Sidney Lens papers, 1910-1986
Descriptive Inventory for the
Collection at Chicago History Museum, Research Center
By Mindy C. Pugh, Dec. 1988
© Copyright 2000, Chicago
Historical Society, Clark St. at North Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614
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Main entry: Lens, Sidney, 1912-1986
Title: Sidney Lens papers, 1910-1986
Inclusive dates:
1910-1986
Size: 68 linear feet (163 boxes and 3 vols.)
44 sound recordings.
55 sound cassettes. (0MM.153)
CHS Accession number:
1986.0436
A&M Accession numbers: 1968.0746,
1971.0026, 1973.0060
Restriction:
For listening purposes, it is necessary to use a copy, not the original (and to
have a listening copy made if one is not available).
This descriptive inventory includes
1. Brief biography of Sidney
Lens,
2. Description of the
collection,
3. Description of some related
material,
4. List of card catalog
headings,
5. Provenance statement,
6. Storage designation,
7. Container list of box/folder numbers and titles.
Sidney Lens, author and labor leader, was born Sidney Okun on Jan. 28,1912, in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Charles and Sophie Okun, Russian Jews who reached the United States in 1907. Charles had fled the Russian military draft and became a pharmacist in the U.S., but he died when his son Sidney was three years old. Sidney was raised by his mother, who worked 72-hour weeks in New York City’s garment district to support them.
Lens attended an Orthodox Jewish school where he performed well academically but turned into an anti-establishmentarian due to the rabbi’s heavy reliance on dogma and corporal punishment. Lens finished his education in a public high school, and after a short period working in a fountain pen factory he was hired as a runner for a Wall Street brokerage firm. By the time Lens was let go, a few months after the stock market crash of Oct. 1929, he had advanced to the position of assistant chief runner. Lens blamed his firing not on the reasons which had been given him, but on the fact that some time before he had advised his boss to let the tired runners go home after they had finished their designated work. The chief runner refused, asking Lens “Suppose a broker wants a sandwich, who’s going to get it for him?” “He can bloody well go downstairs and get it himself,” Lens had angrily retorted.
With the onset of the Great Depression, Lens found it increasingly difficult to obtain regular work, and relied heavily on earnings from summer jobs at resort areas. It was at such a resort in Saratoga Springs in 1930 that Lens organized his first strike, involving twelve waiters and five busboys. He was driven deep into the woods by the county sheriff, roughed up and left. Though Lens felt the exhilaration of joining a great fraternity of the oppressed, his main interest at the time lay in philosophy, with Bergson commanding as much of his loyalty as Trotsky. It was not until 1934, when he formally joined the Trotskyites (stressing in his autobiography that it was an intellectual rather than an emotional decision) that Lens began organizing department store unions in New York. In August of 1936, as a member of the Revolutionary Workers’ League, Lens went to Chicago and led a crowd of 2000 that disrupted a Chicago City Council meeting to demand reinstatement of city cash benefits to the unemployed. The tactic worked, and Lens made Chicago his base as, during the years immediately following, he traveled to Detroit, New York, and Washington, D.C., organizing walkouts, sit-ins, and new unions.
In 1941 Lens undertook organizing efforts among fellow workers at the Hillman’s grocery chain. In the following months he managed to depose Max Caldwell, the reputed racketeer leader of Hillman’s Local 1248 of the AFL’s Retail Clerk’s International Protective Association, and regrouped the workers into the United Grocery and Produce Employees Union, Local 329 of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (CIO). Hillman’s refusal to recognize the new union resulted in an unsuccessful six-week strike, but victory crowned Lens’ efforts the following year when Local 329 won an election ordered by the National Labor Relations Board. In 1946 Lens led Local 329 out of the CIO and into the AFL’s Building Service Employees International Union, which had a firmer footing in Chicago’s State Street retail establishments. In the next few years Lens widened his organizing efforts; on behalf of Local 329 (known from 1946/47 as the United Service Employees Union) at Mandel Brothers and Carson, Pirie, Scott; for fellow BSEIA Local 291 at Goldblatt Brothers; and for BSEIU Local 372 at Wieboldt’s. Lens served as director of Local 329 until 1966, and remained active in union leadership capacities through the 1970s.
In 1946 Lens married the former Shirley Ruben, a Chicago public school teacher who became known in the 1950s for refusing to take a loyalty oath. In the early 1950s Sidney and Shirley Lens began a series of travels which eventually took them to 101 nations. These travels broadened Lens’ perspective and furthered a keen interest in international affairs. He became a prodigious author and wrote more than twenty books, including Left, Right and Center, 1949; The Counterfeit Revolution, 1952; A World in Revolution, 1956; The Crisis of American Labor, 1959; The Maginot Line Syndrome, 1983; and Strikemakers and Strikebreakers, 1985. Lens also contributed to the Progressive magazine from the early 1950s, and was a contributing editor for the National Catholic Reporter. During the 1950s his scathing articles denouncing McCarthyism and the Cold War brought him national attention.
Lens entered the political arena three times to run as the nominee of progressive third parties. In 1962 he conducted a write-in campaign in Illinois’ Second Congressional District on behalf of Voters for Peace while the Cuban Missile Crisis was at its height. Several years later Lens represented the same group in a run for the state legislature. In 1980 Lens accepted the nomination of the Citizens Party for the U. S. Senate.
“Sid was remarkable because he came from several movements,” said Erwin Knoll, his editor at the Progressive. “He was, for most of his life, a labor organizer and union official, so he had a strong labor background. At the same time, he was a key figure in the peace movement. He took a lead in organizing some of the great protests against the Vietnam War.” Lens served as co-chairman of the New Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam, better known as “New Mobe,” and the National Committee to End the War in Vietnam. In the 1970s and 1980s Lens labored on behalf of nuclear disarmament, most notably through the Mobilization for Survival, which he founded.
Only illness was able to interrupt Lens’ tireless activities. He died on June 18, 1986, at Chicago’s Bernard Mitchell Hospital from a recurrence of a malignant melanoma, which he had first battled in 1978.
Description of the collection:
The papers document s Lens' varied career as a union organizer, political candidate, peace activist, author, lecturer, and world traveler. It is noteworthy that Lens was both a prolific writer and an indefatigable organizer, and therefore much of the documentation in these files is not only about Lens, but by him as well. Scores of union newsletters circulated in Chciago locals in the 1940s and 1950s were produced by Lens in the heat of organizational drives and strikes. The collection contains a continuous run of correspondence (both incoming and outgoing) arranged chronologically, revealing Lens’ activist career of a half-century; manuscript drafts of books and articles (published and unpublished) show Lens’ efforts to influence national public opinion. In addition to these files generated by, and directly pertinent to, Lens’ public activities and pronouncements, the collection contains personal memorabilia, financial records, and Lens' research files on domestic topics and foreign nations.
The papers are divided into four series, which respect Lens’ own organization of his files:
Series 1. Personal files (boxes 1-70)
Series 2. Writings;
Series 3. Research files on foreign nations;
Series 4. Topical files and sound recordings.
Series 1. Personal files (boxes 1-70)
The Personal Files are the core of the collection and are divided into six subseries which (for the most part) reflect divisions that Lens maintained among his files:
Subseries 1. Family papers;
Subseries 2. FBI files on Lens;
Subseries 3. Personal papers;
Subseries 4. Correspondence;
Subseries 5. Personal finances;
Subseries 6. Activities.
This subseries illustrates Lens’ family background and his formative years. It begins with the courtship letters written by his father to his mother and contains Lens’ mother’s union papers, bills, and tax receipts, as well as the correspondence exchanged between mother and son during Mrs. Okun’s final illness in 1954. Also included in this subseries are Lens’ earliest journals, 1931-1933, written in the middle of the Great Depression and revealing Lens’ struggles as a young man for love, philosophic truth, and his disgust at the materialist society in which he lived.
This subseries consists of the FBI’s files on Lens, which cover the period from the early 1950s through the early 1970s. They contain testimonies given by informants as to Lens’ activities and whereabouts as well as statements pertaining to Lens’ affiliation with leftist political movements. Lens obtained these photocopies of his files in 1979 under the Freedom of Information Act.
The files under this heading are arranged chronologically, each containing an average of one year’s accumulation of materials which Lens himself designated as “personal.” These materials do not reveal Lens’ personal life (as that phrase is commonly understood), but rather his life as a public figure. The files include newsclippings on Lens and his activities, announcements of Lens lectures and panel discussions, position papers prepared for general distribution, programs from special events and testimonial dinners, and some correspondence between third parties which had been forwarded (carbon copies) to Lens.
Lens’ correspondence files, which run from the 1930s through the 1980s, include both incoming letters and carbon copies of outgoing correspondence, and illustrate his many activities, affiliations and friendships.
Lens corresponded with hundreds of individuals over the years, including union officials, American and foreign socialists, magazine editors, book publishers, peace activists, social workers, and university professors, among others. Subjects covered include union organizing, progressive movements at home and abroad, the progress of Lens books and articles through the publishing world, the scheduling of Lens as a speaker, lecturer, and panelist, and general discussions on the progress and prospects of the American left. It appears that Lens often obtained the return of his own letters, and the presence of these help make the dialogues which Lens conducted through his correspondence all the more complete and comprehensible.
This subseries consists of a chronological run of folders covering the years 1952 through 1982, and contain telephone, electric, gas, and hospital bills, receipts (for retail store and automotive purchases), bank stubs from royalties paid Lens by his publishers. These items give a good overview of the expenses incurred by Lens in both his public life (travel and telephone bills) and his private life (receipts for food, clothing, housing, and furniture purchases).
These files were filled by Lens with documentation (in large part self-generated) of the major causes and commitments of his life. Whereas the materials in Subseries 3 focus more closely on Lens as a prominent public figure, the materials of subseries 6 more amply illustrate the fields of activity in which Lens functioned. The materials are basically placed in a chronological order with some grouping together by area of activity (such as union organizing, which was the focus of Lens’ life in the 1930s and 1940s but less so thereafter). The union files are followed by files on Lens’ world travels of the 1950s, his NAACP affiliations of the late 1950s, his 1962 campaign for Congress, his agitation against the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early 1970s, his fight against nuclear weapons in the 1970s and 1980s, and his 1980 Senate campaign. These files contain bulletins, position papers, correspondence, newsletters, newsclippings, and news releases.
Also included in this chronological arrangement are transcripts of six interviews conducted by Lens (in 1973-1974) of prominent leftist political figures, including Earl Browder, Gil Green, and Tom Hayden.
Series 2 Writings (Boxes 70-131)
This series contains the original manuscript versions of much of Lens’ published work, as well as copies of magazines in which Lens’ articles appeared. The series is divided into two subseries:
Subseries 1. Books;
Subseries 2. Articles.
The files in this subseries contain the manuscript versions of Lens’ books, arranged chronologically, using the year of publication for published works and approximate date of composition for unpublished ones. Also filed alongside the manuscript for each published book are research materials, reviews of the work, and in some cases, correspondence received by Lens from readers.
This subseries contains manuscripts of both published and unpublished articles, and magazines containing many of the finished products. The initial files are a chronological arrangement of the article manuscripts, which are followed by a chronological arrangement of copies of some of Lens’ published articles with the exception of those which appeared in the Progressive and the National Catholic Reporter. A chronological run of these two publications can be found in the middle of the subseries. The subseries ends with a miscellaneous collection of research materials used by Lens in the writing of his articles.
Series 3. Research files on foreign nations (Boxes
131-156)
In 1950 Sidney and Shirley Lens took their first major trip overseas. In the following decades they were to visit most of the nations of the world. The files in this series contain brochures, pamphlets, position papers, and maps, many of which are official government publications of the nations visited by the Lenses. Lens organized these materials alphabetically by nation to serve as a reference file for his writings and speeches. Also filed in this series, at its beginning, is a collection of note pads (1960-1981) on which Lens wrote observations during his travels.
Series 4. Topical files (Boxes 156-164) and sound
recordings (4 boxes)
This series is composed mainly of newsclippings from the 1970s and was apparently collected by Lens as reference material for his writings. Topics include labor issues, the military-industrial complex, nuclear power, and radicalism, among others.
Related materials at Chicago Historical Society include the papers of Lens' wife, Shirley Lens.
Motion picture film (27 reels; 8 mm.) is managed as a separate collection at Chicago Historical Society. Most reels (22 reels) were shot by Sidney and Shirley Lens while on their trips around the world between 1950 and 1964, and show scenes from the Caribbean, Cuba, Europe, the Soviet Union, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South America; 3 reels show picket line activities during Chicago labor disputes, 1950-1954, which involved Lens’ United Service Employees Union.
Several Vietnam era anti-war buttons were transferred to the Decorative & Industrial Arts Collection of the historical society.
List of online catalog
headings:
The following headings were placed in the online catalog for this collection:
Subject headings:
Lens, Sidney
Lens, Shirley
Caldwell, Max.
Hickman, James Willis, 1907-1981.
Kutcher, James.
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-
Waller, Odell
Building Service Employees' International Union. (AFL)
Citizens Party.
Communist League of America.
Department Store Employees Union. Local 291. (AFL)
Goldblatt Brothers.
Hillman's (Chicago, Ill.)
Impeach Nixon Committee.
National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
People's Party.
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. (CIO)
Revolutionary Workers League
United Grocery and Produce Employees Union. Local 329. (CIO)
United Service Employees Union. Local 329. (AFL)
United States. Central Intelligence Agency
United States. Dept. of Justice. Bureau of Investigation.
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Voters for Peace.
Wieboldt's (Chicago, Ill.)
Worker's Party.
National Catholic Reporter.
Progressive.
Antinuclear movement--United States--20th century.
Authors, American--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Civil rights
Communism--United States
Courtship--New York (State)--New York--20th century.
Department stores--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Family--New York (State)--New York--20th century.
Freedom of information--United States.
Grocery trade--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
International relations
Jews--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Working class--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Loyalty oaths--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Peace--Societies, etc.
Race relations
Right and left (Political science)
Russian Americans--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Strikes and lockouts--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Trade-unions
Trade-unions--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975--Protest movements
Voyages and travels
Wages--Grocery trade--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Africa--Description and travel
Asia--Description and travel
Chicago (Ill.)--Social conditions--20th century.
United States--Foreign relations--20th century
United States--History--1945-
United States-Politics and government--1945-1989
Added entries:
Browder, Earl, 1891-1973
Cannon, James P.
Green, Gil I.
Hayden, Tom
Kissinger, C. Clark.
Lens, Shirley
Lynd, Staughton
Muste, Abraham John, 1885-1967
Okun, Sidney.
Building Service Employees' International Union (AFL)
Citizens Party.
Communist League of America.
Department Store Employees Union. Local 291. (AFL)
Goldblatt Brothers.
Hillman's (Chicago, Ill.)
Impeach Nixon Committee.
National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
People's Party.
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (CIO)
Revolutionary Workers League
United Grocery and Produce Employees Union. Local 329. (CIO)
United Service Employees Union. Local 329. (AFL)
United States. Central Intelligence Agency
United States. Dept. of Justice. Bureau of Investigation.
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Voters for Peace.
Wieboldt's (Chicago, Ill.)
Worker's Party.
National Catholic Reporter.
Progressive.
Forms of material
1. Articles.
2. Audio cassettes.
3. Audio tapes.
4. Bills (financial).
5. Interviews.
6. Journals (notebooks).
7. Manuscripts (for publication).
8. Newsletters.
9. Monographs.
Provenance statement:
These papers were given to the Chicago Historical Society by Sidney Lens in June 1968, May 1971, Nov. 1973, and Feb. 1979, and by Shirley Lens in Sept. 1986. (A&M accession numbers 1968.0746, 1971.0026, 1973.0060, 1979.0002; CHS accession number: 1986.0436.
Storage designation:
Collections: Sidney Lens
This inventory By:
Mindy C. Pugh, Dec. 1988
Container list of box/folder numbers and titles:
Box 1
Folders:
1 Courtship letters of Charles Okun to Sophie Horowitz 1910
2 Family mementos 1911-54
3-4 Sidney Okun (Lens) journals 1931-33
5 Sophie Okun union papers 1935-54
6 Sophie Okun bills, receipts, tax returns 1927-54
7 Sidney Lens’ correspondence with his mother, Sophie Okun 1954
8 Condolences upon death of Sophie Okun 1954
Box 2
1 Personal and family photographs
2 Union and travel photographs
3 Personal and family correspondence 1930s-1940s
4 Personal miscellaneous
5 Passport case 1951-55
6 Shirley Lens and the Broyles Oath Case
7 Buttons and Badges
Subseries 2. FBI files on Lens
Box 3 Code 100-17506: Serials: 1-676
Box 4 Code 100-17506: Serials: 677-1388
Box 5 Code 100-17506: Serials: 1389-1690
Box 6 Code 100-17506: Serials: 1691-1869
Box 7 Code 100-17506: Serials: 1870-2118
Box 8 Subserials Code 100-338899: Sections: 1-4
Box 9 Subserials Code 100-338899: Sections: 5-7
Box 10 Code 25-564211; FBI misc.
Box 11 FBI misc.; CIA file
Subseries 3. Personal papers
Box 12
Folders:
1 Personal papers 1952-53
2 Personal papers 1954-55
3 Personal papers 1955-57
4-6 Personal papers 1960
Box 13
1 Personal papers 1960-61
2 Personal papers 1961
3-5 Personal papers 1962
6 Personal papers 1963
Box 14
1-2 Personal papers 1963-64
3-4 Personal papers 1965
5 Personal papers 1965-66
6 Personal papers 1966
7 Personal papers 1966-67
Box 15
1-2 Personal papers 1967
3 Personal papers 1967-68
4 Personal papers 1968
5 Personal papers 1968-72, library display
6-7 Personal papers 1969
Box 16
1 Interviews
2-3 Personal papers 1970
4 Personal papers 1971
5 Personal papers 1972
6 Personal papers 1973
Box 17
1 Personal papers 1974
2-3 Personal papers 1975
4 Personal papers 1976
5 Personal papers 1976 testimonial dinner; 1976-77
6 Personal papers 1977
Box 18
1-2 Personal papers 1977
3-5 Personal papers 1978
6 Personal papers 1979
Box 19
1-3 Personal papers 1980
4-5 Personal papers 1983
6 Personal papers 1982
Box 20
1-2 Personal papers 1982
3-4 Personal papers 1983
5-6 Personal papers 1984
7 Personal papers 1986
Box 21
Appointment calendars 1960-1986
Subseries 4. Correspondence
Box 22
1 Correspondence 1935-37, 1942, 1944-Feb. 1945
2 Correspondence Mar. 1945-Mar. 1947
3 Correspondence Apr. 1947-May 1948
4 Correspondence June 1948-Apr. 1949
5 Correspondence May-Nov. 1949
6 Correspondence Dec. 1949-Feb. 1950
Box 23
1 Correspondence Mar.-May 1950
2 Correspondence June-Aug. 1950
3 Correspondence Sept. 1950-Apr. 1951
4 Correspondence May-Sept. 1951
5 Correspondence Oct.-Dec. 1951
6 Correspondence Jan.-May 1952
Box 24
1 Correspondence June-Dec. 1952
2 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1953
3 Correspondence Apr.-June 1953
4 Correspondence 1953
5 Correspondence Nov. 1953-Feb. 1954
6 Correspondence Mar.-May 1954
Box 25
1 Correspondence June-Aug. 1954
2 Correspondence Sept.-Nov. 1954
3 Correspondence Dec. 1954
4 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1955
5 Correspondence Apr.-June 1955
6 Correspondence July-Oct. 1955
7 Correspondence Nov.-Dec. 1955
Box 26
1 Correspondence Jan.-Feb. 1956
2 Correspondence Mar.-april 1956
3 Correspondence May-June 1956
4 Correspondence July-Aug. 1956
5 Correspondence Sept.-Oct. 1956
6 Correspondence Nov.-Dec. 1956
7 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1957
Box 27
1 Correspondence Apr.-July 1957
2 Correspondence Aug.-Oct. 1957
3 Correspondence Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958
4 Correspondence Feb.-May 1958
5 Correspondence June-Nov. 1958
6 Correspondence Dec. 1958-Mar. 1959
Box 28
1 Correspondence Apr.-June 1959
2 Correspondence July-Oct. 1959
3 Correspondence Nov. 1959-Jan. 1960
4 Correspondence Feb.-May 1960
5 Correspondence June-Sept. 1960
Box 29
1 Correspondence Oct.-Dec. 1960
2 Correspondence Jan.-Feb. 1961
3 Correspondence Mar.-Apr. 1961
4 Correspondence May-June 1961
5 Correspondence July-Sept. 1961
6 Correspondence Oct.-Nov. 1961
7 Correspondence Dec. 1961; 1961 n.d.
Box 30
1 Correspondence Jan.-Feb. 1962
2 Correspondence Mar.-Apr. 1962
3 Correspondence May-June 1962
4 Correspondence July-Aug. 1962
5 Correspondence Sept.-Oct. 1962
6 Correspondence Nov.-Dec. 1962
7 Correspondence, Congressional campaign, Voters for Peace 1962
8 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1963
Box 31
1 Correspondence Apr.-July 1963
2 Correspondence Aug.-Dec. 1963
3 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1964
4 Correspondence Apr.-Aug. 1964
5 Correspondence Sept.-Dec. 1964
Box 32
1 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1965
2 Correspondence Apr.-Aug. 1965
3 Correspondence Sept.-Dec. 1965
4 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1966
5 Correspondence Apr.-June 1966
Box 33
1 Correspondence July-Oct. 1966
2 Correspondence Nov.-Dec. 1966
3 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1967
4 Correspondence Apr.-June 1967
5 Correspondence July-Sept. 1967
6 Correspondence Oct.-Dec. 1967
7 Letters regarding the Twilight of Liberalism, 1967
8 Correspondence Jan. 1968
9 Correspondence Feb. 1968
10 Correspondence Mar-Apr. 1968
11 Correspondence May 1968
Box 34
1 Correspondence June 1968
2 Correspondence July-Aug. 1968
3 Correspondence Sept.-Oct. 1968
4 Correspondence Nov.-Dec. 1968
5 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1969
6 Correspondence Apr.-June 1969
7 Correspondence July-Dec. 1969
8 Correspondence Jan.-Apr. 1970
9 Correspondence May-Dec. 1970
10 Correspondence Jan.-June 1971
Box 35
1 Correspondence July-Dec. 1971
2 Correspondence Jan.-May 1972
3 Correspondence June-Dec. 1972
4 Correspondence Jan.-June 1973
5 Correspondence July-Dec. 1973
6 Correspondence Jan.-June 1974
Box 36
1 Correspondence July-Dec. 1974
2 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1975
3 Correspondence Apr.-July 1975
4 Correspondence Aug.-Dec. 1975
5 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1976
6 Correspondence Apr.-Aug. 1976
7 Correspondence Sept.-Oct. 1976
Box 37
1 Correspondence Nov.-Dec. 1976
2 Correspondence Jan.-July 1977
3 Correspondence May 1977
4 Correspondence July-Sept. 1977
5 Correspondence Oct.-Dec. 1977
6 Correspondence Jan.-Feb. 1978
7 Correspondence Mar.-July 1978
Box 38
1 Correspondence Aug.-Dec. 1978
2 Correspondence Jan.-July 1979
3 Correspondence Aug.-Dec. 1979
4 Correspondence Jan.-June 1980
5 Correspondence July-Aug. 1980
6 Correspondence Sept.-Dec. 1980
Box 39
1 Correspondence Jan. 1981
2 Correspondence Feb.-Apr. 1981
3 Correspondence May-Sept. 1981
4 Correspondence Sept.-Dec. 1981
5 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1982
6 Correspondence Apr.-Aug. 1982
7 Correspondence Sept.-Dec. 1982
8 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1983
Box 40
1 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1983
2 Correspondence Apr. 1983
3 Correspondence May-June 1983
4 Correspondence July-Aug. 1983
5 Correspondence Sept. 1983
6 Correspondence Oct. 1983
7 Correspondence Oct.-Dec. 1983
8 Correspondence Jan.-Mar. 1984
9 Correspondence Mar.-May 1984
10 Correspondence May-Sept. 1984
11 Correspondence Sept.-Dec. 1984
Box 41
1 Correspondence 1986
Subseries 5. Personal finances
Box 41 continued
Folders
2 Personal finances 1950-54
3 Personal finances 1954-55
4 Personal finances 1957
5 Personal finances 1958
B ox 42
1 Personal finances 1959
2 Personal finances 1960
3 Personal finances 1962
4 Personal finances 1963
5 Personal finances 1964
6 Personal finances 1965
Box 43
1 Personal finances 1966
2 Personal finances 1967
3 Personal finances 1968
4 Personal finances 1969
5 Personal finances 1970
Box 44
1 Personal finances 1971
2 Personal finances 1972
3 Personal finances 1973
4 Personal finances 1974
5 Personal finances 1975
Box 45
1 Personal finances 1976
2 Personal finances 1977
3 Personal finances 1978
Box 46
1 Personal finances 1980
2 Personal finances 1981
3 Personal finances 1982
Box 47
1 Personal finances 1982
Subseries 6. Activities
Box 47
2 Photographs
3 Spartacus Youth League
4 Political notes 1935-39
5 Odell Waller Defense Committee 1940-41
5 International Workers School
7-8 Newsclippings and news bulletins
9 Foreign Communists
Box 48
1 Communist League of America
International News
2 Communist League of America 1935-38, 1941-July 1945
3 Communist League of America Sept. 1945-48
4 Revolutionary Workers’ League 1935-37, 1940, 1944-Feb. 1946
5 Revolutionary Workers’ League 1939-49
6 Revolutionary Workers’ League Mar.-Oct. 1946
Box 49
1 Revolutionary Workers’ League Nov. 1946-Feb. 1947
2 Revolutionary Workers’ League Mar.-Dec. 1947
3 Revolutionary Workers’ League Undated
4 Revolutionary Workers’ League, political committee 1940-43
5 Revolutionary Workers’ League, political committee 1943-47
6 Revolutionary Workers’ League, political committee, Newsclippings
Trade unions
7 Trade unions 1937-42
8 Trade unions 1942-46
Box 50
1 Trade unions 1947-49; 1857-59
2 Trade unions, Newsclippings
3 International Information Bulletin 1935
4 Workers’ Party 1933-35
5 Workers’ Party 1935
United Grocery and Produce Employees Union. UGPEU Local 329, CIO:
6 UGPEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership 1941
7 UGPEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership 1942
Box 51
1 UGPEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership 1943-44
2 UGPEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership 1945-46
3 UGPEU Local 329, Unity bulletin June 1943-1946
United Service Employees Union. USEU Local 329, AFL:
4 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership 1947-48
5 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership Jan.-July 1949
Box 52
1 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership Aug. 1949-Sept. 1950
2 USEU Local 329, letters to membership Sept. 1949-Sept. 1950
3 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership Oct. 1950-Jan. 1951
4 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership Feb. 1951-1952
5 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership July 1953-Aug. 1954
6 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership Sept. 1954-Aug. 1955
7 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership Sept. 1955-1956
Box 53
1 USEU Local 329, Unity bulletin Oct. 1952-1955, 1961, 1956-66, 1972-75
ON SHELF: Unity bulletin Sept. 1951-Oct. 1959
2 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership, Bradley unit 1948-50
3 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership, Bradley unit 1954-55
4 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership, Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. unit 1955-56
5 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership, Crystal Tube unit 1949-51
6 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership, Crystal Tube unit 1954-57
7 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership, Deena unit
8 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership, Galter Herold unit 1954
9 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership, Gudeman unit 1954-56
10 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership, Handy Button unit 1953-56, 1967
11 USEU Local 329, bulletins and letters to membership, Hillman unit 1952, 1954-56
Box 54
United Service Employees Union. Local 329, AFL: Bulletins and letters to membership:
1 Ideal roller unit 1952-56
2 Interstate Sanitation unit 1955
3 Mandel Brothers unit 1954-56
4 Maxant Button unit 1952, 1955-56
5 Michael Reese unit 1954
6 Morris B. Sachs unit 1956
7 Popeil unit 1954-55
8 Production Finishers unit 1954-55
9 Randolph Lab unit 1948-50
10 Randolph Lab unit 1952-56
11 South Center unit 1948-50
12 South Center unit 1952-55
13 Washington shirt unit 1950
United Grocery and Produce Employees Union. UGPEU Local 329, CIO
(changed to United Service Employees Union and affiliation transferred to AFL, 1946/47):
14-15 UGPEU Local 329, CIO, correspondence 1941-42
Box 55
1 UGPEU Local 329, CIO, Hillman’s strike 1941
ON SHELF UGPEU Local 329, CIO: Scrapbook of clippings on Max Caldwell 1941-42
2 UGPEU Local 329, CIO, membership and labor disputes 1941-42
3 UGPEU Local 329, CIO, Lens’ “Organizer Reports” 1941-46
4 UGPEU/USEU Local 329, executive board meetings 1941, 1947-50
5 UGPEU Local 329, CIO, election of officers 1944
6 UGPEU/USEU Local 329, Lens’ receipts for union dues 1943-56
7 USEU Local 329, AFL, correspondence 1951-59
8-9 Local 329 membership cards
Box 56
1 UGPEU/USEU Local 329, agreements with Hillman’s 1941-74
2 USEU Local 329, AFL, correspondence 1960-64
3 USEU Local 329, AFL, miscellaneous 1965-75
4 UGPEU/USEU Local 329, by-laws
5 UGPEU/USEU Local 329, audit reports 1945-53
6 USEU Local 329, AFL, audit reports 1954-62
7 USEU Local 329, AFL, audit reports 1965-71
8 Financial papers 1941
Box 57
1 Financial papers 1941
2 Checks and statements 1942-43
3 Checks and statements 1946
4 Checks and statements, checkbooks 1943-46
5 Checks and statements 1947
6 Checks and statements Jan 1949-Jan 1949
7 Checks and statements Feb-Mar 1949
8 Savings account and purchase receipts 1942-46
Box 58
1 Financial secretary’s cash books July 1940-Aug 1941
2 Financial secretary’s cash books Sept 1941-Apr 1946
ON SHELF Account book May 1946-Dec 1949
3 Notebook kept by Lens July-Aug-1941
Department Store Employees Union. DSEU Local 291, AFL:
4 DSEU Local 291 bulletins and letters to membership 1940-43
5 DSEU Local 291 bulletins and letters to membership 1946
6 DSEU Local 291 bulletins and letters to membership 1947-49
7 DSEU Local 291 bulletins and letters to membership 1950-52
Building Service Employees International Union, AFL:
8 Bulletins and letters to membership, Local 242, 1946, 1949
9 Bulletins and letters to membership, Local 372, 1948-5, 1954
10 General convention proceedings 1955, 1960
11 United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, membership dispute at Bi-Metallic plant, Chicago 1942
Box 59
1-5 Miscellaneous 1922-65, n.d.
6 Labor union miscellany
7 Political miscellany 1946-48
8 Charges against William McFetridge
Box 60
1 Guidelines for union stewards
2 Trips 1950
3 Trips 1953
4 Trips 1955
5 Trips 1957
6 Trips 1959
7 Third Party Education committee 1953-57
Box 61
American Forum:
1 1956-Oct 1957
2 Nov 1957-58
3 Committee for James Kutcher
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP):
4 1956
5 1957-Feb 1958
6 Mar-Dec 1958
Box 62
Voters for Peace:
1 1962 campaign
2 Apr-Dec 1962
3-4 1962 n..
5 1963-64
6 Miscellaneous
7 East-West Round Table Conference, Florence, Italy 1964
8 Trade Unionists for Peace 1965
National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam:
9 1964-67
10 May 1967
Box 63
1 1966-68
2 1967-69
3 Buttons, mementos
4-6 Moscow trip of American Peace Delegation Nov 1968
7 Demonstrations
Box 64
New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
1 1968
2-6 1969
Box 65
1-4 1970
5 National Coalition Against War, Racism and Repression 1970
6 National Action Group 1970
7 People’s Coalition for Peace and Justice 1970-71
Box 66
1 People’s Coalition for Peace and Justice 1971-73
2 People’s Party 1971-72
3 Chicago Authors Against the War
4 Anti-war miscellany
5 Domestic spying in Chicago
6 Justice, Action, and Peace in Latin America 1969-72
Interviews:
7 Browder, Earl (June 9, 1973)
8 Cannon, James P. (July 16, 1974)
9 Green, Gil I. (Dec 28, 1973)
10 Hayden, tom (Nov 16, 1973)
11 Kissinger, C. Clark (May 7, 1973)
Box 67
1 Lynd, Staughton (Nov 19, 1973)
2-7 Impeach Nixon Committee
Box 68
Impeach Nixon committee
2 1970s organizations
Mobilization for survival
3-4 1977
5-6 1978
7 1979
Box 69
1-3 Citizens Party 1980
4 Coalition Against Military Escalation 1981
5 World Assembly, Tokyo, Japan 1981
6 International Peace Petition Correspondence 1981
7 Agenda for Non-collaboration 1983
Box 70
1 Agenda for Non-collaboration 1983-84
2 Conference on Socialism and Activism 1985-86
Left, Right, and Center
3 Manuscript, chapters 1-14
4 Manuscript, chapters 15-22
5-6 Research
Box 71
1 Reviews
The Counterfeit Revolution, 1952
2-3 Manuscript
4 Proofs
5 Research
Box 72
1 Research
2-3 Reviews
A World in Revolution (1956):
4-5 Manuscript, chapters 1-7
6 Manuscript, chapters 8-10
Box 73
1 Manuscript, chapters 8-10
2-6 Research
Box 74
1-2 Reviews
The Crisis of American Labor (1959)
3 Manuscript, chapters 1-5
4 Manuscript, chapters 6-11
5-7 Research
Box 75
1-5 Research
Box 76
1-2 Research
3 Reviews
Working Men (1961)
4 Manuscript, chapters 1-9
5 Manuscript, chapters 10-14
6 Reviews
Africa: Awakening Giant (1962)
7 Manuscript, chapters 1-12
8 Manuscript, chapters 13-20
Box 77
1 Manuscript, early draft
2 Notes
3 Reviews
A Country is Born (1964):
4-6 Manuscript
7 Research
8 Reviews
Box 78
The Futile Crusade (1964)
1-5 Manuscript
6 Research
7 Reviews
Deception (unpublished, c. 1966):
8 Manuscript
Box 79
1-7 Manuscript
Box 80
1-2 Manuscript
3-7 Research and notes
Box 81
1 Research and notes
What Unions Do (unpublished, c. 1967)
2-6 Manuscript
Radicalism in America (1969):
7 Correspondence
8 Manuscript, chapters 1-8
Box 82
1 Manuscript, chapters 9-12
2 Manuscript, chapters 13-14
3 Manuscript, chapters 15-16, index
4 Manuscript, chapters 1-16
5 Manuscript, fragments
6 Manuscript, chapters 5-10
7 Manuscript, chapters 11, 13-14
Box 83
1 Manuscript, chapters 1-5
2 Manuscript, chapters 6-7
3 Manuscript, chapters 8-12
4 Manuscript, chapters 13-14
5 Manuscript, chapters 15-16, bibliography
6 Notes
7 Research
Box 84
1-2 Reviews
Poverty: America’s Enduring Paradox (1969):
3 Manuscript, chapters 1-4
4 Manuscript, chapters 5-10
5 Manuscript, chapters 11, index
6 Manuscript, chapters 1-8
Box 85
1 Manuscript, chapters 9-16
2 Manuscript, chapters 1-17
3 Manuscript, chapters 1-19
4 Manuscript, chapters 1-4
5 Manuscript, chapters 5-8
6 Manuscript, chapters 9-13
7 Manuscript, chapters 1-10
Box 86
1 Manuscript, chapters 11-18
2 Manuscript, chapters 2-4
3 Manuscript, chapters 14-16
4-5 Manuscript, chapters 17-18
6 Proofs
7 Research
Box 87
1-4 Research
5 Reviews
The Military-Industrial Complex (1970):
6-7 Manuscript
Box 88
1-2 Manuscript
3 Reviews
The Forging of the American Empire (1971):
4-7 Manuscript
Box 89
1-7 Manuscript
Box 90
1-6 Manuscript
Box 91
1-2 Research
3 Reviews
4 Socialism for the Rich (unpublished, c. 1973)
Poverty: Yesterday and Today (1973):
5 Manuscript
6 Reviews
The Labor Wars (1973):
7 Manuscript
Box 92
1 Manuscript, chapters 4-17
2-5 Manuscript
Box 93
1 Manuscript
2 Research
3 Reviews
The Promise and Pitfalls of Revolution (1974):
4-6 Manuscript
Box 94
1 Manuscript
2 Reviews
Radicals Today (unpublished, c. 1975):
3-4 Manuscript
5 Notes
The Nuclear Arms Race (unpublished, c. 1976):
6 Manuscript
Box 95
The Day Before Doomsday (1977):
1-5 Manuscript
Box 96
1-6 Manuscript
Box 97
The Day Before Doomsday (1977):
1-6 Research
Box 98
1-2 Research
3 Reviews
4-5 Unpublished manuscript on labor unions
6 Workingmen: The Story of Labor
Unrepentant Radical (1980):
7 Early manuscript
Box 99
1 Manuscript, chapters 1-4
2 Manuscript, chapters 5-8
3 Manuscript, chapters 9-12
4 Manuscript, chapters 1-5
5-6 Manuscript, chapters 1-6
BOX 100
1 Manuscript, chapters 6-9
2-3 Manuscript, chapters 7-10
4-5 Manuscript, chapters 11-13
6 Index
7 Reviews
Box 101
The Maginot Line Syndrome (1982):
1 Notes
2 Manuscript, chapters 1-6
3 Manuscript, chapters 7-9
4 Manuscript, chapters 1-3
5 Manuscript, chapters 4-7
6 Page proofs
7 Manuscript
Box 102
1 Manuscript, chapters 1-4
2 Manuscript, chapters 5-8
3 Reviews
4 Correspondence
The Bomb (1982):
5 Criticisms
6 Illustrations
7-10 Manuscript
Box 103
1 Manuscript
2 Reviews
Strikemakers
and Strikebreakers
3-4 Manuscript
5 Reviews
6 Notebooks
7 The Ideal Society
8 The Arms Race
9 Conflicting Forces in American Labor
Box 104
1-2 The Saga of American Labor
3 The Powerless Poor
4-5 Untitled manuscript
6 Manuscripts of short stories
Subseries 2. Articles
Box 105
1-3 “Yours is the Earth” (play)
4 “Yellow Grass” (play)
5 Unpublished articles 1940s
Manuscripts of articles:
6 1949
7-8 1949-51
Box 106
1 1950-55
2 1951
3-4 1953
5-6 1954-55
7-8 1956
Box 107
1-2 1957-58
3-8 1957-59
Box 108
1 1957-59
2-3 1959-60
4-6 1960
7-8 1961-63
Box 109
1-4 1961-63
5-6 1963-64
Box 110
1-3 1963-64
4-7 1966
Box 111
1 1966
2-6 1967-68
7 1968-71
Box 112
1 1968-71
2-3 1972-73
4-5 1974
6-8 1975-76
Box 113
1 “A New Theory of Labor Unions”
2-4 1977
5-6 1978
Box 114
Manuscripts of articles:
1-2 1979
3-5 1980
6-7 1981
Box 115
1 1981
2-3 1982
4-7 1983
Box 116
1 Notes for article on Chicago Historical Society 2-4, 1984
2-4 1984
5-6 1985
7 Labor topics
Box 117
1-2 Labor topics
Texts of published articles:
3 1948-51
4 1948-52
5 Jan-Oct 1952
6 Nov 1952-53
Box 118
1 1956-58
2 1956-60
3 1959-60
4 1961
5 1962
6 1963-Sept 1964
Box 119
1 Sept 1964-65
2 Jan-Sept 1966
3 Oct-Dec 1966
4-5 1967
6 Fallout shelters
Box 120
1-3 Fallout shelters
The Progressive:
4 Jan 1959-Feb 1960
5 Mar 1960-Feb 1962
6 May 1963-Apr 1974
7 Oct 1974-June 1975
Box 121
1 Aug 1975-apr 1976
2 May-Oct 1976
3 Nov 1976-Apr 1977
4 Oct 1980-July 1982
5 Feb 1983-May 1984
6 July-Dec 1984
7 The H-bomb Case 1979-80
Box 122
1-2 The Progressive:
The H-bomb Case 1979-80
The National Catholic Reporter:
3 June 6, 1975-Mar 19 1976
4 May 28 19767-Apr 8 1977
5 Dec 19 1980-Aug 28 1983
6 Aug 28, 1981-Oct 28 1983
7 Nov 4-11 1983
Box 123
1 “Men and Labor”
2-5 Miscellaneous 1960s-1980s
Box 124
1-3 Miscellaneous 1960s-1980s
Research material for articles:
4-5 Fallout shelters
Box 125
1-2 Fallout shelters
3-4 Academic freedom
5-6 Jimmy Hoffa
Box 126
1 Jimmy Hoffa
2 Miscellaneous
3 James Hickman case
4 Liberation magazine editorial board 1956-68
5 Bloomington case 1963
6 Richard J. Daley
Box 127
1-6 Richard J. Daley
Box 128
1-6 Jay
Lovestone article in Nation
7 Government spying
Box 129
1 Decline of capitalism
2-3 Chicago Teachers Union
4 “Lies We Live by”
5-6 “Old Left, New Left”
7 National
Catholic Reporter
Box 130
1-2 National Catholic Reporter
Lectures:
3-6 Notes
Box 131
1-6 Notes
Series 3. Research files on
foreign nations
Travel and research note pads:
Box 132 1960-66 (Latin America 1961, 1963, 1964, 1966)
Box 133
1968-76, miscellany
Box 134
1981
Box 135
Subject Files
1 Afghanistan
2-5 Africa
6 Algeria
7 Alliance for Progress
8 Angola/Mozambique/Portuguese colonies
Box 136
1 Argentina
2 Asia
3 Australia
4 Bolivia
5-6 Brazil
7 British Guiana
Box 137
1 Bulgaria
2 Burma
3 Chile
4-7 China
8 Columbia
Box 138
1 Columbia
2 Committees of Correspondence
3-4 Communism
5 Congo/Katanga
6 Costa Rica
7 Cuba
Box 139
1-6 Cuba
Box 140
1-3 Cuba
4 Czechoslovakia
5-6 Dominican Republic
Box 141
1 Ecuador
2 Eastern Europe
3 Europe
5-6 Foreign policy
6 France
7 Ghana
8-9 Guatemala
Box 142
1 Guyana
2 Haiti
3 Hungary
4-6 India
Box 143
Subject files
1 India
2-3 Indonesia
4-5 Iran
6 Israel
Box 144
1-2 Israel
3 Jamaica
4 Japan
5 Kenya
6 Korea
7-9 Latin America
Box 145
1-2 Latin America
3 Malaysia
4 Mexico
5 Middle East
6-7 Militarism
Box 146
1-2 Militarism
3 Nicaragua
4-5 Non-violence
6 Oslo
7 Palestine
8 Panama
9 Paraguay
Box 147
1 Peru
2 Philippines
3-4 Poland
5-7 Puerto Rico
Box 148
1-2 Puerto Rico
3 Rhodesia
4 South Africa
5-8 Soviet Union
9 Taiwan
Box 149
1 Thailand
2 Titoism
3-4 Trade Unions, international
5-6 Turkey
7-9 United States
Box 150
1-5 United States
Box 151
1-3 United States
4 Venezuela
5-7 Vietnam
Box 152
1-6 Vietnam
Box 153
1-6 Vietnam
Box 154
1-5 Vietnam
Box 155
1-4 Vietnam
5 Yugoslavia
Box 156
1 Yugoslavia
Series 4. Topical files
Box 156
2 AFL-CIO/CIA
3-5 Arms race
6 Asia
7 Chicago
Box 157
1 Civil Defense
2 Civil Rights
3 Communism (Soviet Union, China, cuba)
4 Disarmament
5 Dixon, Alan J.
6 Draft
7 Economy
8 Environment
9 Haldeman, H. R. , The Ends of Power
10 Hickman, James
11-15 Labor unions
Box 158
1-5 Labor unions
Box 159
1-2 Labor unions
3 Latin America
4-6 The Left
Box 160
1 Militarism
2 Military
3 National Security Council 1968
4-5 Nicaragua
6 Nixon, Richard M., Memoirs
7-8 Nuclear arms
Box 161
1-4 Nuclear arms
5-7 Nuclear power and waste
8 Oil
9 Poverty, international
Box 162
1 Radicalism
2 Radioactive material
3 Skolnick, Sherman
4-5 SALT and disarmament
6 Soviet Union
7 Space mishaps
8-9 U.S. economy
10 U.S. foreign policy
Box 163
1 U.S. miscellany
2 U.S. politics
3 Valkenburg, John (testimony on Chicago Police Dept.'s Red Squad spying)
4 Washington, Harold
5 World miscellany
The following AUDIO TAPES are stored in a separate box series in the Audio Storage Room.
0MM.153
Box 1:
From the series “Working Men,” broadcast on radio:
1: “The Land of Labor in Colonial Days” (May 1961)
2: “Workers, Farmers, Slaves and the American Revolution” (July 1961)
3: “The First Unions” (Sept. 1961)
4: “Workers, Phalanxes, and Cooperatives” (Oct. 1961)
5: “Slave Labor Leads to War” (Oct. 1961)
6: “The Gilded Age: Workers and Farmers after the Civil War” (Oct. 1961
7: “The Union That Survived: the AFL” (Oct. 1961)
8: “Historic Strikes (Nov. 1961)
9: “Labor’s Martyrs, Jochill and IWW” (Nov. 1961)
10: “The Twenties, the Depression and the New Deal” (Nov. 1961)
11: “The Rival that Survived: the CIO” (Nov. 1961)
12: “Labor Comes of Age” (Dec. 1, 1961)
13: “World War II and After: The New Era” (Dec. 8, 1961)
14: “Unfinished tasks” (Dec. 16, 1961)
Sidney Lens (June 7, 1959 on “Telescope” program?
Sidney Lens interviewed (June 8, 1959) by Guy Nunn
Box 2:
Sidney Lens and William F. Buckley Debate at Purdue University (late 1950s?) 5 reels
Program on “Special Schools” (Dec. 17, 1957)
A. J. Muste dinner in Chicago (Jan. 23, 1960)
Ed Sullivan show (Dec. 18, 1960)
“At Random” show (Jan. 8, 1961 about Cuba
Sidney Lens (May 8, 1961) about Cuba
Sidney Lens on “Communist and Nationalist Revolutions”
A. J. Muste in conversation with Studs Terkel (Feb. 1965) at Lens house 2 reels
Sidney Lens on Jerry Williams’ show (Mar. 1967)
Box 3
Jimmy Hoffa interview (May 4, 1966) 2 reels
13 unidentified reel-to-reel tapes
Box 4
56 cassette tapes (most are labeled)