A letter from Herbert Aptheker

Yesterday a letter, dated October 1, 1992 (see a jpg and annotated transcription below), fell out of my diary for that year.  In it, Herbert Aptheker, my former comrade and “boss,” said he “was delighted to hear” from me—17 years after I left the Communist Party, nine years after I had become a decidedly anti-Communist Rothbardian libertarian—and “should be delighted” to do so again. I hope my diaries will dissolve the “mystery” of my apparent “outreach.” He thought the Committees of Correspondence “will interest” me. He cites three of his books, underscoring their titles. This perfectly composed hand-written note is from a 77-year-old recovering from a stroke he had suffered exactly six months earlier.

I’ll post what my research yields. A happy Fourth of July to all.

 

10/1/92

Dear Tony,

I was delighted to hear from you. I am recovering well from the stroke that hit me early in April. [April 1st, to be exact.]

Yesterday I finished vol. IV of the Documentary History of the Negro People [in the United States] (1945-1959) [published subtitle: From the New Deal to the End of the Second World War]; I am deep in V (the final one for me) which treats the years 1960-68 [published subtitle: From the Korean War to the Emergence of Martin Luther King, Jr.]. Before the stroke hit me, my Anti-Racism in the U.S. from [the] Colonial Era to [the] Close of Civil War [published title and subtitle: Anti-Racism in U.S. History: The First Two Hundred Years] was published (in February) by Greenwood Press in Conn[ecticut; Praeger, 1993]. Two years before appeared my Abolitionism: A Revolutionary Movement (Twayne Pub., Boston).

I hope all is going well with you. I want to call to your attention the movement known as the Committees of Correspondence; their national office is at 11 John St, Room 506, NYC 10038. It will interest you.

I should be delighted to hear from you again.

Cordially,

Herbert

My Aptheker book and some posts