Communism, Sí

IN the spring of 1976, the Yale Political Science Department made it possible for Herbert Aptheker, the Communist historian, to teach at Yale for a semester. His (temporary) appointment had previously been vetoed by the relevant committee of the History Department on grounds of scholarly incompetence bordering on dishonesty. (Aptheker’s work American Negro Slave Revolts contains accounts of 250 rebellions, most of which, according to fellow Marxist and historian of slavery Eugene Genovese, “never happened.”) The committee included John Morton Blum, who had previously obtained a guest professorship for Herbert Marcuse, and self-described “Marxoid” C. Vann Woodward. The History Department’s veto caused a mini-scandal on campus: Aptheker was a Communist; the assumption was that he was fired for that reason and that the principles of academic freedom had been violated. The Political Science Department stepped in and gave Aptheker the appointment.

Last spring that same Political Science Department voted to deny tenure to Thomas Pangle, a young political philosopher of the Straussian school, a reputed political conservative, and very probably the most popular professor at Yale.

RV

About the Author

Richard Vigilante

IN the spring of 1976, the Yale Political Science Department made it possible for Herbert Aptheker, the Communist historian, to teach at Yale for a semester. His (temporary) appointment had previously been vetoed by the relevant committee of the History Department on grounds of scholarly incompetence bordering on dishonesty. (Aptheker’s work American Negro Slave Revolts contains accounts of 250 rebellions, most of which, according to fellow Marxist and historian of slavery Eugene Genovese, “never happened.”) The committee included John Morton Blum, who had previously obtained a guest professorship for Herbert Marcuse, and self-described “Marxoid” C. Vann Woodward. The History Department’s veto caused a mini-scandal on campus: Aptheker was a Communist; the assumption was that he was fired for that reason and that the principles of academic freedom had been violated. The Political Science Department stepped in and gave Aptheker the appointment.

Last spring that same Political Science Department voted to deny tenure to Thomas Pangle, a young political philosopher of the Straussian school, a reputed political conservative, and very probably the most popular professor at Yale.