Historical/Biographical Note:
American Business Consultants, Inc. was formed in 1947 by several former agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This organization established itself as a source of information regarding allegedly subversive organizations and individuals, particularly those suspected of affiliation with the Communist Party, USA. In May 1947, A.B.C. began publishing Counterattack, a weekly "newsletter of facts to combat Communism." A.B.C. was one of a number of research enterprises which amassed information regarding Communist-related organizations, but it was also an entrepreneurial enterprise which sought to turn a profit. The founders of Counterattack, including former FBI agent John G. Keenan, who became Counterattack's President, solicited subscriptions from "Security Officers, Personnel Directors, Employment managers and all sorts of people whose business requires them to know the facts about the background of organizations and/or individuals." Headquartered in New York, Counterattack's orientation was primarily, though not entirely, New York-based, reflecting the geographical concentration of the CPUSA.
Publications such as Counterattack can be viewed as products of the domestic ramifications of the Cold War era. American Business Consultants formed one segment of a larger network, which included the House Un-American Activities Committee, involved in research into allegedly Communist-related activities of individuals and organizations. Since its membership was composed of former FBI agents, not only did A.B.C. possess information obtained by this agency, but it also had access to the files of HUAC. (Burlingame, p. 87)
The connection between the two agencies was made manifest in 1950, when Counterattack published a booklet entitled Red Channels, which listed possible "subversives" in the world of radio and television. Addressing itself to radio and television company executives already embattled by recent HUAC investigations, Red Channels simply listed a series of names of persons in show business, and the number of times each person had been cited by the FBI or HUAC, without making any specific accusations against any given person.(Burlingame, p. 152) The potential of "guilt by association" involved in this technique resulted in a series of libel suits filed against Counterattack by various film and radio personalities. Although Counterattack eventually defended itself against these libel suits, settling some out of court while winning others on appeal in 1956, the financial cost of litigation proved hazardous to Counterattack. As a result, John Keenan in a 1963 memorandum affirmed a "hands-off policy" regarding Communism on the part of the publication. The organization officially disbanded in 1968.
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Scope and Content Note
The Counterattack collection consists of research files organized into eighteen series, arranged numerically (by series number, and within each series, by file number). The research files contain clippings by and/or about the subjects (individual or corporate) researched; ephemera, internal documents, correspondence; and investigative reports and correspondence, some of which was of an undercover nature. The research files are organized into series, each of which is assigned a number. The lowest series number in our holdings is series 9, and the highest series number is 99. NOTE, however, that (a) we only have 19 series, (b) that there are many gaps in the series numbering, (c) and that the gaps in series numbers may represent series numbers not assigned, OR series which are missing from the collection. The richest series are 11 (CPUSA), 12 (CP Fronts), 13 (CP influenced Unions, described below), 14 (Individuals), 50 (Miscellaneous, notably containing several rich files on the Illinois Communist Party and its one-time leader, Gil Green). Descriptions for selected series follow, below. A complete list of all the series (giving series number and title, number of folders, and box numbers), directly precedes the Box & Folder List. One notable item is Index of Photographs in the Daily Worker from February 2, 1922 to December, 1942 (bulk: July, 1927-1942), compiled by Benjamin Mandel, for the Special Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). This document, containing entries for some 3500 photographs, is in series 11, and is also available separately and can be ordered from the Tamiment Library.
Series 13 (Trade Unions), contains extraordinary details about how unions coped with the attacks on their loyalties. The files on the American Communication Association and the American Radio Association describe how the Marine Division of the ACA left that Communist-influenced union, moving first to the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association before setting itself up as the ARA. In addition to convention proceedings and reports, the files contain many minutes of locals' meetings during this period for New York, New Orleans, Baltimore and several other cities. The Transport Workers Union files contain more information on the prewar period than most other files, with several testimonials by ex-members, as well as reports from "informants" during the post war period. The United Electricians, Radio and Machine Workers Union files, the largest set of files in the collection include several right-wing reports on the Communist leaders of the union. One report focusing on Minnesota includes an in-depth description of the Communist Party apparatus in that region. In addition, there are daily reports from an agent who worked at UE National Headquarters in 1952, and extensive reports from an agent documenting a machine workers strike in 1946. The files on the United Office and Professional Workers of America discuss attempts to organize workers on Wall Street, and include union financial reports that Counterattack used to trace payments to Communist front organizations There is also good information on fighting between the union and Prudential over the company's attempts to move insurance agents into other unions. The Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Workers of America files contain a very large number of daily reports by insiders, documenting a strike against Macy's, an extended dispute against management at Bloomingdale's, and an organizing drive at an A&S in Brooklyn, supplemented by a large amount of fliers and newsletters from both sides.
Series 14 (Individuals), contains files on over 200 individuals, including leading and rank and file communists, progressives, fellow travelers, and liberals, leading figures in the arts, sciences and professions, and files on the following individuals whose papers are held by the Tamiment Library: Cedric Belfrage, Leo Isaacson, Saul Mills, Michael Quill, Annette Rubinstein, and Morris Schappes.
Series 50 (Miscellaneous): The highlight of this series are four fat folders on the Communist Party in Illinois, 1948-49, including the correspondence and reports of a highly-placed informant who apparently had access to the state chairperson, Gil Green, and includes some material by Green.
NOTE: An asterisk (*) preceding the folder title denotes a folder found to contain especially valuable documentation, usually in the form of undercover investigative reports, internal documents or correspondence of the organizations and/or individuals in question. The presence of an asterisk (*) is a positive statement about a particular folder only. The absence of an asterisk (*) in front of a folder title is not a definitive statement that these folders do not contain significant documentation and/or the types of documents described above, although of less importance.
NOTE: A plus sign (+) preceding the folder title denotes a folder found to contain materials by or about anti-communist, right-wing organizations or individuals.
NOTE: Serial Titles are Italicized; Most Serial folders chiefly or solely contain Counterattack subscription correspondence.
NOTE: Date spans for folders in Series 9 and 10 are often approximate. Folders may contain materials from a wider date span than indicated.
Series Description
series/file: boxes: title
9/152: 1-9: Catchall series containing primarily clippings on individuals, organizations, topics
10/90: 9-10: Countries - mostly clippings
11/49: 11-12: CPUSA - national, state, local
12/115: 13-18: Communist/Popular Front organizations
13/70: 20-24: Trade Unions - mainly left unions
14.0/3060: 25-27: Individuals, miscellaneous seen as in CP or it influence; contains chronologies/c.v. type lists, from a few lines to more than a page per individual
14.1/239: 27-30: Individuals, specific - Prominent people seen as in CP or it influence (Browder, Claude Pepper, etc.); arranged by file#, not alphabetically; we have a list of the first 25 names;
15/125: 30-31: Organizations, miscellaneous; most national, liberal (also a few individuals); arranged by file#
16/1: 32: Espionage, Russian [clippings, mostly]
17/9: 32: US government agencies [clippings, mostly]
18/2: 32: Trotskyism, Socialist Workers Party [clippings, mostly]
19/1: 32: Fascism [clippings, mostly]
20/1: 32: Public opinion [clippings, mostly]
21/20: 32-33: Foundations
22/8: 33: Doctors, Interns, and miscellaneous
23/1: 33: Ralphe Bunche
24/1: 33: Unknown
50/159: 34-36: Miscellaneous: organizations, topics, geographic. Notable are 4 fat binders on Illinois CP activity; Alphabetical arrangement.
99/?: 37-44: Additional Miscellaneous Files. (Subseries A. Organizations, A-N; Subseries B. Duplicate Reports on Individuals & Organizations, A-Z).
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Arrangement |
||
| Arranged numerically by series and file number. | ||
| Organized into eighteen topical series (see scope and content note). | ||
Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
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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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Access Restrictions
Open for research without restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the Director of Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives.
Appointments are necessary for use of manuscript and archival materials. For more information, contact
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) 995-4070
Email: gail.malmgreen@nyu.edu
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Administrative Information
Provenance
Gift of Liberty University (Lynchburg, Virginia), 1992. From 1968-1985, held by the Church League of America, an organization which also maintained records regarding allegedly subversive Communist activities and organizations.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); The American Business Consultants, Inc. Counterattack : Research Files; Tamiment
148; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
, New York University Libraries.
Container List
[The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.]