Otto Eduard Gerardus Majella Huiswoud (October 28, 1893 – February 20, 1961) was a
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
se political activist who was a charter member of the
Communist Party of America
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 Re ...
. Huiswoud is regarded as the first black member of the American communist movement. Huiswoud served briefly as the Communist Party's representative to the
Executive Committee of the Communist International
The Executive Committee of the Communist International, commonly known by its acronym, ECCI (Russian acronym ИККИ), was the governing authority of the Comintern between the World Congresses of that body. The ECCI was established by the Foundin ...
in 1922 and was a leading black
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
functionary during the decade of the 1920s.
Biography
Early years
Otto E. Huiswoud was born October 28, 1893, in
Paramaribo
Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...
, a
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
n coastal city in what was then the
Dutch colony of Surinam and is today the capital of the independent country of
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
. He was the son of Rudolf Huiswoud, a former slave who had gained his freedom as a boy of 11 and who learned the skills of a
tailor
A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century.
History
Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...
, working at the trade until his death in 1920.
[Maria Gertrudis van Enckevort, ''The Life and Work of Otto Huiswoud: Professional Revolutionary and Internationalist (1893–1961).'' Mona, Jamaica: University of the West Indies, 2000; p. 13.] His mother, Jacqueline Bernard Huiswoud, originally hailed from the island of
Curaçao
Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...
.
Otto was the fifth child and the second son in a family of eight siblings.
As a boy Otto was educated in
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
schools,
[Mark Solomon, ''The Cry Was Unity: Communists and African Americans, 1917–36.'' Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1998; p. 10.] with the educational system of the day conducted in the
Dutch language
Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-Europea ...
and
compulsory
Compulsion may refer to:
* Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so.
* Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by i ...
for children aged 7 to 12. Otto remained in school for five years, gaining exposure during this time not only to Dutch, but also the
French and
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
languages.
[Van Enckevort, ''The Life and Work of Otto Huiswoud,'' p. 15.]
During his school years Huiswoud participated in the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
on Sundays as an
altar boy
An altar server is a laity, lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helps bring up the gifts, brings up t ...
.
After school he worked as an
apprentice
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
to a
carpenter
Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...
.
Following completion of his education, Otto began a second apprenticeship, this time working under a printer.
Huiswoud was unhappy with his lot in life as a printer's apprentice, however, so in January 1910 the 16-year-old convinced his father to allow him to depart to see the world and he shipped out on a
banana boat
Banana Boat is a Polish a cappella sextet, authoring and performing original songs representing the genre of neo-shanties. Being one of the pioneers of the new genre, the group retains its simultaneous focus on contemporary interpretations of ...
bound for the Netherlands.
Due to the abysmal working conditions onboard, Huiswoud and two of his Surinamese mates decided to jump ship when it was docked in New York.
He settled in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, where he made ends meet by working at various jobs as a printer, cook, and janitor.
Early political career
In New York, Huiswoud was exposed to
soapbox
A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an wiktionary:impromptu, impromptu speech, often about a Politics, political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden c ...
speakers in
Union Square
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
, where he was introduced to
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 ...
arguments and literature for the first time.
By 1916, he had become a member 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 ...
(SPA), participating actively in the
Young People's Socialist League at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
in
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...
, where he studied
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
.
Huiswoud would later also become a member of the
Socialist Propaganda League
The Socialist Propaganda League was a tiny socialist group active in London from about 1911 to 1951.
History
The League was formed as a result of an early dispute in the Socialist Party of Great Britain and of the optimistic belief of the Pa ...
, a
revolutionary socialist
Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revoluti ...
organization which included the influential socialist writer
S. J. Rutgers, a Dutch
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...
who had previously worked in the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
.
During the summer of 1918, Huiswoud took a job working on a pleasure boat that was part of the
Fall River Line
The Fall River Line was a combination steamboat and railroad connection between New York City and Boston that operated between 1847 and 1937. It consisted of a railroad journey between Boston and Fall River, Massachusetts, where passengers would ...
.
Black crew members were not organized by the
International Seamen's Union
The International Seamen's Union (ISU) was an American maritime trade union which operated from 1892 until 1937. In its last few years, the union effectively split into the National Maritime Union and Seafarer's International Union.
The early yea ...
, so Huiswoud took it upon himself to lead a walkout that led the company to negotiate for better pay and improved working conditions for its minority workers. News of the young leader of this Boston strike reached Socialist Party leaders, who offered Huiswoud a one-year scholarship to attend the
Rand School of Social Science
The Rand School of Social Science was formed in 1906 in New York City by adherents of the Socialist Party of America. The school aimed to provide a broad education to workers, imparting a politicizing class-consciousness, and additionally served a ...
, the SPA's training school for party activists and trade union workers.
[Solomon, ''The Cry Was Unity,'' pg. 11.] Huiswoud accepted this offer and did not return to Cornell.
Between his attendance of the Rand School and his participation in the 21st Assembly Branch of the SPA, located in
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
, Huiswoud made the acquaintance of a number of influential figures in the history of American radicalism, including Japanese expatriate
Sen Katayama
Sen may refer to:
Surname
* Sen (surname), a Bengali surname
* Şen, a Turkish surname
* A variant of the Serer patronym Sène
Currency subunit
* Etymologically related to the English word ''cent''; a hundredth of the following currencies:
* ...
—later a high-ranking functionary in the
Communist International
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...
—trade unionist and newspaper editor
A. Philip Randolph and his associate
Chandler Owen,
Richard B. Moore,
Lovett Fort-Whiteman
Lovett Huey Fort-Whiteman (3 December 1889 – 13 January 1939) was an American political activist and functionary for the Communist International (Comintern).
The first black American to attend a Comintern training school in the Soviet Uni ...
,
Frank Crosswaith Frank Rudolph Crosswaith (1892–1965) was a longtime socialist politician and activist and trade union organizer in New York City who founded and chaired the Negro Labor Committee, established on July 20, 1935 by the Negro Labor Conference.
...
, and
Edward Welsh.
Huiswoud found himself a supporter of the
Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party
The Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party was an organized faction within the Socialist Party of America in 1919 which served as the core of the dual communist parties which emerged in the fall of that year—the Communist Party of America a ...
during the acrimonious factional war of 1919. He was one of 94 delegates to the June 1919
National Conference of the Left Wing, which elected a governing
Left Wing National Council and participated in the formation of the
Communist Party of America
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 Re ...
on September 1 of that year.
[Van Enckevort, ''The Life and Work of Otto Huiswoud,'' p. 22.] Although not a delegate to either founding convention, according to Comintern records Huiswoud's party membership dated to 1919, and he has been recognized by historians as the first black member of the American Communist Party.
Through his connection to the radical black political leaders of Harlem, Huiswoud eventually made his way to membership in the
African Blood Brotherhood
The African Blood Brotherhood for African Liberation and Redemption (ABB) was a United States, U.S. Civil rights movement (1896–1954), black liberation organization established in 1919 in New York City by journalist Cyril Briggs. The group was es ...
, a secret society established by
Cyril Briggs
Cyril Valentine Briggs (May 28, 1888 – October 18, 1966) was an African-Caribbean American writer and communist political activist. Briggs is best remembered as founder and editor of ''The Crusader,'' a seminal New York magazine of the New Ne ...
to promote black liberation and self-defense against the
Red Summer of 1919
Red Summer was a period in mid-1919 during which white supremacist terrorism and racial riots occurred in more than three dozen cities across the United States, and in one rural county in Arkansas. The term "Red Summer" was coined by civil ...
. Although an active participant in the organization, Huiswoud was not among the group's founders, Cyril Briggs himself later recalled.
[Cyril Briggs]
"Letter to Theodore Draper in New York from Cyril Briggs in Los Angeles, March 17, 1958 (long extract),"
Corvallis, OR: 1000 Flowers Publishing, 2007.
In the summer of 1922, Huiswoud was chosen as the candidate of the Workers Party of America—the new "legal" political arm of what was then the underground Communist Party – as its candidate for the
New York State Legislature
The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...
in its 22nd Assembly District.
Comintern delegate
Huiswoud was an official delegate of the Workers Party of America to the
4th World Congress of the Comintern, held in Moscow from November 5 to December 5, 1922, attending its sessions together the Caribbean poet
Claude McKay
Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay OJ (September 15, 1890See Wayne F. Cooper, ''Claude McKay, Rebel Sojourner In The Harlem Renaissance (New York, Schocken, 1987) p. 377 n. 19. As Cooper's authoritative biography explains, McKay's family predated ...
.
[Van Enckevort, "Otto Huiswoud: Political Praxis and Anti-Imperialism," Philipsburg, St. Maarten: ''St. Martin Studies,'' no. 1–2, 2006.] Huiswoud addressed the assembled delegates on the situation facing black workers in the United States.
Huiswoud was elected head of the Congress's Negro Commission and was instrumental in helping draft the thesis of the Comintern on the so-called "Negro Question" as well as four resolutions, all of which Huiswoud presented on the floor of the Congress.
Owing to his presence in Moscow, in the first week of December 1922 Huiswoud briefly served as the Communist Party's representative to the Communist International when their regularly elected "CI Rep,"
L. E. Katterfeld
Ludwig Erwin Alfred "Dutch" Katterfeld (15 July 1881 – 11 December 1974) was an American socialist politician, a founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America, a Comintern functionary, and a magazine editor.
Biography
Early life
...
, who was out on bail regarding a political case started against him in 1920, was forced to rush home to the United States to appear in court.
Activity in the 1920s
Huiswoud returned to America in 1923, entering the country on March 1 legally as a passenger on a ship called the ''Ryndam'' and being entered on the books as a permanent resident of the United States.
[Van Enckevort, ''The Life and Work of Otto Huiswoud,'' p. 18.] Huiswoud was set to work as a functionary in the African Blood Brotherhood, by then a
mass organization
A mass movement denotes a political party or movement which is supported by large segments of a population. Political movements that typically advocate the creation of a mass movement include the ideologies of communism, fascism, and liberalism. Bo ...
of the Communist Party targeted towards black workers.
Huiswoud served as the National Organizing Secretary of the group until the termination of the organization.
In February 1924, Huiswood attended the so-called "
Negro Sanhedrin," a national anti-racism conference, as one of two official delegates of the African Blood Brotherhood.
[Van Enckevort, ''The Life and Work of Otto Huiswoud,'' p. 32.] The two ABB delegates were joined by five others representing the
Workers Party of America
The Workers Party of America (WPA) was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929.
Background
As a legal political party, the Workers Party accepted affiliation fr ...
.
In June 1924, Huiswoud was a delegate to the St. Paul Convention of the
Farmer-Labor Party, an attempt by the Workers Party of America to create and harness a mass political organization including the organized labor movement and disaffected farmers. At this gathering Huiswoud proposed a resolution calling for full
social equality
Social equality is a state of affairs in which all individuals within a specific society have equal rights, liberties, and status, possibly including civil rights, freedom of expression, autonomy, and equal access to certain public goods and ...
for American blacks and an end to
lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
.
A white
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
farmer rose to oppose Huiswoud's proposal, declaring that American blacks did not truly desire social equality with caucasians, only material benefits.
Huiswoud responded by taking to the floor to denounce the farmer, an action that threatened the fragile alliance that the communists were attempting to build and which was regarded as a serious breach of discipline. The affair ended with Huiswoud being quietly suspended from the Workers Party for one year.
In October 1925, the Workers Party launched a new organization directed at American blacks to replace the by now defunct African Blood Brotherhood. The party's best-regarded black activists, including Huiswoud,
James W. Ford,
Harry Haywood
Harry Haywood (February 4, 1898 – January 4, 1985) was an American political activist who was a leading figure in both the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). His goal was to connect ...
, Cyril Briggs, Richard B. Moore were put to work as functionaries of this new group, called the
American Negro Labor Congress
The American Negro Labor Congress was established in 1925 by the Communist Party USA, Communist Party as a vehicle for advancing the rights of African Americans, propagandizing for communism within the black community and recruiting African Ameri ...
.
The organization was headed by
Lovett Fort-Whiteman
Lovett Huey Fort-Whiteman (3 December 1889 – 13 January 1939) was an American political activist and functionary for the Communist International (Comintern).
The first black American to attend a Comintern training school in the Soviet Uni ...
, an individual with whom Huiswoud came into conflict, leading to Fort-Whiteman's ouster in 1927.
During the bitter internal factional war which consumed the Workers Party during the decade of the 1920s, Huiswoud was a consistent supporter of the New York-based faction of
Charles Ruthenberg
Charles Emil Ruthenberg (July 9, 1882 – March 1, 1927) was an American Marxist politician and a founder and head of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).
Biography
Early years
Charles Emil Ruthenberg was born July 9, 1882, in Cleveland, Ohio, th ...
,
John Pepper
John Pepper, also known as József Pogány and Joseph Pogany (born József Schwartz; November 8, 1886 – February 8, 1938), was a Hungarian Communist politician. He later served as a functionary in the Communist International (Comintern) in Mos ...
, and
Jay Lovestone
Jay Lovestone (15 December 1897 – 7 March 1990) was an American activist. He was at various times a member of the Socialist Party of America, a leader of the Communist Party USA, leader of a small oppositionist party, an anti-Communist and Centr ...
against the Midwest-based faction of
William Z. Foster,
James P. Cannon, and
Alexander Bittelman
Alexander "Alex" Bittelman (1890–1982) was a Russian-born Jewish-American communist political activist, Marxist theorist, influential theoretician of the Communist Party USA and writer. A founding member, Bittelman is best remembered as the chi ...
. With the New York group in control of the party apparatus for most of this period, Huiswoud remained one of the organization's top-ranking black leaders.
In March 1929, Huiswoud was elected as a delegate to the 6th National Convention of the Communist Party, held in New York City.
["Otto E. Huiswoud Delegate Survey Form - March 1929,"]
Comintern Archive, RGASPI f. 515, op. 1, d. 1598, l. 96. He was at that time the party's highest ranking black member, sitting on the governing Central Executive Committee and the Political Committee ("Polcom") which guided the party's day-to-day operations.
Huiswoud additionally served as the Director of the Negro Department of the Communist Party at this time.
Return to Moscow
Following the 6th Convention, Huiswoud was chosen as one of ten delegates to travel to Moscow in support of National Secretary
Jay Lovestone
Jay Lovestone (15 December 1897 – 7 March 1990) was an American activist. He was at various times a member of the Socialist Party of America, a leader of the Communist Party USA, leader of a small oppositionist party, an anti-Communist and Centr ...
and his policies, which was under review by a special American Commission established by the Presidium of the Executive Committee of the Communist International. Although the delegates presented a united front arguing for a continuation of the Lovestone leadership, the powerful American Commission, which included such top Soviet leaders as
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
,
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov. ; (;. 9 March Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O._S._25_February.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O. S. 25 February">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dat ...
, and
Otto Kuusinen
Otto Wilhelm "Wille" Kuusinen (; russian: О́тто Вильге́льмович Ку́усинен, Otto Vilgelmovich Kuusinen; 4 October 1881 – 17 May 1964) was a Finnish-born Soviet communist and, later, Soviet politician, literary his ...
, ultimately decided to take decisive action against the factionalism which had plagued the American party throughout the decade of its existence by removing opposing factional leaders Lovestone and
Alexander Bittelman
Alexander "Alex" Bittelman (1890–1982) was a Russian-born Jewish-American communist political activist, Marxist theorist, influential theoretician of the Communist Party USA and writer. A founding member, Bittelman is best remembered as the chi ...
and sending them to work in other communist parties abroad.
Lovestone refused to accept this decision and returned home without authorization, resulting in his expulsion from the Communist Party and his eventual formation of a rival organization, the
Communist Party (Majority Group)
The Lovestoneites, led by former General Secretary of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) Jay Lovestone, were a small American oppositionist communist movement of the 1930s. The organization emerged from a factional fight in the CPUSA in 1929 and un ...
. Huiswoud, on the other hand, ultimately chose to accept the decisions of the Comintern and remained at its service.
In July 1928, the
Red International of Labor Unions
The Red International of Labor Unions (russian: Красный интернационал профсоюзов, translit=Krasnyi internatsional profsoyuzov, RILU), commonly known as the Profintern, was an international body established by the Comm ...
, the world communist movement's international trade union organization, had established a "Negro Section" dedicated to coordinating the activities of black workers from the Caribbean region and
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
. This would serve as the directing center for an organization called the
International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers (ITUCNW), established in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, Germany, in July 1930. Headed by Trinidadian
George Padmore
George Padmore (28 June 1903 – 23 September 1959), born Malcolm Ivan Meredith Nurse, was a leading Pan-Africanist, journalist, and author. He left his native Trinidad in 1924 to study medicine in the United States, where he also joined the Com ...
, Huiswoud was named the editor of the ITUCNW's monthly publication, ''The Negro Worker.'' Completing the core cadres of this Comintern initiative was the American-born James W. Ford, former vice presidential nominee of the Workers Party.
In 1933, ''The Negro Worker'' was head quartered in Hamburg. After the nazi party came to power, Huiswoud moved to Copenhagen, Paris, the Netherlands and back to Paris. In 1941, he arrived in Suriname.
On January 31, 1941, Huiswoud was interned at
Copieweg internment camp
Copieweg camp was a Dutch Internment Camp for German civilians that operated in Surinam during World War II, from 1940 to 1947. They were interned due to their nationality rather than due to proven support for Nazi Germany, although some of them ...
by Governor
Johannes Kielstra
Johannes Coenraad Kielstra (13 November 1878 – 1 April 1951) was a Dutch professor and Governor of Suriname from 1933 until 1944. During World War II, he increased his authority and imprisoned political opponents causing the resignation of all e ...
as a communist propagandist. He was released on September 25, 1942 due to poor health and was not considered dangerous. In 1947, he moved to the Netherlands and worked for , the Dutch telephone company. He was an active member of ', an organisation to promote the interests of Surinamese people living in the Netherlands.
In 1954, he became the chairperson of ''Vereniging Ons Suriname''. The organisation was politically socialist, but less radical due to the moderating influence of
Eddy Bruma
Eduard Johan "Eddy" Bruma (May 30, 1925 – November 6, 2000) was a Surinamese politician, lawyer and writer.
Biography
Bruma was imprisoned during World War II, because of his nationalistic activities. After the war, he studied law at the Free U ...
and
Jules Sedney
Jules Sedney (28 September 192218 June 2020) was a Surinamese politician, and Prime Minister of Suriname from 20 November 1969 to 24 December 1973. In 1980, he became governor of the Central Bank of Suriname, but had to flee the country in 1983 ...
. During Huiswoud's tenure they started to demand a
dominion
The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire.
"Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...
status for Suriname.
Death and legacy
Otto Huiswoud died February 20, 1961, in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
. He was 67 years old at the time of his death. Huiswoud's papers, archived under the name of his wife, Hermina "Hermie" Dumont Huiswoud, reside at the
Tamiment Library
The Tamiment Library is a research library at New York University that documents radical and left history, with strengths in the histories of communism, socialism, anarchism, the New Left, the Civil Rights Movement, and utopian experiments. Th ...
at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
in two archival boxes.
[Peter Meyer Filardo]
"Guide to the Hermina Dumont Huiswoud Papers,"
Tamiment Library/Wagner Archives, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University, New York City. Use of the collection is open to scholars without restriction.
Publications
* "Dutch Guiana: A Study in Colonial Exploitation," ''The Messenger,'' vol. 2, no. 11 (1919), pp. 22–23.
* "The Negro and the Trade Unions," ''The Communist,'' vol. 8, no. 12 (December 1928), pp. 770–775.
* "World Aspects of the Negro Question," ''The Communist,'' vol. 9, no. 2 (February 1930), pp. 132–147.
* ''How to Organize and Lead the Struggles of the Negro Toilers.'' (As "Charles Woodson.") Copenhagen: International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers, n.d.
. 1935
See also
*
African Blood Brotherhood
The African Blood Brotherhood for African Liberation and Redemption (ABB) was a United States, U.S. Civil rights movement (1896–1954), black liberation organization established in 1919 in New York City by journalist Cyril Briggs. The group was es ...
*
American Negro Labor Congress
The American Negro Labor Congress was established in 1925 by the Communist Party USA, Communist Party as a vehicle for advancing the rights of African Americans, propagandizing for communism within the black community and recruiting African Ameri ...
*
Communist Party USA and African Americans
The Communist Party USA, ideologically committed to foster a socialist revolution in the United States, played a significant role in defending the civil rights of African Americans during its most influential years of the 1930s and 1940s. In that ...
References
Footnotes
Further reading
* Maria Gertrudis van Enckevort, ''The Life and Work of Otto Huiswoud: Professional Revolutionary and Internationalist (1893–1961).'' PhD dissertation. Mona, Jamaica: University of the West Indies, 2000.
* Maria van Enckevort
"Otto Huiswoud: Political Praxis and Anti-Imperialism,"Philipsburg, St. Maarten: ''St. Martin Studies,'' no. 1–2, 2006.
* Holger Weiss, "The Road to Hamburg and Beyond: African American Agency and the Making of a Radical African Atlantic, 1922–1930.
Part One.Part Two.Part Three.Comintern Working Papers, Åbo Akademi University, 2007.
* Holger Weiss, "The Hamburg Committee, Moscow and the Making of a Radical African Atlantic, 1930–1933.
Part One: The RILU and the ITUCNW.Part Two: The ISH, the IRH and the ITUCNW.Part Three: The LAI and the ITUCNW.Comintern Working Papers, Åbo Akademi University, 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huiswoud, Otto
1893 births
1961 deaths
Activists from New York City
American Comintern people
Members of the Communist Party USA
Emigrants from Dutch Guiana to the United States
Surinamese Marxists
Surinamese people of Curaçao descent