Louis Weinstock

Louis Weinstock was born near Tokaj, in a Jewish family.^[1] Weinstock originally worked as a painter before he lost his job in the Great Depression and became involved in union organizing.^[2] Weinstock became the secretary of the New York branch of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, where his leftist politics angered union leadership.^[3] In 1932, Weinstock became head of the AFL Trade Union Committee for Unemployment Insurance and Relief.^[4] In this position, he helped convince the AFL to support unemployment compensation for its members.^[5] In July 1946, Weinstock became a member of the Communist Party national board.^[6] Weinstock later served as the business manager of the Daily Worker.^[7]In 1951, Mátyás Rákosi told Joseph Starobin that Weinstock was an FBI informant but American leaders in the Party did not believe the accusation.^[8]

Weinstock was indicted under the Smith Act on June 20, 1950, along with twenty other leaders in the Party.^[9] Following his arrest, a group of 40 trade union leaders formed the Trade Union Committee to Defend Louis Weinstock to support his legal defense.^[10] On February 3, 1953, Weinstock was found guilty of violating the Smith Act and sentenced to three years in prison.^[11] While in prison, Weinstock became friends with fellow inmate Dashiell Hammett and he later attended Hammett's funeral in 1961.^[12] In August 1959, Weinstock was subpoenaed to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee with 10 other teachers from the Faculty of Social Science, as part of the Committee's investigation into Communist teachers.^[13] Weinstock died on heart failure in 1994, in Redlands, California.^[14]