Israel Amter was a Marxist politician and founding member of the Communist Party USA

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....

 (CPUSA). Amter is best remembered as one of the Communist Party leaders jailed in conjunction with the International Unemployment Day

International Unemployment Day

International Unemployment Day was a coordinated international campaign of marches and demonstrations, marked by hundreds of thousands of people in major cities around the world taking to the streets to protest mass unemployment associated with the Great Depression...

 riot of 1930.

Early years

Israel Amter was born on March 26, 1881 in Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

 to Jewish immigrants. His father, Marks Amter, was originally from Riga, Latvia, 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...

.

In 1901, he became a member of the Socialist Party of America

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...

 (SPA) until he moved to Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in 1903. While in Germany he edited the German Export Review and became a member of the Social Democratic Party

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

.

Amter also studied music at the Leipzig Conservatory

Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre

The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig is a public university in Leipzig . Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn as the Conservatory of Music, it is the oldest university school of music in Germany....

 where in 1912 he created a never performed opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 called Winona about a romance between a United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 Officer

Officer (armed forces)

An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...

 and a Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 woman known as Winona. (The manuscript score resides in the Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.)

Amter returned to the United States when Germany entered the war.

Political career

In 1917 he rejoined the Socialist Party and was an active member of the Left Wing Section

Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party

The Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party was an organized faction within the Socialist Party of America in 1919 which served as the core of the dual communist parties which emerged in the fall of that year — the Communist Party of America and the Communist Labor Party of America.-Precusors:A...

 when it emerged in 1919. Amter was a founding member of the Communist Party of America from its founding convention in September 1919. Amter seems to have followed the faction around C.E. Ruthenberg out of the party in April 1920, becoming a member of the United Communist Party (UCP). In November 1920 he was named to the editorial committee of the UCP. On April 29, 1921, Amter was arrested along with three others in a raid on the UCP's covert headquarters in New York by New York bomb squad detectives and Department of Justice

United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

 agents. Amter was charged in the incident and released on bail.

Amter was a member of the governing Central Executive Committee of the unified Communist Party of America from 1922. He was an adherent of the system of underground party organization and was factionally associated with Abram Jakira

Abram Jakira

Abraham "Abram" Jakira was an American socialist political activist, newspaper editor, and Communist Party functionary. He is best remembered as one of the early Communist Party's factional leaders of the 1920s.-Early years:...

, L.E. Katterfeld

L.E. Katterfeld

Ludwig Erwin Alfred "Dutch" Katterfeld , most commonly known as L.E. Katterfeld, was an American socialist politician, a founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America, a Comintern functionary, and a magazine editor.-Early life:L.E...

, Alfred Wagenknecht

Alfred Wagenknecht

Alfred Wagenknecht was an American Marxist activist and political functionary. He is best remembered for having played a critical role in the establishment of the American Communist Party in 1919 as a leader of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party...

, and Edward Lindgren in this period in a tendency commonly and somewhat derisively known as the "Goose Caucus." Although this faction nominally won the day at the ill-fated 1922 Bridgman Convention

1922 Bridgman Convention

The 1922 Bridgman Convention was a secret conclave of the underground Communist Party of America held in August 1922 near the small town of Bridgman, Michigan, about outside of the city of Chicago on the banks of Lake Michigan...

, assuring the preservation of the underground party, in actuality the victory was Pyrrhic — in the competition between the parallel above ground and underground party apparatuses, the legal Workers Party of America

Workers Party of America

The Workers Party of America was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. As a legal political party the Workers Party accepted affiliation from independent socialist groups such as the African Blood Brotherhood,...

 (WPA) headed by C.E. Ruthenberg grew steadily, while the underground organization atrophied, to be terminated in 1923. NB: Underground functions continued to be performed by a narrow circle within the Communist organization after the demise of the formal underground CPA organization, although the parallel party apparatus was liquidated at a one day convention held in New York City on April 7, 1923.

Amter was the representative of the WPA to the Communist International (Comintern) from 1923 to 1924 and served as the ECCI referent [mediator] on questions the English and American parties. He was a delegate to the 3rd Enlarged Plenum of ECCI and was a delegate to the 5th World Congress of the Communist International in 1924. During the factional struggles of the middle 1920s, Amter seems to have cast his lot with the Ruthenberg-Lovestone

Jay Lovestone

Jay Lovestone 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 Central Intelligence Agency helper, and foreign policy advisor to the leadership of the AFL-CIO and various unions...

 faction. He was the Cleveland District Organizer of the Communist (Workers) Party in 1927. During the early years of the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, Amter was active in the Communist Party's Unemployed Councils movement and was arrested in New York City on March 6, 1930 along with William Z. Foster

William Z. Foster

William Foster was a radical American labor organizer and Marxist politician, whose career included a lengthy stint as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA...

 and Robert Minor

Robert Minor

Robert Berkeley "Bob" Minor was political cartoonist, a radical journalist, and a leading member of the American Communist Party.-Early life:...

 in connection with the International Unemployment Day

International Unemployment Day

International Unemployment Day was a coordinated international campaign of marches and demonstrations, marked by hundreds of thousands of people in major cities around the world taking to the streets to protest mass unemployment associated with the Great Depression...

 demonstration. Amter was ultimately sentenced on April 21, 1930 to a term of "6 months to 3 years" in connection with the riot which had ensued. He was released from jail on October 21, 1930.

Amter was a frequent candidate of the Communist Party for various political offices. The first came in 1928 when he ran for Senator

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 of Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 under an unknown political affiliation. He managed to receive 2,062 votes, about .09% of the popular vote. He also ran for New York Borough President in 1931, for Governor of New York

Governor of New York

The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...

 in 1932, 1934, and 1942. He ran also for the New York Board of Aldermen in 1936 and for U.S. Senator from New York in 1940

New York state election, 1940

The 1940 New York state election was held on November 5, 1940, to elect three judges of the New York Court of Appeals, a U.S. Senator and two U.S Representatives-at-large, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate....

.

Amter developed Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...

 in the 1940s. He was indicted under the Smith Act

Smith Act

The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 is a United States federal statute that set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S...

 prosecutions of the Communist Party's leadership in 1951, but was severed from the case due to his illness.

Death and legacy

Amter died November 24, 1954.

His name is mentioned in the poem "America" by Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg

Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...

who writes, "I once saw Israel Amter plain."

Works

• Amter, I., Mirovoe osvoboditelʹnoe dvizhenie negrov [The World Liberation Movement of Negoes]. Moscow: Gosizdat, 1925.
• Silver, A. and Amter, Israel, "Proletarian Dictatorship" or Industrial Unionism: Silver-Amter Debate. New York: New York Labor News, 1927.
• Amter, I., Is the Socialist Party a Party of the Workers? New York: Communist Party, n.d. [c. 1932].
• Amter, I., Make the Democrats Keep Their Promises. New York: National Committee of Unemployed Councils, 1932.
• Amter, I., Industrial Slavery — Roosevelt's "New Deal." New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1933.
• Amter, I., The March Against Hunger. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1933.
• Amter, I., Why the Workers' Unemployment Insurance Bill? How It Can Be Won. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1934.
• Amter, I., Social Security n a Soviet America. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1935.
• Amter, I., Working Class Unity or Fascism? New York: New York District, Communist Party, 1935.
• Amter, I., A Labor Party for New York Workers. New York: New York District, Communist Party, 1935.
• Amter, I., Youth and the Struggle for Unemployment and Social Insurance. New York: Youth Publishers, n.d. [c. 1935].
• Amter, I. and Pius, Pope, To His Holiness, Pope Pius XI, Vatican, Rome, Italy. New York: New York District, Communist Party, n.d. [c. 1936].
• Krumbein, Charles and Amter, Israel, Dollars for Democracy. New York: New York State Communist Party, n.d. [c. 1936].
• Amter, I., The Truth About the Communists. New York: Workers Library Publishers, n.d. [c. 1939].
• Amter, I., May Day 1939: For Labor Unity, For Social and National Security. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1939.
• Amter, I., A Program for Manhattan's Millions. New York: New York County Committee CPUSA, n.d. [1939].
• Amter, I., Truth About Finland. New York: New York State Committee, Communist Party, n.d. [1939].
• Amter, I., Americans All! New York: Workers Library Publishers, n.d. [1940].
• Amter, I., May Day 1941. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1941.
• Amter, I., New York Needs Communists in the City Council. New York: New York County Committee CPUSA, n.d. [c. 1941].
• Browder, Earl; Foster, William Z.; Amter, I.; Weiss, Max, et al., Speed the Second Front. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1942.
• Amter, I., America's Fate Hangs in the Balance! Open a Second Front at Once! New York: New York State Campaign Committee, 1942.