Benjamin Stolberg

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Benjamin Stolberg (1891–1951) was an American journalist and labor activist.

Career[edit]

Stolberg worked as associate editor of The Bookman, as well as a columnist for leading US newspapers, such as The New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune'.

Stolberg was a member of the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky and served on the Dewey Commission investigating the Moscow Trials.

Libel Suit[edit]

Stolberg wrote for the Saturday Evening Post – and from 1939 to 1945 he and its publisher, the Curtis Publishing, defended themselves from a libel suit brought against them by Jerome Davis for the September 2, 1939, article "Communist Wreckers in American Labor." Stolberg had called Davis a "Communist and Stalinist." Davis brought on ACLU co-founder Arthur Garfield Hays as his lawyer. Stolberg hired Louis Waldman, an "Old Guard" Socialist and anti-communist labor lawyer. The case went before the New York Supreme Court, with Justice John F. Carew presiding.[1][2][3]

On December 4, 1939, Davis brought a $150,000 libel suit in Manhattan against Curtis Publishing and Stolberg.[4] The trial included testimony from American Federation of Labor president William Green,[5] former YMCA president Sherwood Eddy,[3] Reverend Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick and Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise of the American Jewish Congress,[6] former CPUSA head Earl Browder,[7] former Saturday Evening Post editor William W. Stout and American Federation of Teachers vice president John D. Connors,[7] AFL vice president Matthew Woll,[8] American Mercury editor Eugene Lyons,[9] and Georgetown University president Dr. Edmund A. Walsh.[10] Davis' attorney Hays added $100,000 to the suit.[11] On June 9, 1943, a New York Supreme Court discharged the jury for failing to reach a verdict, and Justice Carew ordered the jury not discuss their deliberations.[12] On June 14, 1943, New York Supreme Court Justice Louis A. Valente denied a second motion for immediate retrial and set October 1, 1943, as date to assign retrial action.[13] Finally, on January 18, 1945, Davis settled with Curtis Publishing and Stolberg in court for $11,000 of his $250,000 libel suit before Supreme Court Justice Ferdinand Pecora.[14]

Legacy[edit]

Benjamin Stolberg's papers are housed at Columbia University in New York City.[15]

Works[edit]

Stolberg wrote histories of the labor movement, including:

  • The Economic Consequences of the New Deal (1935)[16]
  • Preliminary Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made Against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials (1937)[17]
  • The Story of the CIO (1938)[18][19]
  • Tailor's Progress: The Story of a Famous Union and the Men Who Made It (a history of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union) (1944)[20]
    • Ṿi azoy Sṭolbergs bukh "Teylors progres" zeṭ oys in di oygn fun a ḳloḳmakher (Yiddish translation) (1944)[21]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Waggoner, Walter H. (24 October 1979). "Jerome Davis, Educator, 87, Dies; Active in World Peace Movement". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Kutulas, Judy (1995). The Long War: The Intellectual People's Front and Anti-Stalinism, 1930-1940. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. pp. 49 (Stalin), 134 (non-communist), 202 (libel). Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Dr. Davis Defended by Sherwood Eddy: Former Teachers Union Head 'Always Attacked Evils of Communism,' Jury Hears". The New York Times. 20 May 1943.
  4. ^ "Libel Suit Asks $150,000: Head of Federation of Teachers Sues on Magazine Article". The New York Times. 5 December 1939.
  5. ^ "Dr. Davis Testifies in His Libel Action". The New York Times. 18 May 1943.
  6. ^ "Fosdick, SS Wise Testify for Davis: Minister Says Plaintiff in Libel Suit 'Couldn't Be a Communist if He Tried'". The New York Times. 22 May 1943.
  7. ^ a b "Browder Is Quoted in Davis Libel Case: Stolberg Says Communist's Books Were Part of His Basis for Calling Teacher a Red". The New York Times. 26 May 1943.
  8. ^ "Woll Links Davis to Ranks of Reds: Even 'Some Communists' Thought Educator Was Party Member". The New York Times. 28 May 1943.
  9. ^ "Soviet Leanings Seen in Book by Dr. Davis: Former Moscow Correspondent Points to 'Omissions' in Work". The New York Times. 2 June 1943.
  10. ^ "Dr. Davis Classed As 96% Red Backer: Catholic Educator First Says Union Leader Is 10% Short of Favoring Communism". The New York Times. 3 June 1943.
  11. ^ "$100,000 More Asked in Davis Libel Suit: Hays Reveals Court Granted Motion to Seek Higher Damages". The New York Times. 8 June 1943.
  12. ^ "Jury Discharged in Davis Libel Suit". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 10 June 1943. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  13. ^ "New Davis Please Denied: Justice Valente Acts on Second Motion for Libel Retrial". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 15 June 1943. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  14. ^ "Libel Suit Settled: Dr. Jerome Davis Accepts $11, 000 in His $150,000 Suit". The New York Times. 19 January 1945.
  15. ^ "Benjamin Stolberg Papers, 1914-1951: Finding Aid," Columbia University Libraries, Archival Collections.
  16. ^ Stolberg, Benjamin; Vinton, Warren Jay (1935). The Economic Consequences of the New Deal. Harcourt, Brace. LCCN 35001989.
  17. ^ Stolberg, Benjamin; Dewey, John; La Follette, Suzanne; Glotzer, Albert (1937). Commission of inquiry into the charges made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow trials. Harper & Brothers. LCCN 37029395.
  18. ^ Stolberg, Benjamin (1938). The Story of the CIO. Viking. LCCN 38031214.
  19. ^ Cantwell, Robert (23 February 1938). "The Communists and the CIO". Retrieved 11 December 2016. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  20. ^ Stolberg, Benjamin (1944). Tailor's Progress: The Story of a Famous Union and the Men Who Made It'. Doubleday, Doran & Co. LCCN 44005351.
  21. ^ Stolberg, Benjamin (1944). Ṿi azoy Sṭolbergs bukh "Teylors progres" zeṭ oys in di oygn fun a ḳloḳmakher. Translated by Joseph Breslaw. Ḳloḳ un sḳirṭ presers yunyon, loḳal 35. LCCN 61057998.

External sources[edit]


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