Maurice Forge Papers
Call Number
Dates
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Maurice Forge (1902-1990) was a New York bus driver who became an organizer, news editor, and ultimately a vice president of the Transport Workers Union (TWU). In the late 1930s, Forge began organizing the TWU's Airline Transport Division (ATD). A decade later, a union-wide effort to sever TWU ties with the Communist Party resulted in Forge's expulsion from the TWU. The Maurice Forge Papers include materials from Forge's TWU career, including union publicity materials, official correspondence, and transcripts of Forge's TWU hearing and of the government deportation hearing of TWU official John Santo.
Historical/Biographical Note
Maurice Forge was born on October 6, 1902 in New York City. After losing his job as a commercial artist in 1930, Forge became a bus driver. Working at night, Forge began organizing by day for the fledgling Transport Workers Union (TWU). His union involvement deepened when he became editor of the TWU Bulletin. Forge, a Communist Party member, was hired as a full-time paid union organizer, and became the leading force behind the TWU's Publicity Department. In the late 1930s, Forge became a TWU vice-president and director of the union's new Air Transport Division (ATD). Airline organizing brought him into conflict with other CIO unions, as well as with powerful elements within the TWU who questioned the wisdom of investing union resources in this new venture. Despite some successes, Forge was discouraged about the lack of adequate support from the TWU establishment, leading him to champion the formation of a Committee for Air Transport Autonomy (CATA) after TWU's Biennial Convention in 1948. In the late 1940s, TWU president Michael Quill broke with the Communist Party, and union officials set about severing TWU's ties to the Party. Forge was tried before a union committee and, along with other influential TWU members, expelled from the union.
Forge went back to bus driving on Long Island, and continued to participate, unofficially, in the activities of TWU Local 252. Eventually he bought and ran the Crestwood Bus Company (he sold the company in 1970). Over the years, Forge maintained contact with many former colleagues from the ATD and from TWU Locals 100 and 252. He also remained close to Michael Quill, and, after many years lobbying to regain his TWU membership, Forge was granted reinstatement in 1984.
Forge died in Freeport, Long Island in February 1990.
Arrangement
Series I is arranged chronologically. Series II is arranged alphabetically according to type of material; within these sections files are arranged chronologically.
Organized into two series:
Missing Title
- General Files
- Clippings, Credentials, Flyers, Pamphlets, Photographs
Scope and Content Note
The Maurice Forge Papers include materials from Forge's TWU career, including union publicity materials, official correspondence, and transcripts of Forge's TWU hearing and of the government deportation hearing of TWU official John Santo.
Subjects
Organizations
Genres
People
Topics
Donors
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 Maurice Forge 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; Maurice Forge Papers; WAG 106; 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 Maurice Forge, 1986. The accession numbers associated with this gift are 1986.011 and 1986.025.
Separated Material
TWU newspapers, Transport Workers Bulletin, Rank and File Newsletter and the Transit Bulletin were transferred to the Tamiment Library newspaper collection.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Photographs were separated from this collection during initial processing and were established as a separate collection, the Maurice Forge Photographs (PHOTOS 204). In 2014, the photograph collection was reincorporated into the Maurice Forge Papers.
Edition of this Guide
Note Statement
Repository
Series I: General Files, 1936-1961, inclusive
Scope and Content Note
Series I includes Forge's personal and official correspondence, TWU Executive Board minutes, trial transcripts, leaflets and ATD reports. Documents reflect Forge's activity in the TWU, especially from the late 1940s, when he came into conflict with TWU officials. Also in this series are materials reflecting Forge's involvement in the creation and development of the ATD and CATA. Correspondence includes letters to his wife, Bess, letters from TWU president Michael Quill and former TWU official John Santo after Santo's deportation to Hungary for being a non-citizen Communist Party activist; and letters with Charles Smolikoff, Armand Scala, and Fred Swick of the TWU about the progress of forming the ATD. Also included is a 1947 transcript of Santo's Department of Immigration trial, as well as a transcript of 1950 proceedings against Forge by the TWU.
Administration: Executive Board members and correspondence, 1936, inclusive
Constitution, 1937 , 1948, inclusive
Administration: Fordham Bus Company Administration: Fordham Bus Company, 1937, inclusive
Correspondence, 1938, inclusive
Correspondence, 1940, inclusive
Correspondence: Arthur S. Meyer to John Santo, 1942, inclusive
Correspondence, 1943, inclusive
Correspondence, 1944, inclusive
Correspondence, 1945, inclusive
Correspondence: M.F. to Bess Forge, 1945-1949, inclusive
Charges against John Santo (1), Oct 1947
Charges against John Santo (2), 1947, inclusive
Statement by John Santo, ca.1947, inclusive
Administration: Minutes of the International Executive Board Meeting, Sep 1947
Air Transport Division: Arbitration Dispute with Pan American Airways, Inc., May 1947
Air Transport Division: Statements from ATD, Flight Safety, 1947, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence - Charles Smolikoff, 1947, inclusive
International Executive Board Meeting (1), Nov 1948
International Executive Board Meeting (2), Nov 1948
Sixth Biennial Convention, 1948, inclusive
Correspondence, 1948, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Administration, 1948, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Committee for Air Transport Autonomy, 1948, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Arbitration with American Airlines (1), 1948, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Arbitration with American Airlines (2), 1948, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence: Charles Smolikoff, 1948, inclusive
Proceedings of Airline Conference, Dec 1948
Local 252, 1948, inclusive
International Executive Board Meeting TWU Local 252, May 1949
Correspondence, 1949, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Administration, 1949, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Committee for Air Transport Autonomy, 1949, inclusive
Correspondence: Charles Smolikoff, 1949, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence: Armand Scala, 1949, inclusive
Correspondence: Fred Swick, 1949, inclusive
TWO Local 252, 1949, inclusive
Personal; March of Labor, Inc., 1949, inclusive
Charges against M.F., Mar 1950
Correspondence, 1950, inclusive
Airline Division: Correspondence, 1950, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence: Charles Smolikoff, 1950, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence: Armand Scala, 1950, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Fred Swick, 1950, inclusive
TWU Local 252, 1950, inclusive
TWU Local 100, 1950, inclusive
Correspondence, 1951, inclusive
Correspondence; Fred Swick, 1951, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Fred Swick, 1952, inclusive
TWU Local 252, 1953, inclusive
Personal: Religion, Sacraments, ca.1952, inclusive
Correspondence, 1953, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence; labor dispute of Pan American Airlines mechanics, 1953, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence: Fred Swick, 1953, inclusive
TWU Local 252, 1953, inclusive
Correspondence, 1954, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence Fred Swick, 1954, inclusive
Personal: Correspondence: Crestwood Bus Service, 1954, inclusive
Correspondence, 1956, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence: Fred Swick, 1956, inclusive
Correspondence: John Santo and Michael Quill, 1957, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Fred Swick, 1957, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence; M.L. Edwards to B.H. Diesen, 1958, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence: Fred Swick, 1958, inclusive
TWU Local 252 Agreement, 1958, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence: Fred Swick, 1959, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Flight Engineer Dispute, 1960, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence: Fred Swick, 1960, inclusive
Air Transport Division: Correspondence: Fred Swick, 1961, inclusive
Correspondence, undated, inclusive
Air Transport Division and Dave Lippert, undated, inclusive
TWU Local 252, undated, inclusive
Series II: Clippings, Credentials, Flyers, Pamphlets, Photographs, 1937-1986, inclusive
Scope and Content Note
Series II includes clippings on TWU leaders and labor issues; flyers publicizing union activities; and pamphlets by and about the TWU and the ATD. Other materials include publicity by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) directed at TWU members and other government anti-Communist publications; a pamphlet, " How the Milwaukee Sentinel Exposed Milwaukee Communists"; and a HUAC publication of John Santo's trial transcript. Also in this series are photocopied clippings of editorials written by Forge in the 1970s and 1980s, a file of Forge's credentials and identification cards, and photographs.
