Editing Maude White Katz

'''Maude White Katz''' (1908 - 1985).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Burden-Stelly|first1=Charisse|last2=Dean|first2=Jodi|title=Organize, Fight, Win: Black Communist Women's Political Writing|date=2022|publisher=erso|isbn=978-1-83976-497-4|page=322}}</ref> was a [[Pennsylvania]]-born [[communist]] activist for the [[Communist Party USA]]. Katz's work gave the party much needed insight into the Black working class and their labor conditions. Katz herself was a worker from a working-class family, and the CPUSA assigned her to several unions during her time with the party. Her input and organizational skills were instrumental to the Party's ability to reach out and organize for the Black working class. Her critiques of the Party gave rise to internal campaigns against white chauvinism.<ref name="katz-interview">Tamiment Library - Interviewer: Ruth F. Prago - Maude White Katz 1 (OHAL) - [https://soundcloud.com/user-488941364/sets/maude-white-katz-ohal Link]</ref> Her party organizing spanned many years over several states and included union organizing and demonstrations.

Party leaders saw Katz as a leader in organizing early on, and she was selected by the party to go to the USSR for three years at the [[Communist University of the Toilers of the East]]<ref name="radical-women-in-the-struggle">Hribar. (2013). Radical Women in the Struggle: A Review of Recent Literature on the Civil Rights and Black Freedom Movements. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 29(2), 95. doi:10.2979/jfemistudreli.29.2.95 </ref>.

== Biography ==

=== Early Life ===
Maude Katz’s parents and grandparents were originally from Virginia.<ref name="katz-interview" />

Her father worked in the mines after moving to Pennsylvania, then shifted to general construction work, laying pipe, and cleaning outhouses. This hard work for little pay led Katz’s father to drink, causing issues in the family. Her mother did laundry and other types of work for white families.<ref name="katz-interview" />

Growing up, Katz had 14 brothers and sisters. She was the middle child of all the other children.<ref name="katz-interview" />

==== McKeesport, Pennsylvania ====
Katz went to school in [[McKeesport, Pennsylvania]].<ref name="katz-interview" /> While in school, she was a domestic worker for white families and taught on the side.

Katz was first introduced to radical political ideas in McKeesport, PA from a [[communist]] high school English teacher.<ref name="katz-interview" /> This teacher gave Katz books to read and introduced her to other communists. Her teacher also took her to meetings in Pittsburgh, where speakers would speak against the oppression of Black people.

=== Life in Chicago, Illinois ===
Katz initially lived with her sister in Chicago, who had an apartment in the city. Katz worked as a domestic laborer in Chicago. Outside of working hours, she would engage in communist party activities, such as handing out leaflets and speaking at open air meetings.<ref name="katz-interview" />

Katz was elected to go to the [[Soviet Union]] under an exchange program offering scholarships for travel even though she had been a member of the Communist party for less than a year.<ref name="katz-interview" />

=== Life in the USSR ===
Katz's was able to get a university education and also travel during her three year<ref name="radical-women-in-the-struggle" /> stay at the [[Soviet Union]]. She attended the [[Communist University of the Toilers of the East]]<ref name="radical-women-in-the-struggle" /> with other anti-imperialists from across the world, including [[Harry Haywood]]<ref name="katz-interview" />

Katz's studies included [[Marxism-Leninism]], history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the [[National Question]], and [[Imperialism]].<ref name="katz-interview" /><ref name="radical-women-in-the-struggle" /> She also sat in on official discussions around “The Negro Question” in the U.S. regarding self-determination of Black people in the states.<ref name="katz-interview" />

=== Life in New York ===

==== Return from Moscow ====
Katz returned from the Soviet Union in 1930 and picked back up party work for the [[CPUSA]]. She wrote articles and organized/took part in demonstrations.<ref name="katz-interview" />

==== Needle Trades Industrial Union ====
Katz career as a lead member of the Needle Trades Industrial Union started after being assigned to a leadership position by the Communist Party. Her main job in the union was to organize Black workers.<ref name="katz-interview" />.

Katz solidified her political position on "white chauvinism" both in and out of the party during her time in the Needle Trades Industrial Union. This was one of the positions that her and [[Ben Gold]]<ref name="katz-interview" /> took to the Communist Party USA politiburo to discuss.

As a result of the politburo meeting, party campaigns against white chauvinism were introduced as well as a call for unity for Black and white workers. The [[Yokinen Show Trial]] was also created from this meeting<ref name="katz-interview" />

==== Trade Union Unity League ====
Katz worked with [[William Z. Foster]] in the Trade Union Unity League.<ref name="katz-interview" />

==== The Harlem Liberator ====
Katz served as the Editor of ''The Harlem Liberator''<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gore|first1=Dayo|title=Radicalism at the Crossroads: African American Women Activists in the Cold War|date=2011|publisher=New York University Press|location=New York and London|isbn=9780814732366|page=25}}</ref>, which was an official organ of the [[League of Struggle for Negro Rights]]<ref name="katz-interview" />

== References ==