Herbert Zam

1900 - 1992

Herbert Zam was born and raised on New York City's Lower East Side. His father was a socialist and garment worker. While in High School he joined the Young People's Socialist League (YPSL). When he attended City College he gravitated to the Communist Party and helped lead left-wing YPSLs into forming the Independent Young Socialist League, which soon affiliated with the Communist Party, becoming thereafter the Young Workers League (YWL).

Zam became a leader in the YWL. At the 1925 National Convention he was elected to the National Executive Committee which, at its first session, elected him as the League's National Secretary. He was also elected to the Executive Committee of the Communist Youth International in 1926. In the factional fighting which roiled the Communist Party and Young Workers League in these years, Zam sided with the Lovestone group. In 1929, when the Lovestoneites were expelled from the Communist Party, Zam was expelled with them.

From 1929 to 1933 he was a leading member of the Lovestone group, but ultimately left and joined the Socialist Party, USA in 1935. Here, too, he quickly became a leading figure. In the factional fighting that roiled the Socialist Party in the 1930s, Zam aligned himself with the "Clarity" group. He was a regular contributor to the Party's theoretical journal, The American Socialist Monthly and an editor and a regular columnist for the Socialist Call newspaper.

Zam left the Socialist Party sometime in the early 1940s.

Works:

Communist Party/Young Workers Communist League Period (1924-1929)

1924: Police Arrest YWL Speakers; Crowd Protests, Daily Worker, September 30, 1924

1925: To All Members of the Young Workers League, [with John Williamson, Max Shachtman and Nat Kaplan] Young Worker, September 12, 1925
1925: Here Are New Officials of Young Workers League Elected by the National Convention, Young Worker, October 17, 1925
1925: For Unity and Mass Work, Young Worker, October 31, 1925
1925: Russian Komsomols: Builders of the Future, Young Worker, November 7, 1925
1925: Hail First District Convention of New York Young Pioneers, [with C.E. Ruthenberg] Daily Worker, November 28, 1925
1925: The Concentration Group - What It Is and How it Functions, Young Worker, December 12, 1925
1925: How to Conduct Factory Campaigns, Young Worker, December 26, 1925

1926: Karl Liebknecht - Leader of the Youth, Workers Monthly, January 1926
1926: Tasks of Individual Member in Factory, Young Worker, March 6, 1926
1926: The [Fifth] Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Young Communist International, Workers Monthly, June 1926

1927: Highlights of the Sixth Y.C.I. Plenum, Part I; Part II, Young Worker, February 1 and 15, 1927
1927: C.E. Ruthenberg [obituary]
1927: C.E. Ruthenberg - Communist, Young Worker, April 15, 1927
1927: Winning the Youth, [on the the Sixth Y.C.I. Plenum] The Communist, April 1927
1927: The Youth and the Russian Revolution

1928: Youth Facing Industrial Crisis. Young Workers Buro Meet Discusses Danger of World War, Daily Worker, February 9, 1928
1928: The Youth and the Elections, The Communist, April 1928
1928: May Day and the Youth, Young Worker, May 1, 1928
1928: The Nominating Convention and Youth, Daily Worker, May 19, 1928
1928: Organizing the Young Workers, Part I; Part II; Part III; Daily Worker, May 30, 31 and June 1, 1928
1928: Build the League. A Task for Every Member, Young Worker, June 1, 1928
1928: The Youth Movement and the Sixth Anniversary of the Young Workers (Communist) League, The Communist, June 1928

1929: Communist Youth Advances, Daily Worker, January 23, 1929
1929: The Open Letter and the New Party Line, [part I of Zam's report to the Sixth Congress, CPUSA] Daily Worker, March 26, 1929
1929: The Work of the Communist Youth Movement [parts II-IV of Zam's report to the Sixth Congress, CPUSA], Part II; Part III; Part IV; Daily Worker, March 28, 29, and 30, 1929
1929: Zam Outlines Many Important Tasks of the Young Workers Communist League, [part 5 of Zam's report to the Sixth Congress, CPUSA] Daily Worker, April 8, 1929
1929: Statement of Political Bureau on Expulsions, [on the expulsion of Zam from the CPUSA] Daily Worker, August 24, 1929

Communist Party (Opposition) [Lovestoneites] Period (1929-1933)

1929: The [CP's] New York Municipal Election Campaign, Revolutionary Age, November 1, 1929
1929: The Historical Struggle Against the Gastonia Frame-up, Revolutionary Age, November 15, 1929
1929-30: Capitalist Monopoly and Organization, Part I; Part II; Part III, Revolutionary Age, December 1 and 15, 1929, January 1, 1930

1930: Again a "New Turn" in the Comintern, Revolutionary Age, February 15, 1930
1930: The "New Turn" Twists the "New Line": An Analysis of the CC Thesis for the [7th CPUSA] Convention, Part I; Part II, Revolutionary Age, June 30 and July 1, 1930

1931: Lenin or DeLeon? DeLeon and Roots of American Communism, Revolutionary Age, January 3, 1931
1931: Lenin or DeLeon? Opportunism and Dualism, Revolutionary Age, January 10, 1931
1931: Lenin or DeLeon? DeLeonism, Then and Now, Revolutionary Age, January 17, 1931
1931: After Two Years: Balance Sheet of the New Line, Revolutionary Age, May 30, 1931
1931: Communism and Social Democracy. Some Lessons from Germany, Revolutionary Age, November 21, 1931

1932: The Party Policy in Negro Work: The Self-Determination Slogan, Workers Age, February 6, 1932
1932: Trotsky and the Far East Crisis, Workers Age, March 5, 1932
1932: Trotsky "Changes His Mind", Workers Age, April 2, 1932
1932: About the C.P. Plenum Thesis: 'New Turn' Twists Back Again, Part I; Part II; Workers Age, May 7 and 14, 1932
1932: New Program of the C.P.L.A., Workers Age, May 21, 1932
1932: On the Communist Election Program: The Platform of Ultra-Leftism, Part I; Part II; Workers Age, August 6 and 20, 1932
1932: The Prospects for a Labor Party, Workers Age, September 3, 1932
1932: Some Questions of Comintern and C.P.S.U. Policy, Workers Age, December 15, 1932

1933: Technocracy and the Workers, Part I; Part II; Part III, Workers Age, February 15, March 1, Apri 15, 1933
1933: Some Questions of Communist Unity: The Proletarian Party and the C.P.-O., Workers Age, July 1, 1933
1933: Why a Labor Party?, Workers Age, August 1, 1933
1933: Crisis in the Proletarian Party, Workers Age, November 1, 1933
1933: For A New Perspective for Our Group, Statement of the National Committee Minority, Workers Age, November 1, 1933 Discussion Supplement
1933: The Struggle for Unity on a Higher Level, Workers Age, December 1, 1933
1933: Against a "New Party" and a "Fourth" Int'l, by Will Herberg, Workers Age, December 1, 1933

1934: Herbert Zam Quits the Lovestone Group, The Militant, September 8, 1934

Socialist Party Period (1935-early 1940s)

1935: Turmoil Over Belgium, Socialist Call, May 11, 1935
1935: Will There Be Unity in France?, Socialist Call, May 18, 1935
1935: Franco-Soviet Alliance and International Labor, Socialist Call, May 25, 1935
1935: The Socialist International Brussels Resolution, Socialist Call, June 1, 1935
1935: French and Swiss Elections, Socialist Call, June 8, 1935
1935: Trotskyists Join Socialists, Socialist Call, June 15, 1935
1935: Underestimating Czech Fascism, Socialist Call, June 22, 1935
1935: The Polish Parliament, Socialist Call, June 29, 1935
1935: French Socialist Congress, Socialist Call, July 6, 1935
1935: Communo-Chauvinism, Socialist Call, July 13, 1935
1935: Poland, France and Russia, Socialist Call, July 20, 1935
1935: Progress of the United Front, Socialist Call, July 27, 1935