Si Gerson, the last vital link to the Communist Party’s glory days in NYC politics in the 1930’s and 40’s, died last December at the age of 95. Si was a valued colleague and comrade, and I miss him. The CP will be hosting a memorial in Si’s honor on June 10th.
Si was a journalist and political activist during the Popular Front era, when the CP enjoyed considerable mainstream clout as a partner in the American Labor Party, a New York coalition party consisting of labor activists, Socialists, Communists reform Democrats and liberal Republicans that effectively took back the city from Tammany Hall for a time.
Bookended by a corruption scandal that forced Mayor Jimmy Walker to flee the city in 1932 and by the start of anti-Communist hysteria in 1947, the era saw New York City freed from the grip of Tammany Hall hacks through political and electoral reform. The ancient Board of Alderman was replaced by a more representative City Council that would be elected by proportional representation (a ranked ballot that allowed the voter to express support for his favored candidates that could be redistributed to less favored candidates until one has won a majority vote). The CP’s Popular Front tactic was to run its candidates in its own name, but to support strong ALP and independent Black candidates where they existed.
Si demonstrated a knack for campaign strategy and legalities, and managed the repeated campaigns of Peter V. Cacchione, a popular community activist in Brooklyn, who, in his second campaign, became New York’s first Communist Councilman. Years later, Si wrote the political biography, “Pete.” The book is a fine legacy, and I strongly recommend it to scholars of NYC and leftist history for Si’s evocative day-to-day detailing of the campaigns and strategies, the vote counts and the convoluted workings of borough-based single transferrable voting – not mention fun memories of Young Communist League and Young People’s Socialist League members holding demonstrations in support of racial integration in the Ebbets Field bleachers, decades before the Dodgers finally hired Jackie Robinson.
Si Gerson was the focus of two major controversies during this period. First, as a cub reporter for the “Daily Worker,” Gerson was hired by Manhattan’s new progressive Borough President to be his executive assistant. The city’s papers (most notably, “The Daily News”) howled, and called on Stanley Isaacs to fire the young Communist. Isaacs brushed aside the criticism by insisting that Gerson was the best man for the job, and the controversy died. Gerson remained in the position for three years.
Gerson fared far worse when controversy reared its ugly head in 1947, as the Communist Party became Public Enemy #1 in the U.S.A. Proportional representation came under attack in New York since it had enabled not just Peter Cacchione but also Ben Davis, Communist from Harlem, to be elected to the City Council. A city charter revision was put on the ballot to revert elections to district-based winner-take-all contests. Cacchione campaigned with all his strength against the measure, but it passed and Pete’s heart literally broke. He died of a heart attack with one year left to his term.
Under the rules at the time, the vacancy on the City Council was to be filled with a member of the same party, nominated by the authorized party committee and ratified by the Council itself. Naturally, the members of the Communist Party selected Cacchione’s trusted partner, Si Gerson, to fill out the remainder of the term. The City Council balked at electing a Communist at a time when membership in the Communist Party was being outlawed. They delayed and allowed Pete’s term to expire.
Si Gerson was later arrested under the Smith Act, although by that time the law had been set aside and he served no prison time (Ben Davis, the Communist Councilman from Harlem, died in prison after his Smith Act conviction).
Si continued to write for the “Daily Worker,” becoming its Executive Editor, as it morphed into the “Daily World,” and, later, the “People’s Weekly World.” When the CP began running presidential tickets again in 1976, Si was the natural choice to serve as campaign manager. He remained the party’s resident election expert, although campaigns became fewer and farther between as the party increasingly supported the Democratic ticket following Jesse Jackson’s 1988 campaign for President.
Navigating the byzantine election requirements (the laws regulating ballot access across the country became much more draconian during the Red Scare) convinced Si that third parties had to unite in order to pry open the political process. He was a figure in just such a formation, the Coalition for Free and Open Elections, which is where I met and worked with Si, who served as the organization’s secretary until failing health forced him to step back and I succeeded him. In the mid-90’s, younger, successful third parties like the Greens and Libertarians came to dominate CoFOE and pushed for a narrow focus on knocking down signature requirements for ballot access. Si remained steadfast: free and open elections means not just lower petition requirements, but universal suffrage, campaign finance, proportional representation and a guarantee that all votes be counted. He felt vindicated by the recent election board monkey business in Florida, Ohio and elsewhere. Si, and his comrades, had been complaining about the lack of essential fairness in elections for years. Now the country was noticing what Si had been focused on for years.
Si’s Memorial will be from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm on Friday, June 10 at NYU’s Tamiment Library (70 Washington Square South).
