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Max Eastman
<html> <head> <title>Max Eastman</title> <meta name="googlebot" content="noodp"> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="/silly-nndb-icon.png" /><style type="text/css"> <!-- .fotmbar { color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: none} .fotmbar:hover { color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: underline} .newslink { color: #000000; text-decoration: none} .newslink:hover { color: #000000; text-decoration: none} .proflink { color: #000000; text-decoration: none} .proflink:hover { color: blue; text-decoration: underline} .b1f, .b2f, .b3f, .b4f {font-size:1px; overflow:hidden; display:block;} .b1f {height:1px; background:#e6e6e6; margin:0 5px;} .b2f {height:1px; background:#e6e6e6; margin:0 3px;} .b3f {height:1px; background:#e6e6e6; margin:0 2px;} .b4f {height:2px; background:#e6e6e6; margin:0 1px;} .contentf {background: #e6e6e6; padding: 2px; } .contentf div {margin-left: 5px;} --> </style></head> <body bgcolor=#ffffff> <center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td valign=top><table width=550 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td bgcolor=white><table width="100%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" background="/nndb.gif"> <tr> <td rowspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><a href="http://www.nndb.com/"><img src="/title.gif" width="260" height="50" border=0 alt="NNDB"></a></td> <td><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="6"> <tr align="center"> <td width="25%" nowrap><b><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is a beta version of NNDB</font></b></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" valign="middle"><b><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <form action="http://search.nndb.com/search/nndb.cgi" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="nndb" value="1"></input> <nobr>Search: <select name="omenu"> <option value="unspecified" selected>All Names</option> <option value="living">Living people</option> <option value="dead">Dead people</option> <option value="bands">Band Names</option> <option value="books">Book Titles</option> <option value="movies">Movie Titles</option> <option value="fulltext">Full Text</option> </select> for <input name="query" value="" size=24 maxlength=96> <input type=submit value="Search"> </font></b></nobr></form></td> </tr> </table> <!-- COPYRIGHT (C) 2008 SOYLENT COMMUNICATIONS --> <!-- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED --> <!-- NO PART OF THIS WEBSITE MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION --> <!-- OF SOYLENT COMMUNICATIONS (ON THE WEB, IN PRINT, OR OTHERWISE) --> <!-- --> <!-- SOYLENT COMMUNICATIONS --> <!-- PO BOX 4436, MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040 USA --> </td></tr><tr><td bgcolor=red height=2></td></tr><map name=fool><area coords="102,0,240,14" href="/people/703/000113364/bibliography/" alt="bibliography"></map><tr bgcolor=F0F0F0><td bgcolor=F0F0F0 style="padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px;"><img src="/red-profile-2.gif" align="right" height=15 width=240 border=0 usemap=#fool><br clear="all"><table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=100%><tr><td bgcolor=F0F0F0><font size=+3 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Max Eastman</b></font><p><img src="MaxEastman.jpeg" height=307 width=200 align=right hspace=10 vspace=10 alt="Max Eastman"><b>AKA</b> Max Forrester Eastman<p><b>Born:</b> <a href="/lists/529/000106211/" class=proflink>12-Jan</a>-<a href="/lists/882/000105567/" class=proflink>1883</a><br><b>Birthplace:</b> <a href="/geo/871/000114529/" class=proflink>Canandaigua, NY</a><br><b>Died:</b> <a href="/lists/968/000106650/" class=proflink>25-Mar</a>-<a href="/lists/479/000106161/" class=proflink>1969</a><br><b>Location of death:</b> Bridgetown, Barbados<br><b>Cause of death:</b> <a href="/lists/328/000069121/" class=proflink>Stroke</a><br><p><b>Gender:</b> Male<br><b>Race or Ethnicity:</b> White<br><b>Sexual orientation:</b> Straight<br><b>Occupation:</b> Author<p><b>Nationality:</b> United States<br><b>Executive summary:</b> Socialist writer, later embraced McCarthyism<p>Max Eastman was an early editor of the socialist periodical <i>The Masses</i> which featured regular contributions from such writers as <a href="/people/657/000024585/">Upton Sinclair</a>, <a href="/people/014/000047870/">Amy Lowell</a> and John Reed. During his tenure the publication was temporarily shut down under the Espionage Act of 1917 for its outspoken criticism of US involvement in World War I. At this time he and several other writers founded a similar magazine, <i>The Liberator</i>, which Eastman quit soon after it went bankrupt and was bought by the <a href="/org/715/000041592/">Communist Party USA</a>.<p> On a extended trip to Russia in the early 1920s Eastman met and befriended <a href="/people/898/000031805/">Leon Trotsky</a>. Later he translated two of Trotsky's works, <i>The History of the Russian Revolution</i> and <i>Revolution Betrayed</i>, into English.<p> "Socialism is no mean religion. But it is not a religion that binds or blesses the rich and powerful, and so it could hardly become established in a country like ours. For an established religion we needed something a little more like God... a little vaguer and more elegant and better adapted to bind in among other motives the economic self-interest of those who rule. We needed something that would give us the same emotional crystallization without greatly disturbing the profits on capital." -- Max Eastman, 1917<p> "Nothing could be more calamitous than for patriotism to become the established religion of this country." -- Max Eastman, <i>The Religion of Patriotism</i>, 1917<p> "The words socialist and communist are changing their meaning just as the word Christian did. Just as heretics were burned by thousands in the name of the love of the neighbour, so peasants have been starved by millions in the name of the workers' and peasants' republic. The crude animal egoisms of men and classes of men thus grab ideas and use them, not as heroic lights to action, but as blinds to hide inaction or actions that are too base." -- Max Eastman, 1938<p> "What is the "secret ballot" when only one party can run candidates for office, and that the party in power? What is "free press and assemblage" when no man can form, advocate, or support the platform of any but the gang in power, and when ten to twenty thousand of those who have done so are in jail or exile while you talk about it? What is the whole talk under these conditions about how "we" are going to "give the Russian people" the most democratic constitution on earth? Is there any term in the language to describe it except apple-sauce?" -- Max Eastman, <i>The End of Socialism in Russia</i>, 1938<p><b>Father:</b> Samuel Elijah Eastman (clergy)<br><b>Mother:</b> Annis Bertha Ford (clergy, b. 1852, d. 1910)<br><b>Brother:</b> Morgan Eastman<br><b>Sister:</b> Crystal Eastman (b. 1881, d. 1928 nephritis)<br><b>Wife:</b> Ida Rauh (m. 4-May-1911, div. 1922, one son)<br><b>Son:</b> Daniel (b. 1912, d. heart attack)<br><b>Mistress:</b> Rosalind Fuller (sister-in-law)<br><b>Wife:</b> Eliena Vassilyenva Krylenko (sister of <a href="/people/163/000159683/">Nikolai Krylenko</a>, m. 1924, d. Oct-1956 cancer)<br><b>Wife:</b> Yvette Szekely (m. 22-Mar-1958)<br><b>Girlfriend:</b> Florence Deshon (dated 1922)<br><p> High School: <a href="/edu/614/000120254/">Mercersburg Academy (1904)</a><br> University: <a href="/edu/790/000068586/">BA, Williams College (1905)</a><br> University: <a href="/edu/477/000068273/">PhD, Columbia University (1911)</a><br> Teacher: <a href="/edu/477/000068273/">Logic, Columbia University</a><br><p> <a href="/media/005/000048858/">National Review</a> Contributing Editor (1955)<br> <a href="/media/967/000048823/">Reader's Digest</a> Editor (1941-69)<br> <a href="/media/958/000177427/">The Masses</a> <br> <u>American Union Against Militarism</u> CoFounder<br> <a href="/org/715/000041592/">Communist Party USA</a> <br> <a href="/org/362/000162873/">Dutch Treat Club</a> (1937-44)<br> <u>Men's League for Women's Suffrage</u> Founder (1909)<br> <a href="/crime/544/000051391/">Sedition</a> indicted (19-Nov-1917)<br> <a href="/crime/544/000051391/">Sedition</a> 1918<br> <a href="/event/738/000364643/">Traveled to Bolshevik Russia</a> 1922<br> <a href="/event/187/000071971/">Stroke</a> fatal<br><p> <b>Is the subject of books:</b><br> <i>The Last Romantic: A Life of Max Eastman</i>, <tt>1991</tt>, <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=-1>BY:</font> William O'Neill<br><p> <b>Author of books:</b><br> <i>Enjoyment of Poetry</i> (<tt>1913</tt>, essays)<br><i>Understanding Germany</i> (<tt>1916</tt>)<br><i>Journalism Versus Art</i> (<tt>1916</tt>, essays)<br><i>Leon Trotsky: The Portrait of a Youth</i> (<tt>1925</tt>, biography)<br><i>Since Lenin Died</i> (<tt>1925</tt>, essays)<br><i>Artists in Uniform</i> (<tt>1934</tt>)<br><i>Enjoyment of Laughter</i> (<tt>1936</tt>)<br><i>Stalin's Russia and the Crisis in Socialism</i> (<tt>1939</tt>, essays)<br><i>Heroes I Have Known</i> (<tt>1942</tt>)<br><i>Enjoyment of Living</i> (<tt>1948</tt>, autobiography)<br><i>Love and Revolution: My Journey Through an Epoch</i> (<tt>1965</tt>, autobiography)<br><i>Seven Kinds of Goodness</i> (<tt>1967</tt>)<br><p> <br> <p> <table> <tr> <td align=right valign=middle style="padding-right: 5px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 22px; font-style: italic; color: #ff3333;">New!</span><br> <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/" class="fotmlink" style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; color: #dd0000;">NNDB MAPPER</a></td> <td valign=middle align=right style="border-left: 1px solid #bbb; padding-left: 5px;">Create a map starting with</td> <td valign=middle align=right><a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=113364"><img src="/man.gif" border=0 style="padding: 2px;"></a></td> <td align=left valign=middle> <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=113364">Max Eastman</a></td> </tr> </table> <font face="Trebuchet MS, arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript.</font> <br><br><p> <font size=-1>Do you know something we don't?</font><br> <font size=-1><a href="http://commentary.nndb.com/submit/feedback/?id=113364" rel="nofollow">Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile</a></font><br> <p> <br><br><p><font size=-1>Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications</font><p> </td></tr></table> </td></tr> </table> </td> <td width=180 align="center" valign="top" style="padding: 0px 0px 8px 25px;"></td></tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>