In Jack London’s dystopian 1908 science fiction novel, The Iron Heel, the threat of socialists gaining power stirs oligarchs to mobilize the power of the state to crush opposition. They use propaganda and force, along the ways making sure to differential the “good” unions from those that might cause problems for those in power. The grim novel came to mind as I read Jane S. Smith’s account of her father’s career as a teacher in New York City. A Blacklist Education: American History, a Family Mystery, and a Teacher Under File is an extraordinarily compelling work of non-fiction. It is a powerful reminder that political movements, exercised through government power, have real life consequences that can ripple for generations.
Smith is a writer with expertise in science, having published works on Luther Burbank and the Salk Vaccine. She knows how to craft a narrative grounded in sources and she is a tenacious researcher. After Smith’s mother died, cleaning up the family’s papers sparked questions. Smith’s father, Saul Schur, had been a very successful teacher in New York City’s public school system until 1953. Family lore, that Smith believed, was that Saul resigned. The papers told a different story, so Smith started investigating, first with the archives of the New York City Department of Education. Blacklist tells the story of Smith’s research and realizations, and most importantly, the story of how her father was driven out of the profession he loved. Of the two tales, I’ll focus here more on the tale of Saul.
The New York City public school system, the largest in the United States, has been a political flashpoint for more than a century. Unionization efforts in the first half of the twentieth century brought the system under intense scrutiny. The complicated ethnic politics of the city exacerbated tensions, particularly as second generation immigrants became teachers and administrators. Remember that New York City was mostly Democratic and New York State was mostly Republican. Add to the mix the occasional scandal and corruption, inevitable in a urban organization of this size, and it is easy to appreciate how the schools were always in the public’s eye. In the year’s before World War II, conservatives assailed NYC Mayor LaGuardia as a communist sympathizer and worried that Jews, often active in the schools unions, were anti-American. All the way back in 1919, the New York State Lusk Committee sought out communists, socialists and other potential threats to the government. One of the outcomes of the committee’s work was loyalty oaths for teachers. As you might imagine, unions were often suspect.
Saul Schur, a graduate of the City College of New York, started his teaching career at Samuel Gompers High School in the Bronx. He joined the military in 1943 and returned to the high school after the war. Shur was a member of the Teachers Union, an organization that the New York State Department of Education eventually considered to be subversive. The late 1940s were marked by ever-increasing concerns about communism and the “red threat.” In 1949 the state passed the Feinberg Law, which secured the right to fire any state employee considered subversive without any hard evidence or guarantees of due process. The law remained on the books until 1967. Post WWII domestic politics were greatly affected by concerns about Soviet-inspired communism. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested in 1950 for passing atomic secrets to the USSR. They were executed for treason in 1953.
The postwar years were also marked with a significant uptick in school construction in the New York City. Shur was a PTA president on top of his other roles. He was a visible spokesperson for education, especially for the addition of schools in lower Manhattan to accompany the growth in public housing.
William Jansen was Chancellor of New York’s public schools from 1947 to 1958. A teacher and school administrator, Jansen was a tireless advocate for the school system which educated nearly one million students. He shared the priorities of many conservative Americans. Jansen was concerned about a concerted effort by Soviet influenced communists to take control of the school system and poison the minds of children. In this he was in close alignment with many city and state leaders, elected and appointed. The Catholic Church, too, was active in this effort. Jansen used all the levers at his disposal to root out threats, real and imagined. One of those was Saul Shur.
Smith’s insights into the city school system’s process for dealing with potential subversives is chilling. One of the first scholars to go deep into the files, her work reveals arbitrary complaints, hysteria, and few concerns with the rights of individual employees. The default expectation was guilt. The interviews were confidential yet carefully transcribed. They providing the suspected subversives with no representation nor any reliable way to protect themselves. Thousands were investigated. Many were fired and many more resigned, blacklisted from ever teaching again. These were not show trials but rather quiet, bureaucratic procedures that ended careers and disrupted lives. Moreover, there was no larger accountability or reckoning in the wave to rid the schools of communists. Or if there was any effort by communists to do anything.
Saul Shur was one of many victims in this purge. Following an anonymous complaint, he was interviewed (interrogated) by Saul Moskoff, an attorney for the city and the Board of Education’s lead on rooting out communists. Moskoff’s investigations extended well beyond communists to include liberals, union leaders, community activists and others. Smith’s profile of Moskoff notes the similarities and differences with her father. Both were Jewish, products of public education, principled moral men who believed that they were doing the right thing.
Smith’s research also reveals that complaints Schur made years earlier factored into the investigation. With compensation hinging on student enrollment, some principals inflated student head counts. Schur called out one such principal. He also was vocal when it came to fascist educators belittling non-white students. In fact, Schur asked Moskoff during his interview if the system’s concern with communists extended to fascists. Logic and equity did not carry the day. The school system’s grand inquisitor tallied another success. Rather than answer all the questions and/or implicate fellow educators, Shur left the system. His family navigated the resignation. Her mother had a successful career and Schur eventually found a role with major magazines as an educational consultant. He always called himself a teacher.
A Blacklist Education is neither ancient nor irrelevant history. It is a moving account of how, in periods of great fear, the state has and will use its power. The battlegrounds are often public institutions of learning. Those caught up in these movements are often everyday people. Their histories are rarely acknowledged or considered. Saul Schur was just such a person. In that environment facts – is the threat real or has it been manufactured for political gain, process – are the government’s actions consistent and/or fair? – can readily fall by the wayside. The result undermines justice and the rule of law.
Smith’s book in an important reminder for all interested in education and American political history.
David Potash