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Roy Hudson

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Roy Hudson, also known as Roy B. Hudson, served on the national executive board (also called the national committee[1]) of the Communist Party USA[2] and national trade union director[3][4] and trade union expert.[5]

Career

[edit]

With Al Lannon,[6] Hudson helped found and then became national secretary of the Marine Workers Industrial Union (MWIU) at its founding in 1930.[7] Earlier, in 1927, CPUSA member George Mink traveled to the USSR, attended the fourth congress of the Profintern, and returned to the US as the Profintern's representative of a Transport Workers International Committee for Propaganda and Agitation (TWICP&A) to organize maritime workers in the US. Working with William Z. Foster's Trade Union Educational League (TUEL). Mink established a Marine Workers Progressive League (MWPL) by 1928. During the CPUSA's factional in-fighting 1928-1929 between followers of James P. Cannon, Jay Lovestone, and Foster,[8] Mink laid low. When Joseph Stalin appointed Foster as head of the CPUSA in 1929, Mink continued his efforts with marine workers.[9] On April 26–27, 1930, a Marine Workers' League of New York (itself organized in 1928 by the Trade Union Unity League or "TUUL") called a convention that created the Marine Workers' Industrial Union of the USA. This national convention followed coastal conventions held during 1928–1930. The convention adopted a constitution,[10] openly supported the USSR, and elected three delegates to attend the fifth world congress of the Red International of Labor Unions or "Profintern" (itself an arm of the Communist International or "Comintern").[11] The MWIU openly affiliated with TUUL.[11][12] According to another source, MWIU decided against TUUL and decided instead to affiliate with the Profintern's Red International of Transport Workers[13] via an International Seamen and Harbors Workers Union (ISH),[14] based in Hamburg, Germany.[9] During the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike, the International Seamen's Union and the Marine Transport Workers (MTW) of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) joined the strike, but the "Communist-dominated MWIU undercut the strike" by scabbing.[15] In June 1934, Hudson, as MWIU general secretary, toured West Coast ports.[16] In 1935, Hudson, a ranking MWIU official, dissolved the union (then, with 14,000 members) without a vote, and the International Seamen's Union of America succeeded to it.[12] In July 1936, Hudson spoke at the CPUSA's ninth national convention at the Manhattan Opera House on "the struggles of the seamen and the need for a maritime industrial union."[17]

During the 1936 New York state election, Hudson ran on the CPUSA ticket for New York's at-large congressional seat.

In the late 1930s, Hudson "lectured on the importance of working in trade unions" at the Los Angeles People's Education Center.[18]

In November 1938, the Socialist Appeal characterized Hudson as the "Stalinist behind-the-scenes-men at the convention" of the United Automobile Workers of America (UAW).[19]

In October 1939, Hudson championed the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) over the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and urged US workers to keep out of the "imperialist war" (World War II), following announcement of the Hitler-Stalin Pact and the Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939.[20] (In August 1941, Trotskyist David Coolidge wrote that the Hudson (a "Stalinist") had written the "party line" (i.e., the Communist Party line) for the UAW, an about-face following the 1941 Nazi invasion of Russia ("Operation Barbarossa").[21])

In July 1941, Hudson voiced CPUSA support for then-current UAW president R. J. Thomas and secretary George Addes.[22]

On October 31, 1943, during a CIO convention in Philadelphia, the FBI recorded conversations of Hudson, CPUSA labor secretary. Hudson met with CIO union leaders (including Harry Bridges). On November 5, they heard identified the voice of a man whom Hudson instructed on Party demands for changes in the CIO platform: the name was Lee Pressman. Pressman's meetings continued with Hudson into September 1944.[23]

In May 1944, Hudson's name appeared as a vice president among the officers of the Communist Political Association (CPA), along with Earl Browder, William Z. Foster, Robert Minor, Eugene Dennis, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, James W. Ford, Gilbert Green, Benjamin J. Davis Jr., Morris Childs, Robert G. Thompson, William Schneiderman, John Williamson, and Charles Krumbein.[24] On June 2, 1945, Hudson abstained from voting on the demise of the (CPA).[25] Shortly thereafter, Hudson, who "has occupied a leading role in directing activities in various large unions" affiliated with the CIO, reversed his abstention and voted to change CPA "revolutionary" policy to adhere to "aggressive class struggle" in line with Stalinism.[26] On June 11, Trotskyist Albert Glotzer (writing as "Albert Gates") denounced Hudson as "the party’s commissar, who enforced the Browder 'line' in the union movement."[27] In July 1945, Hudson characterized his leadership in the CPA as follows: "I went along because, my inadequate grasp of Marxism prevented me from understanding that something was fundamentally wrong."[28] In March 1948, ex-CPUSA publishers of The Spark published "Three Letters on Opportunism" about the fall of the CPA and quoted Hudson from a 1946 letter as writing "However, when I raise serious objections, and they are ignored or when there is no effort or when there is an inadequate effort to explain and convince, or when my motives are challenged – then I will continue to protest, although perhaps in the future, I will find a better way of doing it than abstaining from voting."[29]

In January 1945, Hudson attacked the UAW's Walter Reuther and other "Trotskyite" leaders in their fight against a no-strike pledge.[30]

In the 1950s, George Andersen of the San Francisco-based law firm of Gladstein, Andersen, Leonard & Sibbett represented Hudson as well as Donald Niven Wheeler, Paul Schlipf, and Paul Chown.[31]

In 1951, Hudson's name came up during House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings on Communist infiltration in Hollywood. Roy M. Brewer, a IATSE leader, described Irving Henschel as "lead of the Communist faction in 1944" and "member of the Rank and File Committee which attempted to set up a revolt in our organization during the 1945 strike in Hollywood." When Henschel contacted CPUSA official Max Weiss in Ohio, Weiss reported Henschel's conduct to Roy Hudson in New York.[32]

In May 1954, during HUAC testimony, ex-Communist Elizabeth Boggs Cohen identified Hudson as "national trade union director."[3] In July 1954, during HUAC testimony, ex-CIO press director Len De Caux refused to answer whether he was acquainted with Roy Hudson and even CIO colleague Lee Pressman.[33]

Personal life

[edit]

Hudson married Edith Embrey. According to ex-Soviet spy Whittaker Chambers, Hudson's girlfriend was Andre (or Ondra) Embrey, a Hungarian-American who worked at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and whose roommate succeeded him as courier between J. Peters and Ware Group members.[2]

In April 1934, Joseph North characterized Hudson, among other "lieutenants of revolution" as "a powerful, driving personality, steeled by years of proletarian experience and organizational activity into a dynamic leader."[34] In 1940, North referred to him, writing "They have met men like Roy Hudson in the union halls."[35] Hudson appears in the correspondence of fellow CPUSA member Samuel Adams Darcy.[36] In 1972, Joseph Starobin described Hudson as "a former sailor with unimpeachable proletarian credentials."[37]

Works

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Hudson wrote mostly pamphlets published by Workers Library Publishers as well as articles for the CPUSA's theoretical journal The Communist and its successor Political Affairs.

Books (Pamphlets)
  • Shipowners Plot Against Spanish Democracy (1936)[38]
  • Who Are the Reds? (1937)[39]
  • True Americans: A Tribute to American Maritime Workers who Fought for World Democracy in the Trenches of Spain (1939)[40][41]
  • The C.I.O. Convention and National Unity (1941)[42]
  • The Growth of the Trade Unions (1941)[43]
  • Trends in the Labor Movement (1941)[44]
  • Two Questions on Winning the War (1942)[45]
  • Communists and the Trade Unions (1943)[46][47]
  • Shall the Communist Party Change Its Name? (1944)[48]
  • Post-war Jobs for Veterans, Negroes, Women (1944)[49][50]
Articles
  • "Rooting the Party on the Waterfront," The Communist (1935)[51]
  • "The Fight of the Seamen for Militant Unionism," The Communist (1936)[52]
  • "Lessons of the Maritime," The Communist (1937)[53]
  • "New Developments in Organizing the Marine Industry," The Communist (1937)[54]
  • "The Struggle for Trade Union Unity," The Communist (1938)[55]
  • "The Charter of Party Democracy," The Communist (1938)[56]
  • "Defeat the Foes of Labbr Unity!" The Communist (1938)[57]
  • "The A. F. of L. Convention and Tasks for Achieving Unity" The Communist (1938)[58]
  • "The Paths of Labor's United Action," The Communist (1939)[20]
  • "For a Greater Vote and a Stronger Party!" The Communist (1940)[59]
  • "The Real Reasons for Trade Union Progress," The Communist (1941)[60]
  • "The Trend in Labor’s Ranks," The Communist (1941)[61]
  • "Browder Shows the Way Out," The Communist (1941)[62]
  • "Labor's Great Responsibilities and Possibilities," The Communist (1941)[63]
  • "Labor and the National War Effort," The Communist (1942)[64]
  • "The C.I.O. Convention," The Communist (1942)[65]
  • "The Party Recruiting Campaign in Michigan," The Communist (1943)[66]
  • "Forge World Labor Unity!" The Communist (1943)[67]
  • "Crucial Problems Before Labor Today," The Communist (1943)[68]
  • "The Auto Workers' Convention," The Communist (1943)[69]
  • "Teheran and the Wage Policy Issue," The Communist (1944)[70]
  • "Two Conventions of Labor," Political Affairs (1945)[71]
  • "Labor's Victory Wage Policies," Political Affairs (1945)[72]
  • "Speech by Roy Hudson," Political Affairs (1946)[73]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ Saba, Paul (September 1972). "Reformism vs. Revolutionary Struggle in the Labor Movement". Proletarian Cause. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b Haynes, John Early; Klehr, Harvey; Firsov, Fridrikh (1995). The Secret World of American Communism. Yale University Press. pp. 301 (Edith), 302 (Roy B. Hudson), 319 (Aubrey). ISBN 0300137834. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  3. ^ a b Investigation of Communist Activities in the Pacific Northwest. US GPO. 28 May 1954. p. 6004. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  4. ^ Lund, Ernest (October 1944). "Future Prospects for Progressive Group". Labor Action. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  5. ^ Massini, Anthony (14 March 1942). "C.P. Begins New Lynch Campaign in Cleveland". The Militant. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  6. ^ Haynes, John Earl (18 February 2009). "American Communism and Anticommunism: A Historian's Bibliography and Guide to the Literature". JohnEarlHaynes.org. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  7. ^ Kimeldorf, Howard (1988). Reds or Rackets?: The Making of Radical and Conservative Unions on the Waterfront. University of California Press. p. 219. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  8. ^ Chambers, Whittaker (May 1952). Witness. New York: Random House. p. 799. ISBN 9780895269157. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  9. ^ a b Pedersen, Vernon L. (2000). "George Mink, the Marine Workers Industrial Union, and the Comintern in America". Labor History. 41 (3): 310–312. doi:10.1080/713684493. S2CID 153622686. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  10. ^ Constitution and Preamble, Marine Workers Industrial Union. Marine Workers Industrial Union. 1930. p. 18. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  11. ^ a b N. Sparks (1930). The Struggle of the Marine Workers (PDF). International Pamphlets (International Publishers). pp. 49–50, 59–61, 63. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities". USGPO. 1940. p. 6458 (Curran, MWIU, Hudson), 6478–9 (MWIU, Hudson), 6515 (Jones), 6532 (Marine Workers Voice, affiliation). Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  13. ^ "Opening of the Profintern Congress" (PDF). International Press Correspondence (Inprecor). 7 December 1922. p. 892. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  14. ^ Weiss, Holger (1995). "The International of Seamen and Harbour Workers – A Radical Global Labour Union of the Waterfront or a Subversive World-Wide Web?". International Communism and Transnational Solidarity: Radical Networks, Mass Movements and Global Politics, 1919–1939. pp. 256–317. doi:10.1163/9789004324824_008. ISBN 9789004324824. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  15. ^ Bekken, Jon (1995). "Marine Transport Workers IU 510 (IWW): Direct Action Unionism". Libertarian Labor Review: 12. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  16. ^ "Roy Hudson, MWIU Head, Tours Coast" (PDF). Western Worker. 2 July 1934. p. 1. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  17. ^ Freeman, Joseph (2 July 1934). "Through Liberty to Socialism" (PDF). New Masses: 10. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  18. ^ Investigation of Communist Activities in the San Francisco Area. US GPO. 1953. p. 3087. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  19. ^ Widick, BJ (November 1938). "CIO Convention Rubber Stamps Lewis Machine". Socialist Appeal. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  20. ^ a b Hudson, Roy (October 1939). "The Paths of Labor's United Action" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  21. ^ Coolidge, David (4 August 1941). "The Stalinists Swallow Their Tail". Labor Action. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  22. ^ Coolidge, David (27 July 1941). "With the Labor Unions – On the Picket Line". Labor Action. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  23. ^ Gall, Gilbert J. (1998). Pursuing Justice: Lee Pressman, the New Deal, and the CIO. SUNY Press. pp. 6–12 (birth, childhood, schooling), 14–16 (Harvard), 17–18 (Chadbourne), 18–20 (IJA), 20 (Witt), 21 (Liebman, Blumenthal & Levy), 23–34 (AAA, Abt, Bacharach), 32 (skill), 34–43 (Ware Group), 43–44 (NYC), 46–231 (CIO years 1936–1948), 60–62 (Peters, Chambers recommendations), 63–71 (Flint), 92–93 (TWU), 114–115 (NLG radicals), 125 (CBS radio Jan 1940), 135–136 (NDMB and NAA strike), 175–178 (Bridges v. Wixon), 183–184 (CIO-PAC), 187–189 (FBI CPUSA), 192–197 (WFTU), 209 (NBC June 1946), 213–215 (IUMMSW), 264 (Comrade Big), 302–303 (MEBA). ISBN 9780791441039. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  24. ^ Constitution of the Communist Political Association (PDF). Communist Political Association. May 1944. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  25. ^ "The present situation and the next tasks". Daily Worker. 11 June 1945. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  26. ^ "Communist Drive in Unions Seen". New York Times. 6 June 1945. p. 14. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  27. ^ Glotzer, Albert (11 June 1945). "Labor Beware the Latest Communist 'Turn'". Labor Action. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  28. ^ Gates, Albert (30 July 1945). "More Confessions by CP Misleaders". Labor Action. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  29. ^ "Three Letters on Opportunism". The Spark. 3 March 1948. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  30. ^ Coolidge, David (27 July 1941). "Mass Action". Labor Action. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  31. ^ Investigation of Communist Activities in the San Francisco Area. USGPO. 1953. pp. 3138–3152 (Wheeler), 3159–3184 (Hudson), 3355–3367 (Schlipf), 3432–3444 (Chown). Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  32. ^ Communist Activities Hearings Before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-second Congress, First-second Sessions. US GPO. 1951. pp. 482–483 (Ohio), 519 (report), 525 (mention). Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  33. ^ Investigation of Communist Influence in the Field of Publications. US GPO. 8 July 1954. p. 5869. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  34. ^ North, Joseph (April 1934). "The Communist Party Convention" (PDF). New Masses: 8. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  35. ^ North, Joseph (18 June 1940). "The People, Yes" (PDF). New Masses: 7. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  36. ^ "Scope and Content: Guide to the Sam Adams Darcy Papers TAM.124". Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. June 5, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  37. ^ Starobin, Joseph (1972). American Communism in Crisis, 1943-1957. University of California Press. p. 85. ISBN 9780674022751. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  38. ^ Hudson, Roy (1936). Shipowners Plot Against Spanish Democracy. Workers Library. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  39. ^ Hudson, Roy (1937). Who Are the Reds?. Workers Library Publishers. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  40. ^ Hudson, Roy (1939). True Americans: A Tribute to American Maritime Workers who Fought for World Democracy in the Trenches of Spain. Waterfront Section, Communist Party. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  41. ^ Hudson, Roy (1939). True Americans: A Tribute to American Maritime Workers who Fought for World Democracy in the Trenches of Spain (PDF). Waterfront Section, Communist Party. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  42. ^ Hudson, Roy (1941). The C.I.O. Convention and National Unity. Workers Library Publishers. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  43. ^ Hudson, Roy (1941). The Growth of the Trade Unions. Workers Library Publishers. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  44. ^ Hudson, Roy (1941). Trends in the Labor Movement. Workers Library Publishers. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  45. ^ Hudson, Roy (1942). Two Questions on Winning the War. Workers Library Publishers. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  46. ^ Hudson, Roy (1943). Communists and the Trade Unions: The Question Posed by the British Trade Union Congress and the C.I.O. Shipyard Workers Convention and Its Answer. Workers Library Publishers. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  47. ^ Hudson, Roy (1943). Communists and the Trade Unions. Workers Library Publishers. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  48. ^ Browder, Earl; Dennis, Eugene; Hudson, Roy; Williamson, John (February 1944). Shall the Communist Party Change Its Name?. National Committee of the Communist Party. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  49. ^ Hudson, Roy (1944). Post-war Jobs for Veterans, Negroes, Women. Workers Library Publishers. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  50. ^ Hudson, Roy (1944). Post-war Jobs for Veterans, Negroes, Women. Workers Library Publishers. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  51. ^ Hudson, Roy (December 1935). "Rooting the Party on the Waterfront" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  52. ^ Hudson, Roy (March 1936). "The Fight of the Seamen for Militant Unionism" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  53. ^ Hudson, Roy (March 1937). "Lessons of the Maritime" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  54. ^ Hudson, Roy (November 1937). "New Developments in Organizing the Marine Industry" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  55. ^ Hudson, Roy (March 1938). "The Struggle for Trade Union Unity" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  56. ^ Hudson, Roy (August 1938). "The Charter of Party Democracy" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  57. ^ Hudson, Roy (October 1938). "Defeat the Foes of Labbr Unity!" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  58. ^ Hudson, Roy (December 1938). "The A. F. of L. Convention and Tasks for Achieving Unity" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  59. ^ Hudson, Roy (August 1940). "For a Greater Vote and a Stronger Party!" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  60. ^ Hudson, Roy (January 1941). "The Real Reasons for Trade Union Progress" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  61. ^ Hudson, Roy (May 1941). "The Trend in Labor's Ranks" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  62. ^ Hudson, Roy (June 1941). "Browder Shows the Way Out" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  63. ^ Hudson, Roy (August 1941). "Labor's Great Responsibilities and Possibilities" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  64. ^ Hudson, Roy (May 1942). "Labor and the National War Effort" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  65. ^ Hudson, Roy (December 1942). "The C.I.O. Convention" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  66. ^ Hudson, Roy (April 1943). "The Party Recruiting Campaign in Michigan" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  67. ^ Hudson, Roy (May 1943). "Forge World Labor Unity!" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  68. ^ Hudson, Roy (July 1943). "Crucial Problems Before Labor Today" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  69. ^ Hudson, Roy (November 1943). "The Auto Workers' Convention" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  70. ^ Hudson, Roy (February 1944). "Teheran and the Wage Policy Issue" (PDF). The Communist. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  71. ^ Hudson, Roy (January 1945). "Two Conventions of Labor" (PDF). Political Affairs. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  72. ^ Hudson, Roy (April 1945). "Labor's Victory Wage Policies" (PDF). Political Affairs. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  73. ^ Hudson, Roy (1946). "Speech by Roy Hudson" (PDF). Political Affairs. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
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