Hal Draper; Socialist Scholar, Organizer

Hal Draper, 75, a socialist scholar who founded the Center for Socialist History in Berkeley and whose writings were credited with inspiring the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley. Draper’s political involvement began in the 1930s when he became a leading organizer for the Young Peoples’ Socialist League of a national strike against war. As editor of the radical periodical Labor Action, Draper and other socialists reported on revolts in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China. Draper’s opposition to American and Soviet militarism drew some criticism from the Left. In 1964, Draper, who was working at the time as a librarian at UC Berkeley, gained notice for publication of “Berkeley: The New Student Revolt.” In his book, Draper wrote in support of the Free Speech Movement. Draper also published a four-volume study of Marx and Engels’ political theories. In Berkeley on Friday of the complications of pneumonia.