Haymarket Heritage

The Memoirs Of Irving S. Abrams

by Irving S. Abrams

edited by Phyllis Boanes and David Roediger

Publication date: January 1989
Paperback: $10.00

Irving S. Abrams (1891–1980) was a Wobbly, Jewish anarchist, and savior of the Haymarket monument at Waldheim Cemetery from 1960–1971.

“In these pages Abrams provides penetrating insights into the perceptions of later generations of the Haymarket confrontation. Those insights developed out of Abrams' experiences in the bitter labor struggles in which he participated in his earlier years. As one who challenged the vicious anti-labor forces which he encountered on so many picket lines, Abrams writes authoritatively about the 'cry for justice' which has ever been the battle cry of organized labor. As we read these memoirs of his participation in the Industrial Workers Of the World strikes in the State of New York and elsewhere, in the giant garment-workers' strike in Chicago, and later in the activities of the Jewish Labor Committee, we recognize that Abrams has earned his credentials as an authentic labor pioneer.”

—Joseph M. Jacobs, from the introduction