Moses Baritz (1883 – 29 March 1938) was a British music journalist and socialist activist.

Early life

Baritz was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, originally from

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

. He initially worked in the city's sweatshops, and there became interested in socialism; he was a founding member of the

Socialist Party of Great Britain The Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) is a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1904 as a split from the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), it advocates using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes and oppos ...

(SPGB). He also developed a great interest in music, particularly the

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

, and began public lectures on this subject.

Socialism

Baritz remained loyal to the SPGB, at times as its only member in Manchester, and he became known for heckling at meetings of rival socialist groups. In particular, on one occasion when he was banned from entering a meeting of the

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...

, he climbed on the roof and blew a

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

down the ventilator shaft, ensuring that the meeting could not continue until he was eventually permitted to take a seat inside.W. Waters,
Moses Baritz
, '' Socialist Standard'', September 1954 Baritz visited

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 1911, and there gave speeches on the position of the SPGB. This encouraged a group of supporters to form the

Socialist Party of North America The Socialist Party of North America (SPNA) was a political party founded in 1911 and the first in North America to adopt the Object and Declaration of Principles of the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB). The party was formed when the Toront ...

, splitting away from the

Socialist Party of Canada The Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) was a political party that existed from 1904 to 1925, led by E. T. Kingsley. It published the socialist newspaper ''Western Clarion''. History Establishment The founding of the Socialist Party of Canada bega ...

. He opposed British involvement in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and in order to avoid conscription, he and fellow SPGB member Adolf Kohn moved to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

in 1915. Again, he gave speeches on socialism, attracting considerable crowds of members of the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a 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 of Ameri ...

. A study group of supporters was formed, and the following year they founded the

Socialist Party of the United States The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a 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 of America ...

.Peter E. Newell,
Marxian education in the United States
, '' Socialist Standard'', July 2004 By this point, Baritz had moved to New York, where he was interned for speaking against the war. Once released, he travelled to Australia and New Zealand, from which he was deported after only a brief stay. He spent several months at sea and was refused entry to numerous countries before finally returning to Manchester.

Music journalist

Back in the UK, Baritz managed to find work as a music critic for the ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and began broadcasting on the Manchester radio station

2ZY 2ZY was the name of a radio station established by the British Broadcasting Company in Manchester, England, in 1922. Part of the newly nationalised British Broadcasting Corporation from 1 January 1927, the station continued broadcasting under the 2 ...

. In June 1924, he presented a programme mixing speech and music, which has led some works to describe him as Britain's first radio

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

. He also worked for the Columbia Gramophone Company, lecturing on its behalf and acting as a musical adviser. Despite requests from the company that he relocate to London, he refused to leave Manchester, claiming that he could not do his job without access to the Henry Watson Music Library. Baritz's health began to fail in the mid-1930s, and he died on 29 March 1938."Re: Moses Baritz, Deceased", ''

'', 23 May 1938

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baritz, Moses 1883 births 1938 deaths English Jews Jewish socialists Journalists from Manchester Socialist Party of Great Britain members