Simon W. (Si) Gerson, 1909-2004, was the longtime New York State, and later national legislative/political action director for the Communist Party, and was an advocate of proportional representation and ballot access for minor political parties, including in the 1980s-90s as a leader of the Coalition for Free and Open Elections (COFOE). He served as Confidential Examiner to Manhattan Borough President Stanley M. Isaacs, 1938-40, until controversy over his Party membership caused him to resign this position, managed Communist election campaigns (later writing a biography Pete: The Story of Peter V. Cacchione, New York's First Communist Councilman), unsuccessfully campaigning to succeed Cacchione after his death in 1947, and organized activities in support of the Communist Party leaders indicted under the Smith Act, as was Gerson. In the 1950s he was executive editor of the Party's newspaper, the Daily Worker, and of its later successor, the Daily World. Along with his wife, Sophie Melvin Gerson, an organizer of the Gastonia Textile Strike of 1929, he was a longtime resident of and community activist in the Bensonhurst neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.

Simon W. Gerson Selected Bibliography: Monographs and articles in periodicals (excluding book reviews and newspaper articles):

------, "A People's' Constitution for New York." New York State Communist Party, n.d.

"The New Left Social Fascism." Communist, 9 (July, 1930): 622-631.

It Is Happening Here. New York: New York State Committee, Communist Party, 1941.

Public Speaking: A Speakers Guide Book, by Peter V. Cacchione; foreword by Simon W. Gerson. New York : Workers Library Publishers, 1942.

"Thomas E. Dewey: His Record." Communist 22 (May, 1943): 461-468.

Pete Cacchione--His Record. New York: Workers Library, 1943.

"The Stork Club Goes for Dewey." New Masses 60, no. 11 (Sep 11, 1946): 17-20.

"How You Can Beat Dewey." New Masses 61, no. 6 (November 5, 1946): 4-5.

"Electoral Coalition Problems." Political Affairs, 26 (October, 1947): 894-901.

"La Guardia: Guerrilla Warrior." New Masses (October 7, 1947): 9-12.

The Killing of William Milton, by Art Shields, Introduction by Simon W. Gerson. New York: Daily Worker, 1948.

Either the Constitution or the Mundt Bill: America Can't Have Both. New York: New Century, 1950.

"The Jury System and Democratic Rights." Political Affairs, 31: 35-44 (July, 1952).

The Outlook for the N.Y. City Elections. New York State Communist Party (1954).

The Rights You Save May Be Your Own. New York: New York State Communist Party, 1954.

"A Communist at Cornell." Masses & Mainstream, 8 (July, 1955): 28-35.

Pete: The Story of Peter V. Cacchione, New York's First Communist Councilman. New York: International Publishers, 1976.

"On Building a Mass Anti-monopoly Party." Political Affairs (October 1977): 22-26.

After Fifty Years: Revisiting the U.S.S.R. New York : NWR Publications, 1978.

"The 1978 Midterm Elections." Political Affairs 57, no.1 (January, 1978): 18-21.

"Vito Marcantonio: From Republican to Radical." Political Affairs (November, 1979)

"Independence and Coalition; The Communist View." Political Affairs (December, 1979): 7-12.

"From Truman Doctrine to Reagan Doctrine." Political Affairs (August, 1987): 15-21.

"How to Win Political Democracy." Political Affairs (November, 1985): 14-17.

"Does the U.S. Have Free Elections?" Political Affairs (December, 1990): 10-14.

"Again, on Political Independence." Si Gerson and Jarvis Tyner. Political Affairs (January, 1993): 41.