My friend, Jack Shulman

By Editor-in-Chief on July 29, 2024

*^{Members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, with Jack Shulman seated in the center.}*

Camilo Lazo | National Chair of the American Party of Labor | In memory of Jack Shulman on the 110th anniversary of his birth, July 29, 2024–

I suppose it’s a very sad commentary on the present state of our movement — especially in the US — when one learns of the death of a dear comrade three years after the fact. In 2002, while surfing the web, I read of the passing of Jack Shulman in 1999.

Jack Shulman was a long-time activist of the US Communist movement.

Starting in the 1930s and continuing almost to the new millennium, born of Russian-Jewish immigrants who came to this country in order to escape the Tsarist pogroms, Comrade Shulman’s political career spanned some of the most momentous events of our day: The great popular struggles of the ’30s; the Spanish Civil War (where Comrade Shulman served in the International Brigades); World War Two (where he drew the sword against fascism a second time); the McCarthyist period in the US; the struggle against Khrushchevite revisionism; the 1960s; the defense of Socialist Albania in the ’70s and ’80s; and the attempts to rebuild a genuine revolutionary world Communist movement in the 1990s. Comrade Shulman was always there — always the first to fight.

I first came to know Comrade Shulman when, as teenager trying to make heads or tails over the innumerable “left” groups and parties in the US, I learned of his efforts on behalf of Socialist Albania, and wrote to him. He responded. Comrade Shulman took the time to write to me and warmly offered his opinions and advice. This led to a correspondence that lasted many years. To this day I treasure the letters Comrade Shulman sent me as a boy. His letters were filled with the political guidance and direction I needed — but more importantly, they were filled with the human kindness and concern that only a true comrade can offer a young person.

Comrade Shulman extended a personal invitation to come and visit him at his home in Brooklyn. Twice I accepted his offer. He and his wife were not only gracious hosts, but gentle, warm, and above all wise. I’ll never forget the many stories Jack had to tell: Of his experiences in Spain, in the American South, of his work with the great William Z. Foster.

Eventually, as the 80s drew on I left home to continue my schooling and begin living my life. Sometime in the early 1990s our correspondence came to an end. But, I never forgot my friend and mentor.

Years later, I learned my friend was gone. Comrade Jack Shulman may be dead, but his spirit and his cause are eternal. I dedicate all my political work to his memory. I want to make my old friend proud.

IN MEMORIAM: Jack Shulman (1914–1999), A True American Bolshevik.

The Red Phoenix has published a three-part interview conducted with veteran American communist Jack Shulman, an early anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist, shortly before his passing in 1999. The first section deals with Comrade Shulman’s experience as a member of the anti-fascist Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. Part two focuses on his activity organizing for the Communist Party, USA in the American South, and part three covers his work with CPUSA Chair William Z. Foster and the struggle against Browderism and Khrushchevite revisionism.