Leon Josephson: Difference between revisions

HUAC investigator (and former FBI agent) [[Louis J. Russell]] provided an overview of his life, from birth in Latvia, espionage in the States and Denmark with [[George Mink]] during the 1930s, and efforts to make the false application for Gerhart Eisler's passport in 1934. Russell noted that penniless brother [[Barney Josephson]] had made trips to Europe in the mid-1930s before opening [[Café Society]] in 1938. He also notedobserved that in 1946 Barney was a sponsor of "Spanish Refugee Appeal," a branch of the [[Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee]] (which had paid Eisler funds in 1941 under another false name). Russell then presented 1938 [[Dies Committee]] testimony from [[John P. Frey]], former president of the metal trades department of the [[American Federal of Labor|AFL]] that claimed that Mink had been involved in the Soviet assassination of [[Leon Trotsky]] and proceeded to insert four pages of transcripts into the record that included 1938 testimony by [[Earl Browder]], [[Benjamin Gitlow]], and [[Jay Lovestone]] among others, all about Mink. Russell documented Josephson's Party membership and loyalty to the Soviet Union with quotes from his own writings, e.g., "The new Soviet constitution and electoral law are the most democratic in the world" and his dream of a "Soviet America." HUAC chief investigator [[Robert E. Stripling]] concluded "Mr. Eisler and Mr. Josephson ... are in the higher echelons of the [[Communist International]]." Russell then showed Josephson's connection to two current Federal employees, [[Sol Rabkin]] and [[Milton Fischer]], both of whom had affiliations with known "communist fronts" including the [[National Lawyers Guild]] (Rabkin). Stripling complained that [[Martin Popper]] had called as Josephson's lawyer to ask for extension on appearance in the subpoena, only to later deny he was representing Josephson. (Stripling notedobserved that Popper was long-time executive secretary of the National Lawyers Guild.) Russell then proceeded to provide his report on the real Samual Liptzen. Liptzen had failed to report trips to Mexico and Canada to the FBI. He had failed to report the robbery of his naturalization papers for two years. Finally, Russell found an article in the ''[[The Forward|Jewish Daily Forward]]'' (Yiddish ''Forverts'') dated March 8, 1947, that stated that Liptzen and Josephson are friends and that Liptzen had a long history in the Soviet underground, for which he was expelled from unions and wound up at the ''Freiheit''.<ref name=HUAC1947 /><ref name=NewElectoral>

Alwyn Cole, Treasury examiner, reported that his examination of handwriting on the 1934 passport application revealed that the handwriting of the signature "Bernard A. Hirschfield" belonged to Leon Josephson. Cole did not find the signature "Samuel Liptzen" as confidently belonging to Gerhart Eisler, though he was confident that the real Samuel Liptzen had not signed.<ref name=HUAC1947 />

Fred Erwin Beal, indicted during the [[Loray Mill strike]] of 1929, testified next. Josephson (with Clarence Miller of the [[National Textile Workers Union]] and [[Juliet Stuart Poyntz]] of the [[International Labor Defense]]) had helped arrange false passports for many of those indicted, including himself, and helped them flee to the Soviet Union. Beal saw Josephson in Moscow several times and knew him to be a [[GPU]] agent. After some years, Beal returned to the States, although he faced possible re-arrest and imprisonment, rather than stay in the USSR. Josephson, [[William Z. Foster]], and other high-level communists persuaded Beal to return to Moscow. He saw [[George Mink]] there several times. Again he left: in 1940, he was serving four years in the [[Raleigh Penitentiary]], where the FBI visited him several times.<ref name=HUAC1947 />