Lot 21 email save

Diary of an American Communist

Sign In to see what this sold for

Title: Diary of an American Communist
Author: **
Description: Black leatherette spiral diary, approx. 6½x5½, with 22 pages of entries maintained by an unidentified female.From internal evidence, the diarist had recently moved from New York to Chicago, was newly married to "Conrad" and was an active member of the Chicago branch of the Communist Party as, apparently, was her husband, who, it seems, was more interested in party activities than meeting his husbandly obligations as indicated by her entry on January 15, 1942: "I feel very disappointed and very hurt at C's attitude toward sex. It is months now that he has done nothing except once. He claims always to be tired. I really think he needs to see a doctor." Our diarist compensates for this lack of attention from "C" by devoting herself to party work. Among her diary entries: January 19. "I went to a branch organizers meeting. Frank, the section organizer, is too soft I think. The meeting did not accomplish much. The section membership seems to be very lax about their work. . ." * January 21. "Meeting at Workers School @ 6:30. Nothing much was accomplished." * January 23. "I got a job in the comm. to free Earl Browder. It will pay $10 a week." February 5. "The office is moving downstairs & my services will not be required anymore. Imagine getting canned from a ten bucks a week job." * March 4. "Went to an organizers meeting in evening." * March 13. "Went to Mooney Memorial meeting. Harvey was chairman and very good. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn & Warren K. Billings spoke. Very nice meeting." * March 20. "Morris Childs delivered the main report and it was wonderful. It lasted a very long time but he did not repeat himself." Inserted loosely is a receipt dated March 26, 1942 in the name of Naomi Komorowski, who may have been the keeper of the diary.
Heading: (American Radicalism)Place Published: Chicago
Publisher:
Date Published: January-March, 1942