Nat Ganley

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Nat Ganley
Born
Nathan Kaplan, Nick Ganley

(1903-11-26)November 26, 1903
New York City
DiedOctober 12, 1969(1969-10-12) (aged 65)
Other namesNat Kaplan
Occupationunion activist
Years active1919-1950s
Employer(s)CPUSA, UAW
Known forhelping unionize in Michigan
MovementCommunism
Criminal chargesSmith Act violation (convicted, overturned)
SpouseAnn Ganley

Nat Ganley, or Nat Kaplan (born Nathan Kaplan; 1903–1969), was a socialist and later communist journalist who became a union organizer in the 1930s, particularly for the United Auto Workers of America. He was tried and convicted in 1954 for violating the Smith Act, but his conviction was later overturned.[1][2][3]

Background[edit]

Nat Ganley was born Nathan Kaplan on November 26, 1903, in New York City. He finished eighth grade in public school. Around 1917, he joined the Socialist Party of America and then the Young Peoples Socialist League (YPSL).[1][3]

Career[edit]

In 1919, Ganley became a communist and became national secretary for the Young Workers' League of America (YWL) (which became the Young Communist League USA).[1] As national junior director of the YWL, Kaplan summarized the difference between his communist group and others by stating: "Let us remember that is it mainly on this point that we differ from the old form of child organization – the worker's Sunday schools. We are not only preparing the child for future participation in class struggle–we are leading the child in the class struggle now!"[4]

In the early 1930s (or late 1920s[2]), Kaplan joined the staff of the CPUSA's Daily Worker newspaper and also became a union organizer (particularly for the National Textile Workers Union (NTWU) for the CPUSA's New England district).[1][5] On February 3, 1930, Kaplan spoke for the Daily Worker at a rally in New York City to protest war preparations by the government of Mexico against the USSR.[6] On October 22, 1932, Kaplan was the main speaker at a torch parade for the Italian branch of the International Workers Order.[7]

By June 1934, Nat Kaplan moved to Detroit, where he published articles in the Daily Worker.[8][9][10][11][12] He organized for the Trade Union Unity League (TUUL)[13][14] and American Federation of Labor (AFL) locals including the Poultry Workers Union, Packing House Workers, and Riggers Union. In Detroit, "Ganley helped organize one of the first UAW locals: the East Side Tool and Die Local 155 in Detroit in 1936."[3] The United Auto Workers of America (UAW) was a member union of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) union federation. On February 6, 1935, he spoke at a rally to back Maurice Sugar, then a noted labor attorney, for the position of judge of the Recorder's Court.[15] With Stanley Nowak and John Anderson, he helped organize Detroit's first sit-down strikes at Alcoa and Midland Steel Products.[1]

From 1937 to 1947, he served as business agent for UAW Local 155 and edited its publication Common Sense.[1] In April 1938, during a CIO convention in Michigan, where CPUSA-supported UAW president Homer Martin was facing opposition, Ganley met with William Weinstone (head of the Michigan CPUSA), Boleslaw Gebert, and Richard Frankensteen, who together decided to break with a "Unity Caucus" between the CPUSA and Socialists led by Walter Reuther and later contributed to Martin's ouster.[16] In March 1939, Ganley negotiated a 7-cent raise (to $1.03 an hour) for the UAW-CIO's Saginaw Local 537 with US Graphite Co.[17] In mid-March 1939, Ganley was elected to the Resolutions Committee of the national UAW-CIO.[18] By May 1939, Ganley was signing labor contracts no longer for UAW Local 155 but for the UAW-CIO.[19] By August 1, 1940, political differences with the Reuther brothers received notice in the United Automobile Worker newspaper, with Victor Reuther asserting that the USSR had linked itself to Nazi Germany through the 1939 Hitler-Stalin Pact, while Ganley asserted that he had "first-hand" knowledge that the USSR was "not a totalitarian nation."[20] On August 15, 1940, during the national UAW-CIO convention, Walter Reuther attacked "Brother Ganley" for reversing his "beautiful resolution" the year before that praised President Franklin Delano Roosevelt."[21] In March 1941, Ganley found himself among a dozen UAW-CIO officials subpoenaed by I.A. Capizzi, attorney for the Ford Motor Co., to prove his allegation that the UAW-CIO and the local office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) had fallen under Communist control. Among the others were CPUSA executives Earl Browder, Robert Minor, and William Z. Foster, Michigan Communist Party chief William Weinstone, and Boleslaw Gebert as well as CIO leaders Philip Murray, John Brophy, Len De Caux, Lee Pressman, and the NLRB's Nathan Witt.[22] (In 1948, Whittaker Chambers named Pressman and Witt as member of the Ware Group he ran in Washington; in 1950, Pressman confirmed Witt and himself as members.) In June 1944, as both UAW-CIO and Communist figure, Ganley endorsed incumbent Polish-American US Representative John Lesinski Sr. for Congress.[23] In December 1944, the Clayton & Lambert Co. fired 183 Afro-American employees for staging a one-night strike. Ganley announced that the CIO would not contest the firings because the United States was at war.[24] In August 1945, a Washington Evening Star editorial cited Ganley as one of several powerful Communist leaders who also remained in control of local, powerful unions (along with Frederick Myers of the National Maritime Union and David Davis of the United Electrical Workers).[25] In March 1948, "Stalinist" Ganley found himself voted out of his role as business agent after the Local 155 election, when Walter Reuther won over John Anderson as president, as reported by the Third-Camp Trotskyist publication Labor Action.[26]

In addition to union work in Michigan, Ganley remained active in the national CPUSA. In the 1940s, he helped form[27] and served on the national committee of the (then) Communist Political Association (CPA) and in the 1930s and 1940s on the Michigan state committee. From 1947 to 1950, he published the Michigan Herald and state edition of the Daily Worker.[1][3]

Anti-communist attacks[edit]

As early as 1936, Ganley under both names (Nat Ganley, Nat Kaplan) had become a target of anti-communist propaganda by the Constitutional Educational League. In 1936, their pamphlet Butter, Shoes, a Radio, and a Car! named him as a national communist figure "for years."[28] In 1937, anti-communist crusader Joseph P. Kamp of the Constitutional Educational League gave him a separate biographical entry in another anti-CIO pamphlet.[29] On August 6, 1937, the anti-communist group "Real Friends of the Worker" published a third-page ad whose contents included the question "Why are Nat Ganley, Walter and Vic Reuther and Israel Berestein, all known to be leading Communists, officially connected with the C.I.O.?"[30]

On October 13, 1938, Kaplan's name appeared in the Dies Committee testimony of Detroit resident Walter S. Reynolds of the American Legion.[31] A few days later, on October 19, 1938, Ford Motor Company employee Clyde Morrow described Nat Ganley as "a Communist and member several unions at one time under different names" during the 1936 sit-down at Midland Steel.[32]

In 1947, Kamp called him "one of Reuther's top leaders in the UAW-CIO in Detroit."[33] In 1947–8, Plain Talk anti-communist magazine noted Ganley as a casualty in the war internal to the UAW between communists like Ganley and the Reuther brothers.[34]

Smith Act trial[edit]

In September 1952, the FBI arrested Ganley among 18 (15 men, 3 women) long-time CPUSA leaders.[35] In 1953, African-American former communist William O'Dell Nowell testified that Ganley had been one of his trainers at the International Lenin School in Moscow.[36]

By 1954, Ganley and five others had been tried and convicted under the Smith Act, later ordered for rehearing by the United States Supreme Court and overturned at the United States Court of Appeals.[1][3] (This trial was one of many Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders from 1949 to 1958.)

Personal life and death[edit]

Ganley was married to Ann Ganley.[1]

Ganley supported civil rights for African-Americans and foreign-born Americans.[37]

Ganley helped organize first United CIO and AFL Labor Day parade in Detroit.[3]

Nat Ganley died age 65 on October 12, 1969.[1][3]

Legacy[edit]

In his 1952 memoir Witness, Whittaker Chambers wrote that Robert Minor replaced him with "Nat Kaplan" during his ouster from the Daily Worker:

Nevertheless, I was not quite prepared, when I walked into the Daily Worker office early the next afternoon, to find a stranger sitting at my place in the slot. But I knew at a glance what had happened.
I had become "a politically unreliable element ." Grateful Bob Minor, to demonstrate his new-found loyalty to the new overlords, had decided to make a political offering of me. He had warned them that I had doubts, that I had said that I was no longer able to edit the Daily Worker. I was not angry with him. But I was sorry that he should have let himself be less than he was, especially in truckling to men who were so much less than he.
The stranger at the copy desk turned out to be Nat Kaplan, a young Communist, who, if I remember rightly, had just returned from the Soviet Union. (Under another name, he was later to be employed by the C.I.O. Auto Workers Union.) Minor instructed me coldly to teach Kaplan my job. "Because you are overworked and need assistance," said that childish hypocrite. Kaplan was restrained, self-consciously pleasant and very alert, exactly in the manner of any detective who hopes to elicit all possible information from a man before he arrests him. We worked together quietly through the afternoon. I showed him just what to do. He was quick and bright.[2]

When he died, the Detroit Jewish News remember him as both an important, early UAW organizer and an "important member of the Michigan Communist Party."[3]

In 1970, wife Ann Ganley gave the Walter Reuther Library at Wayne State University an archive of Nat Ganley. Subjects include: 1955 Auto Contracts, Convention Notes (1936–37, 1939–42, 1951, 1955), the WWII No Strike Pledge 1941–1945, Post War Reconversion 1945–1946, Homer Martin Struggle 1938–1939, Communist Party, Chrysler Strike 1950, Ford Strike 1949, Sitdown Strike 1937, Foley Square trial, Michigan Smith Trial, Gerald L.K. Smith, CIO Political Action Committee 1952–1956, Communist Party National Programs (1954, 1959, 1966, 1969), Civil Rights, Automation, and Guaranteed Annual Wage.[1]

Ganley's papers became embroiled in controversy in 1996, when his name resurfaced in an article by Martin Glaberman the independent socialist journal Monthly Review over the issue of whether Walter Reuther was ever a CPUSA member:

In fact Reuther was a member of the CP (for less than a year). Nat Ganley, a leading CP militant in the UAW—commenting on a book manuscript to his comrades at International Publishers—said he was a member. "I collected his dues." But he recommends that that fact be deleted from the book—which it was. The book was Brother Bill McKie, the biography of an important CP organizer at the Rouge plant. When I discovered this in Ganley's papers in the Wayne State University Labor Archives, I reported it in a small article. At the time, I didn't think it was all that significant, but I have since modified that view. My experience in getting it published was at least as interesting as the facts themselves. Labor History, the liberal, pro-labor academic journal, refused to publish it on the grounds that it was terrible news, "if true," and they could get sued! This was in the 1970s about something Ganley had written in the 1950s about a relatively brief event in the 1930s. Who in the world was going to sue? Ultimately the piece was published in Radical America.1 After its publication I learned that Ganley's widow, Ann Ganley, had tried to steal the documentary evidence from the Archives. In fact, she did steal it—but I had made photocopies of the material and was able to restore it to the Archives at their request.[38]

Works[edit]

Articles for the Daily Worker
  • "The Daily Worker, Always the Champion of Working Youth" (1929)[39]
  • "Rank and File Auto Workers Battle A.F.L. Leaders" (1934)[8]
Articles for the United Automobile Worker
  • "Local 155 Views with Pride its Achievements of the Past Year" (1937)[40]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "The Nat Ganley Collection" (PDF). Wayne State University – Reuther Library. June 1971. pp. 1–2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Chambers, Whittaker (May 1952). Witness. New York: Random House. p. 258. ISBN 9780895269157. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Nat Ganley, Early UAW Organizer" (PDF). Detroit Jewish News. 17 October 1969. p. 46. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  4. ^ Mishler, Paul C. (1999). Raising Reds: The Young Pioneers, Radical Summer Camps, and Communist Political Culture in the United States. Columbia University Press. p. 31. ISBN 9780231110440. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  5. ^ House of Representatives, Subcommittee of the Special Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities (1940). Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States. USGPO. pp. 1347–1348. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  6. ^ "Fight Wall St. Move in Mexico" (PDF). Daily Worker. 3 January 1930. p. 1. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  7. ^ "Fight Wall St. Move in Mexico" (PDF). Daily Worker. 22 October 1932. p. 2. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  8. ^ a b Nat Ganely (28 June 1934). "Rank and File Auto Workers Battle A.F.L. Leaders" (PDF). Daily Worker. p. 3. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  9. ^ Nat Ganely (30 June 1934). "Rank and File Auto Workers Fight for One United Union" (PDF). Daily Worker. p. 5. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  10. ^ Nat Ganely (12 July 1934). "Bosses Paper Proves Green as Their Tool" (PDF). Daily Worker. p. 3. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  11. ^ Nat Ganely (26 July 1934). "3 Groups Vie for Control in Car Union" (PDF). Daily Worker. p. 2. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  12. ^ Nat Ganely (2 August 1934). "Smith MESA Machine Ended Burroughs Strike in Defeat" (PDF). Daily Worker. p. 3. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  13. ^ "161 Delegates at Auto Workers Union Meet Map Recruiting Drive" (PDF). Daily Worker. 6 July 1934. p. 3. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  14. ^ A.B. Magil (26 July 1934). "400 Strike at Detroit Meat Shop" (PDF). Daily Worker. p. 1. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  15. ^ "Detroit Labor to Hold Rally for Nominee" (PDF). Daily Worker. 7 February 1935. p. 3. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  16. ^ Benedict, Daniel (1992). "Good-Bye to Homer Martin". Labour / Le Travail. 29: 124. doi:10.2307/25143571. JSTOR 25143571. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  17. ^ "Sign Additional Union Contracts" (PDF). United Automobile Worker. 4 March 1939. pp. 1, 3. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  18. ^ "Convention Committees" (PDF). United Automobile Worker. 18 March 1939. p. 3. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  19. ^ "Win Close Shop at Essex Brass" (PDF). United Automobile Worker. 27 May 1939. p. 2. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  20. ^ "Thomas Gives Outline of Union Gains" (PDF). United Automobile Worker. 1 August 1940. p. 2. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  21. ^ "St. Louis Debate on FDR Endorsement" (PDF). United Automobile Worker. 15 August 1940. p. 7. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  22. ^ "Ford Asks Writs in Red Plots Charge: Capizzi Lists Communists, CIO Leaders" (PDF). Detroit Times. 26 March 1941. p. 1. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  23. ^ "CIO Selects Primary Slate" (PDF). Detroit Evening Times. 21 June 1944. p. 3. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  24. ^ "183 Strikers Fire; Trailer Dispute Ends" (PDF). Detroit Times. 15 December 1944. p. 1. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  25. ^ "Browder Bows Out" (PDF). Washington Evening Star. 3 August 1945. p. 6. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  26. ^ "Local Auto Union Votes Show Militants on the Alert". Labor Action. 15 March 1948. Archived from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  27. ^ "Communists Form Political Group to Replace Party" (PDF). Montana Labor Party. 1 June 1944. p. 1. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  28. ^ Kamp, Joseph Peter (1936). Butter, Shoes, a Radio, and a Car!. Constitutional Educational League. p. 30. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  29. ^ Kamp, Joseph Peter (1937). Join the C.I.O. and Help Build a Soviet America: A Factual Narrative. Constitutional Educational League. p. 30. Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  30. ^ "Facts About C.I.O" (PDF). Daily Independent, Elizabeth City N.C. 6 August 1937. p. 5. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  31. ^ House of Representatives, Subcommittee of the Special Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities (1940). Strikes and the Communists Behind Them. Investigation of Un-American Activities in the United States. pp. 1347–1348. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  32. ^ "First Sit-Down Is Laid to Reds by Ford Worker" (PDF). Washington Evening Star. 19 October 1938. p. 1. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  33. ^ Kamp, Joseph Peter (1947). Strikes and the Communists Behind Them. Constitutional Educational League. p. 49. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  34. ^ "[title unclear]". Plain Talk: 12. 1947. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  35. ^ Robert K. Walsh (17 September 1952). "New Communist Roundup Nets 18 Long Active in Party Work" (PDF). Washington Evening Star. p. 1. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  36. ^ "Plot to Grab President in Red Revolution Described in Detroit" (PDF). Washington Evening Star. 20 November 1953. p. A-18. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  37. ^ Pettengill, Ryan (29 October 2021). "Communists and Community in Wartime Detroit". Tales from the Reuther Library. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  38. ^ Glaberman, Martin (1 November 199). "Walter Reuther, "Socialist Unionist"". Monthly Review. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  39. ^ Nat Kaplan (5 January 1929). "The Daily Worker, Always the Champion of Working Youth" (PDF). Daily Worker. p. 3. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  40. ^ Nat Ganley (12 June 1937). "Local 155 Views with Pride its Achievements of the Past Year" (PDF). United Automobile Worker. p. 6. Retrieved 3 July 2022.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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