Albert Glotzer
Encyclopedia
Albert Glotzer also known as Albert Gates was a professional stenographer and founder of the Trotskyist movement in the United States. He was best remembered as the court reporter for the 1937 John Dewey Commission that examined the Stalinist charges against Trotsky in Mexico City and as a memoirist and activist in the social democratic movement in his later years.
, Belorussia (modern-day Belarus
), then part of the Russian Empire
. Glotzer and his family emigrated to Chicago
when he was four.
at fifteen. By the end of the 1920s Glotzer was elected a member of the National Executive Committee of the Young Workers (Communist) League.
In the fall of 1928 Glotzer and his Chicago co-thinker Arne Swabeck
expelled from the Workers (Communist) Party
and its youth section for espousing Trotskyism
. News of the ouster of Glotzer and Swabeck was front page news in the second issue of The Militant
, the first American Trotskyist newspaper.
Glotzer was a delegate to the founding convention of the Communist League of America (Opposition) (CLA) in May 1929 and was elected as one of five members of the governing National Council of the fledgling organization. At that time Glotzer moved to New York City
to work at the new organization's national office.
Glotzer was involved in the factional difficulties that best the CLA from the very beginning. He originally gravitated toward James Cannon
and Arne Swabeck, with whom he had worked in Chicago, but soon became a close ally of Max Shachtman
, who felt that Cannon was running the party in a bureaucratic and manner.
In 1931, Glotzer traveled with his wife to visit Leon Trotsky at Prinkipo, Turkey, where he spent some weeks as a secretary and guard to the exiled Soviet leader. According to Glotzer's wife they subsisted on the fish they caught in the Sea of Marmara
. Trotsky advised a truce between the two factions, and Glotzer returned to the US to go on a national speaking tour on the dangers of fascism
.
By June 1932 Glotzer's criticism of Cannon became explicit. Together with Martin Abern
and Max Shachtman, Glotzer made charges that Cannon had showed signs of an "ingrowing conservatism" after 1928, taking long absences from party duty over "personal difficulties" and leaving operations in the hands of a tightly-knit group of close personal supporters who controlled criticism in the party press. Abern, Glotzer, and Shachtman declared that "new forces" were needed to revitalize the flagging CLA. Relations between the top leaders were patched up at this juncture and no split of the organization ensued.
When the unity negotiations with A.J. Muste's
American Workers Party
began in 1934, Cannon and Shactman became factional allies. Glotzer felt alienated from the policy, however. He returned to Chicago but stayed loyal to the Trotskyist movement.
In April 1937 the skilled stenographer Glotzer was sent to Mexico City
to serve as court reporter
at the John Dewey Commission
called to hear charges made by the Joseph Stalin
regime against Leon Trotsky. This commission heard evidence for a week before rendering a verdict clearing Trotsky of charges of espionage and sabotage levied against him in the ongoing Moscow Trials
. The transcript produced by Glotzer was later published in book form by the American Trotskyist movement.
In the United States the Trotskyists emerged from the Socialist party as the Socialist Workers Party. After the Nazi-Soviet Pact and the beginning of the Second World War
, Shachtman, Abern, and others condemned the USSR's alliance with Nazi Germany and their cooperative invasion of Poland. Schachtman condemned the USSR's invasion of Finland. Viewing these invasions, Shachtman argued that the USSR was not a "workers' state", but a new form of class-stratified society, "bureaucratic collectivism
", in which workers and peasants were exploited by a class of bureaucratic elites.
Glotzer joined with Shachtman and helped to found the Workers Party, later known as the Independent Socialist League, which was absorbed by the Socialist Party in 1958. In 1972, the Socialist Party voted to rename itself Social Democrats, USA (SDUSA). Glotzer served on the SDUSA's National Committee for the rest of his life.
Albert Glotzer's papers are housed in 67 archival boxes at the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University
in Palo Alto, California
. An on-line finding guide is available.
Besides remaining a speaker Glotzer was active in the stenographers union, Federation of Shorthand Reporters, AFL-CIO
. He served four terms as union president during the 1960s.
Early years
Albert Glotzer was born November 7, 1908 to a Jewish family in PinskPinsk
Pinsk , a town in Belarus, in the Polesia region, traversed by the river Pripyat, at the confluence of the Strumen and Pina rivers. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk. It is a fertile agricultural center. It lies south-west of Minsk. The population is about 130,000...
, Belorussia (modern-day Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
), 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...
. Glotzer and his family emigrated to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
when he was four.
Political career
Politically active since childhood, he was selling socialist literature on the street corners by age eight, and joined the Young Communist LeagueYoung Communist League
The Young Communist League was or is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name YCL of XXX was generally taken by all sections of the Communist Youth International.Examples of YCLs:...
at fifteen. By the end of the 1920s Glotzer was elected a member of the National Executive Committee of the Young Workers (Communist) League.
In the fall of 1928 Glotzer and his Chicago co-thinker Arne Swabeck
Arne Swabeck
Arne Swabeck was an American Communist leader.Swabeck was born in Denmark and emigrated to the United States where he became one of the founding members of the Communist Party. In the late 1920s he was expelled from the party as a Trotskyist and worked together with James P. Cannon and other...
expelled from the Workers (Communist) Party
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
and its youth section for espousing Trotskyism
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
. News of the ouster of Glotzer and Swabeck was front page news in the second issue of The Militant
The Militant
The Militant is an international Socialist newsweekly connected to the Socialist Workers Party and the Pathfinder Tendency. It is published in the United States and distributed in other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Sweden, Iceland, and New...
, the first American Trotskyist newspaper.
Glotzer was a delegate to the founding convention of the Communist League of America (Opposition) (CLA) in May 1929 and was elected as one of five members of the governing National Council of the fledgling organization. At that time Glotzer moved to 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...
to work at the new organization's national office.
Glotzer was involved in the factional difficulties that best the CLA from the very beginning. He originally gravitated toward James Cannon
James Cannon
James Cannon may refer to:*James P. Cannon , American Communist and Trotskyist leader*James Cannon , Scottish-born mathematician who was one of the principal authors of Pennsylvania's 1776 Constitution...
and Arne Swabeck, with whom he had worked in Chicago, but soon became a close ally of Max Shachtman
Max Shachtman
Max Shachtman was an American Marxist theorist. He evolved from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL-CIO President George Meany.-Beginnings:...
, who felt that Cannon was running the party in a bureaucratic and manner.
In 1931, Glotzer traveled with his wife to visit Leon Trotsky at Prinkipo, Turkey, where he spent some weeks as a secretary and guard to the exiled Soviet leader. According to Glotzer's wife they subsisted on the fish they caught in the Sea of Marmara
Sea of Marmara
The Sea of Marmara , also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as the Propontis , is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Black...
. Trotsky advised a truce between the two factions, and Glotzer returned to the US to go on a national speaking tour on the dangers of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
.
By June 1932 Glotzer's criticism of Cannon became explicit. Together with Martin Abern
Martin Abern
Martin Abern was a Marxist politician who was an important leader of the Communist youth movement of the 1920s as well as a founder of the American Trotskyist movement.-Early years:...
and Max Shachtman, Glotzer made charges that Cannon had showed signs of an "ingrowing conservatism" after 1928, taking long absences from party duty over "personal difficulties" and leaving operations in the hands of a tightly-knit group of close personal supporters who controlled criticism in the party press. Abern, Glotzer, and Shachtman declared that "new forces" were needed to revitalize the flagging CLA. Relations between the top leaders were patched up at this juncture and no split of the organization ensued.
When the unity negotiations with A.J. Muste's
A. J. Muste
The Reverend Abraham Johannes "A.J." Muste was a Dutch-born American clergyman and political activist. Muste is best remembered for his work in the labor movement, pacifist movement, and the US civil rights movement.-Early years:...
American Workers Party
American Workers Party
The American Workers Party was a socialist organization established in December 1933 by activists in the Conference for Progressive Labor Action, a group headed by A.J. Muste.-Formation:...
began in 1934, Cannon and Shactman became factional allies. Glotzer felt alienated from the policy, however. He returned to Chicago but stayed loyal to the Trotskyist movement.
In April 1937 the skilled stenographer Glotzer was sent to Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
to serve as court reporter
Court reporter
A court reporter, stenotype reporter, voice writing reporter, or transcriber is a person whose occupation is to transcribe spoken or recorded speech into written form, using machine shorthand or voice writing equipment to produce official transcripts of court hearings, depositions and other...
at the John Dewey Commission
Dewey Commission
The Dewey Commission was initiated in March 1937 by the "American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky." It was named after its Chairman, John Dewey...
called to hear charges made by the Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
regime against Leon Trotsky. This commission heard evidence for a week before rendering a verdict clearing Trotsky of charges of espionage and sabotage levied against him in the ongoing Moscow Trials
Moscow Trials
The Moscow Trials were a series of show trials conducted in the Soviet Union and orchestrated by Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge of the 1930s. The victims included most of the surviving Old Bolsheviks, as well as the leadership of the Soviet secret police...
. The transcript produced by Glotzer was later published in book form by the American Trotskyist movement.
In the United States the Trotskyists emerged from the Socialist party as the Socialist Workers Party. After the Nazi-Soviet Pact and the beginning of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Shachtman, Abern, and others condemned the USSR's alliance with Nazi Germany and their cooperative invasion of Poland. Schachtman condemned the USSR's invasion of Finland. Viewing these invasions, Shachtman argued that the USSR was not a "workers' state", but a new form of class-stratified society, "bureaucratic collectivism
Bureaucratic collectivism
Bureaucratic collectivism is a theory of class society. It is used by some Trotskyists to describe the nature of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, and other similar states in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere .- Theory :...
", in which workers and peasants were exploited by a class of bureaucratic elites.
Glotzer joined with Shachtman and helped to found the Workers Party, later known as the Independent Socialist League, which was absorbed by the Socialist Party in 1958. In 1972, the Socialist Party voted to rename itself Social Democrats, USA (SDUSA). Glotzer served on the SDUSA's National Committee for the rest of his life.
Death and legacy
Albert Glotzer died February 18, 1999. He was 90 years old at the time of his death.Albert Glotzer's papers are housed in 67 archival boxes at the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
. An on-line finding guide is available.
Besides remaining a speaker Glotzer was active in the stenographers union, Federation of Shorthand Reporters, AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
. He served four terms as union president during the 1960s.
Works
- The Case of Leon Trotsky: Report of Hearings on the Charges Made Against Him in the Moscow Trials. New York: HarperHarper (publisher)Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins.-History:James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishing business J. & J. Harper in 1817. Their two brothers, Joseph Wesley Harper and Fletcher Harper, joined them...
, 1937.(stenographer) - Incentive Pay: The Speed-up New Style. New York: Workers Party, 1945 (as Albert Gates).
- "Introduction" (as Albert Gates) to Leon Trotsky Marxism in the United States. New York: Workers Party, 1947.
- Trotsky: Memoir and Critique. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus BooksPrometheus BooksPrometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by Paul Kurtz, who also founded the Council for Secular Humanism and co-founded the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is currently the chairman of all three organizations. Prometheus Books publishes a range of books, including many...
, 1989.
External links
- Albert Glotzer Internet Archive, Marxists Internet Archive, www.marxists.org/
- Dale Reed, "Register of the Albert Glotzer papers," Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, 2010.