Charles Zimmerman

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Charles Zimmerman was a key ally of Jay Lovestone in the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU).[1]

As a member of the Communist Party, Zimmerman led the left wing opposition to the ILGWU leadership prior to his expulsion from the union in 1926, following a failed strike that had shut down the entire New York garment industry. He was expelled from the Communist Party three years later along with the rest of the Lovestoneites three years later.[2]

In May 1931, Zimmerman was allowed to rejoin the ILGWU and soon rose to head one if its key strongholds, Local 22. He became the second most powerful figure in the ILGWU after David Dubinsky. In the early 1930s, Zimmerman acted as an intermediary between Lovestone and Dubinsky, channeling ILGWU funds to the International Relief Association.[3]

When Zimmerman retired in the 1970s, he was succeeded by Israel Breslow, also a Lovestoneite.[4]

In 1972, he became co-chairman of the Socialist Party-Democratic Socialist Federation.[5]

External Resources

Notes

  1. Robert J. Alexander, The Right Opposition: The Lovestoneites and the International Communist Opposition of the 1930s, Greenwood Press, 1981, p.134.
  2. Eric Thomas Chester, Covert Network: Progressives, the International Rescue Committee and the CIA, M.E. Sharpe, 1995, p.9.
  3. Eric Thomas Chester, Covert Network: Progressives, the International Rescue Committee and the CIA, M.E. Sharpe, 1995, p.9.
  4. Robert J. Alexander, The Right Opposition: The Lovestoneites and the International Communist Opposition of the 1930s, Greenwood Press, 1981, p.134.
  5. Robert J. Alexander, The Right Opposition: The Lovestoneites and the International Communist Opposition of the 1930s, Greenwood Press, 1981, p.134.