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Stern (Todes), Charlotte (audio interview #6 of 7)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the sixth of seven interview with Charlotte Todes Stern conducted in her Columbia University apartment by Ros Baxandall for the Feminist History Research Project. Although the original intention was to conduct this interview in the fall, following both interviewer's and narrator's return to New York, the session was postponed further as a result of Stern's cataract surgery. The interviewer noted that there is a problem with the flow in this interview, either because Stern's eyes were bothering her or because of the interviewer's own state of mind and health. 1/24/1977
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- *** File: refcstern14.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-6:18)... Stern rose to be an executive in the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, but attended few meetings. A member of the executive board received a subpoena from the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to appear with all of the committee's records. Later the entire board received a subpoena. Stern testified before HUAC on August 4, 1945. End of Tape [Note: the first tape of interview 6 was recorded on very short tape cassette.] *** File: refcstern15.mp3 (0:00-6:19)... During Stern's appearance before it, HUAC attempted to prove a conspiracy among the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee members to conceal their records. Of the thirteen Refugee Committee members, only eleven were subpoenaed. This probing of persons and organizations critical of the government signaled the beginning of the McCarthy Era. End of tape. *** File: refcstern16.mp3 (0:00-5:14)... After the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee was called to the HUAC hearings, there were numerous rallies to support the group. In July 1947, Stern was one of eleven of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee who were found guilty of contempt of Congress and sentenced to jail. (5:14-12:27)... The hotel workers and other food workers unions raised money in support of Stern and the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee. In May 1947, the Refugee Committee members were put on trial for two weeks. All were found guilty and sentenced to short prison terms and a $500 fine. Their sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court. Stern served her three months in 1950. Although Stern's union was supportive of her, the AFL had increased pressure to remove controversial persons from the unions. (12:27-17:24)... While serving her three month sentence for contempt of Congress, Stern found many teenage women in prison. The jail was founded by Jane Addams as part of an attempt at prison reform based on rehabilitation. By this time, most of the reform efforts were no longer in place, but a few social workers sometimes worked at the prison. (17:24-24:53)... Stern met several pregnant prisoners, and many more women who were illiterate. Although she met some women she liked, Stern was reluctant to form personal relationships or speak too freely with other prisoners because she suspected that some prisoners were set up as informants. (24:53-31:52)... The prison warden assigned Stern to write a procedure manual for the clerical workers. After she completed this task, she was told to review the records of former wardens. Stern found detailed evidence of discrimination against Black workers. With the exception of a few hostile instances, most of the other prisoners were on respectable terms with her. Her sentence to jail was at a time when many intellectuals and artists were targeted. End of tape. *** File: refcstern17.mp3 (0:00-4:47)... While in prison, Stern learned that her job with the union would not be available when she was released. The AFL was taking an official anti-communist stance, and many leaders were expelled from the affiliated unions. While Stern was in prison, she sent her daughter to Europe to help her avoid stress and conflict. (4:47-12:39)... On the day before she began her prison sentence, Stern's union marched in her support. She issued a statement condemning the HUAC and its persecution of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee. Many suspected communists came under fire and were put under surveillance and targeted for deportation. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Todes Stern was a radical activist for most her life, beginning with her introduction to YPSL (Young People's Socialist League) during her college years. Much her of activism focused on the labor movement and her membership in the Communist party. The daughter of Jewish immigrant parents, Stern was raised in East Boston. Her mother was obsessed with their her daughter obtaining a good education and Stern spent her high school years at Girl's Latin School before attending Radcliffe College. After Stern graduated from college in 1917, she was employed as a social worker with the Federation of Jewish Charities in Boston, where she worked on housing and welfare issues. In 1923, Stern became a staff member of the Workers Health Bureau (WHB) and when she returned from a two year sojourn in Europe with her husband two years later, she became their Organizing Secretary. She traveled around the US organizing on behalf of the WHB until 1927, when she moved to Seattle with her husband. There, she became the secretary of the International Labor Defense. Her work in the lumber camps during this period resulted in writing Labor and Lumber , published in 1932 under her family name, Charlotte Todes. During the 1930s, when the Sterns moved back to New York, she joined the Community party. In a short autobiographical sketch, Stern notes that her career in the CP was almost entirely devoted to organizing the unorganized. She worked, especially, with the Food Workers Organizing Committee and became the Educational Director when the workers succeeded in establishing a union. In 1945, the president of the union appointed Stern to the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee. Later, called before HUAC, Stern, along with others on the committee, refused to turn over their records. In 1947 she was found guilty of Contempt of Congress and in 1950 served a three month sentence. With the politically repressive climate and fear that permeated the labor movement, Stern decided to retool and began working in the medical field. In 1956, at about the time that her husband died, she was fired from her job as a medical researcher as a result of FBI intervention. Eventually Stern found work as a journalist on a medical newspaper, where she remained until her retirement in 1971. Proud of her political history, Stern was very interested in making her oral history accessible. As a result, arrangements were made for the Tamiment Library at NYU to transcribe her oral history. Her edited transcript is on deposit there. TOPICS - Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee; and HUAC;Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee; HUAC; McCarthyism; prison sentence; prison experience; women's rights issues; and discrimination;prison experience; AFL; McCarthyism; and HUAC;
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