Alan Wald on Robert F. Williams

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Received from Alan Wald this morning)

Below is an aneceote about Robert F. Williams that I sent to Bill Mullen
last July, after we went through Williams' papers here at U-M.   Mullen
is writing a book about the attraction to Asia/China of U.S. Blacks,
including Williams. Mullen also published POPULAR FRONTS, an excellent
book about the Cp & Blacks in Chicago in the 1930s-40s. I agree with you
that Bill Maxwell's book is great, too--although stylistically a bit too
cleverly academic.(However, that's necessary for tenure these days.)
Two other fantastic books about the CP and Blacks are THE NEW RED NEGRO
by James Smethurst and THE CRY WAS UNITY by Mark Solomon. (Solomon and
his wife are staying over at my place on Nov. 8, after the booksigning
event at a local bookstore. He was in the CP from the late 40s to 1989,
at one point Coleman Young's assistant in Detroit.) All four of these
books are by white males.

Subject: Robert F. Williams Anecdote
Date:  Tue, 27 Jul 1999 13:49:13 -0400
From:  alan wald <awald@xxxxxxxxx>
To:      Bill V Mullen <f0123122@xxxxxxxxxx>


This morning I was speaking to Ed Weber, Curator of Special Collections
at U-M, in regard to the Mike Gold papers (which I think are finally
secured, after five years of negotiations).  I mentioned to Ed that I
had seen a letter from him in Robert F. Williams' newsletter. Ed began
reminiscing about his days in Ann Arbor in the late 1950s, and in NYC in
the early
60s, before returning here to becoming a librarian. Ed, who is radical &
gay, had a Trotskyist roommate--later a tenor who moved to Italy--who
was super active in Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Both were big
supporters of Williams in Ann Arbor. In NYC, Williams came to town to
speak (apparently for Fair Play) and Ed's roommate invited Williams and
his entourage back to their apartment for a party.  Ed, who can be very
naughty, noticed that the entourage seemed very "straight" and rather
dour when they entered the place; so Ed rushed up to the tall and
powerfully built Williams, grabbed Williams' hand, refused to let go of
it, and began to compliment Williams on his impressive stature and
remarked on how handsome Williams must have looked in his U.S. Marines
uniform during the Korean War.  The entourage began to get very upset at
this, but Williams just gave a big smile and he & Ed became good
friends. Ed continued to write to Williams while in Cuba (one of his
letters was confiscated by the U.S. government and read into the
Congressional Record--Ed says it was a holiday greeting that expressed
the hope for "Peace and Good Will"), and they resumed contact again when
Williams returned to Michigan.  Ed still keeps in touch with Williams'
widow, Mabel. Ed says that there are also some Williams materials in the
Labadie Collection. If you want to chat with Ed, I can send you his
phone number (he doesn't use e-mail). You may also want to interview
Mabel.

Best, Alan


Louis Proyect

(The Marxism mailing list: http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)