Descriptive Summary
	Creator:	Bedacht, Max, 1883-1972
	Title:	On the path of life [manuscript]: memoirs of your father
	Dates:	1967
	Abstract:	Max Bedacht was a communist activist, official, and theoretician who established and led the International Workers Order, a communist-led U.S. fraternal organization. The collection consists of an autobiographical typescript, On the path of life : memoirs of your father.
	Quantity:	5 linear inches (1 box)
	Call Phrase:	Tamiment 072

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Historical/Biographical Note

Max Bedacht was a communist activist and theoretician. After an impoverished childhood and career as a journeyman barber and trade union leader in Germany and Switzerland, he immigrated to the United States in 1908 where he supported himself as a barber and German language newspaper editor. Bedacht became an early leader of the German Federation of the Socialist Party in California, while continuing to edit German language and labor newspapers in Detroit, San Francisco and South Dakota. From World War I onward his sympathies were increasingly with the left wing of the Socialist Party and at the 1919 convention he joined the Communist Labor Party. Caught up in the Palmer Raids in California and Chicago, he was arrested and tried for conspiracy. He was convicted but never imprisoned and was soon traveling to Europe and Russia as an international delegate for the American Communist Party.

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Scope and Content Note

This typescript autobiography, "On the path of life," deals with Bedacht's reflections on American and international communist leaders and the workings of the Comintern. He describes the factional feuds within the Communist Party, refutes Whittaker Chambers' charges against him in Witness! and recounts the circumstances around his expulsion from the Party in 1948, and his reinstatement in 1960. His work establishing and leading the International Workers Order is also traced. Throughout the memoir he comments on world events and their implications for socialism. Copies of photographs and of important documents are included.

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Arrangement
	The folders are arranged by chapter number.
	The files are grouped into 1 series:
		Inventory

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Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

International Workers Order Records (Tamiment 001)

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Separated Material

There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Open for research without restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the:
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2630
Fax: (212) 995-4225
E-mail: gail.malmgreen@nyu.edu

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Access Points
	Subject Names:
		Bedacht, Max, 1883-1972.
		Browder, Earl, 1891-1973.
		Chambers, Whittaker.
		Ruthenberg, Charles E. (Charles Emil), 1882-1927.
	Subject Organizations:
		Communist International.
		Communist Party of the United States of America.
		International Workers Order.
		Socialist Party (U.S.)
	Subject Topics:
		Communism--United States.
		Communists--United States--Biography.
		Socialism--United States.
	Document Types:
		Typescripts.

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Administrative Information

Provenance

Gift of Elsie Feinstein, 1978.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); The Max Bedacht’s 'On the path of life : memoirs of your father' [manuscript]; Tamiment 072; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.

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Container List

[The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.]

Inventory
Box	Folder	Title	Date
1	1	Table of Contents	undated
1	2	In Place of an Introduction	1967
1	3	Chapter 1: From Darkness Into Light, pp. 1-12	undated
1	4	Chapter 2: Growing Up, pp. 12-18	undated
1	5	Chapter 3: School Days, pp. 19-26	undated
1	6	Chapter 4: Apprenticeship, pp. 27-34	undated
1	7	Chapter 5: At Last: A Journeyman, pp. 35-40	undated
1	8	Chapter 6: Out Into the Wide World, pp. 41-50	undated
1	9	Chapter 7: My Eyes Begin Opening, pp. 51-65	undated
1	10	Chapters 8 & 9: I Continue Wandering, pp. 65-96	undated
1	11	Chapter 10: Out of the Old Into a New World, pp. 96-104	undated
1	12	Chapter 11: My Americanization, pp. 105-119	undated
1	13	Chapter 12: A Variety of Democracies, pp. 119-128	undated
1	14	Chapter 13: The Muckrakers, pp. 128-142	undated
1	15	Chapter 14: The American Socialist Party, pp. 142-148	undated
1	16	Chapter 15: Peace, War, and Revolution, pp. 149-173	undated
1	17	Chapter 15(a): New Experiences-New Lessons, pp. 173-212	undated
1	18	Chapter 16: In Conflict With the Goddess of Justice, pp. 213-245	undated
1	19	Chapter 17: A Better World is in Birth, pp. 246-261	undated
1	20	Chapter 18: I Meet Lenin, pp. 262-273	undated
1	21	Chapter 19: The City of Moscow, pp. 273-276	undated
1	22	Chapter 20: The Third Congress of the Comintern, pp. 277-283	undated
1	23	Chapter 21: Returning Home to the U.S., pp. 283-288	undated
1	24	Chapter 22: The Geese Were Hatched, pp. 289-293	undated
1	25	Chapter 22(a): The Fourth Congress of the Comintern, pp. 293-301	undated
1	26	Chapter 23: Beginning and Growth of Factionalism, pp. 301-315	undated
1	27	Chapter 24: Through Bossism to Disintegration, pp. 315-319	undated
1	28	Chapter 25: The Witness, pp. 319-329	undated
1	29	Chapter 26: The Depression, pp. 329-334	undated
1	30	Chapter 27: Bossism Replaces Factionalism, pp. 334-339	undated
1	31	Chapter 28: National Groups, pp. 339-346	undated
1	32	Chapter 29: Fascist Murderers in Spain, pp. 346-352	undated
1	33	Chapter 30: The Second World War, pp. 352-360	undated
1	34	Chapter 31: Life Begins at Sixty-Four, pp. 361-371	undated
1	35	Chapter 32: Farm No Static Entity, pp. 372-380	undated
1	36	Chapter 32(a): Expelled, pp. 380-388	undated
1	37	Chapter 33: Pettit Bourgeois Substance of Revolutionary Pretenses, pp. 389-400	undated
1	38	Chapter 34: Studying Times and Events, pp. 400-408	undated
1	39	Chapter 35: Stalin Takes Lenin's Place, pp. 408-416	undated
1	40	Chapter 36: Genuine Sins-False Confessions, pp. 416-425	undated
1	41	Chapter 37: A False Spark of Life, pp. 425-427	undated
1	42	Chapter 38: Still Looking Forward, pp. 427-431	undated
1	43	Chapter 39: A Final Round-up, pp. 431-433	undated
1	44	Our Civilization and it's Education, pp. 433-435	undated
1	45	Civilization and Religion, pp. 436-437	undated
1	46	Politics and Civilization, pp. 437-439	undated
1	47	Civilization and Wars, pp. 440-443	undated
1	48	Civilization and Our Social Sciences, pp. 444-445	undated
1	49	Forward Again Toward Civilization, pp. 446-451	undated

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