalists from New York City
Writers from Chicago
American people of Swedish descent