Jerome, V.J. (Victor Jeremy), 1896-1965

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Victor J. Jerome: American communist, writer, political activist; member of the American Communist Party (1924-1965), rising in the 1930s to Cultural Commissioner; editor of The Communist (later Political Affairs) from 1935-1955; co-defendant in the 1952 Foley Square Trials as a violator of the Smith Act (U.S. 1940); journalist and author.

From the description of Victor Jeremy Jerome papers, 1923-1967 (inclusive). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702200823

Victor Jeremy Jerome, writer, editor, and chairman of the Communist Party's Cultural Commission, was born Jerome Isaac Romain in Strykov, Poland, in 1896. Shortly after his birth, his parents migrated to England, leaving Jerome with relatives in Poland. At the age of nine, he joined his parents in England where he spent the next ten years. In 1915 he came to New York, where he worked at odd jobs and started school at City College. He left school when he married Frances Winwar, who bore him one child before their marriage ended in divorce.

His involvement with radical politics began in the early 1920s when Jerome accepted a position as a bookkeeper with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Possibly because of his involvement with left-wing politics, he changed his name in 1923. In 1924 he joined the Communist Party and in the following year married Rose Pastor Stokes. He returned to college and in 1930 received a Bachelor of Science degree from New York University. After Rose Pastor Stoke's death in 1933, Jerome spent a year in Hollywood raising money for the Spanish Loyalists. He returned to New York and in 1935 he became editor of The Communist (which later became Political Affairs and held that position until 1955. He had risen in the Party hierarchy and in the mid-1930s was appointed cultural commissioner of the Communist Party. In 1937 he married Alice Hamburger.

Between 1935 and 1965 Jerome wrote constantly. He wrote two autobiographical novels --- A Lantern for Jeremy (released during the "Foley Square Trials" in 1952) and its sequel, The Paper Bridge (published posthumously in 1966). He also published a collection of vignettes entitled Unstill Waters (1964). A prolific writer, he turned out short stories, plays, and literary and art criticisms. Victor Jerome is best known, however, for his political and cultural essays. Among these are "The Intellectuals and the War" (1940), "The Negro in Hollywood Films" (1950), and "Culture in a Changing World" (1948).

A 1952 pamphlet -- "Grasp the Weapon of Culture" -- which Jerome presented as a report to the Communist Party, became the "overt act" under which Victor Jerome was prosecuted and convicted under the Smith Act. Indicted with sixteen other Communist leaders in 1951, he was accused of "conspiracy to teach and advocate the overthrow by force and violence" of the U.S. Government. Following a nine month trial in New York's Foley Square courthouse -- Jerome passed the long hours in court writing poetry and reading page proofs of A Lantern for Jeremy -- Jerome was convicted and in 1953 sentenced to three years at Lewisburg Penitentiary. He served the sentence between 1954 and 1957.

Following his release from prison, Jerome toured Eastern Europe. He spent 1958 in Poland, and for the next two years worked in Moscow as an editor of a collection of Lenin's works. He returned to the United States in 1962 to continue work he had begun on a novel based on the life of Spinoza.

He died in 1965 at the age of 68.

From the guide to the Victor Jeremy Jerome papers, 1923-1967, (Manuscripts and Archives)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Guide to the John Pittman Papers, circa 1880s-1987 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
creatorOf Victor Jeremy Jerome papers, 1923-1967 Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
creatorOf Jerome, V. J. (Victor Jeremy), 1896-1965. Victor Jeremy Jerome papers, 1923-1967 (inclusive). Yale University Library
referencedIn Guide to the John Pittman Papers, circa 1880s-1987 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
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associatedWith Baum, Kurt, 1908- person
associatedWith Bjöekman, Edwin August, 1866- person
associatedWith Bjöekman, Lucy. person
associatedWith Bloor, Ella Reeve, 1862-1951. person
associatedWith Brand, Millen, 1906-1980. person
associatedWith Bransten, Richard, 1906-1955. person
associatedWith Cauhāna, Śivadāna Siṃha. person
associatedWith Communist Party of the United States of America. corporateBody
associatedWith Cooper, Viola Irene,, 1894-1951. person
associatedWith Cruz, Manuel. person
associatedWith Dargan, Olive Tilford, 1869-1968. person
associatedWith Dayan, Anthony D. person
associatedWith Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963. person
associatedWith Evans, Gladys Woods. person
associatedWith Evergood, Philip, 1901-1973. person
associatedWith Fast, Howard, 1914-2003. person
associatedWith Flores, Raymond. person
associatedWith Foster, William Z., 1881-1961. person
associatedWith Freedman, Blanch. person
associatedWith Fur and Leather Workers Union. corporateBody
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associatedWith Geismar, Maxwell David, 1909- person
associatedWith Gilden, K. B. person
associatedWith Gilkes, Lillian Barnard, 1902- person
associatedWith Hammett, Dashiell, 1894-1961. person
associatedWith Johnson, Oakley C., 1890- person
associatedWith Kazakevich, Emily Grace. person
associatedWith Kent, Rockwell, 1882-1971. person
associatedWith Klotz, Günther. person
associatedWith Kreymborg, Alfred, 1883-1966. person
associatedWith Labor-Progressive Party. corporateBody
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associatedWith Lohr, George. person
associatedWith Lowenfels, Walter, 1897-1976. person
associatedWith MacLeish, Archibald, 1892-1982. person
associatedWith Maltz, Albert, 1908-1985. person
associatedWith Mayer, Herschel D. person
associatedWith McKown, Robin. person
associatedWith Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956. person
associatedWith Mette, Alexander. person
associatedWith Nath, Kedar. person
associatedWith North, Joseph. person
associatedWith Pittman, John. person
associatedWith Pittman, John. person
associatedWith Plotkin, Norman. person
associatedWith Preece, Harold, 1906- person
associatedWith Putnam, Samuel, 1892-1950. person
associatedWith Reynolds, Bertha Capen, 1885- person
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associatedWith Robeson, Paul, 1898-1976. person
associatedWith Seeger, Peter, 1919- person
associatedWith Sholem Aleichem, 1859-1916. person
associatedWith Shtern, Sholem. person
associatedWith Škvorecký, Josef. person
associatedWith Stokes, Rose Pastor, 1879-1933. person
associatedWith Stone, Lucy, 1818-1893. person
associatedWith Střʹibrnʹy, Zdeněk. person
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associatedWith Weiskopf, Grete, 1905-1966. person
associatedWith Whitcomb, John Merral, 1907- person
associatedWith White, Eliot. person
associatedWith Winston, Henry, 1911-1986. person
associatedWith Winwar, Frances, 1900-1985. person
associatedWith Wright, Richard, 1908-1960. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
United States
Subject
Communism
Radicalism
Occupation
Authors
Editors
Activity

Person

Birth 1896

Death 1965

Americans

English

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