WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
Posted on 06/11/2004 4:35:29 PM PDT by Alouette
Morris U. Schappes, a respected historian of American Jewry and longtime editor of the leftist journal Jewish Currents, died June 3 at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 97.
A longtime fixture in the world of American communism, Schappes first achieved prominence in 1941 when he was fired, along with 40 others, from the faculty of City College of New York for Communist Party membership. He later served 13 months in prison for perjury after refusing to name other party members before a New York State Legislature committee.
Schappes was part of a group of party activists who joined together in 1946 to found the magazine Jewish Life, which became an unofficial party organ. After Khrushchev's 1956 denunciation of Stalin's atrocities touched off a mass exodus of party members, the magazine was reorganized and relaunched in 1958 as Jewish Currents, with Schappes as its editor, a post he held for four decades. The magazine gradually broke with the Soviet Union and moved closer to Israel, especially after 1967.
Born Moishe Shapshilevich in 1907 in Kamenetz-Podolsk, Ukraine, Schappes was raised in Brazil and moved with his parents to New York in 1914. Earning his Bachelor of Arts at City College and his Master of Arts at Columbia University, he joined the faculty of City College as an English lecturer in 1928.
As a scholar, Schappes first achieved prominence for his work on the poetry and letters of Emma Lazarus, published in a series of books and monographs between 1944 and 1987. His broader historical studies include "A Documentary History of the Jews in the United States, 1654-1875," published in 1950 and still a standard reference work, and the popular "The Jews in the United States: A Pictorial History, 1654 to the Present," published in 1958.
A sought-after lecturer, Schappes had articles appear in Jewish Social Studies, The Saturday Review, Publications of the Modern Language Association and other journals. He was awarded the Torchbearer Award of the American Jewish Historical Society in 1993.
A sister-in-law, a niece and a cousin survive Schappes. His wife, Sonya, died in 1992.
SOURCE: http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?ref=staff20040609922
I have a question and a statement. I hope it will not result in me kicked off the list, but if it does, so be it.
Did Morris Schappes ever publicly repudiate his membership in the Communist Party?
Considering the horrific suffering experienced by the Jewish people under Communist regimes, not to mention the ferocious anti-Semitism of the extreme Left, why should Jewish people honor a Communist? Would we honor someone who belonged to Al-Qaeda or the Ku Klux Klan?
If not the case, than I, representing jewish-history.com, as a patriotic American, can not in good conscience endorse any works of Morris U. Schappes, Communist Party Member.
Given the Communist reputation for historical revisionism, can we even trust the works of Morris U. Schappes as honest historians?
I admit to being a "right-winger" but at the same time everyone must admit that we "right-wingers" (such as our late beloved President Ronald Reagan OB"M) have been much more sympathetic to the Jewish People and to Israel than ultra "Left-Wingers" like the anti-Semitic Communist Party.
WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
My folks used to get that magazine.
I don't agree with your views, Mr. Schappes, but now the torch passes. RIP.
I will post any responses I receive from the listserv.
Times have changed, today he'd get tenure.
Oh yeah. To me!!
Times have changed, today he wouldn't get 100% endorsement from Judaic listserve (Alouette stands opposed!)
Perhaps the judeo-lefties, will lose some heart over the passing of one of their primary "hate freedom and Israel" masters.
What a difference between the passing of a true infidel, and a true believer!
Thanks for the ping!
If he's a dead Communist, he's now a good Communist.
This Schapes is "mamish ein shonde" (a#%^%$#!!! disgrace). I would have to add "khub in dred mit fees arouf". He should be buried with his feet sticking upwards. only time prevents me from adding to this.
Not that I have any love for Commies, but how is this perjury?
The only good Communist is a dead Communist -- but even then he stinks!
(Really, though, a truly reformed Communist isn't a bad thing...)
Kind of parallels those America-hating blacks who so love radical, religio-fascist Islam
There is a part of America that is still in love with the Communist ideal , they choose to close their eyes to the atrocities in favor of the "majority good" That of course is fine unless you have been put in the disfavored minority .
Just one of the many misguided. Hopefully he did teshuva before he returned his soul to its maker.
Yeah, well, this is basically the question I posted to the "Jewish-American" listserv.
It's "Shabbat" now. We'll see what the answer is.
I got question Alouette was this SOB around when Joe McCarthy if so how come Uncle Joe didnt' get this clown
A lot of people became Communists in the 30s. Then during the War, Uncle Joe Stalin was our dear ally. Most of these foolish folks learned better during the 50s, but some of them were too thick-headed ever to learn. Evidently Schappes was one of that sort.
I remember meeting Lilian Hellman a few times back in the 50s and 60s, and always wondering how on earth she could believe in that cr*p. The only thing I can think is that their minds got ossified and they ceased to be in touch with reality.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.