James Lerner Papers

James Lerner (1911-2003) was a labor journalist and organizer affiliated with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). Born in New York, Lerner attended City College in 1927-1928 and spent an academic year at the Experimental College at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. In 1933 he became National Youth Director of the American League Against War and Facism (known as the American League for Peace and Democracy after 1936). He wrote two anti-war pamphlets published by the League in 1934 and 1936, and later visited Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Lener later worked for Trade Union Services, an agency that prepared newspapers for new unions in the late 1930s, and assisted with various UE editions of the weekly publication People's Press. In 1940 he began to work for the union, which had recently launched its own newspaper, UE News. As a staff writer, Lerner covered numerous subjects, including the federal anti-trust case against General Electric and the Krupp company in Germany. He also became the paper's primary photographer and assumed increasing editorial responsibilities in the 1950s, allowing him to puruse additional projects, including a labor history cartoon strip series and a regular humor column. He became UE News' managing editor in 1967 upon Tom Wright's retirement and mentored a new generation of labor journalists. In 1984, Lerner retired, after which he wrote and published his memoirs, entitled It Happened This Way.... He died in 2003.