Joseph R. Brodsky

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For the Russian poet, see Joseph Brodsky.

Joseph R. Brodsky, often known as Joseph Brodsky and Joe Brodsky, was an early 20th-century American civil rights lawyer, political activist, general counsel of the International Labor Defense (ILD), co-founder of the International Juridical Association (IJA), member of ILD defense team for members of the Scottsboro Boys Case of the 1930s, and general counsel for the International Workers Order (IWO).[1]

Career

According to Max Lowenthal, Brodsky was a partner in the law firm of a "Captain Hale."[2] Other sources state that Brodsky was a partner with Carol Weiss King at Brodsky, King & Shorr in New York City.[2] (Another source calls the firm "Shorr, Brodsky, and King" and states King headed it in 1925.[3][4]) Others in their "loose partnership" of radical attorneys included Walter Nelles and Walter Pollak (onetime partner of Benjamin Cardozo, known through King's brother-in-law Carl Stern).[5][6]

International Labor Defense (ILD)

Symbol of International Red Aid, used during 10th Anniversary (1932)

Brodsky was general counsel of the International Labor Defense (ILD), an affiliate (or "arm") of the Communist Party of the United States. The ILD was a legal advocacy organization established in 1925 as the American section of the Comintern's International Red Aid network. The ILD defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was active in the anti-lynching, movements for civil rights, and prominently participated in the defense and legal appeals in the cause célèbre of the Scottsboro Boys in the early 1930s. Its work contributed to the appeal of the Communist Party among African Americans in the South. In addition to fundraising for defense and assisting in defense strategies, from January 1926 it published Labor Defender, a monthly illustrated magazine that achieved wide circulation. In 1946 the ILD was merged with the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties to form the Civil Rights Congress, which served as the new legal defense organization of the Communist Party USA. Carol Weiss King helped Brodsky found the ILD and served on its legal advisory committee.[3][7]

Scottsboro Boys Case

In 1931, nine Southern African-American youths–the "Scottsboro Boys"–were falsely accused of rape and sentenced to death in Alabama. Between April 6 and 9, all boys except Roy Wright were tried singly or in groups and convicted. Some of the boys retained George W. Chamlee, Sr., as new defense. In mid-April 1931, the International Labor Defense (ILD) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) stepped in to help. Brodsky sought first to hire Clarence Darrow, but he declined. Brodsky then worked hard to "wrest the case from the NAACP."[8] (Carol Weiss King, Walter Pollak, and Carl Stern all worked on the Scottsboro Boys cases; Pollak argued part of it before the U.S. Supreme Court.[5])

On June 22, 1931, the courts denied Brodsky's motion for a new trial. When he arrived to make his application, a "howling mob of lynchers" greeted him.[9] In August 1931, Brodsky and Chamlee had to remain in the court building until a large crowd dispersed.[10]

At year's end, Brodsky led arguments,[8] but on December 31, 1931, the Daily Worker newspaper published a statement for Scottsboro defendants that announced retainer of Chamlee and Brodsky as their attorneys.[11]

Upon Brodsky's arrival:

He was met by a howling mob of lynchers. In his efforts to have the convictions set aside, Hawkins immediately overruled Brodsky's request. Brodsky took exception to the judge's ruling, whereupon the judge overruled his exception. Brodsky then countered with an exception to Hawkins' decision overruling his previous request to except.
The judge became so angry that he made a grand exit through the rear door of the courtroom. ln all the confusion, Brodsky turned round, and was suddenly seized by a husky man who said:
"Come on, yah Jew bitch! We'll show you how to defend n*****r rapers."[12]

Former ILD chairman J. Louis Engdahl toured 26 European countries to raise support for the Scottsboro Boys. (Engdahl died in Moscow of pneumonia during the trip.) In Chemnitz, Germany, two demonstrators were killed during protests. In the United States, "the Communist Party and the Young Communist League were the great stimulating forces which brought Scottsboro before the broad masses of organized labor. In cooperation with the ILD, the question of Negroes serving on juries was raised for the first time."[12]

On January 21, 1932, Chamlee, Brodsky, and Irving Schwab (retained by ILD) appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court on all convictions. On March 24, 1932, the court affirms conviction of seven boys but reverses that of Eugene Williams as a minor. On May 31, 1932, the U.S. Supreme Court grants permission for leave to appeal to it. On October 10, 1932, Walter H. Pollak (retained by the ILD), argues before the U.S. Supreme Court; on November 7, 1932, the court reverses the convictions due to inadequate representation and sets new trials for 1933 in Powell v. Alabama.[9]

In 1933, the ILD brought in Samuel Leibowitz to join him and Chamlee. The fact that Leibowitz was not a communist or even radical but rather a mainstream Democrat underscored how serious Communists were to win the case. That said, Leibowitz did have to accept as co-counsel ILD chief attorney Joseph Brodsky.[9] On March 27, 1933, Leibowitz opened his defense of Haywood Patterson, the first defendant retried, by challenging Alabama's exclusion of blacks from the jury rolls and tough cross-examination of whites. On April 9, 1933, at the jury's guilty verdict of Patterson, Liebowitz compared the verdict to "the act of spitting on the tomb of Abraham Lincoln" and vowed to defend the defendants "until hell freezes over." On April 12, 1933, Leibowitz and Brodsky joined John Haynes Holmes, Arthur Garfield Hays, and Roger Baldwin at a "Labor Defense Meeting" in Union Square, New York City.[13][14] On April 16, 1933, Brodsky filed a motion for new trial for Patterson, which the judge grants on June 22.[8] In May 1933, Brodsky joined the ACLU's Arthur Garfield Hays and NAACP's Alexander Miller to meet faculty and students at Brooklyn College to discuss the case.[15] In November 1933, third trials start for Patterson and Clarence Norris, represented by Liebowitz, Brodsky, and Chamlee; both boys receive third convictions by mid-December.[9][16][8][17][18] On November 19, 1933, the lawyers called on U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for intervention to protect the defendants.[19] "Conflict between Liebowitz and the Communist-dominated International Labor Defense (ILD) attorney Joseph Brodsky" undermined the effectiveness of defense, particularly after two ILD attorneys were charged with attempting to bribe witness Victoria Price.[20] By 1934, Brodsky had dropped out of the case, apparently replaced by fellow IJA member Osmond Fraenkel.[9]

Individual cases involved in the Scottsboro Boys case include:

  • POWELL ET AL. v. STATE, 141 So. 201(Ala. 1932): Defense of Ozie Powell, William Roberson, Andy Wright, Olen Montgomery, and Eugene Williams by Chamlee, Sr., Chamlee, Jr., and Brodsky, supported by Irving Schwab, Allan Taub, Elias M. Schwartzbart, Joseph Tauber, and Sidney Schreiber.[21]
  • WEEMS ET AL. v. STATE, 141 So. 215 (Ala. 1932): Defense of Charlie Weems and Clarence Norris by Chamlee, Sr., Chamlee, Jr., and Brodsky, supported by Irving Schwab, Allan Taub, Elias M. Schwartzbart, Joseph Tauber, and Sidney Schreiber.[22]
  • PATTERSON v. STATE, 141 So. 195 (Ala. 1932): Defense of Haywood Patterson by Chamlee, Sr., Chamlee, Jr., and Brodsky, supported by Irving Schwab, Allan Taub, Elias M. Schwartzbart, Joseph Tauber, and Sidney Schreiber.[23]
  • NORRIS v. STATE, 156 So. 556 (Ala. 1934): Defense of Clarence Norris by Leibowitz, Brodsky, and Chamlee, supported by Osmond. Fraenkel, George Rosier, and Carol Weiss King[24]

Other cases

In 1932, Brodsky helped Baltimore-based lawyer Bernard Ades) defend Euel Lee AKA "Orphan Jones," accused of murdering his white employer and family, in the Orphan Jones Case on the Maryland Eastern Shore.[25]

In 1938, Brodsky served as attorney for the American Federation of Musicians by filing as amicus curiae (along with Boudin, Cohn & Glickstein) for several AFL-affiliated unions, Harold Dublirer for Window Trimmers & Displaymen's Union Local 144, Carol Weiss King for the IJA, Edward Kuntz for the ILD, Abraham Unger for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 820 AFL, etc.[26]

Associations

International Juridical Association (IJA)

File:Pressman-Lee-1938.jpg
Lee Pressman was an early IJA member with Brodsky

In 1932, Brodsky became a founding member of the International Juridical Association (IJA). The IJA provided Brodsky and its members with a wide network. Other members and affiliates included: George R. Andersen, Harry Elmer Barnes, Paul F. Brissenden, Richard A. Dowling, Arthur Fisher, Osmond Fraenkel, Leo Gallagher, Aubrey Grossman, Pearl M. Hart, Robert L. Hale, Isaac S. Heller, Abraham J. Isserman, Isadore Katz, Robert W. Kenny, Paul J. Kern, Carol Weiss King, Joseph Kovner, Max Lowenthal, Jerome Michael, Louis F. McCabe, Carey McWilliams, Shad Polier, Lee Pressman, Colston E. Warne, Abrahm Lincoln Wirin, Nathan Witt, David Ziskind, Isaac E. Ferguson, Yetta Land, Maurice Sugar, David J. Bentall, John P. Davis, Charles H. Houston, Henry T. Hunt, R. W. Henderson, Austin Lewis, and Clara G. Binswanger. Beyond Brodsky, IJA members also to the ILD included: George R. Andersen, David J. Bentall, Joseph R. Brodsky, John P. Davis, Leo Gallagher, Irvin Goodman, Carol Weiss King, Edward Lamb, Yetta Land, Louis F. McCabe, Herbert T. Wechsler, Ruth Weyand, Samuel L. Rothbard, and Abraham Lincoln Wirin.[27] The House Un-American Activities Committee considered the IJA "an official offshoot" of the ILD, itself the "legal arm" of the Communist Party.[28]

Other associations

Pete Seeger (here, entertaining Eleanor Roosevelt in 1944[29]) made Brodsky attorney for People's Songs.

Brodsky was involved in many left-leaning associations, making him a nexus of Popular Front and other political movements.

Those associations include:

Personal and death

Brodsky died age 58 on July 30, 1947, as reported by the Daily Worker, which listed him as a charter member of the Communist Party.[2][1]

Two thousand people attended his funeral and more than twenty served as pall bearers. Attendees included IWO head Rockwell Kent, US Rep. Vito Marcantonio, CPUSA head William Z. Foster, New York City Councilman Stanley M. Isaacs, singer-actor Paul Robeson, ACPFB head Abner Green, ILGWU's Irving Potash, NLG chapter head Abraham Unger, and ANC head Max Yergan.[1]

Legacy

In the 1920s, Brodsky mentored Vito Marcantonio and "significantly contributed to his left orientation" toward Marxism.[31] Marcantonio went on to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 18th district from January 3, 1945, until January 3, 1951.

The still-existent National Lawyers Guild is an outgrowth of his efforts at the ILD and IJA.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Kill the Jew From New York. Decatur, 1933.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 27.6 27.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ From the Washington Post, February 12, 1944: "The Labor Canteen, sponsored by the United Federal Workers of America, CIO, will be opened at 8 p.m. tomorrow at 1212 18th st. nw. Mrs. Roosevelt is expected to attend at 8:30 p.m."
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External sources

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