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International Juridical Association
The International Juridical Association (IJA; 1931–1942) was an association of socially minded American lawyers, established by Carol Weiss King and considered by the U.S. federal government (in the form of the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee or HUAC) as "another early (communist) front for lawyers. The principal concern about the IJA (and, as of 1942, its successor group, the National Lawyers Guild or NLG) was that it "constituted itself an agent of a foreign principal hostile to the interests of the United States."
HUAC's account of the IJA traced back to 1922, when the Communist International established the International Red Aid (Russian acronym "MOPR") to:
Render material and moral aid to the imprisoned victims of capitalism
Resolutions and Theses of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International (London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1922) p. 87
HUAC's translation: International Red Aid (MOPR) served to protect Comintern ("subversive") agents "whenever they ran into difficulties with the law of the various countries in which they were operating."
In 1925, MOPR had established an American section known as the International Labor Defense (ILD). The ILD functioned until 1946, when it merged into the Civil Rights Congress (CRC), deemed a "new subversive organization" by HUAC.
According to HUAC, the International Juridical Association (IJA) formed in 1931 and "cooperated closely" with the ILD.
The IJA was the brainchild of Carol Weiss King, according to a biography by Ann Fagan Ginger. As Ginger recounts, King decided to take "a trip to Europe" and happened to choose Russia thanks to an ad for "12 thrilling days in the U.S.S.R" (The source happened to appear in the communist literary magazine New Masses. Ginger wrongly cites summer of 1932 for the ad's wording, which appeared in the April 1932 issue. However, a similar ad appeared in May 1931 with the lead "To the Soviet Union!" and itinerary therein that matches Ginger's account.) In Moscow, King met American Harry Shapiro, a Harvard Law School graduate, with whom she discussed the ILD and its "Soviet counterpart," the MOPR. "Shapiro urged King to help organize a new association of lawyers" in the States to "fight repression on many fronts" as most MOPR national sections were illegal. He gave her names in Berlin to look up. (Ginger's "trip" narration follows that of the NLG.)
In Berlin, she met with Dr. de:Alfred Apfel, head of a new group called the "International Juridical Association". The IJA already had sections in Germany, France, and Austria. Sections fell under an "Organizing Committee" "International Juridical Association," headed by Apfel. Their purpose was to defend civil liberties and labor unions. (The IJA expanded to Czechoslovakia, Cuba, Netherlands, Indonesia, Mexico, Poland, Venezuela. Members included Mahatma Gandhi.) A similar brief account of Apfel, Weiss, and formation of the American section of the IJA appears in The Red Angel: The Life and Times of Elaine Black Yoneda.
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International Juridical Association
The International Juridical Association (IJA; 1931–1942) was an association of socially minded American lawyers, established by Carol Weiss King and considered by the U.S. federal government (in the form of the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee or HUAC) as "another early (communist) front for lawyers. The principal concern about the IJA (and, as of 1942, its successor group, the National Lawyers Guild or NLG) was that it "constituted itself an agent of a foreign principal hostile to the interests of the United States."
HUAC's account of the IJA traced back to 1922, when the Communist International established the International Red Aid (Russian acronym "MOPR") to:
Render material and moral aid to the imprisoned victims of capitalism
Resolutions and Theses of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International (London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1922) p. 87
HUAC's translation: International Red Aid (MOPR) served to protect Comintern ("subversive") agents "whenever they ran into difficulties with the law of the various countries in which they were operating."
In 1925, MOPR had established an American section known as the International Labor Defense (ILD). The ILD functioned until 1946, when it merged into the Civil Rights Congress (CRC), deemed a "new subversive organization" by HUAC.
According to HUAC, the International Juridical Association (IJA) formed in 1931 and "cooperated closely" with the ILD.
The IJA was the brainchild of Carol Weiss King, according to a biography by Ann Fagan Ginger. As Ginger recounts, King decided to take "a trip to Europe" and happened to choose Russia thanks to an ad for "12 thrilling days in the U.S.S.R" (The source happened to appear in the communist literary magazine New Masses. Ginger wrongly cites summer of 1932 for the ad's wording, which appeared in the April 1932 issue. However, a similar ad appeared in May 1931 with the lead "To the Soviet Union!" and itinerary therein that matches Ginger's account.) In Moscow, King met American Harry Shapiro, a Harvard Law School graduate, with whom she discussed the ILD and its "Soviet counterpart," the MOPR. "Shapiro urged King to help organize a new association of lawyers" in the States to "fight repression on many fronts" as most MOPR national sections were illegal. He gave her names in Berlin to look up. (Ginger's "trip" narration follows that of the NLG.)
In Berlin, she met with Dr. de:Alfred Apfel, head of a new group called the "International Juridical Association". The IJA already had sections in Germany, France, and Austria. Sections fell under an "Organizing Committee" "International Juridical Association," headed by Apfel. Their purpose was to defend civil liberties and labor unions. (The IJA expanded to Czechoslovakia, Cuba, Netherlands, Indonesia, Mexico, Poland, Venezuela. Members included Mahatma Gandhi.) A similar brief account of Apfel, Weiss, and formation of the American section of the IJA appears in The Red Angel: The Life and Times of Elaine Black Yoneda.