George Novack; Writer, Socialist Leader in U. S.
George Novack, a writer and a leader of the U. S. Socialist Workers Party for more than half a century, has died. He was 86.
The author or editor of 15 books on history and philosophy died Thursday in New York City after a brief illness.
Novack was born in Boston and educated at Harvard University. He was drawn to socialism during the Depression, joining a circle of writers and academics and writing for the New Republic and the Nation.
In 1933 he joined the Communist League of America, which became the Socialist Workers Party. He served on the group’s National Committee from 1940 to 1972, and wrote for the Militant, a weekly newspaper, and the magazines New International, International Socialist Review and Intercontinental Press.
Active in several civil liberties defense committees, Novack served as national secretary of the Socialists’ Civil Rights Defense Committee.
Novack lived in Los Angeles from 1953 to 1965 but spent most of his adult life in New York City.
His wife, Evelyn Reed, died in 1979.
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