Marxism in a Lost Century Historical Materialism Book Series Editorial Board Sébastien Budgen (Paris) Steve Edwards (London) Marcel van der Linden (Amsterdam) Peter Thomas (London) VOLUME 80 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hm Marxism in a Lost Century A Biography of Paul Mattick By Gary Roth LEIDEN | BOSTON Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Roth, Gary.  Marxism in a lost century : a biography of Paul Mattick / by Gary Roth.   pages cm. — (Historical materialism book series, ISSN 1570-1522 ; volume 80)  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-90-04-22779-8 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-28226-1 (e-book) 1. Mattick, Paul, 1904–1981. 2. Communists—United States—Biography. 3. Communists— Germany—Biography. 4. Communism—United State—History—20th century.  5. Communism—Germany—History—20th century. I. Title.  HX84.M295R67 2015  335.4092—dc23  [B] 2014037420 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1570-1522 isbn 978-90-04-22779-8 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-28226-1 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Contents Acknowledgements  ix List of Photos  xi List of Abbreviations  xiii About the Notes  xiv 1 Introduction  1 2 Children at Work and War  6 At Home  6 Protest and Revolution  13 Revolution in Retreat  21 3 Young Radicals  25 March 1920  25 KAPD  29 4 Between Berlin and Cologne  36 Bouts of Unemployment  36 Movement in Decline  41 Older Friends  47 5 New Worlds  55 Voyages  55 Work and Writing  60 Amalgamation  65 6 Chicago in the Depression  70 Opening Years  70 Opposition and Accusations  77 Across the Country  85 Crisis Theory  90 7 The Unemployed Movement  96 The Workers League  96 Federation and Party  102 Fascism’s Initial Impact  109 The German Émigré Community  114 vi contents 8 The Independent Left  121 German to English  121 Editors’ Reluctance  129 9 International Council Correspondence  136 Pamphlets and Authors  136 The Inevitability of Communism  145 Mid-Decade  151 10 Towards War  159 International Developments  159 Opportunities  163 Living Marxism  172 11 End of an Era  180 Self-Reflections  180 Anti-Fascism  190 12 The War Years  202 Relationships  202 New Essays  207 Leaving Chicago  214 13 New York City  219 Isolation  219 Travelling to Berlin  228 14 Quiet Times  236 Writers’ Bloc  236 Back to Nature  247 Boston  256 15 Rekindling  266 Recent Admirers  266 A New Left  271 16 Reception  281 Discovery in Germany  281 From Marx and Keynes to Roskilde  289 contents vii 17 Winding Down  298 Last Years  298 Illness  302 Archives  311 Works Cited  313 Index   328 Acknowledgements I am indebted to the many people who contributed to this book in important ways with letters (deposited at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam) and memories, suggestions, and encouragement shared during interviews, conversations, and emails: Sam Abramovitch, Claudio Albertani, Dan Antenen, Signe Arnfred and Jan Birket-Smith, Jörg Asseyer, Robert Barsky, Walter Boelke, Jr., Uli Bohnen, Gabriella Bonacchi, Volkhard Brandes, Jeremy Brecher, David Broder, Michael Buckmiller, Paul Buhle, Yvonne Jacquette Burckhardt, Connie and Uwe Conradt, Ada Cavazzani, Noam Chomsky, John Clegg, Mario Cogoy, Adam Cornford, Mary Lynn Cramer, Belinda Davis, Christoph Deutschmann, Norman Epstein, William Evan, the late Jake Faber, Walter Fähnders, Bjarne Avlund Frandsen, Wesley Frost, Geoffrey Gardner, Marc Geoffrey and Gisela Richter, Marvin Gettleman, Loren Goldner, Hellmut Haasis, Linda Hamalian, Finn Hansson, James Herod, David Jacobs, Preben Kaarsholm, Gabriel and Joyce Kolko (both deceased), Michael Kubina, Rick Kuhn, David Laibman, Götz Langkau, Ted Leigh, Pricilla Long, Peter Lösche, Frank Mecklenburg, Seymour Melman, Fred Moseley, Hans-Harald Müller, Claude Orsoni and Yolande Benarrosh, Antonio Pagliarone, Raúl Páramo- Ortega, the late Nunzio Pernicone, Christopher Phelps, Anne Porter, Claudio Pozzoli, Karla Doris Rab, Finn Dam Rasmussen and Line Vestergård, Rudi Rizman, Kevin Rowley, Edith Schloss, Rudi Schmiede, Eberhard Seifert, Larry Shute, Justin Spring, Daniel and Rina Saint James, Evan Stark, Hansjoerg Viesel, Richard Weisskoff, Ursula Welsch, Uwe Wesel, Mary Wheeler, Robert Wheeler, Jeff Wilson and Floriane Gremion, Michael Wreszin, Steve Wright, David Yaffe, and Andrew Yarrow. Florence Barrau-Adams, Nicole Bryan, Angela Rooke, Hélène Sampson, Anita Sower, and Franck Veyron helped at various stages with research. Almut Fitzgerald transcribed handwritten letters, some dating to the 1920s and writ- ten in a script no longer used. At the iish, my thanks to Ella Molenaar and especially Mieke Ijzermans for her hospitality and special assistance. From Dana Library at Rutgers University in Newark, many obscure requests were handled by Natalie Borisovets, Dorothy Grauer, Marlene Riley, Carolyn Foote, and Glenn Sandberg. Susan Carruthers, Grace Roosevelt, and Danny Hayward read the manuscript with great care, and I am deeply beholden to each of them for the time they devoted to this task. One huge benefit of this project has been the new friends who offered much support and assistance, among them Naomi Sager, Jorge Valadas and Laure Batier, the late Leif Hansen and Merete Thorøe. x acknowledgements To Paul Mattick, Jr., I owe a very special thanks, for the friendship, the many good meals, comments and suggestions, and the carte blanch access to his parents’ papers, including the key to their Vermont home, and to Katy Siegel for her warmth and engagement. This book is dedicated to Ilse Mattick (1919– 2009) and to Anne Lopes, who has accompanied me on this and other journeys through life, as I have accompanied her.