V. J. Jerome

Victor Jeremy Jerome (1896–1965) was a Polish-American communist writer and editor. He is best remembered as a Marxist cultural essayist and as the long-time editor of the theoretical journal of the Communist Party USA.

Early years

(Jerome) Isaac Romain, better known by the pseudonym "Victor Jeremy Jerome," was born in Lodz or Strykov, Poland, on October 12, 1896. According to the 1911 Census of England, there was a 14 year old resident Russian alien named Isaac Roman, the son of Harris and Dinah Roman, living with his parents and brother Nathan at 52 Lucas Street, Commercial Road, Stepney, London; his father, Harris Roman, was a tailor (baster). The boy emigrated to the United States as Isaac Rooman, an 18-year old Hebrew tailor, a passenger on the S/S St. Louis, which sailed from the Port of Liverpool, England, July 24, 1915, and arrived at the Port of New York, August 1, 1915. On the passenger list, his next of kin were listed as Mr. and Mrs. Rooman, of 32 Oxford Street, Stepney, London. His destination was listed as a friend residing at 155 South Second Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. He attended City College of New York. In 1928, his name was changed by court order from Roman Jerome Isaac to "Jerome Isaac Romain."

Following graduation, he worked was a bookkeeper for the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union in the early 1920s.

Political career

In 1924, Jerome joined the Communist Party, and in 1925, he married Rose Pastor Stokes. He returned to college and in 1930, he received a Bachelor of Science degree from New York University. After Stoke's death in 1933, Jerome moved to Hollywood for a year to raise money for the Spanish Loyalists. Returning to New York in 1935, Jerome became editor of The Communist, which later became Political Affairs, and he served in that position until 1955. In 1937, he married Alice Hamburger.

Jerome was among the cultural spokesmen of the Communist Party and rose in the party hierarchy in the mid-1930s .

Between 1935 and 1965, Jerome wrote constantly. He wrote two autobiographical novels, A Lantern for Jeremy (released during the "Foley Square Trials" in 1952), and its sequel, The Paper Bridge (published posthumously in 1966). He also published a collection of vignettes, Unstill Waters (1964).

A prolific writer, he turned out short stories, plays, and literary, and art criticism. He is best known, however, for his political and cultural essats like "The Intellectuals and the War" (1940), "The Negro in Hollywood Films" (1950), and "Culture in a Changing World" (1948).

He was prosecuted and convicted under the Smith Act for committing the "overt act" of writing a pamphlet, Grasp the Weapon of Culture, which Jerome presented as a report to the Communist Party. He was indicted with 16 other Communist leaders in 1951. During a nine-month trial in New York's Foley Square Courthouse, he passed the long hours in court writing poetry and reading page proofs of A Lantern for Jeremy. He was convicted and sentenced in 1953 to three years at Lewisburg Penitentiary, which he served between 1954 and 1957.

Following his release, he began writing a novel based on the life of Spinoza.

Death

He died in 1965, at the age of 68.

Bibliography

• Leninism, the only Marxism Today: A Discussion of the Characteristics of Declining Capitalism. With Alexander Bittelman. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1934.
• Social-Democracy and the War. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1940.
• Intellectuals and the War. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1940.
• The Path Dimitroff Charted New York, Workers Library Publishers, 1943.
• The Treatment of Defeated Germany. New York: New Century Publishers, 1945.
• A World "Christian Front"? What is Behind the Alliance between the Vatican and Finance Capital? The Anti-Social Ethics of Red-Baiters: A Reply to Clare Boothe Luce. New York: New Masses, 1947.
• Culture in a changing world, a Marxist approach. New York: New Century Publishers, 1947.
• The Negro in Hollywood films. New York: Masses & Mainstream, 1950.
• Grasp the Weapon of Culture! New York: New Century Publishers, 1951.
• A lantern for Jeremy: A Novel. New York: New Century Publishers, 1952. (Juvenile audience)
• The Paper Bridge: A Novel. New York: Citadel Press, 1966.