Growing up as a communist kid in the 1930s
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By Noyma Appelbaum

"This is the second of a number of excerpted stories from a memoir "Where Were You on May Day? Transitions in Red, 1930s-1960s" The first story can be found here [ [link removed] ]."

My father Meyer rarely talked about his childhood, but some of his experiences gradually became known to us. He had served an apprenticeship, starting at the age of nine, to a harness maker/coachbuilder in Zagare, Lithuania. As an apprentice, he was required to become part of the employer's household almost as a servant and to perform all sorts of chores, including taking care of the employer's baby. That experience was double-edged. It provided him with a skill, with food, such as it was, and a roof over his head. At the same time, it required him to submit to mistreatment, even abuse, from the employer's family. He and a fellow apprentice, forced to wait until the employer's family had eaten their fill, usually ate scraps and leftovers.

When Meyer arrived in the United States, automobiles and trucks were replacing horse-drawn vehicles. His skills were immediately transferable to automobile and truck work. His immigration papers in 1911 show his occupation as "harness maker." His application for U.S. citizenship in 1920 shows his occupation as "auto trimmer." An auto and truck trimmer deals with all aspects of vehicle upholstery: making and repairing seats, canvas curtains, head linings, isinglass windows, leather straps, seat covers, and cloth and convertible tops. Prior to 1935, when the auto industry introduced all-steel bodies, much of the upper body and roof of a car were made of leather, canvas, and a variety of waterproof fabrics. A trimmer had a better chance than most auto/truck workers did to obtain work. Trimmers were scarce and talented ones ordinarily could survive, even in hard times.

*Meyer becomes an American and a radical*

Meyer took the path to Americanization followed by most immigrants: learning to speak English, adapting to American customs, finding employment, and identifying with a sustaining community. Most Eastern European immigrant Jews were poor and worked at various manual trades. Many were plasterers, carpenters, glaziers, plumbers, painters, shoemakers, cap makers, furriers, millinery and garment workers. In the course of their work, they encountered union organization and radical ideas, especially the idea of socialism. In the old country, unions and the idea of class struggle influenced many of these workers. They soon found similar strong radical influences in their new communities.

Between 1911 and 1920, Meyer adopted the ideas, values, and characteristics of...

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