Louis C. Fraina
Encyclopedia
Louis C. Fraina was a founding member of the American Communist Party
in 1919. After running afoul of the Communist International in 1921 over the alleged misappropriation of funds, Fraina left the organized radical movement, emerging in 1930 as a left wing public intellectual by the name of Lewis Corey. During the McCarthy
period, deportation proceedings were initiated against Fraina-Corey. After a protracted legal battle, Corey died of a cerebral hemorrhage before the action against him was formally abandoned.
, Italy
. His father was a radical republican and left Italy for America in 1897, to be joined by his wife and son a year later. Luigi's name was Americanized to "Louis" upon his arrival. Fraina grew up in the slums of New York City
and worked as a newsboy from the age of 6, later being employed in a cigar factory and as a bootblack.
Fraina attended school until the death of his father in 1908, at which time the 16-year old left high school
to work for the Edison Company. The precocious and brilliant Fraina henceforth continued on a path of self-education, emerging as a writer and an intellectual
. From an early age, Fraina was engrossed with the ideas of political radicalism and free thought, publishing his first essay, "Shelley, the Atheist Poet," in the agnostic journal The Truth Seeker in 1909.
Fraina came to socialism
as a youth, later stating that he had joined (and quickly departed) the Socialist Party of America
in 1909. Fraina seems to have been greatly influenced by the writings of Daniel DeLeon, editor of the newspaper of the rival Socialist Labor Party of America
, a party which Fraina joined shortly after his departure from the SPA. Fraina was an enthusiastic convert to the SLP, making public speeches on revolutionary socialism
and the SLP's ideas about revolutionary industrial unionism. He made streetcorner speeches in New York City every weekend in good weather, learning the art of public oratory in the trenches and mastering the loud and dramatic form of presentation needed to captivate strangers when speaking from a soapbox
.
By 1910, Fraina was writing voluminously for the daily newspaper published by the SLP. According to Fraina's biographer, historian Paul Buhle
, "No one, not even DeLeon by this time, wrote more regularly for The Daily People. Fraina's most important journalistic task while on the staff of The Daily People was covering the 1912 Lawrence textile strike
, one of the pivotal events of the American labor movement of that decade. This strike, in which members of some two dozen nationalities stayed out for weeks to resist a wage reduction, facing violence and arrest, was deeply influential upon Fraina. It was there that the Industrial Workers of the World
had their day in the sun — and the revolutionary possibilities seemed endless.
Louis Boudin as a co-editor of Ludwig Lore's
magazine, The Class Struggle. The publication, which first saw print in May 1917, soon became a leading voice of the radical wing of the Socialist Party, individuals who congealed into an organized political faction called the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party
in 1919.
In 1918 Fraina was responsible for the first post-revolutionary collection of the writings of V.I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky
to be published in the United States. The book, entitled The Proletarian Revolution in Russia, gave English-speaking readers their first glimpse at the ideas of the Russian Communist Party and spurred the desire for emulation on the part of many American radicals.
Early in 1918 five radical Russian groups united with the English-speaking Socialist Propaganda League
with which Fraina was associated to form the American Bolshevik Bureau of Information. The body was joined by Soviet Russian official representative Ludwig Martens
, ostensibly as the delegate of the "New York Section of Russian Bolsheviki." The Bureau served as a forerunner of the official Russian Soviet Government Bureau, distributing official communications on behalf of the Soviet government, which was isolated by the European war and the object of sometimes imaginative vilification in the pages of the American press.
Fraina was also the editor of two of the earliest proto-Communist newspapers in the United States, The New International (1918) and The Revolutionary Age
(1918-1919). Combined with his other speaking, writing, and organizational activities, this position as editor of the leading radical publications of the day helped make Fraina arguably the leading theoretical and political figure of the founding days of the American communist movement.
, by the cheerleading of the Communist Party USA
for unpalatable Soviet realities, and by the organizational impotence and factionalism of the non-Communist left. By the end of World War II
, Fraina had emerged as a vocal anti-communist
, reevaluating his past views in a critical light:
By 1945, Corey was calling his former comrades "political totalitarians" and accusing them of using "power politics and conspiratorial infiltration" to gain their unsavory ends.
Ironically, as Corey's politics turned against his Stalinist beliefs, he ran afoul of the Federal prosecutors. In December 1950, Corey was served with a deportation warrant from the US Department of Justice charging that he had been in the country illegally almost his entire life and for being a Communist. His father had come to the United States without obtaining naturalization papers and young Louis had decided against filing later due to his 1917 conviction as a conscientious objector. The case was tied up for years, and his application for a Certificate of Lawful Entry was denied under the McCarren Act.
.
Corey suffered a traumatic cerebral hemorrhage at his desk on September 15, 1953, lapsed into a coma, and died the next day. Two days later, a Certificate of Lawful Entry posthumously arrived in the mail, along with a contract from a publisher for a projected book, Toward an Understanding of America.
Corey's papers are housed in the Rare Book & Manuscript section of Butler Library
at Columbia University
in New York City. The collection includes 10 linear feet of material housed in 24 archival boxes.
film Reds, Louis Fraina was portrayed onscreen by actor Paul Sorvino
.
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....
in 1919. After running afoul of the Communist International in 1921 over the alleged misappropriation of funds, Fraina left the organized radical movement, emerging in 1930 as a left wing public intellectual by the name of Lewis Corey. During the McCarthy
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
period, deportation proceedings were initiated against Fraina-Corey. After a protracted legal battle, Corey died of a cerebral hemorrhage before the action against him was formally abandoned.
Early Years
Louis C. Fraina was born as Luigi Carlo Fraina on October 7, 1892, in Salerno Province, CampagnaCampagna
Campagna is a small town and comune of the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of Southern Italy.-History:The town, located in a mountainous district, gradually lost importance in the 20th century...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. His father was a radical republican and left Italy for America in 1897, to be joined by his wife and son a year later. Luigi's name was Americanized to "Louis" upon his arrival. Fraina grew up in the slums of 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...
and worked as a newsboy from the age of 6, later being employed in a cigar factory and as a bootblack.
Fraina attended school until the death of his father in 1908, at which time the 16-year old left high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
to work for the Edison Company. The precocious and brilliant Fraina henceforth continued on a path of self-education, emerging as a writer and an intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
. From an early age, Fraina was engrossed with the ideas of political radicalism and free thought, publishing his first essay, "Shelley, the Atheist Poet," in the agnostic journal The Truth Seeker in 1909.
Fraina came to socialism
Socialism
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,...
as a youth, later stating that he had joined (and quickly departed) 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...
in 1909. Fraina seems to have been greatly influenced by the writings of Daniel DeLeon, editor of the newspaper of the rival Socialist Labor Party of America
Socialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party of America , established in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has...
, a party which Fraina joined shortly after his departure from the SPA. Fraina was an enthusiastic convert to the SLP, making public speeches on revolutionary socialism
Revolutionary socialism
The term revolutionary socialism refers to Socialist tendencies that advocate the need for fundamental social change through revolution by mass movements of the working class, as a strategy to achieve a socialist society...
and the SLP's ideas about revolutionary industrial unionism. He made streetcorner speeches in New York City every weekend in good weather, learning the art of public oratory in the trenches and mastering the loud and dramatic form of presentation needed to captivate strangers when speaking from a soapbox
Soapbox
A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipment of soap or other dry goods from a manufacturer to a...
.
By 1910, Fraina was writing voluminously for the daily newspaper published by the SLP. According to Fraina's biographer, historian Paul Buhle
Paul Buhle
Paul Merlyn Buhle is a Senior Lecturer at Brown University, author or editor of 35 volumes including histories of radicalism in the United States and the Caribbean, studies of popular culture, and a series of nonfiction comic art volumes. He is the authorized biographer of C. L. R...
, "No one, not even DeLeon by this time, wrote more regularly for The Daily People. Fraina's most important journalistic task while on the staff of The Daily People was covering the 1912 Lawrence textile strike
Lawrence textile strike
The Lawrence Textile Strike was a strike of immigrant workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912 led by the Industrial Workers of the World. Prompted by one mill owner's decision to lower wages when a new law shortening the workweek went into effect in January, the strike spread rapidly through the...
, one of the pivotal events of the American labor movement of that decade. This strike, in which members of some two dozen nationalities stayed out for weeks to resist a wage reduction, facing violence and arrest, was deeply influential upon Fraina. It was there that the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
had their day in the sun — and the revolutionary possibilities seemed endless.
Middle Years
In 1917, Fraina joined with Marxist theoreticianTheoretician (Marxism)
A theoretician is a term from the vernacular of Marxism relating to an individual who observes and writes about the condition or dynamics of society, history, or economics, making use of the main principles of Marxian socialism in the analysis....
Louis Boudin as a co-editor of Ludwig Lore's
Ludwig Lore
Ludwig Lore was an American socialist newspaper editor and politician, best remembered for his tenure as editor of the New Yorker Volkszeitung and role as a factional leader in the early American communist movement...
magazine, The Class Struggle. The publication, which first saw print in May 1917, soon became a leading voice of the radical wing of the Socialist Party, individuals who congealed into an organized political faction called the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party
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...
in 1919.
In 1918 Fraina was responsible for the first post-revolutionary collection of the writings of V.I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
to be published in the United States. The book, entitled The Proletarian Revolution in Russia, gave English-speaking readers their first glimpse at the ideas of the Russian Communist Party and spurred the desire for emulation on the part of many American radicals.
Early in 1918 five radical Russian groups united with the English-speaking Socialist Propaganda League
Socialist Propaganda League
The Socialist Propaganda League was a tiny socialist group active in London from circa 1911 to 1951.The League was formed as a result of an early dispute in the Socialist Party of Great Britain and of the optimistic belief of the Party’s founder members that the socialist revolution was near...
with which Fraina was associated to form the American Bolshevik Bureau of Information. The body was joined by Soviet Russian official representative Ludwig Martens
Ludwig Martens
Ludwig Christian Alexander Karl Martens was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician and engineer.-Early years:...
, ostensibly as the delegate of the "New York Section of Russian Bolsheviki." The Bureau served as a forerunner of the official Russian Soviet Government Bureau, distributing official communications on behalf of the Soviet government, which was isolated by the European war and the object of sometimes imaginative vilification in the pages of the American press.
Fraina was also the editor of two of the earliest proto-Communist newspapers in the United States, The New International (1918) and The Revolutionary Age
Revolutionary Age
The Revolutionary Age was an American radical newspaper edited by Louis C. Fraina and published from November 1918 until August 1919. Originally the publication of Local Boston, Socialist Party, the paper evolved into the de facto national organ of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party which...
(1918-1919). Combined with his other speaking, writing, and organizational activities, this position as editor of the leading radical publications of the day helped make Fraina arguably the leading theoretical and political figure of the founding days of the American communist movement.
Later years
Lewis Corey broke with Marxism in 1940, disillusioned with the atrocities committed by Joseph StalinJoseph 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...
, by the cheerleading 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....
for unpalatable Soviet realities, and by the organizational impotence and factionalism of the non-Communist left. By the end of World War II
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...
, Fraina had emerged as a vocal anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
, reevaluating his past views in a critical light:
"I once believed, as a Marxist, that dictatorship of the proletariat would relax and pass away; but the dictatorship grew tighter and tighter until it became a totalitarianTotalitarianismTotalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
state. Some years ago I concluded that dictatorship was to blame. But was it?
By 1945, Corey was calling his former comrades "political totalitarians" and accusing them of using "power politics and conspiratorial infiltration" to gain their unsavory ends.
Ironically, as Corey's politics turned against his Stalinist beliefs, he ran afoul of the Federal prosecutors. In December 1950, Corey was served with a deportation warrant from the US Department of Justice charging that he had been in the country illegally almost his entire life and for being a Communist. His father had come to the United States without obtaining naturalization papers and young Louis had decided against filing later due to his 1917 conviction as a conscientious objector. The case was tied up for years, and his application for a Certificate of Lawful Entry was denied under the McCarren Act.
Death and legacy
On Christmas Day, 1952, Corey received an announcement of an impending deportation order. The next month he was terminated from employment by the Butcher's Union, for whom he worked. Corey spent his last months traveling between New York City and Washington, working with lawyers in his effort to stave off deportation to his native ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Corey suffered a traumatic cerebral hemorrhage at his desk on September 15, 1953, lapsed into a coma, and died the next day. Two days later, a Certificate of Lawful Entry posthumously arrived in the mail, along with a contract from a publisher for a projected book, Toward an Understanding of America.
Corey's papers are housed in the Rare Book & Manuscript section of Butler Library
Butler Library
The Nicholas Murray Butler Library, commonly known simply as Butler Library, is the largest single library in the Columbia University Library System, which contains over 9.3 million books, and is one of the largest buildings on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University.Proposed as...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York City. The collection includes 10 linear feet of material housed in 24 archival boxes.
Popular culture
In Warren Beatty'sWarren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
film Reds, Louis Fraina was portrayed onscreen by actor Paul Sorvino
Paul Sorvino
Paul Anthony Sorvino is an American actor. He often portrays authority figures on both sides of the law, and is possibly best known for his roles as Paulie Cicero, a portrayal of Paul Vario in the film Goodfellas and Sgt. Phil Cerreta on the police procedural and legal drama television series Law...
.
Books and pamphlets
- The Proletarian Revolution in Russia. With Nikolai Lenin and Leon Trotzky. New York: The Communist Press, 1918.
- Revolutionary Socialism: A Study in Socialist Reconstruction. New York: The Communist Press, 1918.
- The Social Revolution in Germany. Boston: The Revolutionary Age, 1919. — Collection of journal articles.
- The House of Morgan: A Social Biography of the Masters of Money. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1930.
- The Decline of American Capitalism. New York: Covici-Friede, 1934.
- The Crisis of the Middle Class. New York: Covici-Friede, 1935.
- The Unfinished Task: Economic Reconstruction for Democracy. New York: Viking, 1942.
- Meat and Man: A Study of Monopoly, Unionism, and Food Policy. New York: Viking, 1950.
Articles
- "The Cultural Crisis," Youth Frontier, vol. 1, no. 2 (January 1939). —Published by the Independent Labor League of AmericaIndependent Labor League of AmericaThe Communist Party of the USA , led by former General Secretary of the Communist Party USA Jay Lovestone, was a small oppositionist Communist movement of the 1930s. The organization emerged from a factional fight in the CPUSA in 1929 and unsuccessfully sought to reintegrate with that organization...
.
Further reading
- Paul M. Buhle, A Dreamer's Paradise Lost: Louis C. Fraina/Lewis Corey (1892-1953) and the Decline of Radicalism in the United States. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1995.
- Communist Party of America, Stenographic Report of the "Trial" of Louis C. Fraina. [New York]: Communist Party of America, 1920. —Fraina is "tried" by the young CPA on charges of being a Justice Department spy.
External links
- Louis Fraina (Lewis Corey) Internet Archive, at Marxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet Archive is a volunteer based non-profit organization that maintains a multi-lingual Internet archive of Marxist writers and other similar authors...
. Retrieved October 26, 2009.