The Robert Chester Papers are a small collection that primarily illuminates his reputation as a party educator. Although the information is incomplete and fragmentary, the papers add to the documentary record about SWP activities in San Francisco. The papers are arranged as Obituaries, Correspondence, Speeches and Writings, and Subject Files. The entire collection is available both in paper form and on microfilm.
The collection begins with OBITUARIES from The Militant for both Bob and Anne Chester. The single folder of CORRESPONDENCE, 1944-1976, includes several useful letters to and from Murry Stein of the National Office concerning wartime conditions within the San Francisco Branch and the local machinists and longshoremen's unions. Additional reports to Stein concern the organization of the East Bay Branch and the Bay Area Executive Committee and the branch's support for a local Black candidate in 1945. The coverage resumes in 1969, consisting of several lengthy theoretical exchanges with Joe Hansen about the nature of revolutionary governments in Cuba, China, and Yugoslavia. This correspondence, which was published in Educational Socialists Bulletin, appears to be tied to several of the writing and subject files in the collection. A substantial portion of the correspondence consists of letters of condolence received by Anne Chester after her husband's death.
The SPEECHES AND WRITINGS files, which are alphabetically arranged by subject, contain a variety of documentation. Many files contain typed outlines for speeches, reports, or educational lectures, together with handwritten research notes. Unfortunately, only a few contain full transcripts and some of the complete manuscripts in the collection are of unidentified authorship and may not be by Chester. Very few writings are dated. All files for which the subject was uncertain have been filed together under the heading “unidentified writings.” One of the most interesting (and one of the most readable) items is a recounting of Chester's political memories. The files relating to Chester's educational work typically contain suggestions for reading and discussion questions. Most extensive of these are the files on Stalinism, Fascism, and the Russian Revolution.
Other notable items in the series are Chester's 1950 report on the situation in the Bay area, an undated report on the longshoremen, and a folder of notes for speeches by Anne Chester, 1955-1975. (An environmental fact sheet prepared by Chester is filed with the 1970 correspondence.)
The SUBJECT FILES consist of alphabetically-arranged documents. Several folders contain useful information about San Francisco matters. The file on the San Francisco State University strike in which the local YSA was actively involved contains several strike reports and handbills. The file on the election controversy within the San Francisco painters' union, 1969-1970, is documented by newsletters and form letters. The file on Myra Weiss Tanner contains election literature related to her 1945 mayoral race. Also from this period are the materials on the opposition to a public appearance by Gerald L. K. Smith. The SWP folder contains miscellaneous branch records: 1949 minutes of the Bay Area Executive Committee, some 1968 minutes, a position paper on the 1968 anti-war referendum, and an undated (but circa 1948) report on unemployment in the Bay area. The files on Socialist classes contain reading lists, announcements, and notes on classes believed to be associated with the San Francisco branch. (A second folder contains announcements of similar classes at other locations including a 1935 report from the Brookwood Labor College.) Also important are handwritten notes (1952-1953) believed to relate to debates by George Clarke with Farrell Dobbs and James Cannon. However, nothing in the collection explains why these notes are included in the Chester Papers. A file on the WPA Theatre contains playbills, 1936-1937 clippings, and photographs of stage sets designed by Chester under his own name, Robert Chertov. (After microfilming, the original photographs were transferred to WCFTR Theatre Title File where they are filed as WPA Federal Theatre-Unidentified Stills.)
