Howard Selsam

Howard Selsam (born Howard Brillinger Selsam; 28 June 1903 – 7 September 1970) was an American Marxist philosopher.

Background

Howard Brillinger Selsam was born on 28 June 1903 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His parents were John T. Selsam, a grocer, and his mother was Flora Emig Selsam. Later, Selsam received his undergraduate degree in 1924 from Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. and PhD (1931). and took "an active part in the social struggles of his day on the side of the communist movement." yet he was careful not to impose his political beliefs on students. Nevertheless, Selsam published articles in left-wing periodicals such as The New Masses, although Selsam used the pseudonym "Paul Salter." The political activities of Selsam and other Brooklyn College faculty members attracted the attention of governmental investigation. Despite their denials of Communist association to reporters, and faced contempt charges likely made his resignation unavoidable.

Communist schools

Circa 1941, Howard Selsam was one of the founders of the School for Democracy, an educational facility located at 13 Astor Place in New York and associated with the Communist Party USA.

In 1944, Selsam became the director of the Jefferson School of Social Science, a "Marxist adult education facility" whose faculty included "leftist academics dismissed from the City University of New York." Under Selsam's leadership (1944-1956 Nevertheless, the school received criticism claiming that students simply received dogmatic instruction. For example, a Rutgers University economics professor, Alexander Balinky enrolled in the school and took some classes. Based on his experiences at the school, Balinky wrote a newspaper article and claimed that the students received political indoctrination at the school.

In early December 1947 when news that the Jefferson School of Social Science had appeared on the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations (AGLOSO), Selsam told the New York Times: There is nothing subversive about the Jefferson School. Its organization and teaching are open and above board. Its aims and purposes are clearly defined in its bulletin of courses and other material it issues. If the school is subversive, then any teaching of social science that differs from the beliefs of J. Edgar Hoover (chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation) is to be labeled subversive. Due to tensions caused by the Cold War, Anti-communism, and McCarthyism, the Jefferson School was subject to Congressional hearings and Selsam and others received summons to testify on several occasions.

Selsam and other school administrators denied that the school was a Communist front and fought against having it so officially labeled.

SISS testimony

On April 8, 1953, represented by attorney Joseph Forer, Selsam accused the committee as much as it accused him. He blamed congressional committees for creating an "atmosphere of repression and terror." "Every witness... knows full well the meaning of your subpoena server's knock... dismissal from his job." who was well known as an author of science books for young people. and he was a founder of the American Institute for Marxist Studies.

Personal life and death

Selsam married Millicent Selsam, a botanist and high school teacher

During his last years Selsam had a heart ailment, and he died in New York on September 7, 1970. He was survived by his wife, Millicent Selsam, a son, Robert, and his sister Mrs. Esther Garman.

Partial bibliography of published works

Selsam, Howard. 1930. T.H. Green: critic of empiricism. New York: [s.n.]. Selsam, Howard. 1935. Spinoza: art and the geometric order. New York: Columbia University Press. Selsam, Howard. 1943. Socialism and Ethics. New York: International Publishers. Rozental, M. M., P. Yudin, and Howard Selsam. 1949. Handbook of Philosophy. New York: International Publishers. Selsam, Howard. 1953. The Negro people in the United States: facts for all Americans. New York: Jefferson School of Social Science. Selsam, Howard. 1957. Philosophy in Revolution. New York: International Publishers. Selsam, Howard, and Harry Martel. 1963. Reader in Marxist philosophy: from the writings of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. New York: International Publishers. Selsam, Howard. 1962. What is Philosophy? A Marxist Introduction. New York: International Publishers. Selsam, Howard. 1965. Ethics and Progress: New Values in a Revolutionary World. New York: International Publishers. Selsam, Howard, David Goldway, Harry Martel. 1970. Dynamics of Social Change: A Reader in Marxist Social Science, from the Writings of Marx, Engels and Lenin. New York: International Publishers.