Louis Waldman
Louis Waldman (January 5, 1892 – September 12, 1982) was a leading figure in the Socialist Party of America from the late 1910s and through the middle 1930s, a founding member of the Social Democratic Federation, and a prominent New York labor lawyer. He was expelled from the New York State Assembly in 1920 during the First Red Scare.[1]
For other people named Louis Waldman, see Louis Waldman (disambiguation).
Louis Waldman
Abraham Goodman
Herman Weiss
Herman Weiss
Vacant
Vacant
Morris D. Reiss (1921)
January 5, 1892
Yancherudnia, Ukraine
September 12, 1982 (aged 90)
Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged
Manhattan, New York City
American
Bella B. Waldman
politician, labor lawyer
Social Democratic Federation co-founder, New York labor lawyer
Early life[edit]
Louis Waldman was born on January 5, 1892, in Yancherudnia, Ukraine, not far from Kiev, the son of a Jewish innkeeper who was one of the few literate men of the village. Waldman emigrated to America in the summer 1909 at the age of 17, arriving in New York City to join his sisters on September 17.[2] Waldman first worked in a metal shop before becoming an apprentice garment lining cutter in one of the sweatshops of the city. He joined a union and participated in the 11-week New York cloakmakers' strike of 1910, while attending high school in the evenings.[3] Upon conclusion of the strike and resumption of his job, Waldman was fired and blacklisted for carrying out his function as a union representative in supervising the enforcement of the union contract in his shop.[4] Barred from the garment industry, Waldman thereafter worked unsuccessfully as a door-to-door peddler of ribbon before taking a job in a cardboard box factory.
Waldman graduated from high school in the spring of 1911 and, owing to a lack of funds for college, enrolled in the Cooper Union to study engineering that fall.[5]
Waldman witnessed the Triangle Waist Company fire of 1911. Packed into a tight space and locked away from means of escape, 146 workers from the building's 9th floor died that day in one of the greatest tragedies in New York City's history.[6] At a memorial meeting held at Cooper Union in the aftermath of the fire, Waldman saw and heard Socialist leader Morris Hillquit speak for the first time, an event which inspired Waldman to engage in "a veritable orgy of reading" on socialism and thereby won the young man over to the socialist cause.[7]
Waldman graduated from Cooper Union in June 1916 with a degree in engineering, and worked as a construction engineer during the day while following his ambition to become a lawyer by attending law school in the evenings.[8]
Career[edit]
Labor lawyer[edit]
He was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1923 and worked thereafter as counsel for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, for the New York Central Trades and Labor Council, and for various other unions in the building and garment trades.[9]
Personal life and death[edit]
Louis Waldman married Bella B. Waldman, with whom he had two sons.
He retired age 86 after a severe stroke.[16]
He died on September 12, 1982, at the Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged in Manhattan, New York City.[1] His papers reside at the New York Public Library.