Jacob Panken

Jacob Panken (January 13, 1879 – February 4, 1968) was a Ukrainian-born Jewish American socialist politician, best remembered for his tenure as a New York City municipal court judge and frequent candidacies for high elected office on the ticket of the Socialist Party of America.

Early life Jacob Panken was born January 13, 1879, in Kyiv, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. He was the son of ethnic Jewish parents, Herman Panken and Feiga Berman Panken. His father was employed as a merchant. The family emigrated to the United States in 1890, arriving in New York City, where the family settled. An outspoken opponent of American entry into World War I, Panken was a member of the People's Council for Democracy and Peace in 1917.

"Comrade Chairman!" Cartoon by Art Young depicting the New York Old Guard at the 1919 Emergency National Convention of the SPA.Left to right: Louis Waldman, Algernon Lee, Abraham Shiplacoff, Jacob Panken, August Claessens, Abraham Beckerman, Charles Solomon, and Alexander Braunstein.

Panken was a leading figure in the bitter 1919 Emergency National Convention of the SPA, chairing the all-important Credentials Committee which acted as a filter to insure the victory of the "Regular" faction headed by Executive Secretary Adolph Germer, New York state party leader Julius Gerber, and National Executive Committee member James Oneal. He was also a delegate to subsequent SPA conventions held in 1920, 1924, and 1932.

Panken was a frequent candidate for public office on the Socialist Party ticket. He first ran for New York State Senate in the 11th District in 1908.

During his time on the bench, Panken remained a candidate for high offices on behalf of the Socialist Party, pursuing a seat as U.S. Senator from New York in 1920 and running for Mayor of New York in 1921.

Running for re-election in 1927, Panken declined to accept endorsement from both the Republican and Communist parties and was defeated in his re-election bid. The result of the election was challenged, with allegations of vote rigging, including an allegation that the lever for Panken's name was rendered inoperable in one district.

The Socialist weekly The New Leader was livid, running a banner headline that "Tammany Thugs" had stolen the election for Democratic candidate Abraham Harawitz:

"The polling places of the 4th assembly district...were scenes of the most disgraceful election stealing."In all cases the Tammany election officials were flanked by a collection of gangsters who aided in the intimidation of voters who were being deprived of their votes. The Socialist [poll] watchers who made protests over the procedure were brutalized. The voters were threatened, brow-beaten, and flustered. Notorious gangsters, gunmen, and pimps were on hand in full force taking orders from the Tammany leaders...."In one polling place a watcher had a gun poked into his ribs and a second later a thug struck him from behind, laying him out; in another polling place a gangster threw tear powder into the eyes of the two Socialist watchers just as the voting machine was being opened for recording of the votes; Socialist watchers were refused the right to note the results tabulated on the machines. Many were ejected and threatened."

Following his defeat, Panken ran again as a Socialist candidate for Congress in 1930 and for Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals in 1932.

Panken was one of the most outspoken anti-Zionists on the Jewish left. As such, he was a key supporter of the Jewish Newsletter, published by William Zukerman, and also of the American Council for Judaism. When Harry Rogoff of The Jewish Daily Forward defended the Zionism of editor-in-chief Abraham Cahan, Panken responded as follows:

In 1934, he was appointed to the Domestic Relations Court by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and served until his retirement in 1955.

Death and legacy Panken died in the Bronx, New York on February 4, 1968, at the age of 89. as well as at the Tamiment Library on the campus of New York University.

Campaign materials gallery

Works European Jewry in 1925. New York: American Ort, 1925. Socialism for America. New York: Rand School Press, n.d. [c. 1933]. A Judge Sees Germany in Its Color. New York: Jewish Labor Committee, n.d. [early 1940s]. The Child Speaks: The Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency. New York: Henry Holt, 1941. Delinquency and Guidance. New York: Child Care Publications, 1947. A Northern Judge Looks at the South. Baltimore: The Crisis, 1947.