Letters from the Tombs

New York: Schappes Defense Committee, 1941. 119 pp. Cardboard illustrated wraps. Text block is clean, square and tight throughout, near fine. Some general soiling to the edges and wraps. Light creases to corners of covers and minor rubbing rubbing along sides of spine. Edited by Louis Lerman and Introduction by Richard Wright. Schappes was a professor at City College of New York and a member of the Communist Party USA. In 1941, Schappes was one of 40 educators fired in conjunction with an investigation by the Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate the Educational System of the State of New York, commonly known as the Rapp-Coudert Committee, a body which attempted to identify and remove members of the Communist Party USA from the public education system of New York state. In sworn testimony given to the Committee, Schappes stated that he only knew three members of the Communist Party at City College After another City College Communist had "named names," implicating fifty employees of City College as party members, Schappes was indicted for having committed perjury in his testimony and was incarcerated in the Tombs. Later he became the editor of Jewish Life (Jewish Currants).. Softcover. Very Good. Illus. by James D. Egleson. 8vo.