Difference between revisions of "Sherman Labovitz"
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| − | '''Sherman Labovitz''' was a leader of the Philadelphia [[ | + | '''Sherman Labovitz''' was a leader of the Philadelphia [[Communist Party USA]] He was arrested with other communist leaders in the summer of 1953 and tried under the Smith Act of treason. He was the youngest defendant of the "Philadelphia Nine," which included among others the radical modernist poet, [[Walter Lowenfels]]<ref>http://de.cpusa.org/Comrades/labovitz.htm</ref>. |
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In 1953, Sherman Labovitz was a World War II veteran living in a modest Strawberry Mansion rowhouse with his wife and two kids, holding down a low-paying job with a small newspaper.He was also Philadelphia circulation manager for the communist [[Daily Worker]]. So when he was awakened by pounding on his front door on a muggy summer night in 1953, Labovitz told his wife, "''This is it.''" The FBI had arrived to haul him off in handcuffs. | In 1953, Sherman Labovitz was a World War II veteran living in a modest Strawberry Mansion rowhouse with his wife and two kids, holding down a low-paying job with a small newspaper.He was also Philadelphia circulation manager for the communist [[Daily Worker]]. So when he was awakened by pounding on his front door on a muggy summer night in 1953, Labovitz told his wife, "''This is it.''" The FBI had arrived to haul him off in handcuffs. | ||
Revision as of 23:49, 16 December 2009
Sherman Labovitz was a leader of the Philadelphia Communist Party USA He was arrested with other communist leaders in the summer of 1953 and tried under the Smith Act of treason. He was the youngest defendant of the "Philadelphia Nine," which included among others the radical modernist poet, Walter Lowenfels[1].
Philadelphia Nine
In 1953, Sherman Labovitz was a World War II veteran living in a modest Strawberry Mansion rowhouse with his wife and two kids, holding down a low-paying job with a small newspaper.He was also Philadelphia circulation manager for the communist Daily Worker. So when he was awakened by pounding on his front door on a muggy summer night in 1953, Labovitz told his wife, "This is it." The FBI had arrived to haul him off in handcuffs.
The 1954 trial of Labovitz and eight others, collectively called the Philadelphia Nine, was at the time the longest federal trial in the history of Pennsylvania's Eastern District. It resulted in lenient sentences for the defendants. The Philadelphia Nine, "made it impossible to use the Smith Act as it had been used before." Prosecutors had been traveling from city to city around the country using the same set of witnesses against alleged communists' behavior. After Philadelphia the prosecutors had ," Labovitz said. He wrote a beautiful, moving memoir of his experiences being tried under the Smith Act and defended by unusually principled prominent Philadelphia lawyers.
Career
Labowitz was for many years a Professor of Social Work at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, having established the undergraduate program in social work there. He was an active partner with the Council of Social Work Education.