Louis B. Boudin

Louis B. Boudin, in a photo taken at the time of his publication of his first book in 1907 Louis B. Boudin (December 15, 1874 – May 29, 1952) was a Russian-born American Marxist theoretician, writer, politician, and lawyer. He is best remembered as the author of a two volume history of the Supreme Court's influence on American government, first published in 1932.

Early life He was born Louis Boudianoff in Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire (now Cherkassy Oblast, Ukraine), on February 15, 1874. He was born into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of a shirt manufacturer.

The family emigrated to America in June 1891 and settled in New York City. Louis worked in the garment industry as a shirtmaker and as a private tutor.

Writing career

Boudin wrote his first political articles on aesthetics and the materialist conception of history (historical materialism). The title was published by the leading radical publishing house of the day, Charles H. Kerr & Co., and was kept in print continuously over the next two decades through several reissue editions. The book, a defense of such orthodox Marxist tenets as the labor theory of value and historical materialism against their critics of the day, established Boudin's place as one of the foremost American authorities on Marxism among a generation of young political activists.

Later life Boudin (seated, far left) at a meeting of the American ORT, 1934.(L-R): Louis B. Boudin, James Grover McDonald, Henry Moskowitz, Florence Dolowitz, Philip Block. After the formation of the Communist Labor Party of America and the Communist Party of America, Boudin shied away from organized politics but taught in the Communist Party-sponsored Workers' School in New York in the late 1920s and occasionally contributed articles to the CP's artistic magazine, The New Masses, in the second half of the 1930s.

In addition to working as a lawyer, winning several cases related to the rights of workers to organize trade unions,

His papers reside at Columbia University in New York City and include the manuscript of an unpublished book, Order Out of Chaos, a study of economic crises.

Boudin's family has continued to be prominent on the political left. His nephew Leonard Boudin was a civil-liberties attorney who represented clients like Daniel Ellsberg, Paul Robeson, Julian Bond, and William Sloan Coffin. Leonard's children are federal judge Michael Boudin and Weather Underground member Kathy Boudin. Kathy's son Chesa Boudin was the district attorney of the city of San Francisco until a voter recall removed him from office in June 2022.

Works

Books

The Theoretical System of Karl Marx in the Light of Recent Criticism. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1907. Government by Judiciary. Boston: Ginn & Company, 1911. Socialism and War, New York: New Review Publishing Co., 1916. Government by Judiciary. In two volumes. New York: William Godwin, 1932. Congressional and Agency Investigations: Their Uses and Abuses. n.c.: Virginia Law Review Association, 1949.

Articles

"Stare Decisis, State Constitutions, and Impairing the Obligation of Contracts by Judicial Decisions." New York University Law Quarterly Review, vol. 11, nos. 1–2 (September–December 1933). "Has the Writ of Habeas Corpus Been Abolished in New York?" Columbia Law Review, vol. 35, no. 6 (June 1935), pp. 850–872. In JSTOR "The Supreme Court and Civil Rights," Science & Society, vol. 1, no. 3 (Spring 1937), pp. 273–309. In JSTOR "The Sherman Act and Labor Disputes: Part I," Columbia Law Review, vol. 39, no. 8 (Dec. 1939), pp. 1283–1337. In JSTOR "The Sherman Act and Labor Disputes: Part II," Columbia Law Review, vol. 40, no. 1 (Jan. 1940), pp. 14–51. In JSTOR "State Poll Taxes and the Federal Constitution," Virginia Law Review, vol. 28, no. 1 (Nov. 1941), pp. 1–25. In JSTOR "Wanted: An Integrated System of Labor Law," Journal of Politics, vol. 4, no. 1 (Feb. 1942), pp. 20–46. In JSTOR "Organized Labor and the Clayton Act: Part I," Virginia Law Review, vol. 29, no. 3 (Dec. 1942), pp. 272–315. In JSTOR "Organized Labor and the Clayton Act: Part II," Virginia Law Review, vol. 29, no. 4 (Jan. 1943), pp. 395–439. In JSTOR "Congressional and Agency Investigations: Their Uses and Abuses," Virginia Law Review, vol. 35, no. 2 (Feb. 1949), pp. 143–213. In JSTOR "'Seditious Doctrines' and the 'Clear and Present Danger' Rule: Part I," Virginia Law Review, vol. 38, no. 2 (Feb. 1952), pp. 143–186. In JSTOR "'Seditious Doctrines' and the 'Clear and Present Danger' Rule: Part II," Virginia Law Review, vol. 38, no. 3 (April 1952), pp. 315–356. In JSTOR