Vera Shlakman (July 15, 1909 – November 5, 2017) was a 20th-century American professor of Economics and
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
and author of a 1935 book on women factory workers. She was best known in 1952 for her firing by
Queens College
Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...
for refusing to testify to the
McCarran Committee
The United States Senate's Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951–77, known more commonly as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) and sometimes the M ...
whether she was a card-carrying
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, as well as for apology and restitution she received in 1982.
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Background
![zasulich-vera](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Zasulich-vera.jpg)
Vera Shlakman was born on July 15, 1909, in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Canada. Her parents, Louis Shlakman (tailor, garment foreman) and Lena Hendler, were
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 ...
immigrants from Eastern Europe. They named their children for revolutionary heroes: Vera for
Vera Zasulich, Eleanora for
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
's daughter
Eleanor Marx
Jenny Julia Eleanor Marx (16 January 1855 – 31 March 1898), sometimes called Eleanor Aveling and known to her family as Tussy, was the English-born youngest daughter of Karl Marx. She was herself a socialist activist who sometimes worked as a ...
, and Victor for
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
. Anarchist
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...
was a family friend.
In 1930, she received bachelor's degree from
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
, followed by an MA in economics. She received a doctorate in economics at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. Her doctoral dissertation analyzed women factory workers in the 1800s in
Chicopee, Massachusetts.
Career
![The Quad Faisal2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/The_Quad_Faisal2.jpg)
Shlakman obtained a research fellowship at
Smith College
Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...
and then taught briefly at
Sweet Briar College
Sweet Briar College is a private women's college in Sweet Briar, Virginia. It was established in 1901 by Indiana Fletcher Williams in memory of her deceased daughter, Daisy. The college formally opened its doors in 1906 and granted the B.A. deg ...
.
In 1938, Shlakman became an instructor at Queens College, where she taught about labor,
Social Security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
, and concentration of wealth.
Shlakman was vice president of the college division of a
Teachers Union local, rebuked for Communists domination.
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
provides background to Shlakman's career as the
New York City Board of Education
The Panel for Educational Policy of the Department of Education of the City School District of the City of New York, abbreviated as the Panel for Educational Policy and also known as the New York City Board of Education, is the governing body of ...
, state officials, and courts specifically targeted left-wing Jewish teachers and professors to fire as part of their Communist purge.
Hearings, firing
![Pat McCarran (Nevada) (1947)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Pat_McCarran_%28Nevada%29_%281947%29.jpg)
On September 24, 1952, during testimony at a public hearing of the
United States Senate Internal Security Subcommittee
The United States Senate's Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951–77, known more commonly as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) and sometimes the M ...
, led by Senator
Pat McCarran, Shlakman pled the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
Fifth amendments with regard to any membership in the Communist Party.
In October 1952, she was fired under two New York State regulations. The first (the
Feinberg Law
Feinberg, Feinberger is surname of:
* Aaron Feinberg, American rollerblading champion
* Abraham Feinberg (1899–1986), American rabbi and singer.
* Andrew Feinberg (geneticist)
* Andrew Feinberg (journalist)
* Avshalom Feinberg (1889–1917), a ...
, authorized in 1949) barred subversive organization ties and, the other (
New York City Charter Section 903) against corruption, provided that refusing testimony on official conduct, because of self-incrimination, was evidence for dismissal (by the late 1960s, both provisions were declared unconstitutional).
Later life
Shlakman's firing by Queens College "banished her to academic obscurity" at the time. She never taught Economics again at Queens College.
For the rest of the 1950s, Shlakman worked as a secretary, a bookkeeper, and occasional teacher. In 1960, Dr. Shlakman started to teach again at
Adelphi University
Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher ed ...
's School of Social Work. In 1966, she became a full-time professor at
Columbia University School of Social Work
The Columbia University School of Social Work is the graduate school of social work of
Columbia University. It is the nation's oldest social work program, with roots extending back to 1898, when the New York Charity Organization Society's first s ...
. She retired as professor emerita in 1978.
Dr. Shlakman's enduring connection to Columbia's School of Social Work led her to establish a scholarship, and to leave a bequest to the School in her will.
Restitution
In 1980, City University offered an apology to professors dismissed then, including Shlakman. "They were dismissed during and in the spirit of the shameful era of
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The term origin ...
, during which the freedoms traditionally associated with academic institutions were quashed," the trustees of the City University of New York declared in a unanimous resolution.
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Shlakman and Oscar Shaftel filed an appeal to New York City Comptroller
Harrison J. Goldin over pensions or death benefits for former professors dismissed during the Second
Red Scare
A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...
. In April 1982, the City announced a $935,098 settlement with seven living and three deceased former professors: Dr. Shlakman received $114,599. Besides Shlakman and Shaftel, the other professors were: Richard Austin, Joseph Bressler, Dudley Straus, Sarah Reidman Gustafson, and Bernard F. Riess.
Personal life and death
Shlakman never married.
Scholar
Marjorie Heins has assessed that Shlakman was a
socialist-anarchist but not necessarily a
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
.
Shlakman believed that fears of "communism" fell prone to exaggeration. For example, "When the
United States Post Office
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...
began to carry packages, this activity was viewed as a challenge to private enterprise ... and a kind of socialistic or communistic activity" but not for long.
Regarding her firing, she held that the academic community had a choice not to fire her but chose to do so. She questioned: "Is the dismissal of teachers easier to accept than the burning of books?"
In her last years, she became homebound due to blindness. Friends who looked after her included Ellen J. Holahan, Judith Podore Ward, and Bernard Tuchman. According to her friends, she never revealed whether she had been a
Party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...
member.
Shlakman died aged 108 on November 5, 2017, at home in Manhattan. Her friend Ellen J. Holahan reported the death.
Legacy
Sam Roberts of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' commented at her death, "A 42-year-old assistant professor when she was fired in 1952, Dr. Shlakman neither taught economics again nor wrote a sequel to her groundbreaking 1935 book on female factory workers."
In the introduction to her 2013 book ''Priests of Our Democracy'', Marjorie Heins asks the question "Why did Vera Shlakman, Oscar Shaftel, and hundreds of others refuse to cooperate in the political inquisitions of the witch-hunt era?" She answers, "Many people who had made the difficult break with communism, or who had never been communists, simply did not want to collaborate in the Red hunt."
Works
Shlakman published only one major book, of which historian
Alice Kessler-Harris
Alice Kessler-Harris (June 2, 1941, Leicester) is R. Gordon Hoxie Professor Emerita of American History at Columbia University, and former president of the Organization of American Historians, and specialist in the American labor and comparative ...
of
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
later wrote:
Vera Shlakman had an extraordinary effect on my work and on that of a generation of labor historians. Quietly, unobtrusively her interpretive insights and the methodological innovations she introduced paved the way to a more eclectic and integrated discipline. A full seventy years after its publication in 1935, her ''Economic History of a Factory Town: A Study of Chicopee, Massachusetts'' still provides an intellectual and conceptual guide, not only to a changing field, but to the persistent questions it raises. because her book 'raised the question of how a transformation in the meaning of work for female workers could, and perhaps did, alter the workplace environment and the nature of family life.'[
]
In 2017, Kessler-Harris added that Shlakman's study of Chicopee confirmed that fundamental problems between capital and labor and thus that labor protests were a reaction to capitalist excesses. In 2017, historian
Joshua B. Freeman of Queens College praised Shlakman's 1935 book because it "extended the boundaries of American working-class history" and influenced a generation of historians."
* ''Economic History of a Factory Town: A Study of Chicopee, Massachusetts'' (1935) (1969)
References
External links
Photo of Shlakmanwith New York City Comptroller
Harrison J. Goldin (April 1982), ''The New York Times''
Shlakman after blindness had set in ''The New York Times''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shlakman, Vera
1909 births
2017 deaths
American centenarians
Writers from New York City
Canadian emigrants to the United States
American Marxists
American communists
American socialists
Marxist writers
Marxian economists
Jewish American writers
Jewish socialists
Members of the Communist Party USA
American political writers
Columbia University School of Social Work alumni
American women non-fiction writers
Women centenarians