Title: George Novack and Evelyn Reed Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1933-1992

Creators:

• Novack, George Edward, 1905-1992
• Reed, Evelyn, 1905-1979

Call Number: Micro 555

Extent: 11 reels of microfilm (35mm)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of George Novack, a leader of the Socialist Workers Party best known for his writing on Marxian philosophy and his Marxian historical interpretations, together with papers of his wife, Evelyn Reed, an anthropologist and fellow Trotskyist. The papers include interviews and biographical material, correspondence, and speeches and writings. There are papers on Novack's leadership of the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky and the Civil Rights Defense Committee. Ree's papers largely concern her work as a Marxist anthropologist and her views on the oppression of women in society.

Note:

There is a restriction on use of this material; see the Administrative/Restriction Information portion of this finding aid for details.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-micr0555

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George Novack was born Yasef Mendel Novograbelsky in Boston in 1905. His father was a professional gambler and Turkish bathhouse operator, who anglicized the family's surname. Novack attended Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in 1926 and an M.A. in 1927 before beginning a career in publishing and public relations. He worked for a New York publicity bureau in 1928, Doubleday and Company in 1929, and was advertising manager for E.P. Dutton & Co. from 1930 to 1934. During this period he was also a contributor to the New Republic and the Nation.

By the early 1930s Novack had studied Marx and became associated with the “Menorah Circle,” a group of Jewish intellectuals in New York that included Herbert Solow, Clifton Fadiman, Sidney Hook, and Diana and Lionel Trilling. During the decade he became increasingly involved in radical politics, and in 1933 Novack joined the Communist League of America, the predecessor of the Socialist Workers Party with which he remained associated until his death. From 1940 until 1972 Novack served as a member of the SWP National Committee. Novack's best known contributions to the party, however, were as a Marxist historian and theoretician. His primary contribution was his writing (much done under the pseudonym William F. Warde) on American history and Marxist philosophy. Novack published some fifteen volumes of history and philosophy (most notably Introduction to the Logic of Marxism [1942], Moscow Versus Peking [1963], The Origins of Materialism [1965], Democracy and Revolution [1971], and Pragmatism versus Marxism: An Appraisal of John Dewey's Philosophy [1975]), as well as numerous articles and policy papers.

During over six decades of political activity Novack was associated with numerous left-wing defense committees. He served as national chairman of the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky and was part of the welcoming delegation that met the Russian revolutionary in Mexico in 1937. During World War II Novack served as national chairman of the Civil Rights Defense Committee which mobilized opposition to the imprisonment of the SWP leadership. In later years Novack was a plaintiff and architect of that suit which revealed the FBI harassment of the party.

Through at least the mid-1950s Novack continued to work in publicity, sales promotion, and editing, holding the positions of vice president and account executive of Hudson Advertising Co., 1935-1937; head of promotion and publicity for Harold R. Peat Bureau, 1938-1941; vice president and sales manager of Optics Inc., 1942-1947; vice president in charge of sales for Whitehill Systems, Inc., 1948-1952; general manager of Automatic Packaging Co., 1953-1954; and executive editor for Trade Publishers, 1954-1956.

In the 1960s Novack served as a research associate of the Fund for the Republic and he collaborated on editing and research projects with Isaac Deutscher, C. Wright Mills, and Ernest Mandel.

Before 1953, Novack was conspicuous in the political leadership of the SWP but in that year Novack briefly sided with Michael Raptis (“Pablo”) in a major dispute within the Fourth International. After failing to convince James Cannon and other party leaders of the validity of Raptis' arguments, Novack moved to Los Angeles and experienced a severe bout of depression before eventually rejoining the party.

Novack and his first wife, Elinor Rice, were divorced in 1942. Shortly thereafter Novack married artist Evelyn Reed (nee Evelyn Horwit) whom he met while she was working in Trotsky's household. Equally committed to revolutionary politics, Reed was well known in her own right as a feminist and Marxist anthropologist. She died in 1979. Novack died in New York City on July 30, 1992 after a brief illness.

The major portion of these papers consists of manuscript drafts, handwritten notes, clippings, and correspondence. There are four main series in the collection: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL, the EVELYN REED PAPERS, CORRESPONDENCE, and SPEECHES AND WRITINGS. The bulk of the collection covers Novack's later years as a party intellectual and writer and most of the papers relate to his writing projects and to his ongoing association with Alan Wald, a historian of the left wing New York intellectuals in the 1930s.

Although papers concerning Novack's writings make up the bulk of the collection, their utility for research is difficult to assess and the files are difficult to use. The collection includes no complete bibliography of Novack's writings, and many individual manuscripts are incomplete, disordered beyond reconstruction, and insufficiently identified. Many works, especially his books, appear completely unrepresented. There was also little in the papers to document his role in educating young Trotskyists, although a number of his mimeographed instructional lectures (Dialectical Materialism and Introduction to the Logic of Marxism) have been added to the collection from the National Education Office files of the SWP records also held by the SHSW Archives.

The collection is also disappointing because of the absence of material about Novack's early life. Although Novack considered himself to have been as widely acquainted as anyone among New York intellectuals during the 1930s this fact is not reflected in any contemporary documentation in the collection, although many useful recollections of his associations and activities during that period are included. Neither is Novack's leadership in the non-CP labor defense and civil liberties struggles reflected here. (Work as executive director of the Civil Rights Defense Committee is documented, however, in a separate collection held by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.) Finally, evidence of Novack's contacts with the Trotskyist leadership is sparse, with only slim folders documenting his relations with individuals such as Jack Barnes, Farrell Dobbs, Vincent R. Dunne, and Joe Hansen. This deficiency is partly compensated for by Novack (and Warde) letters that are scattered throughout the records of the Socialist Workers Party and the James Cannon Papers.

The BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL consists of a few clippings, a marriage license and divorce papers, professional resumes, and two lengthy autobiographical interviews conducted during the early 1970s. Also included is a copy of the introduction to Polemics in Marxist Philosophy which concerns the development of Novack's political philosophy.

The EVELYN REED PAPERS consist of one box of papers, almost entirely concerning her controversial Marxian views on the oppression of women in society. Included is a chronological file of correspondence and a second file comprised of writings and speeches. A subject file contains several anthropological debates to which Reed was a party which appeared in various Trotskyist publications. (Researchers should note that the single folder of personal correspondence between Novack and Reed in the collection (1962 to 1965) is filed in the Novack correspondence described below.)

The CORRESPONDENCE covers the years 1945 to 1988, with the bulk dating after 1960. The majority of the series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent, although there is a small chronologically-arranged general file. The largest section of the series documents a relationship with historian Alan Wald, a fellow Trotskyist, that began in 1968. This correspondence concerns Wald's research on New York City intellectuals of the 1930s, particularly James T. Farrell, Sherry Mangan, and John Wheelwright. The relationship between Wald and Novack began in order to answer Wald's research queries, but over the years it developed into a strong friendship, so that the file is a rich source of information not only about Novack's past associations and observations but also about his life from 1974 to 1983. Because of Wald's habit of sending Novack copies of letters he had received from other informants in order to prompt Novack's clarifications and comments (at one point even sending him copies of Farrell-Novack letters in the James T. Farrell Papers), the file contains correspondence from individuals such as Herbert Aptheker, James Burnham, Noam Chomsky, Pierre Frank, Albert Glotzer, Granville Hicks, Sidney Hook, Irving Howe, Quincy Howe, Sidney Kunitz, Mary McCarthy, Felix Morrow, B. F. Skinner, Arne Swabeck, Lionel and Diana Trilling, and even several letters from Novack's first wife, Elinor Rice Hayes. In addition, some of the materials sent to Novack relate to Wald's courses and other activities at the University of Michigan. Although many of the letters in the Wald files are filmed with their cover letters, over time many items had been separated from their cover letters and the unattached enclosures are therefore arranged on film by their own dates.

Much of Novack's other correspondence deals with publishing projects. Most notable are exchanges with Isaac Deutscher and Ernest Mandel concerning proposed joint projects during the 1960s. (Several letters from Max Shachtman are included in the Deutscher file.) Exchanges with fellow Trotskyist Joe Hansen also touch on editorial matters, although the chief focus is a discussion of international events prompted by Hansen's visits with foreign socialists. The folder on James T. Farrell contains several handwritten letters.

The collection includes one folder of correspondence pertaining to the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky and Novack's role in its efforts to win exile for Trotsky. This file consists largely of material photocopied by the SWP from an unidentified source, although some later material (including letters to and from Novack and his memoir of the Dewey Commission) probably derived from records in the SWP National Office files includes original papers. The folder of correspondence with Trotsky himself contains only copies of letters from the Houghton Library.

Other useful files include Novack's reports on his 1944 national tour as national secretary of the Civil Rights Defense Committee and a folder of correspondence, 1962-1965, with Evelyn Reed that mixes personal and political news. Another folder concerns matters within the Fourth International; it dates entirely from 1952 when Novack was in England and the identity of most correspondents in the file is masked by pseudonyms.

SPEECHES AND WRITINGS comprise the largest series of the collection. (This section is supplemented by several recorded speeches by Novack and Reed which are part of the Socialist Workers Party records at SHSW). The section has been subdivided--as it was by Novack himself--into three categories--Historical writing, Philosophical writing, and General writing. The philosophical and general writings are arranged alphabetically by keyword. Material in the philosophy section primarily deals with Marxist thought and the folder headings--many of which deal with abstract concepts--are those applied by Novack. The historical writings are roughly grouped by historical periods. The philosophical and historical sections are closely related, as both document Novack's lifelong interest in the philosophy of history. The historical writings include many manuscripts and notes that relate to Novack's interest in the Second American Revolution as an interpretative concept. Although undated, internal evidence suggests that these manuscripts may relate to a proposed volume written early in his career that was destroyed by fire.

Overall, the writings series offers a disappointing record of Novack's important contributions to Marxist thought. Many of the files were received in great disorder, and only a portion contain finished manuscripts and even fewer contain items that were adequately dated or identified. Interspersed within many individual drafts are handwritten notes and typed pages apparently from other works, suggesting that Novack may have reworked some manuscripts for other purposes. Because no order could be discerned for many files, this section has been filmed essentially as it was received. A few files in this series (for example, the useful file on his C. Wright Mills collaboration) contain correspondence. In general, complete manuscripts which are not supplemented by correspondence, variant drafts, or any other supporting documentation have been filed chronologically in the “General Writings” file.

Much of the historical writing is thought to date from Novack's early life and portions probably relate to an unpublished manuscript on the Second American Revolution, also an ongoing interest.

Notable in the General writings is a copy of Novack's CRDC pamphlet Witch Hunt in Minnesota; three historical papers (“Civil War in New York: The Anti-draft Demonstration of 1863,” which was prepared in 1939, and “Discrimination in the Building Trades: The Struggle for Equality in Plumbers Local 78” and “Unity Caucus on the Railroads: The Story of the Consolidation Committee of Enginemen,” both written in 1958); articles on A. J. Muste and the CRDC;, and memorial addresses eulogizing Dobbs, Pierre Frank, and other SWP leaders. Also included are printed copies of early writing for the New Republic and the New International. The section of general writings also includes documents pertaining to Novack's involvement in several isolated episodes in SWP history: reports and resolutions on the Black struggle during the 1960s, the China discussion, the 1960 party platform, efforts to expand the SWP publication program, and “regroupment” cooperation with the Socialists during the late 1950s. Also here is information on the party's response to charges made against Novack and Hansen by British Trotskyist Gerry Healy that they had been guilty of negligence in Trotsky's assassination.

Use Restrictions

Copyright to this collection is retained by the Socialist Workers Party.

Acquisition Information

Presented by the Socialist Workers Party, 1992. Accession Number: M92-184

Processing Information

Processed by Lee Grady and Carolyn J. Mattern, 1994.

	Series: Biographical Material
Reel   1 Frame   001	Autobiographical sketches
Reel   1 Frame   024	Biographical miscellany, 1942-1992
Reel   1 Frame   066	Interviews, 1972-1973
	Series: Evelyn Reed Papers	⇧
Reel   1 Frame   146	Biographical information, 1972-1979
Reel   1 Frame   165	General correspondence, 1962-1977
Reel   1 Frame   258	General writings, 1953-1978, undated
	Subject files
Reel   1 Frame   603	Bloom, Stephen, 1975
Reel   1 Frame   620	Coontz, Stephanie, 1978
Reel   1 Frame   660	Des Verney, Robert, 1972-1975
Reel   1 Frame   713	Garrett, Jan, 1967-1973
Reel   1 Frame   767	Notes on circumcision and subincision
	Series: Correspondence	⇧
Reel   2 Frame   001	General correspondence, 1933-1990
	Special files
Reel   2 Frame   133	Baraheni, Rza, 1974-1978
Reel   2 Frame   150	Barnes, Jack, 1964, 1982
Reel   2 Frame   157	Breitman, George, 1964-1984
Reel   2 Frame   200	Civil Rights Defense Committee tour, 1944
Reel   2 Frame   244	Deutscher, Isaac, 1961-1967
Reel   2 Frame   401	Dobbs, Farrell, 1961-1964
Reel   2 Frame   427	Dunne, Vincent R., 1947
Reel   2 Frame   435	Farrell, James T., 1965-1979
Reel   2 Frame   563	Fourth International, 1952
Reel   2 Frame   593	Genecin, Milton, 1970-1972
Reel   2 Frame   605	Guerin, Daniel, 1947
Reel   2 Frame   610	Hansen, Joseph, 1958-1968
Reel   2 Frame   730	Isaacs, Harold, 1989
Reel   2 Frame   750	Mandel, Ernest, 1962-1974
Reel   2 Frame   905	Reed, Evelyn, 1962-1965
Reel   3 Frame   001	Harrison, Salisbury, 1986
Reel   3 Frame   024	Sawyer, Phyllis, 1966
Reel   3 Frame   034	Trotsky, Leon, 1939-1940, 1973-1985
Reel   3 Frame   077	American Committee for the Defense of, 1937, 1961-198?
	Wald, Alan
Reel   3 Frame   199	1973-1976
Reel   4	1977-1982
Reel   5 Frame   001	1983-1990, undated
Reel   5 Frame   362	Wright, John G., 1945
	Series: Speeches and Writings	⇧
	Subseries: General writings
	Chronological file
Reel   5 Frame   370	1933-1939
Reel   11	1939, “Civil War in New York: The Anti-Draft Demonstrations of 1863”
Reel   11	1943-1987, undated
Reel   6 Frame   001	Notes and fragments, 1930s
Reel   6 Frame   116	Notes and fragments, World War II
Reel   6 Frame   243	Miscellaneous notes and fragments
	Alphabetical file
Reel   6 Frame   262	Anchor Foundation, 1977
Reel   6 Frame   306	Black struggle resolution for , 1965 convention
Reel   6 Frame   351	China discussion, 1959-1966
Reel   6 Frame   606	Expansion fund reports, 1972-1976, undated
Reel   6 Frame   735	Freedom Now Party, 1963
Reel   6 Frame   753	Glass, Frank (Liang), 1986-1988
Reel   6 Frame   786	Great Britain (includes report written for Gerry Healy), 1952, 1980
Reel   6 Frame   823	Healy slander campaign, 1976-1977
Reel   6 Frame   850	Infitada advertisement response, 1988
Reel   6 Frame   857	Mills, C. Wright, 1961-1974, undated
Reel   7 Frame   001	Regroupment
Reel   7 Frame   002	Holland Roberts candidacy, 1958
Reel   7 Frame   052	Harold Davies tour, 1958-1960
	SWP
Reel   7 Frame   090	, 1960 election campaign platform
Reel   7 Frame   116	, 1961 convention report
Reel   7 Frame   149	Sixties-Thirties comparison, undated
Reel   7 Frame   175	Soviet Union, 1961-1962, undated
Reel   7 Frame   291	Triple Revolution, circa 1965
Reel   7 Frame   342	Workers School course outlines, 1940
Reel   7 Frame   395	YSA (fragments only), 1962
	Subseries: Philosophical writing	⇧
Reel   7 Frame   407	Accident and necessity, 1950s
Reel   7 Frame   768	Alienation in Marxism, undated
Reel   7 Frame   792	Alienation, The Problem of in Modern Society, 1967
Reel   7 Frame   815	Capital (5 transcribed lectures), 1960
Reel   7 Frame   828	Christian-Marxist dialogue, 1979-1980
Reel   7 Frame   868	Dialectical Materialism (course outline), undated
Reel   7 Frame   940	Engels, Frederick, undated
Reel   8 Frame   001	Existentialism (Camus and Sartre)
Reel   8 Frame   134	Feudalism and the transition to capitalism
Reel   8 Frame   172	Historical Materialism and Dialectical materialism, undated
Reel   8 Frame   193	History, the concept of in Hegel and Marx, undated
Reel   8 Frame   203	Logic of Marxism, An Introduction to, 1953, undated
Reel   8 Frame   366	Lukacs, George, undated
Reel   8 Frame   569	Marxism and the law, undated
Reel   8 Frame   585	Marxist Philosophy, An introduction to, undated
Reel   8 Frame   647	Materialism, undated
Reel   8 Frame   682	Nature, Dialectics of, 1971?
Reel   8 Frame   721	Permanent revolution (Mandel/Jenness debate), 1982
Reel   8 Frame   789	Praxis, 1964, 1984, undated
Reel   8 Frame   986	Reality of contradiction, post 1979
Reel   8 Frame   1056	Revisionism and dialectics, 1942
Reel   9 Frame   001	Revolution (12 lectures), undated
Reel   9 Frame   272	Science notes, undated
Reel   9 Frame   361	Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, undated
Reel   9 Frame   454	Sociology and historical materialism, 1960s
Reel   9 Frame   488	Trotsky, undated
Reel   9 Frame   591	Uneven and combined development, 1978
Reel   9 Frame   602	Uniqueness of the individual notes
Reel   9 Frame   612	Whitman and Twain, undated
	Subseries: Historical writings	⇧
Reel   10 Frame   002	American history-general, undated
	Historians
Reel   10 Frame   276	Charles Beard
Reel   10 Frame   509	Parrington and Turner
Reel   10 Frame   583	Notes
Reel   10 Frame   756	Colonial period
Reel   10 Frame   849	Revolution
Reel   10 Frame   964	Civil War