Original logo of International Publishers -- International Publishers, the Marxist oriented publishing house, that issued most of Howard Selsam's books.
Howard Selsam (born Howard Brillinger Selsam;[1][2] 28 June 1903 – 7 September 1970) was an American Marxistphilosopher.[3]
Early life, education, and early career
Selsam was born on 28 June 1903 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His parents were John T. Selsam, a grocer, and his mother was Flora Emig Selsam.[3]
After receiving his PhD, Selsam served as an instructor and later as an assistant professor at Brooklyn College. Active politically, Selsam participated in anti-war events on campus[6][7] and took "an active part in the social struggles of his day on the side of the communistmovement."[3] Selsam's involvement is echoed in a contemporary newspaper article where Selsam is associated with Communist Party USA activities,[8][9] yet he was careful not to force his political beliefs on students.[10] The political activities of Selsam and other Brooklyn College faculty members attracted the attention of governmental investigation. Despite their denials of Communist association to reporters,[10] Selsam and other faculty members later lost their teaching positions due to the Rapp-Coudert Committeeinvestigations into Communist involvement in public educationinNew York State.[3][10] That Selsam refused to testify at the hearings[11][12] and faced contempt charges[13] likely made his resignation unavoidable.[14]
Seal of Brooklyn College -- Brooklyn College was Selsam's first employer after he received his Ph.D.
School for Democracy and Jefferson School of Social Science
Howard Selsam was one of the founders of the School for Democracy, an educational facility located at 13 Astor Place in New York[15] and associated with the Communist Party USA.[15][16][17][18][19][20]
Selsam served as the director of the Jefferson School of Social Science,[3][21] which was a "Marxist adult education facility"[22] whose faculty included "leftist academics dismissed from the City University of New York."[22] He held this position from 1944-1956.[23]
During Selsam's period of leadership, there was a steady flow of students at the Jefferson School. Even during the hey-day of Senator Joseph McCarthy's well publicized investigations into Communist subversion, the Jefferson School had an enrollment of 5,000 students each term.[24] Nevertheless, the school received criticism claiming that students simply received dogmatic instruction. For example, a Rutgers University economics professor, Alexander Balinky enrolled in the school and took some classes. Based on his experiences at the school, Balinky wrote a newspaper article and claimed that the students received political indoctrination at the school.[25]
Selsam and other school administrators denied that the school was a Communist front and fought against having it so officially labeled.[17][18][19][20] Given the political radicalism of the faculty members and the Marxist-oriented instruction at the school, and facing external political pressure against the school, declining student enrollment, and publication in the West of Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech—a speech which described in detail Stalin's crimes and political purges[18] —all of these factors ultimately forced the school administrators to close down the school in 1956.[17]
Khrushchev's secret speech and its aftermath caused considerable turmoil within the Communist Party USA,[18] and Selsam and other Jefferson School faculty members openly quit the Party in a joint letter published in the May 6, 1956 issue of the Daily Worker.[17]
Later years and death
With the closure of the Jefferson School of Social Science, Selsam devoted much of his time lecturing and writing.[3] He wrote a number of books on Marxist topics for International Publishers. Many of these books were republished in Canada, England, and India. In addition, Selsam's books were translated into a variety of languages, including Spanish, Arabic, Polish, Russian, German, Hungarian, and Japanese.[4]
Besides writing books, Selsam wrote articles and reviews for periodicals, including The New Masses, and Marxism Today. He worked closely and collaborated with his wife Millicent Selsam, a botanist and high school teacher[27] who was well known as an author of science books for young people.[3]
Selsam, Howard. 1930. T.H. Green: critic of empiricism. New York: [s.n.].
Selsam, Howard. 1935. Spinoza: art and the geometric order. New York: Columbia University Press.
Selsam, Howard. 1938. What is philosophy? A Marxist introduction. New York: International publishers.
Selsam, Howard. 1943. Socialism and ethics. New York: International Publishers.
Rozentalʹ, M. M., P. I︠U︡din, and Howard Selsam. 1949. Handbook of philosophy. New York: International Publishers.
Selsam, Howard. 1953. The Negro people in the United States: facts for all Americans. New York: Jefferson School of Social Science.
Selsam, Howard. 1957. Philosophy in revolution. New York: International Publishers.
Selsam, Howard, and Harry Martel. 1963. Reader in Marxist philosophy: from the writings of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. New York: International Publishers.
Selsam, Howard. 1963. What is Philosophy? A Marxist introduction. (Third revised edition.). Lawrence & Wishart: London; printed in the United States
Selsam, Howard. 1965. Ethics and progress; new values in a revolutionary world. New York: International Publishers.
Selsam, Howard, David Goldway, Harry Martel, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Ilʹich Lenin. 1970. Dynamics of social change; a reader in Marxist social science, from the writings of Marx, Engels and Lenin. New York: International Publishers.
^ abcdefghijStruik, Dirk J. (September 1972). "Howard Selsam 1903-1970". Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association. 45: 225.
^ abAnonymous (1965). "Chapter: About the author". In Selsam, Howard (ed.). Ethics and progress: New values in a revolutionary world. New York, New York: International Publishers.
^Associated Press (20 December 1940). "High Court Given College Red Case". The Milwaukee Journal. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Journal Company. p. 4. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
^Marv Gettleman, "Jefferson School of Social Science," in Mari Jo Buhle, Paul Buhle, and Dan Georgakas (eds.), Encyclopedia of the American Left. First Edition. New York: Garland Publishing Co., 1990; pp. 389-390.
^ abc"Howard Selsam". The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979) Copyright 2010 The Gale Group. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
^Brock, Peter (2007). "Dockside in Catania, Sicily, and I had just turned seventeen". Katz: Ben Israel: the early years. Minneapolis, MN: Mill City Press, Inc. p. 33. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
^Balinky, Alexander (1 March 1956). "Microscope on Communism"(PDF). Westfield (N.J.) Leader. Westfield, N.J.: Westfield Leader Print. and Pub. Co. p. 19. Retrieved 12 May 2014.