Alex Bail (1900 – June 8, 1973) was an American radical and union leader.

Biography

Early years

Alex Bail was born in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

in 1900.

Communist years

Bail entered the US labor movement in 1922. He was also an early 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 Revo ...

, arrested in August that year attending the parties underground second convention in

Bridgman, Michigan Bridgman is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,291 at the time of the 2010 census. History There was a place in this area known as Plummer's Pier. In 1856 lumbermen founded Charlotteville in this area. ...

. Bail attended the third national convention of the Workers Party of America (Dec 30, 1923-Jan 2, 1924) representing the third district, centered in Philadelphia. At the party's 5th convention in 1927 he was made a candidate member of the Central Executive Committee, and by the end of the year was district organizer in the party's first district, centered in Boston. He remained in that position for the rest of his tenure as a member of the American Communist Party. He was again elected CEC candidate at the party's 6th Convention in March 1929, but soon left the party after the expulsion of party leader

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 a group of about 200 loyalists around him. When Lovestone and his co-thinkers established a formal organization called 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 Communism, communist movement of the 1930s. The organization emerged from a factional fight in the CPUSA in 19 ...

, Bail enlisted in that organization as a member of the group's original National Council. He stayed with the organization for the duration of its existence. While in the Lovestone organization he adopted a " party name" "George F. Miles." In the late 1930s he was put in charge of the Lovestonites operation in the

United Auto Workers The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American Labor unions in the United States, labor union that represents workers in the Un ...

assisting Homer Martin in his fight with the communists within that union. The factional fight would eventually lead to Martin's group being ousted from leadership of the UAW and leading a rump organization back into the AFL. During this period he was assisted by his wife, Eve Smith, who became head of the UAW's Women's Auxiliary.

Later career

By 1948 Bail had emerged as the secretary-treasurer of the

Playthings, Jewelry and Novelty Workers' International Union The Playthings, Jewelry and Novelty Workers' International Union (PJNWIU) was a labor union representing workers in various related industries in the United States. The union was founded in 1938 as the International Union of Playthings and Novelty ...

, CIO. In 1950 he was member of an ad hoc committee of New York area CIO officials that was formed to "financially and morally" support the

Transport Workers Union of America Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) is a United States labor union that was founded in 1934 by subway workers in New York City, then expanded to represent transit employees in other cities, primarily in the eastern U.S. This article dis ...

in their conflict with the New York Board of Transportation over wages and hours of work for transit workers. The committee pressured Mayor

William O'Dwyer William O'Dwyer (July 11, 1890November 24, 1964) was an Irish-American politician and diplomat who served as the 100th Mayor of New York City, holding that office from 1946 to 1950. Life and career O'Dwyer was born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ir ...

into naming a fact finding commission to see if this financially tenable. In 1952 Bail became president of the Playthings, Jewelry and Novelty Workers Union after the executive board expelled A. H. Esposito and his Local 223 for signing a contract with a jewelry box factory in Queens in the midst of a strike. In 1954 the Plaything, Jewelry and Novelty Workers International Union voted to merge with the

Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) is a labor union in the United States. Founded in 1937, the RWDSU represents about 60,000 workers in a wide range of industries, including but not limited to retail, grocery stores, poultry proc ...

. The PJNWIU had about 20,000 members at the time of the merger. Bail became an executive vice president of the RWDSU. He retired in 1970, becoming vice-president ''emeritus''."Alex Bail, Long an Official Of Department Store Union," ''New York Times,'' June 8, 1973, pg. 42.

Death and legacy

Alex Bail died June 8, 1973.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bail, Alex 1900 births 1973 deaths American Marxists American communists Members of the Communist Party USA Right Opposition American trade union leaders Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States