Abraham Markoff

{{Short description|CPUSA leader and co-founder of Workers Schools}} thumb|right|Abraham Markoff '''Abraham Markoff''' (1887–1939), AKA "'''A. Markoff'''" and "Professor A. Markoff"<ref name=Famine> {{cite book | title = Famine in USSR | publisher = Russian Economic Bulletin | url = https://archive.org/details/FamineInUssr/ | date = 1933 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref> in Marxist publications, was a Russian-born American and Communist Party member who founded and served as the first director of the New York Workers School.<ref name=NYTobit-Markoff> {{cite news | title = Abraham Markoff; A Leader in Communist Party Who Founded Workers School | newspaper = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1939/08/30/archives/abraham-markoff-a-leader-in-communist-party-who-founded-workers.html | page = 23 | date = 30 August 1939 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref><ref name=Olgin> {{cite journal | first = Moissaye J. | last = Olgin | author-link = Moissaye J. Olgin | title = Markoff's Contribution to the Study of Marxism | journal = The Communist | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/communist/v18n10-oct-1939-The-Communist-OCR.pdf | pages = 967–971 | date = October 1939 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref>

==Background== Abraham Markoff was born on May 11, 1887, in the Russian Empire.<ref name=NYTobit-Markoff/><ref name=Olgin/> He had a brother Allan Markoff.<ref name=AllanMarkoff> {{cite book | title = Communist Propaganda Activities in the U.S. | publisher = USGPO | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ADeWhX6_M8gC | pages = 125 (brother's arrival USA), 126 (drug store, Workers School), 127–130 (American Peace Mobilization, IWO, etc.), 130 (memorial) | date = 1951 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref>

==Career== ===Marxist=== Markoff took part in the failed 1905 Russian Revolution and soon after immigrated to the USA.<ref name=NYTobit-Markoff/>

[[File:May_Day_'13,_strikers_in_Union_Square_-_19130501.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Markoff founded the New York Workers School, long housed in Union Square, Manhattan (pictured here during a 1913 May Day rally with signs in Yiddish, Italian and English)]]

In 1923, Markoff founded the New York Workers School<ref name=AllanMarkoff/> as well as its Ruthenberg Library.<ref name=NYTobit-Markoff/> Elegist Moissaye J. Olgin noted the Workers School was at the right place at the right time in 1929, when the Great Depression began and "demand for a more earnest study of Marxism-Leninism" soared.<ref name=Olgin/> In curricula, he paid special attention to the "study of the history and problems of the Negro people."<ref name=Olgin/> Annual attendance during Markoff's decade of direction rose from 2,000 in 1929 to 9,000 in 1939.<ref name=Olgin/> Annual attendance rose from 46 students in 1923–1924 to 5,903 in 1933-1934 (and 7,280 registered).<ref name=Imprecor> {{cite journal | title = Marxist-Leninist Education in the U.S.A. | journal = International Press Correspondence | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1934/v14n36-jun-22-1934-Inprecor-op.pdf | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref> In 1938, Earl Browder topped the bill to celebrate 15 years of the New York Workers School on a program that featured Markoff, Tim Holmes, the Deep River Boys, Marc Blitzstein, Anna Sokolow & Group, and the Chernishevsky Folk Dance Group at the Mecca Temple in Manhattan.<ref> {{cite journal | title = Advertisement: Earl Browder Speaks | journal = New Masses | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1938/v29n12-dec-13-1938-NM.pdf | page = 24 | date = 13 December 1938 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Anna_Sokolov1961.jpg|thumb|right|Anna Sokolow, American dancer and choreographer, helped celebrate the 15th anniversary of the New York Workers School, founded by Markoff]]

Among those teachers recruited directed by Markoff were Leonard Emil Mins (latter a research analyst in the Office of Strategic Services or "OSS")<ref> {{cite book | title = Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States | publisher = USGPO | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bZwFAAAAMAAJ | page = 3421 | date = October 1943 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref> and Seymour A. Copstein (who testified before the Rapp-Coudert Committee in 1941).<ref> {{cite news | title = NOT A RED, BUT JUSTIFIES HIS RED LECTURES | publisher = Daily News from New York | url = https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/432520351/ | page = 599 | date = 25 April 1941 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref>

thumb|left|Areas of most disastrous famine marked with black from ''Famine in USSR'' by A. Markoff (1933)

Markoff was "organizer, builder, and leader of the various workers' school" as well as "special-training courses" for "Party functionaries."<ref name=Olgin/> In 1934, schools named by Markoff included: Boston Workers' School (350 students), Workers' Schools of Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, Detroit, and other cities with similar numbers of students. "Up to about two years ago, the Workers' School in New York was the only institution of its kind in the Party," he wrote. He also confirmed that "The first and most important function of the schools is the teaching of the theory of Marxism-Leninism." A typical three-month curriculum often comprised studies in: Principles of Communism, Political Economy, History of the American Labor Movement, History of Class Struggles, Dialectic and Historical Materialism, Problems of the Negro Liberation Movement, History of the Russian Revolution, Public Speaking, and language courses.<ref name=Imprecor/>

In the 1920s, Markoff spoke publicly: an open-air meeting with Juliet Stuart Poyntz (October 4, 1924),<ref> {{cite news | title = New York City Party Activities | publisher = Daily Worker | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/dw-hr-1924/v2n167-oct-03-1924-TDW.pdf | page = 4 | date = 3 October 1924 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref> at one of many May Day rallies in the New York City area (April 28, 1927),<ref> {{cite news | title = Communists of New York Sponsor Two Great Rallies for May Day | publisher = Daily Worker | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1927/v4n090-apr-28-1927-DW.pdf | page = 3 | date = 17 December 1926 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref> and on "Whither Russia?" (January 9, 1927)<ref> {{cite news | title = Weinstone Gives Talk on Debs and Lenin at Workers' School Forum | publisher = Daily Worker | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/dw-hr-1926/v3n286-dec-17-1926-TDW.pdf | page = 4 | date = 17 December 1926 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref>

Markoff also served as a member of the New York State committee of the CPUSA.<ref name=NYTobit-Markoff/>

===Politician=== In 1932, Markoff ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives on the Communist ticket for New York's 14th congressional district and in 1934 as an Independent for New York's 5th congressional district as well as New York General Assembly.<ref> {{cite news | title = Our Candidates | publisher = Daily Worker | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/dw-hr-1924/v2n185-oct-24-1924-TDW.pdf | page = 4 | date = 24 October 1924 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref>

===Dentist=== In 1932, Max Shachtman mentioned "Dr. A. Markoff, who has been equally successful in the professions of dental surgery and Stalinist officialdom."<ref> {{cite journal | first = Max | last = Shachtman | author-link = Max Shachtman | title = Left Opposition Alone Raises the Voice of Lenin at N.Y. Congress Against War | journal = The Militant | publisher = The Liberator Publishing Company | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/culture/pubs/liberator/1924/04/v7n04-w72-apr-1924-liberator.pdf | date = August 1932 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref>

Markoff ran a drugstore at 119 Street at Second Avenue.<ref name=AllanMarkoff/>

In 1926, an advertisement appeared in the ''Daily Worker'' CPUSA newspaper: <blockquote> Telephone Lehigh 6022 <big>DR. ABRAHAM MARKOFF</big> Surgeon Dentist 249 East 115th St., Cor. Second Ave. NEW YORK CITY Office Hours: 9:30-12 A.M. 2-8 P.M. Daily Except Friday; Sunday 9 to 1 P.M. Special rates to W.P. Members<ref> {{cite news | title = Advertisement for Abraham Markoff | publisher = Daily Worker | url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020097/1928-02-17/ed-1/seq-5/ | page = 2 | date = 20 March 1926 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref> </blockquote> (Addresses for the drugstore and dental office lie five minutes apart on foot.) A similar advertisement appears in a 1928 issue.<ref> {{cite news | title = Advertisement for Abraham Markoff | publisher = Daily Worker | url = https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020097/1928-02-17/ed-1/seq-5/ | page = 5 | date = 17 February 1928 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==

Markoff may have been married to Nancy Markoff, listed at "business manager" of ''The Liberator'' magazine in 1924.<ref> {{cite journal | title = Statement of the Ownership, Management, Circulation, Etc., Required by the Act of Congress of August 24, 1912 | journal = The Liberator | publisher = The Liberator Publishing Company | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/culture/pubs/liberator/1924/04/v7n04-w72-apr-1924-liberator.pdf | page = 32 | date = April 1924 | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref>

Abraham Markoff died age 52 on August 29, 1939,<ref name=AllanMarkoff/> of a heart attack in New York City.<ref name=NYTobit-Markoff/> "Friends of Abraham Markoff" held a memorial for him at the Jefferson School of Social Science (successor the New York Workers School).<ref name=AllanMarkoff/>

==Legacy== [[File:Goff-kenneth-18-b-2.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Kenneth Goff wrote about Markoff in 1948]] In August 1939, at the time of his death, Party leader Earl Browder said of him, "The movement has lost one of its most modest, effective, and persevering workers."<ref name=NYTobit-Markoff/> In October 1939, Moissaye J. Olgin wrote about his contributions to the CPUSA and Marxism in its October issue of ''The Communist'' (then, theoretical journal of the CPUSA). Olgin's called him a "teacher of Marxism-Leninism... an advance to which the contributions of Comrade Markoff are incalcuable."<ref name=Olgin/>

In 1948, anti-Fluoride, anti-Communist, Christian Identity minister Kenneth Goff named Markoff: <blockquote> These centers of instruction were organized by the late Abraham Markoff, national head of the Communist school system in the United States. He of course acted upon direct orders from Moscow. Every such school is a well of ideological poison from which young citizens drink atheistic and revolutionary ideas." in his book ''Confessions of Stalin's Agent''.<ref name=Goff>{{cite book | first = Kenneth | last = Goff | author-link = Kenneth Goff | title = Confessions of Stalin's Agent: This Is My Story | publisher = The Communist | url = http://www.christianheritagemins.org/articles/ConfessionStalin.htm | date = 1948 | access-date = 14 January 2021 | archive-date = 26 November 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131126065228/http://www.christianheritagemins.org/articles/ConfessionStalin.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref> </blockquote> (Goff was also 1944 national chairman of Gerald L. K. Smith's Christian Youth for America. In publishing this memoir in the 2010s, Christian Heritage Tours included a footnote that reads: "Editor’s Note: Shortly after Kenneth Goff published his book, ''Confessions of Stalin’s Agent'' in 1948, he was assassinated" – but Goff died in 1971.<ref name=Goff/>)

In 1951, Markoff's brother, Mr. Allan Markoff, and Mrs. Fanny Nadner Markoff, owners of the "Four Continent Book Corp." (importer) appeared before a Senate committee with their counsel Isadore G. Needleman. Allan Markoff admitted to membership in American Peace Mobilization, the International Workers Order (IWO), and National Council of American-Soviet Friendship. He also had a financial interest in the "People's Radio Foundation, Inc.," through whom he met Joseph R. Brodsky (head of the CPUSA's International Labor Defense).<ref name=AllanMarkoff/>

==Works==

Markoff was a frequent contributor to ''The Communist'' among other Communist publications.

;Articles * "Role of Party Training Schools in Developing Leadership," ''The Communist'' (July 1931)<ref> {{cite journal | title = Role of Party Training Schools in Developing Leadership | journal = The Communist | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/communist/v10n07-jul-1931-communist.pdf | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref> * "The Training of New Cadres and Our School System," ''The Communist'' (August 1932)<ref> {{cite journal | title = The Training of New Cadres and Our School System | journal = The Communist | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/communist/v11n08-aug-1932-communist.pdf | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref> * "Lenin on Agitation and Propaganda, and the Tasks of the Communist Party," ''The Communist'' (January 1934)<ref> {{cite journal | title = Lenin on Agitation and Propaganda, and the Tasks of the Communist Party | journal = The Communist | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/communist/v13n01-jan-1934-communist.pdf | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref> * "Marxist-Leninist Education in the U.S.A.," ''Inprecor'' (June 22, 1934)<ref name=Imprecor/> * "Lenin – Thirteen Years After," ''The Communist'' (January 1937)<ref> {{cite journal | title = Lenin – Thirteen Years After | journal = The Communist | url = https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/communist/v16n01-jan-1937-The-Communist.pdf | access-date = 14 January 2021}}</ref>

;Booklets * ''Famine in USSR'' (1933)<ref name=Famine/> (written by Alexander Prokofievich Markov, secretary of Cossack Union in France) * "Fifteen Years of the Workers School," ''The Fifteen Anniversary Celebration Journal of the Workers School'' (1938)<ref name=Olgin/>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markoff, Abraham}} Category:1887 births Category:1939 deaths Category:American Marxists Category:Members of the Communist Party USA Category:Communist Party USA politicians Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Category:American people of Latvian descent Category:American Comintern people