Gilbert Green, 90, Communist Party Leader Jailed for Conspiracy By WOLFGANG SAXON Published: May 8, 1997
Gilbert Green, a Communist Party leader who spent six years in a Federal penitentiary for ''conspiracy to teach and advocate'' the overthrow of the United States Government, died on Sunday at a nursing home in Ann Arbor, Mich. He was 90 and had lived in the Chelsea section of Manhattan until three months ago.
The cause was cancer, said Michael Myerson, a family friend.
Mr. Green was a principal organizer and national head of the Young Communist League in the 1930's. He was one of 11 party leaders tried and convicted in 1949 under the Smith Act, formally known as the Alien Registration Act of 1940, which made it a crime to advocate the violent overthrow of the Government or to belong to an organization that did. After World War II, Federal prosecutors used it to put on trial native-born political radicals suspected of seeking to subvert American institutions and professions.
The 11 defendants were fined and given five-year prison terms. The Supreme Court upheld their sentences in 1951, but Mr. Green and three others jumped bail rather than report for incarceration. Mr. Green surrendered in New York in 1956 and served his sentence in the Federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan.
The Supreme Court sharply curbed the application of the Smith Act in 1957, allowing it to apply only to people who engaged in specific insurrectionist activities or incited others to do so.
Mr. Green was born Gershon Greenberg in Chicago and, lacking an extensive formal education, became a mechanic, but he maintained a zest for books and the social views of Jack London, Theodore Dreiser, Emile Zola and Eugene V. Debs. After becoming a Communist organizer, he changed his name to protect his family.
He remained a party loyalist after his release from jail, when he moved to Manhattan. He served as New York State chairman and as a member of the national committee, but he joined a party faction that loudly objected when Gus Hall, the general secretary of the American Communist Party, blessed the 1968 Soviet-led occupation of Czechoslovakia as being ''in defense of socialism.''
According to Mr. Myerson, his friend, Mr. Green finally quit the committee and left the party entirely in 1991 because it and Mr. Hall supported the coup leaders who sought to unseat Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader and advocate of reform.
Mr. Green is survived by two sons, Daniel, of Ann Arbor, and Ralph, of Atlanta; a stepson, Daniel North of Jersey City; two stepdaughters, Susan North of Brussels and Nora North of Manhattan; six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. His first wife, Lillian Gannes Green, died in 1962, just after he emerged from prison. He then married Helen North, who died five years ago.
http://dlib.nyu.edu/eadapp/transform?source=tamwag/green.xml&style=tamwag/tamwag.xsl&part=body
Guide to the Gil Green Papers 1949-1993 (Bulk 1972-1991)
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Elmer Holmes Bobst Library 70 Washington Square South New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2630 Fax: (212) 995-4225 E-mail: gail.malmgreen at nyu.edu
© 2003 Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. All rights reserved. New York University Libraries, Publisher Processed by Peter Filardo Machine-readable finding aid derived from a MS Word document dated: 2003. Machine-readable finding aid created by Brian Stevens. Description is in English.
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Descriptive Summary
Creator: Green, Gil, 1906-
Title: Papers
Dates: 1949-1993, (Bulk 1972-1991)
Abstract: Gil Green (1906-1997) was a Communist, a Smith Act defendant, and a prominent figure in the CPUSA through 1991. As a youth, he joined the Young Workers League (later the Young Communist League) eventually becoming its national secretary. From 1941-1945 and again from 1966-1968, Green was head of the Party in New York State and also briefly headed Illinois' Party organization. Convicted under the Smith Act in 1949, Green was impirsoned from 1956 until 1961. He left the Party in 1991 and founded the Committees of Correspondence. These papers include his correspondence, writings, documentation of his political activities, and FBI files regarding their investigation of him.
Quantity: 14.75 linear feet (8 boxes)
Call Phrase: Tamiment 95
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Arrangement
Organized into five series: I. Correspondence, General; II. Correspondence, General Addendum (0.25 lf); III. Correspondence, Prison; IV. Political Activities, Associates, and Writings; V. FBI Files (12 linear feet, unprocessed).
Folders are arranged alphabetically except series III which is arranged chronologically.
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Historical/Biographical Note Gil Green (1906-1997), born Gilbert Greenberg in Chicago, the son of working class Russian-Jewish immigrants, was a Communist youth leader in the 1930s, a member of the Communist Party's Politburo, a Smith Act defendant, and the chief (albeit unofficial) figure of a reformist current in the CPUSA through 1991. Although high school valedictorian he did not go to college. Instead he joined the Young Workers League (later the Young Communist League) in 1924, and shortly thereafter, the CPUSA. He rose through the ranks, and in 1932 became national secretary of the YCL, a position he held throughout the decade, where he trained a generation of Party cadres and led the League to a position of influence in the 1.7 million member American Youth Congress. In 1935 he attended the Comintern's Seventh Congress, where he was an advocate for the emerging Popular Front policy. In 1941 Green became head of the Party in New York State, but had to relinquish this title in 1945 due to his association with Earl Browder, the ousted Party head, and moved to Illinois, where he headed that state's Party organization. Convicted under the Smith Act in 1949, Green became a fugitive, surrendered in 1956 and was released from jail in 1961. By 1966, Green was again head of the New York Party, but resigned this position in 1968 to protest the CPUSA's endorsement of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He remained an elder statesman and locus of CP reform currents until 1991, when he left the Party and helped to found the Committees of Correspondence, a social-democratic organization. For additional information, see: Biographical Dictionary of the American Left (1986).
Works by Gil Green:
Marxism and the world today. New York : New York State Committee, Communist Party, n.d. 23 p.
Youth confronts the Blue Eagle. New York : Youth Publishers, November, 1933. 29 p.
United we stand : for peace and socialism. New York : Workers Library Publishers, 1935. 63 p.
Young Communists and the unity of youth. Speech delivered at the 7th World Congress of the Communist International. New York : Youth Publishers, October, 1935. 15 p.
Facing the 8th convention of the Young Communist League. Report, delivered Jan. 1, 1937. New York : Young Communist League, n.d.
Make your dreams come true. Report to the 8th national convention of the Young Communist League, New York City, May 2, 1937. New York : Workers Library Publishers, June, 1937. 47 p.
The truth about Soviet Russia. New York : New Age Publishers, March, 1938. 48 p.
America must act now! New York : Workers Library Publishers, November, 1941. 14 p.
New York State's wartime election. New York : New York State Communist Party, September, 1942. 24 p.
Marxism and the world today. New York : New York State Committee, Communist Party, [1944?]. 23 p.
The enemy forgotten. New York, International Publishers [1956]. 318 p.
Revolution Cuban style; impressions of a recent visit. New York, International Publishers [1970]. 125 p.
Terrorism - is it revolutionary? New York : New Outlook Publishers, 1970. 40 p.
The new radicalism : anarchist or Marxist? New York : International Publishers, 1971. 189 p.
What's happening to labor. New York : International Publishers, 1976. 305 p.
Portugal's revolution. New York : International Publishers, 1976. 99 p.
Cuba at 25 : the continuing revolution. New York : International Publishers, 1983. 117 p.
Cold war fugitive : a personal story of the McCarthy years. New York : International Publishers, 1984. 275 p.
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Scope and Content Note The General Correspondence (most incoming, arranged alphabetically) is primarily with like-minded communists, ex-communists, other U.S. leftists, historians and other researchers, and is primarily concerned with communist history and with current events, radical thought and activity. There is also some family correspondence. Prominent and/or principal correspondents include: Harry Bridges, Lloyd Brown, David Engelstein, Sender Garlin, Dorothy Healey, Kate Hyndman, Lolita Lebron and other Puerto Rican radicals, Sidney Lens, Helen North (his second wife), Paul Robeson Jr., Bill Schneiderman, Pat Toohey, Saul Wellman and Leon Wofsy. The Addendum to this series consists of additional correspondence with David Englestein and Sender Garlin. The Prison Correspondence, arranged chronologically, consists of copies of (mostly outgoing) letters, most to his first wife (Lil Green, 1910-1964) and children, some to political associates and attorneys. The Political Activities, Associates and Writings series contains unpublished typescripts by Green and others, notably James Allen's memoir Marxist Publishing (n.d., 44 pp.), A Labor Revolutionary in Detroit (re Nat Ganley), and Green's 1968 notes on his remarks on Czechoslovakia at the CP's Central Committee meeting thereon; editorial files pertaining to the writing, publication and reception of several of Green's later books, notably his autobiographical Cold War Fugitive (1984); third party correspondence of several of Green's political friends and associates, notably Lloyd Brown; and a file of Smith Act-related material obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The last series, FBI Files, were also obtained by Green under the FOIA.
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Restrictions Access Restrictions Open for research without restrictions.
Use Restrictions There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Elmer Holmes Bobst Library 70 Washington Square South New York, NY 10012 Phone: (212) 998-2630 Fax: (212) 995-4225 E-mail: gail.malmgreen at nyu.edu
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Access Points
Subject Names:
Allen, James. Marxist publishing.
Bridges, Harry, 1901-
Brown, Lloyd L. (Lloyd Louis), 1913-
Engelstein, David.
Garlin, Sender.
Green, Gil, 1906-
Green, Lil, 1910-1964.
Healey, Dorothy.
Hyndman, Kate.
Lebrón, Lolita, 1919-
Lens, Sidney.
North, Helen.
Robeson, Paul, 1898-1976.
Schneiderman, William.
Toohey, Pat.
Wellman, Saul.
Wofsy, Leon.
Subject Organizations:
Communist Party of the United States of America.
Young Communist League of the U.S.
Young Workers League, U.S.A.
Subject Topics:
Communists -- United States.
Czechoslovakia -- History -- Intervention, 1968.
Radicals -- Puerto Rico.
Revolutionists -- Puerto Rico.
United States. Alien Registration Act, 1940.
Subject Places:
New York (State)--New York.
Document Types:
Case files.
Correspondence.
Memoirs.
Typescripts.
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Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives The Counterattack Research Files (Tamiment 148) Series 50, file 33 (0.5 lf), is a compilation of documentation on the Illinois Communist Party, 1946-1950,and on Green's leadership thereof, including reportage and analysis by informants and government agents.
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Separated Material There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.
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Administrative Information Provenance Gift of Gil Green, c.1980, 1993.
Preferred Citation Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); The Gil Green Papers; Tamiment 95; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Elmer Holmes Bobst Library 70 Washington Square South New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
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Container List [The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.]
Series I. Correspondence, General.
Scope and Content:
Location: 1. Cage - B7f, 6 mss. boxes (2.5 lf); 2. Waverley - 3A1-3, 12 Paige boxes (12 lf).
Box Folder Title Date 1 1 Amter, Nell 1978 1 2 Aptheker, Bettina 1971, 1984 1 3 Bender, Stanley 1972-1976 1 4 Boyte, Harry (New American Movement) 1974-1976, 1986 1 5 Bridges, Harry & Nikki 1977-1979 1 6 Brown, Lloyd 1949-1993 1 7 Buhle, Paul 1982-1993 1 8 Cohen, Milt 1991 1 9 Engelstein, David & Mary 1972-1992 1 10 Family and Family History 1980s 1 11 Garlin, Sender 1988-1990 1 12 [Gates?], Johnny: GG "critical response to your Open Letter Jan 17, 1969 1 13 Gerson, Si 1987 1 14 Gordon, Max 1983, 1985 1 15 Green, Gil: Housing - Racial Discrimination 1967 1 16 Green, Gil: Letters to Editors 1949, 1973-1976 1 17 Healey, Dorothy ca.1967-1987 1 18 Historians 1976-1992 1 19 Hyndman, Kate 1973-1976 1 20 Kalter, Rose - re Dave Doran 1976-1978 1 21 Lebron, Lolita Apr 10, 1981 1 22 Lens, Sidney 1973-1976 1 23 Liveright, Betty and Herman 1979-1985 1 24 Marquit, Erwin (GG to) Jul 4, 1988 1 25 Mello, Servio (Brazil) 1984 1 26 Miscellaneous ca.1969-1990 Box Folder Title Date 2 1 Navasky, Victor 1982 2 2 North, Helen 1966-1984 2 3 Pajetta, Giuliano (PCI member of Parliament) 1988 2 4 Peck, Sid 1960, 1988 2 5 Puerto Rico - correspondence & FOIA documents 1974-1984 2 5A Richmond, Al 1974-1984 2 5B Robeson, Paul Jr. - GG ltr to Apr 14, 1982 2 6 Rubin, Danny and Maurice [Spector?] 1985, 1989 2 7 Sandy 1987-1990 2 8 Schendel, Herman 1977-1983 2 9 Schneiderman, Bill 1981-1984 2 10 Sennett, William 1978-1989 2 11 Toohey, Pat 1976-1978 2 12 Wellman, Saul 1977-1978, 1991 2 13 Whitman, Alden 1976-1986 2 14 Wofsy, Leon 1985-1992
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Return to the Top of Page Series II. Correspondence
General - Addendum
Box Folder Title Date 2A 1 Englestein, David - Correspondence 1988-1989
2A 2 Englestein, David - Political-Ideological Letters to GG 1981-1987
2A 3 Garlin, Sender - Correspondence 1988-1989
Correspondence, Prison.
Box Folder Title Date 3 1 Correspondence 1949
3 2 Correspondence Feb 1956-Apr 1956
3 3 Correspondence May 1956-Dec 1956
3 4 Correspondence 1957
3 5 Correspondence 1958
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