Abraham Shiplacoff
Encyclopedia
Abraham Isaac "Abe" Shiplacoff (1877–1934) was a Russian-born
Jewish-American trade union
organizer and left wing political activist. Shiplacoff is best remembered as the first Socialist
Assemblyman elected in the state of New York and as a prominent target of prosecution for sedition
under the Espionage Act in 1918.
, Ukraine
, then part of the Russian empire
.
Shiplacoff emigrated to the United States in 1891, settling in New York City
.
group known as "The Voice of Labor."
Early in 1915, Shiplacoff was named Secretary of the United Hebrew Trades
, a municipal trade union federation based in New York City.
He was also active in Jewish causes during the second decade of the 20th century. For instance, in September 1915, the National Workmen's Committee on Jewish Rights held a meeting at Cooper Union
to advocate for Jewish emancipation in Russia
. Shiplacoff chaired the meeting, which resolved to ask U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
to demand that Russia grant equal rights to its Jewish citizens at the end of World War I
.
Shiplacoff was active in the Socialist Sunday School movement. For a time he was the labor editor of the Jewish Daily Forward.
1916 legislative session
In 1915, Shiplacoff became the first candidate of the Socialist Party elected to the New York State Assembly
, with Shiplacoff winning his seat in the 23rd Electoral District of Kings County, representing Brownsville, Brooklyn
.
Shiplacoff found his first experience in as the sole Socialist member of the Assembly to be trying, as he recalled in 1916:
Shiplacoff therefore contented himself with what he described as "putting up a fight against the bills which were opposed to the interests of labor, or were otherwise of a vicious nature." Chief among these were a series of bills intended to exempt dairy workers from existing laws mandating one rest day in seven, which appeared approximately a dozen times before ultimately being passed in a watered-down form. Shiplacoff was also the single assemblyman opposed to the 1916 Slater-Welsh bill, which established compulsory military training in New York State for unemployed boys between the ages of 16 and 19.
Among the legislation proposed by Shiplacoff during this inaugural session were bills which would have required any employer placing an ad offering jobs during a strike to make that fact clear in the advertisement, tightening regulations for exits on any factory building over one story in height, banning the use of armed guards during strikes, provision of compensation for workers suffering permanent disabilities on the job, and prohibition of the employment of children under 16 years of age in a factory. All of these bills died in committee. During his first two terms in the Assembly, Shiplacoff managed to introduce only one successful bill, which banned the use of the third degree
in interrogation.
1917 legislative session
Shiplacoff won re-election to the assembly in 1916 (when he was joined by fellow socialist Joseph A. Whitehorn) and 1917 (9 other socialists were also elected at this time).
During the 1917 session, Shiplacoff introduced New York's first birth control
bill, which would have allowed "the dissemination of printed articles describing means of birth control." He introduced the bill on January 24, while Margaret Sanger
's sister Ethel Byrne was on a hunger strike
in The Tombs
to protest her arrest for distributing information about birth control from their clinic in Brooklyn.
Shiplacoff did have occasional successes in the Assembly, although they were often more symbolic than substantive. For instance, on March 26, 1917, Joseph Callahan introduced a resolution urging the United States Congress
to pass a measure, known as the Chamberlain bill, requiring the United States to prepare for entry into World War I. Shiplacoff objected on the procedural grounds that Assembly rules forbade resolutions to be introduced after March 1 except by the unanimous consent of the members, which caused the resolution to be returned to its proposer. The rules were amended, allowing the reintroduction of the resolution two days later. Supporters attacked Shiplacoff for his opposition, with assemblyman Martin McCue saying that:
Shiplacoff replied:
At this point, Lieutenant Colonel
and Assemblyman Wells added:
The resolution was then adopted, with only Shiplacoff and Whitehorn voting against it.
On May 3, 1917, Shiplacoff introduced a resolution to request Woodrow Wilson
to reconsider his appointment of Elihu Root
as head of the United States Commission to Russia. He was "hooted down by the members of the Assembly" and a motion was then introduced and "uproariously carried" that no mention of the resolution be made in the official journal.
1918 and after
On February 11, 1918, Shiplacoff and his 9 socialist colleagues in the assembly refused to support a resolution of admiration for Abraham Lincoln
because it included language expressing gratitude for American soldiers fighting in France. The Democratic Assemblyman who had introduced the resolution attacked Shiplacoff, stating:
During the same session, Assemblyman Fearon accused the socialists of preaching free love
, to which Shiplacoff replied: "I am sure that if some of the Socialists preach free love, some of the Republicans practice it."
Shiplacoff was elected to the governing National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party in 1918, remaining in that post through the Emergency National Convention
held in Chicago in 1919.
In the fall of 1918 Shiplacoff ran as a Socialist candidate for the United States House of Representatives
. Because the Socialist Party had outpolled the Democrats (9228 to 8290) in the district's previous election, leading to the election of a Republican, Shiplacoff's candidacy led to calls for a Democratic-Republican "fusion candidate" to prevent his victory. The sitting Republican candidate, Reuben Haskell, offered to withdraw from the race should polls indicate that he had fewer votes than Democratic candidate George W. Martin
. The plan was never put into action, however. Haskell did not withdraw and defeated Shiplacoff and Martin in November, 1918.
for three counts of violation of the so-called Espionage Act for a speech against American intervention in Russia made in the Bronx
10 days previously. The first count charged that Shiplacoff "willfully, knowingly, and feloniously uttered and published disloyal, scurrilous, and abusive language about the military and naval forces of the United States, namely the armed forces of the United States now operating in Siberia." The second count charged that his words were "intended to bring [those forces] into contempt, scorn, contumely, and disrepute." The third count charged that his speech was intended to incite and encourage resistance to American forces. Shiplacoff was released on $5,000 bail.
The indictment against Shiplacoff, along with similar charges against John Reed
, William J. Robinson
, and others, was quashed on April 4, 1919. Attorney General Alexander Palmer
had decided that the 1918 end of the First World War obviated most such prosecutions.
He was a New York City alderman in the early 1920s. In February 1920, he spoke out against the Treaty of Versailles
and against the New York State Assembly's recent suspension of its Socialist members. He stated that the Assemblymen who had voted to suspend the Socialists were "poor boobs," and that his colleagues on the New York City Board of Aldermen were "a bunch of hypocrites." About Woodrow Wilson, in reference to the treaty, he said that "the little tin god in the White House has collapsed." He made some remarks on the injustice of the treaty, which led to rumors in the press that the Board of Aldermen might investigate and punish him for what they reportedly saw as pro-Germanism.
By early 1920, Shiplacoff was the manager of the New York office of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
. In March 1923, Marks Arnheim, a New York City clothing manufacturer attempted to have the ACWA and its New York Joint Board dissolved as "unlawful combinations and conspiracies" which had "the intent and purpose generally of destroying the present industrial system of ownership by private persons, firms, and corporations." As part of this suit, Shiplacoff, along with Sidney Hillman
and other union officials, was interrogated by attorneys for Marks Arnheim.
Shiplacoff ran in the 50th Aldermanic district in November 1923. His candidacy was endorsed by the Citizens Union
. However, the Democratic candidate defeated him.
In 1923 he was elected a delegate to the SPA's National Convention.
At the 1924 New York State convention of the SPA, Shiplacoff was one of only 5 delegates to oppose the successful motion to endorse Robert M. La Follette
's candidacy for president of the United States. About the party's endorsement, Shiplacoff told the New York Times that "the Socialist Party hasn't married La Follette, the Socialist Party has married a labor party. La Follette is only a sort of father-in-law."
in Brooklyn, New York. He was 56 years old at the time of his death.
Shiplacoff's papers are held by the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives
of New York University
. The collection, gathered in six archival boxes measuring 3 linear feet, is open for research without restriction.
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
Jewish-American trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
organizer and left wing political activist. Shiplacoff is best remembered as the first Socialist
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-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 which had split from the main organization...
Assemblyman elected in the state of New York and as a prominent target of prosecution for sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
under the Espionage Act in 1918.
Early years
Abraham I. Shiplacoff was born December 13, 1877 in ChernigovChernihiv
Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, then part of the Russian empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
Shiplacoff emigrated to the United States in 1891, settling in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Political career
In 1893, the 16 year old Shiplacoff joined his first political organization, a socialistSocialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
group known as "The Voice of Labor."
Early in 1915, Shiplacoff was named Secretary of the United Hebrew Trades
United Hebrew Trades
United Hebrew Trades was an association of Jewish labor unions in New York.It was founded by the Socialist Labor Party's Yiddish Branch 8 and Russian Branch 17 together with Jewish unions in in New York in October 1888. Among the founding members were Morris Hillquit and Bernard Weinstein...
, a municipal trade union federation based in New York City.
He was also active in Jewish causes during the second decade of the 20th century. For instance, in September 1915, the National Workmen's Committee on Jewish Rights held a meeting at Cooper Union
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
to advocate for Jewish emancipation in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Shiplacoff chaired the meeting, which resolved to ask U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
to demand that Russia grant equal rights to its Jewish citizens at the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Shiplacoff was active in the Socialist Sunday School movement. For a time he was the labor editor of the Jewish Daily Forward.
1916 legislative session
In 1915, Shiplacoff became the first candidate of the Socialist Party elected to the New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
, with Shiplacoff winning his seat in the 23rd Electoral District of Kings County, representing Brownsville, Brooklyn
Brownsville, Brooklyn
Brownsville is a residential neighborhood located in eastern Brooklyn, New York City.The total land area is one square mile, and the ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11212....
.
Shiplacoff found his first experience in as the sole Socialist member of the Assembly to be trying, as he recalled in 1916:
"Quite early in the session I realized that the chance for having any of my bills voted out of committee and presented on the floor of the Assembly were very scarce. This was not the result of any antagonistic feeling toward the 'lone red,' but almost entirely due to the fact that I was not open for bargaining; for the success or failure of getting one's bill out of a committee depends mainly on one's willingness to exchange courtesies... Having no concessions to make [in trading votes], I had no hopes of getting any in return."
Shiplacoff therefore contented himself with what he described as "putting up a fight against the bills which were opposed to the interests of labor, or were otherwise of a vicious nature." Chief among these were a series of bills intended to exempt dairy workers from existing laws mandating one rest day in seven, which appeared approximately a dozen times before ultimately being passed in a watered-down form. Shiplacoff was also the single assemblyman opposed to the 1916 Slater-Welsh bill, which established compulsory military training in New York State for unemployed boys between the ages of 16 and 19.
Among the legislation proposed by Shiplacoff during this inaugural session were bills which would have required any employer placing an ad offering jobs during a strike to make that fact clear in the advertisement, tightening regulations for exits on any factory building over one story in height, banning the use of armed guards during strikes, provision of compensation for workers suffering permanent disabilities on the job, and prohibition of the employment of children under 16 years of age in a factory. All of these bills died in committee. During his first two terms in the Assembly, Shiplacoff managed to introduce only one successful bill, which banned the use of the third degree
Third degree (interrogation)
The third degree is a euphemism for the "inflicting of pain, physical or mental, to extract confessions or statements". In 1931 the Wickersham Commission found that use of the third degree was widespread in the United States. No one knows the origin of the term but there are several hypotheses. The...
in interrogation.
1917 legislative session
Shiplacoff won re-election to the assembly in 1916 (when he was joined by fellow socialist Joseph A. Whitehorn) and 1917 (9 other socialists were also elected at this time).
During the 1917 session, Shiplacoff introduced New York's first birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
bill, which would have allowed "the dissemination of printed articles describing means of birth control." He introduced the bill on January 24, while Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
's sister Ethel Byrne was on a hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
in The Tombs
The Tombs
"The Tombs" is the colloquial name for the Manhattan Detention Complex, a jail in Lower Manhattan at 125 White Street, as well as the popular name of a series of preceding downtown jails, the first of which was built in 1838 in the Egyptian Revival style of architecture.The nickname has been used...
to protest her arrest for distributing information about birth control from their clinic in Brooklyn.
Shiplacoff did have occasional successes in the Assembly, although they were often more symbolic than substantive. For instance, on March 26, 1917, Joseph Callahan introduced a resolution urging the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
to pass a measure, known as the Chamberlain bill, requiring the United States to prepare for entry into World War I. Shiplacoff objected on the procedural grounds that Assembly rules forbade resolutions to be introduced after March 1 except by the unanimous consent of the members, which caused the resolution to be returned to its proposer. The rules were amended, allowing the reintroduction of the resolution two days later. Supporters attacked Shiplacoff for his opposition, with assemblyman Martin McCue saying that:
It's you and your kind which have changed my views on the subject of compulsory military service. We tried conscription to make you and your kind do your bit. If I believed as you do I would turn in my citizen papers and resign from the Assembly."
Shiplacoff replied:
You have no right to challenge my patriotism because I happen to disagree with you.
At this point, Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
and Assemblyman Wells added:
Your kind of patriotism is the kind that a yellow dog has.
The resolution was then adopted, with only Shiplacoff and Whitehorn voting against it.
On May 3, 1917, Shiplacoff introduced a resolution to request Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
to reconsider his appointment of Elihu Root
Elihu Root
Elihu Root was an American lawyer and statesman and the 1912 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the prototype of the 20th century "wise man", who shuttled between high-level government positions in Washington, D.C...
as head of the United States Commission to Russia. He was "hooted down by the members of the Assembly" and a motion was then introduced and "uproariously carried" that no mention of the resolution be made in the official journal.
1918 and after
On February 11, 1918, Shiplacoff and his 9 socialist colleagues in the assembly refused to support a resolution of admiration for Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
because it included language expressing gratitude for American soldiers fighting in France. The Democratic Assemblyman who had introduced the resolution attacked Shiplacoff, stating:
Mr. Speaker, I have sat here long enough watching the tactics of some of the members of this House. As a true American I will refuse to sit here longer with members whose hearts are touched with treason. I come from the South, where the people sometimes take the law into their own hands. I do not approve of that, but when a man won't stand up for his country he is against it. If this thing happens again let the Lord have pity on their souls.
During the same session, Assemblyman Fearon accused the socialists of preaching free love
Free love
The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...
, to which Shiplacoff replied: "I am sure that if some of the Socialists preach free love, some of the Republicans practice it."
Shiplacoff was elected to the governing National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party in 1918, remaining in that post through the Emergency National Convention
1919 Emergency National Convention
The 1919 Emergency National Convention of the Socialist Party of America was held in Chicago from August 30 to September 5, 1919. It was a seminal gathering in the history of American radicalism, marked by the bolting of the party's organized left wing to establish the Communist Labor Party of...
held in Chicago in 1919.
In the fall of 1918 Shiplacoff ran as a Socialist candidate for the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. Because the Socialist Party had outpolled the Democrats (9228 to 8290) in the district's previous election, leading to the election of a Republican, Shiplacoff's candidacy led to calls for a Democratic-Republican "fusion candidate" to prevent his victory. The sitting Republican candidate, Reuben Haskell, offered to withdraw from the race should polls indicate that he had fewer votes than Democratic candidate George W. Martin
George W. Martin
George Washington Martin, Jr. was a prominent lawyer, jurist, and member of the Democratic Party in Kings County, Brooklyn, New York. As a lawyer he defended many criminals at trial, and then later as a judge presided over a number of trials involving underworld figures associated with the Murder...
. The plan was never put into action, however. Haskell did not withdraw and defeated Shiplacoff and Martin in November, 1918.
1918 prosecution
On September 23, 1918, Shiplacoff was indictedIndictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
for three counts of violation of the so-called Espionage Act for a speech against American intervention in Russia made in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
10 days previously. The first count charged that Shiplacoff "willfully, knowingly, and feloniously uttered and published disloyal, scurrilous, and abusive language about the military and naval forces of the United States, namely the armed forces of the United States now operating in Siberia." The second count charged that his words were "intended to bring [those forces] into contempt, scorn, contumely, and disrepute." The third count charged that his speech was intended to incite and encourage resistance to American forces. Shiplacoff was released on $5,000 bail.
The indictment against Shiplacoff, along with similar charges against John Reed
John Reed
-Arts, letters, and entertainment:* John Reed , New York novelist and author* John Reed , actor and singer with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company* John Reed , Australian critic and art patron...
, William J. Robinson
William J. Robinson
William Josephus Robinson was an American physician and birth control advocate. He was Chief of the department of Genito-Urinary Diseases at Bronx Hosptial Dispensary, and editor of the American Journal of Urology and Sexology...
, and others, was quashed on April 4, 1919. Attorney General Alexander Palmer
Alexander Mitchell Palmer
Alexander Mitchell Palmer was Attorney General of the United States from 1919 to 1921. He was nicknamed The Fighting Quaker and he directed the controversial Palmer Raids.-Congressional career:...
had decided that the 1918 end of the First World War obviated most such prosecutions.
Later political career
Shiplacoff remained a loyal member of the Socialist Party after its 1919 split into rival Socialist and Communist organizations.He was a New York City alderman in the early 1920s. In February 1920, he spoke out against the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
and against the New York State Assembly's recent suspension of its Socialist members. He stated that the Assemblymen who had voted to suspend the Socialists were "poor boobs," and that his colleagues on the New York City Board of Aldermen were "a bunch of hypocrites." About Woodrow Wilson, in reference to the treaty, he said that "the little tin god in the White House has collapsed." He made some remarks on the injustice of the treaty, which led to rumors in the press that the Board of Aldermen might investigate and punish him for what they reportedly saw as pro-Germanism.
By early 1920, Shiplacoff was the manager of the New York office of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Industrial Organizations...
. In March 1923, Marks Arnheim, a New York City clothing manufacturer attempted to have the ACWA and its New York Joint Board dissolved as "unlawful combinations and conspiracies" which had "the intent and purpose generally of destroying the present industrial system of ownership by private persons, firms, and corporations." As part of this suit, Shiplacoff, along with Sidney Hillman
Sidney Hillman
Sidney Hillman was an American labor leader. Head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, he was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and in marshaling labor's support for Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democratic Party.-Early years:Sidney Hillman was...
and other union officials, was interrogated by attorneys for Marks Arnheim.
Shiplacoff ran in the 50th Aldermanic district in November 1923. His candidacy was endorsed by the Citizens Union
Citizens Union
Citizens Union is one of the United States' first good government groups. Founded in 1897 as a political party, the group was reconstituted in 1908 as a non-partisan member organization with the broad mission of serving "as a watchdog for the public interest and an advocate for the common...
. However, the Democratic candidate defeated him.
In 1923 he was elected a delegate to the SPA's National Convention.
At the 1924 New York State convention of the SPA, Shiplacoff was one of only 5 delegates to oppose the successful motion to endorse Robert M. La Follette
Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette, Sr. , was an American Republican politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the Governor of Wisconsin, and was also a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin...
's candidacy for president of the United States. About the party's endorsement, Shiplacoff told the New York Times that "the Socialist Party hasn't married La Follette, the Socialist Party has married a labor party. La Follette is only a sort of father-in-law."
Death and legacy
Abraham Shiplacoff died of uremic poisoning on February 7, 1934 in Israel Zion HospitalMaimonides Medical Center
Maimonides Medical Center is a non-profit, non-sectarian hospital located in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Maimonides is both a treatment facility and academic medical center with 705 beds, and more than 70 primary care and sub-specialty programs...
in Brooklyn, New York. He was 56 years old at the time of his death.
Shiplacoff's papers are held by the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives
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. The Robert F. Wagner Archives, which is also housed in...
of New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. The collection, gathered in six archival boxes measuring 3 linear feet, is open for research without restriction.
Works
- מיין ארבייט אין דער אסעמבלי (Mayn arbeyṭ in der asembli — My Work in the Assembly). New York: Ferlag fun der Idisher SP Federatsyon, 1916.
Further reading
- William M. Feigenbaum, Abraham I. Shiplacoff: The Spirit of Brownsville. New York, Rand School Press for the Shiplacoff Day Committee, n.d. [1930s].
External links
- Barbara Hawes and Edmund Ryder, "Guide to the A. I. (Abraham Isaac) Shiplacoff Papers," Tamiment Library and Robert F. Warner Labor Archives, Bobst Library, New York University, 1981 and 1999.