Kathleen Hayes
American writer and critic of left-wing antisemitism
| Kathleen Hayes | |
|---|---|
| Image | |
| Born | |
| Died | |
| Nationality | American |
| Residence | Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation | Writer, memoirist |
| Known for | Antisemitism and the Left: A Memoir; critique of left-wing misuse of Abram Leon |
| Parents | |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | |
| Sibling(s) | |
| Website | |
Kathleen Hayes is an American writer and memoirist based in Los Angeles, California. She is best known for her contributions to Fathom Journal, where she has published essays criticising antisemitism on the political left and the uncritical adoption of certain Marxist texts by radical circles.[1]
Hayes is the author of the autobiographical essay Antisemitism and the Left: A Memoir (Fathom Journal, 2021), in which she reflects on her personal experiences with antisemitism within leftist movements and argues that hostility toward Jews and Israel is not a peripheral “blind spot” but a central and defining feature of much contemporary left-wing ideology.[1]
In September 2023 Hayes published “The Peculiar Afterlife of Abram Leon” in Fathom Journal. In the essay she honours Abram Leon personally as a courageous young Trotskyist murdered in Auschwitz but sharply criticises the way his 1946 book The Jewish Question: A Marxist Interpretation continues to be invoked uncritically by sections of the radical left as theoretical justification for anti-Zionism. Hayes contends that Leon’s “people-class” thesis is frequently misused to lend a veneer of Marxist legitimacy to positions that echo antisemitic tropes or ignore the historical specificity of the Holocaust and the post-1948 reality of Israel.[2]
Hayes has also written for Jewish Journal and Tablet Magazine, continuing her focus on antisemitism and left-wing politics.[3]
See also
External links
- Antisemitism and the Left: A Memoir (Fathom Journal)
- The Peculiar Afterlife of Abram Leon (Fathom Journal)
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kathleen Hayes, Antisemitism and the Left: A Memoir Fathom Journal, 12 July 2021.
- ↑ Kathleen Hayes, The Peculiar Afterlife of Abram Leon Fathom Journal, September 2023.
- ↑ Tablet Magazine contributors, Kathleen Hayes Tablet Magazine, accessed 21 May 2026.