J. B. S. Hardman

Jacob Benjamin Salutsky (August 25, 1882 – January 29, 1968), also known by the alias as J.B.S. Hardman, was a Belarusian-born Jewish American political activist, radical journalist and trade union functionary. Hardman was a proponent of radicalism as a Marxist thinker and a leader of the Jewish Socialist Federation of the Socialist Party of America (SPA). A brief stint in the American Communist movement ended in his expulsion in 1923.

For more than two decades thereafter, Hardman was Education Director of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA).

Early life Salutsky was born on August 25, 1882 into a Russian Jewish family in Grodno, Belarus, then in the Russian Empire. His father was a lumber merchant.

Salutsky was politicized at a young age, embracing Marxism and joining the General Jewish Labor Bund in 1902. His activity drew the attention of the tsarist secret police and led to three stints in prison for his political activity.

As editor of Di Naye Welt, Salutsky strove to make it as an outlet through which his audience of Jewish immigrants could be familiarized with the mainstream American culture of the time. The newspaper included translations of works by American and European authors as well as poetry and theater reviews. The newspaper essentially worked towards "the Americanization of its members without adversely affecting their Jewish identity." Di Naye Welt also published biting criticism against the extreme radicalism of the underground Communist Party of America: "the further they go, the more one can define them as a tendency of humbug, bluff, and demagogy."

Leadership of the Jewish Socialist Federation in 1917.Seated (L-R): Ben-Tsien Hofman (Tsivion), Max Goldfarb, Morris Winchevsky, A. Litvak, Hannah Salutsky, Moishe Terman. Standing: Shauchno Epstein, Frank Rozenblat, Baruch Charney Vladeck, Moissaye Olgin, Jacob Salutsky (J.B.S. Hardman).

Despite his criticism of the delusions and excesses of the underground Communist Party, Salutsky found himself in general agreement with its radical critique of the tepid moderation of the Socialist Party and sought to join an open and realistic Communist Party. A member of the Socialist Party of America until 1921, Salutsky was a leading member of a left-wing faction, The Committee for a Third International, which attempted to affiliate the party with the Communist International in 1920. His disaffection growing, Salutsky began to turn his attention to the organized labor movement and became in 1923 the editor of the American Labor Monthly, a socialist-oriented labor magazine. The same year saw his expulsion from the Workers Party for refusing to intervene on its behalf at the Conference for Progressive Political Action in Cleveland in 1922 and for refusing to submit the American Labor Monthly to party control.

Trade union activity In 1924, he adopted a new surname, Hardman, and he was known as J.B.S. Hardman from then on. The ACWA emphasized the value of education for its growing number of workers. Likewise, Hardman regarded higher education of workers as a necessary element of the worries of the union: "when the body of the worker is more rested and better fed, his intellect should likewise be taken are of." The publication aspired to "bring labor leaders and intellectuals together to create a more educated and nationally aware labor leadership" and to "foster a group of dedicated intellectuals in the service of labor."

He also served as chairman of the Inter-Union Institute, an inclusive forum for men of various noncommunist leftists to discuss the labor movement.

Later life In the 1950s, he was the director of research of the Columbia University project "Trends in Union Leadership." He died at his home in Manhattan on January 29, 1968, at the age of 85.