Gil Green

Gil Green (September 24, 1906 – May 4, 1997) was a leading figure in the Communist Party of the United States of America until 1991. He is best remembered as the leader of the party's youth section, the Young Communist League, during the tumultuous decade of the 1930s.

Biography

Early years Gil Green was born Gilbert Greenberg in Chicago. His parents were working class Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. Green's father, who worked as a tailor, died when Gil was about 10, leaving his mother to support the family as a garment worker. He went to work full-time for the Young Workers (Communist) League in 1927 when he was named the organization's district organizer for Chicago.

Green was named one of three communist youth leaders named to the Executive Committee of the Communist International in Moscow in 1935. Following the fall of his patron in 1945, Green was moved out of New York to become district organizer in Chicago to become the Illinois State Secretary of the CPUSA.

Although re-elected to the National Committee in 1969 despite his contention that the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia had been "a very serious blunder," Green later quit the National Committee, although he remained a member of the Communist Party for another two decades.

Later years, death, and legacy

In 1991, following the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, Green left the party and helped found the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.

Green died at a nursing home in Ann Arbor, Michigan on May 4, 1997, at the age of 90.

Michael Myerson sorted his papers. Green's papers reside at the Tamiment Library of New York University in New York City and at the Chicago History Museum in Chicago, IL.

Footnotes

Works Marxism and the World Today. New York: New York State Committee, Communist Party, n.d. Youth Confronts the Blue Eagle. New York: Youth Publishers, November 1933. United We Stand: For Peace and Socialism. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1935. Young Communists and the Unity of Youth: Speech Delivered at the 7th World Congress of the Communist International. New York : Youth Publishers, October 1935. Facing the 8th Convention of the Young Communist League: Report, Delivered Jan. 1, 1937. New York : Young Communist League, n.d. . Make Your Dreams Come True: Report to the 8th National Convention of the Young Communist League, New York City, May 2, 1937. New York: Workers Library Publishers, June 1937. The truth about Soviet Russia. New York: New Age Publishers, March 1938. America Must Act Now! New York: Workers Library Publishers, November 1941. New York State's Wartime Election. New York: New York State Communist Party, September 1942. Marxism and the World Today. New York: New York State Committee, Communist Party, n.d. [1944?]. The Enemy Forgotten. New York, International Publishers, 1956. Revolution Cuban Style: Impressions of a Recent Visit. New York, International Publishers, 1970. Terrorism: Is It Revolutionary? New York: New Outlook Publishers, 1970. The New Radicalism: Anarchist or Marxist? New York: International Publishers, 1971. What's happening to labor. New York: International Publishers, 1976. Portugal's Revolution. New York: International Publishers, 1976. Cuba at 25: The Continuing Revolution. New York: International Publishers, 1983. Cold War Fugitive: A Personal Story of the McCarthy Years. New York: International Publishers, 1984.