Max Bedacht Autobiographical Typescript: On the Path of Life: Memoirs of Your Father

Call Number

TAM.072

Date

1967

Creator

Bedacht, Max, 1883-1972

Feinstein, Elsie (Role: Donor)

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet

(1 box)

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

Max Bedacht was a communist activist, official, and theoretician who established and led the International Workers Order, a communist-led U.S. fraternal organization. The collection consists of an autobiographical typescript, On the path of life : memoirs of your father.

Historical/Biographical Note

Max Bedacht was a communist activist and theoretician. After an impoverished childhood and career as a journeyman barber and trade union leader in Germany and Switzerland, he immigrated to the United States in 1908 where he supported himself as a barber and German language newspaper editor. Bedacht became an early leader of the German Federation of the Socialist Party in California, while continuing to edit German language and labor newspapers in Detroit, San Francisco and South Dakota. From World War I onward his sympathies were increasingly with the left wing of the Socialist Party and at the 1919 convention he joined the Communist Labor Party. Caught up in the Palmer Raids in California and Chicago, he was arrested and tried for conspiracy. He was convicted but never imprisoned and was soon traveling to Europe and Russia as an international delegate for the American Communist Party.

Arrangement

The folders are arranged by chapter number.

The files are grouped into 1 series:

Missing Title

Inventory

Scope and Content Note

This typescript autobiography, "On the path of life," deals with Bedacht's reflections on American and international communist leaders and the workings of the Comintern. He describes the factional feuds within the Communist Party, refutes Whittaker Chambers' charges against him in Witness! and recounts the circumstances around his expulsion from the Party in 1948, and his reinstatement in 1960. His work establishing and leading the International Workers Order is also traced. Throughout the memoir he comments on world events and their implications for socialism. Copies of photographs and of important documents are included.

Subjects

Organizations

Socialist Party (U.S.); Communist Party of the United States of America; International Workers Order; Communist International

Genres

Typescripts

People

Feinstein, Elsie (Role: Donor); Browder, Earl, 1891-1973; Chambers, Whittaker; Ruthenberg, Charles E. (Charles Emil), 1882-1927

Topics

Communism -- United States.; Socialism -- United States.; Communists -- United States -- Biography.

Donors

Feinstein, Elsie

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by Max Bedacht was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number; 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.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Elsie Feinstein, daughter of Max Bedacht, 1978. The accession number associated with this gift is 1978.008.

Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

International Workers Order Records (TAM 001)

Collection processed by

Tamiment staff

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:49:26 -0400.

Language: Description is in English.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from Bedacht.doc

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Container

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Inventory

Table of Contents, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

In Place of an Introduction, 1967, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 1: From Darkness Into Light, pp. 1-12, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 2: Growing Up, pp. 12-18, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 3: School Days, pp. 19-26, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 4: Apprenticeship, pp. 27-34, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 5: At Last: A Journeyman, pp. 35-40, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 6: Out Into the Wide World, pp. 41-50, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 7: My Eyes Begin Opening, pp. 51-65, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapters 8 & 9: I Continue Wandering, pp. 65-96, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 10: Out of the Old Into a New World, pp. 96-104, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 11: My Americanization, pp. 105-119, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 12 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 12: A Variety of Democracies, pp. 119-128, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 13 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 13: The Muckrakers, pp. 128-142, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 14 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 14: The American Socialist Party, pp. 142-148, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 15 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 15: Peace, War, and Revolution, pp. 149-173, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 16 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 15(a): New Experiences-New Lessons, pp. 173-212, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 17 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 16: In Conflict With the Goddess of Justice, pp. 213-245, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 18 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 17: A Better World is in Birth, pp. 246-261, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 19 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 18: I Meet Lenin, pp. 262-273, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 20 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 19: The City of Moscow, pp. 273-276, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 21 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 20: The Third Congress of the Comintern, pp. 277-283, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 22 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 21: Returning Home to the U.S., pp. 283-288, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 23 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 22: The Geese Were Hatched, pp. 289-293, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 24 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 22(a): The Fourth Congress of the Comintern, pp. 293-301, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 25 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 23: Beginning and Growth of Factionalism, pp. 301-315, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 26 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 24: Through Bossism to Disintegration, pp. 315-319, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 27 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 25: The Witness, pp. 319-329, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 28 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 26: The Depression, pp. 329-334, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 29 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 27: Bossism Replaces Factionalism, pp. 334-339, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 30 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 28: National Groups, pp. 339-346, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 31 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 29: Fascist Murderers in Spain, pp. 346-352, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 32 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 30: The Second World War, pp. 352-360, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 33 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 31: Life Begins at Sixty-Four, pp. 361-371, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 34 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 32: Farm No Static Entity, pp. 372-380, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 35 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 32(a): Expelled, pp. 380-388, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 36 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 33: Pettit Bourgeois Substance of Revolutionary Pretenses, pp. 389-400, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 37 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 34: Studying Times and Events, pp. 400-408, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 38 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 35: Stalin Takes Lenin's Place, pp. 408-416, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 39 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 36: Genuine Sins-False Confessions, pp. 416-425, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 40 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 37: A False Spark of Life, pp. 425-427, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 41 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 38: Still Looking Forward, pp. 427-431, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 42 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chapter 39: A Final Round-up, pp. 431-433, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 43 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Our Civilization and it's Education, pp. 433-435, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 44 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Civilization and Religion, pp. 436-437, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 45 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Politics and Civilization, pp. 437-439, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 46 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Civilization and Wars, pp. 440-443, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 47 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Civilization and Our Social Sciences, pp. 444-445, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 48 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Forward Again Toward Civilization, pp. 446-451, undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 49 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)