Leibel Bergman Papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
The Leibel Bergman Papers (dates 1940s-1980s) include essays, reports, personal writings, correspondence, and ephemera related to his involvement in various communist organizations. Bergman was a member of the Communist Party of the Unites States of America (CPUSA) from the 1930s to 1950s. He also was a founding member of other communist organizations including the Revolutionary Union (RU), Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), and Revolutionary Workers Headquarters (RWH). A large portion of the collection relates to Bergman's work in with the RCP and RU and includes position papers, party building materials, study articles, bulletins, and Bergman's writings on political strategy. The collection also contains drafts of Bergman's poetry and theatrical works, materials from his military service in the 1940s, and documents from his travels to the People's Republic of China in the 1970s.
Biographical / Historical
Leibel Bergman was a revolutionary communist in the United States from the late 1930s to the 1980s. He was an active member of the Communist Party of the United States in the 1930s to early 1950s, but left the party in the 1950s because his politics were viewed as too far left. He was among the founding members of several other communist organizations including the Revolutionary Union, the Revolutionary Communist Party, and the Revolutionary Workers Headquarters. He was involved in organizational activities in Minnesota, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Newark, and New York City. Bergman also spent more than two years in the People's Republic of China in the years leading up to the Cultural Revolution, and made many follow-up trips to the country in the 1970s and 1980s.
Arrangement
This collection has not been arranged by an archivist. The materials are arranged in the order in which they were received from the donor.
Content Description
The Leibel Bergman Papers (dates 1940s-1980s) contain drafts and reports related to Bergman's involvement in various communist organizations including the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), Revolutionary Union (RU), Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), and the Revolutionary Workers Headquarters (RWH). A large portion of these materials relate to Bergman's work in with the RCP and RU, and are composed of position papers, party building materials, study articles, bulletins, and Bergman's writings on political strategy. These materials also include records related to a split in the RCP that led to the creation of the RWH in 1979.Materials related to Bergman's work with the CPUSA include correspondence, drafts, and publications from the 1950s and 1960s. Among these materials are records related to the Party's trial against Bergman, in which he was charged with promoting ultra-left factionalism in his club. Other materials in the collection consist of drafts of Bergman's poetry and theatrical works, including a copy of his first book Content and Form in Poetry. Bergman's poetry largely dates from the 1940s and 1950s and includes several works written under the pseudonym Sam Swing. The collection also contains materials related to Bergman's military service in the 1940s, and documents related to his travels to the People's Republic of China in the 1970s.
Subjects
Organizations
People
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by Leibel Bergman, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Leibel Bergman Papers; TAM 707; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Lincoln Bergman in 2016. The accession number associated with this gift is 2016.044.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Materials were placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. Folder titles created by donor were retained, and original annotations were photocopied and included in the new folders. A small amount of materials in the collection were cleaned for mold.
