Howard Selsam

Howard Selsam (born Howard Brillinger Selsam;[1][2] 28 June 1903 – 7 September 1970)[3] was an American Marxist philosopher.[4][5]

Howard Selsam
Born
Howard Brillinger Selsam

June 28, 1903
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedSeptember 7, 1970(1970-09-07) (aged 67)
New York City, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materFranklin & Marshall College
Columbia University
Occupation(s)Instructor
Philosopher
SpouseMillicent Selsam
Children1

Background

Howard Brillinger Selsam was born on 28 June 1903 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His parents were John T. Selsam, a grocer, and his mother was Flora Emig Selsam.[4]

Selsam's education began in public schools in the Harrisburg area.[6] Later, Selsam received his undergraduate degree in 1924 from Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.[5] From 1924 through 1927, he taught at the American University of Beirut.[4][5] Later, Selsam did graduate work in philosophy at Columbia University. At Columbia, he received both his MA (1928)[7] and PhD (1931).[3][5] Selsam's master's thesis dealt with Baron d'Holbach,[1] and his dissertation concerned the English Hegelian philosopher Thomas Hill Green.[4]

Career

In 1931, after receiving his PhD, Selsam served as an instructor and later as an assistant professor at Brooklyn College, where he worked for 10 years.[5] Active politically, Selsam participated in anti-war events on campus[8][9] and took "an active part in the social struggles of his day on the side of the communist movement."[4] Selsam's involvement is echoed in a contemporary newspaper article where Selsam is associated with Communist Party USA activities,[10][11] yet he was careful not to impose his political beliefs on students.[12][13] Nevertheless, Selsam published articles in left-wing periodicals such as The New Masses, although Selsam used the pseudonym "Paul Salter."[14][15] The political activities of Selsam and other Brooklyn College faculty members attracted the attention of governmental investigation. Despite their denials of Communist association to reporters,[12] Selsam and other faculty members later lost their teaching positions due to the Rapp-Coudert Committee investigations into Communist involvement in public education in New York State.[4][12][3] That Selsam refused to testify at the hearings[16][17] and faced contempt charges[18] likely made his resignation unavoidable.[19]

Communist schools

Circa 1941, Howard Selsam was one of the founders of the School for Democracy, an educational facility located at 13 Astor Place in New York[5][20] and associated with the Communist Party USA.[20][21][22][23][24][25]

In 1944, Selsam became the director of the Jefferson School of Social Science,[3][4][26] a "Marxist adult education facility"[27] whose faculty included "leftist academics dismissed from the City University of New York."[27] He held this position from 1944-1956.[28] Under Selsam's leadership (1944-1956[5]), there was a steady flow of students at the Jefferson School. Even during the hey-day of Senator Joseph McCarthy's well publicized investigations into Communist subversion, the Jefferson School had an enrollment of 5,000 students each term.[29] Nevertheless, the school received criticism claiming that students simply received dogmatic instruction. For example, a Rutgers University economics professor, Alexander Balinky enrolled in the school and took some classes. Based on his experiences at the school, Balinky wrote a newspaper article and claimed that the students received political indoctrination at the school.[30]

In early December 1947 when news that the Jefferson School of Social Science had appeared on the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations (AGLOSO), Selsam told the New York Times:

There is nothing subversive about the Jefferson School. Its organization and teaching are open and above board. Its aims and purposes are clearly defined in its bulletin of courses and other material it issues. If the school is subversive, then any teaching of social science that differs from the beliefs of J. Edgar Hoover (chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation) is to be labeled subversive.[31]

Due to tensions caused by the Cold War, Anti-communism, and McCarthyism, the Jefferson School was subject to Congressional hearings and Selsam and others received summons to testify on several occasions.[22] For example, Selsam, represented by Joseph Forer, testified before the U.S. Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee on 8 April 1953, and, during Selsam's testimony, he often invoked the Fifth Amendment.[32]

Selsam and other school administrators denied that the school was a Communist front and fought against having it so officially labeled.[22][23][24][25] Given the political radicalism of the faculty members and the Marxist-oriented instruction at the school, and facing external political pressure against the school, declining student enrollment, and publication in the West of Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech—a speech which described in detail Stalin's crimes and political purges[23] —all of these factors ultimately forced the school administrators to close down the school in 1956.[22][33]

SISS testimony

On April 8, 1953, represented by attorney Joseph Forer, Selsam accused the committee as much as it accused him. He blamed congressional committees for creating an "atmosphere of repression and terror." "Every witness... knows full well the meaning of your subpoena server's knock... dismissal from his job."[5]

Khrushchev speech

Khrushchev's secret speech and its aftermath caused considerable turmoil within the Communist Party USA,[23] and Selsam and other Jefferson School faculty members openly quit the Party in a joint letter published in the May 6, 1956 issue of the Daily Worker.[22]

Later life

With the closure of the Jefferson School of Social Science, Selsam devoted much of his time lecturing and writing.[4] He wrote a number of books on Marxist topics for International Publishers. Many of these books were republished in Canada, England, and India. In addition, Selsam's books were translated into a variety of languages, including Spanish, Arabic, Polish, Russian, German, Hungarian, and Japanese.[6][3]

Besides writing books, Selsam wrote articles and reviews for periodicals, including The New Masses, and Marxism Today. He worked closely and collaborated with his wife Millicent Selsam, a botanist and high school teacher[34] who was well known as an author of science books for young people.[4]

Besides writing for The New Masses and Marxism Today, Selsam was an editorial board member for the Marxist journal Science & Society,[28][35] and he was a founder of the American Institute for Marxist Studies.[28]

Selsam had correspondence with prominent intellectuals and writers, including historian and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois[36][33]

Personal life and death

Selsam married Millicent Selsam, a botanist and high school teacher[34]

During his last years Selsam had a heart ailment,[3] and he died in New York on September 7, 1970. He was survived by his wife, Millicent Selsam,[4][34] a son, Robert, and his sister Mrs. Esther Garman.[3]

Partial bibliography of published works

See also

References
  1. "The naturalism of Baron d'Holbach". CLIO catalog record for Selsam thesis, Columbia University Libraries. OCLC 56154909. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  2. "OCLC Worldcat Identities: Selsam, Howard Brillinger". Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  3. "Howard Selsam, Marxist Scholar". New York Times. New York, NY. 9 September 1970. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  4. Struik, Dirk J. (September 1972). "Howard Selsam 1903-1970". Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association. 45: 225.
  5. Subversive Influence in the Educational Process. Part 7. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1953. pp. 771–785 (testimony), 772 (dismissal), 773 (bio), 808, 813–815, 1023–1028. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  6. Anonymous (1965). "Chapter: About the author". In Selsam, Howard (ed.). Ethics and progress: New values in a revolutionary world. New York, New York: International Publishers.
  7. Howard Selsam papers [ca. 1935]-1972. Retrieved 8 April 2014. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. "Joins College in Peace Movement: To Teach Students Of War Dangers - College Anti-War Conference Is Scheduled for Next". Spotlight. Brooklyn, New York: Women's Division of Brooklyn College of the College of the City of New York. 14 December 1933. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  9. "Support Movement for Anti-War Week: Faculty Encourages Protest Of Social Science Students; Call Strike For April". Spotlight. Brooklyn, New York: Women's Division of Brooklyn College of the College of the City of New York. 2 March 1934. pp. 1, 3. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  10. "Ban on Red Tutors Urged by Democrats: County Committee Votes Approval of Kelly's Move" (PDF). Brooklyn Eagle. Brooklyn, New York: Frank D. Schroth. 10 December 1940. p. 1. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  11. "Ban on Red Tutors Urged by Democrats: County Committee Votes Approval of Kelly's Move" (PDF). Brooklyn Eagle. Brooklyn, New York: Frank D. Schroth. 10 December 1940. p. 10. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  12. Heins, Marjorie (2013). "Chapter 3 Rapp-Coudert". Priests of Our Democracy: The Supreme Court, Academic Freedom, and the Anti-Communist Purge. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 9780814770269. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  13. Schrecker, Ellen W. (1986). No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-19-503557-5.
  14. Schrecker, Ellen W. (1986). No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-19-503557-5.
  15. United States Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations (1950). State Department Employee Loyalty Investigation: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Eighty-First Congress, Second Session, Pursuant to S. Res. 231, a Resolution to Investigate Whether There Are Employees in the State Department Disloyal to the United States, Part 2, Appendix. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. p. 1923.
  16. INS (8 December 1940). "Refusal to Testify at Red Probe May Cost Posts". The Milwaukee Sentinel. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  17. Associated Press (20 December 1940). "High Court Given College Red Case". The Milwaukee Journal. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Journal Company. p. 4. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  18. U.R. (6 June 1941). "Cite teachers for contempt in school probe:Seven refuses to testify in state inquiry; Accused of red leanings" (PDF). The Binghamton Press. Binghamton, New York. p. 20. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  19. Feffer, Andrew (6 February 2013). "Review of Marjorie Heins's "Priests of Our Democracy: The Supreme Court, Academic Freedom, and the Anti-Communist Purge" (NYU, 2013)". History News Network. Fairfax, Virginia: The Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  20. Dodd, Bella V. (1954). "Chapter Eleven". School of Darkness. New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  21. Gettleman, Marvin (7 October 2001). Lost World of U.S. Labor Education: Curricula at East and West Coast Community Schools, 1944-1957 (PDF). Conference on New York City History. Graduate Center, City University of New York. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  22. Gettleman, Marvin E. (2008). "Defending Left Pedagogy: U.S. Communist Schools Fight Back Against the SACB . . . and Lose (1953-1957)". Reconstruction. 8 (1). Archived from the original on 15 February 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  23. North American Newspaper Alliance (15 November 1956). "Students Shun Reds' School: Enrollment at Lowest". The Milwaukee Journal. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Journal Company. p. 20. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  24. Associated Press (31 December 1954). "Organizations to Fight Label". Spokane Daily Chronicle. Spokane, Washington: Chronicle Pub. Co. p. 23. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  25. "Witness Says New York School Run by Commies". St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Florida. 26 November 1953. p. 3. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  26. Marv Gettleman, "Jefferson School of Social Science," in Mari Jo Buhle, Paul Buhle, and Dan Georgakas (eds.), Encyclopedia of the American Left. First Edition. New York: Garland Publishing Co., 1990; pp. 389-390.
  27. Davidman, Joy (2009). King, Don W. (ed.). Out of My Bone: The Letters of Joy Davidman. William B. Eerdmans Pub. p. 75. ISBN 9780802863997. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  28. "Howard Selsam.". The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979) Copyright 2010 The Gale Group. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  29. Brock, Peter (2007). "Dockside in Catania, Sicily, and I had just turned seventeen". Katz: Ben Israel: the early years. Minneapolis, MN: Mill City Press, Inc. p. 33. ISBN 9781934248553. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  30. Balinky, Alexander (1 March 1956). "Microscope on Communism" (PDF). Westfield (N.J.) Leader. Westfield, N.J.: Westfield Leader Print. and Pub. Co. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  31. "ACCUSED GROUPS DENY DISLOYALTY; Five Organizations Listed by U.S. Insist They Are Not Subversive, Assail Clark". New York Times. 5 December 1947. p. 18. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  32. Selsam, Howard (1953). Testimony of Howard Selsam before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee To Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws. [Hearings on] Subversive Influence in the Educational Process. Part 7 : hearings before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee To Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Eighty-Third Congress, first session, on Apr. 7, 8, 1953. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  33. Selsam, Howard (27 November 1956). "Circular letter from Jefferson School of Social Science to W. E. B. Du Bois, November 27, 1956". New York, NY. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  34. "Science Author Selsam is Dead at 84". New York Daily News. New York, New York. 15 October 1996. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  35. "Science and Society:The Editorial Board". Science and Society. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  36. Selsam, Howard (16 October 1953). "Telegram from Jefferson School of Social Science to W. E. B. Du Bois, October 16, 1953". New York, NY. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
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