STEEL INDUSTRY SUBJECT FILE,, circa 1946-1955, 1957 and 1973-1980

Summary: As a communist party member, James west had an interest in the steel industry and its unions. Many of the areas in which he was active, such as Chicago and Gary (Indiana), were important steel centers. This file contains information that west collected on the subject of the steel industry. Although his interest in the subject seems to cover a few decades, many of these items are from the 1970's.

A problem with these items is a lack of identification of the author. West did write several articles and other documents on the steel industry, and those can be found in the WRITINGS series. Furthermore, the items in the "Union and labor newsletters" folder of this series seem almost certainly to be the products of those unions, without any input from the communist party or West. ( One exception might be the newsletters from the "National Steelworkers Rank and File Committee" which might have been from the communist party.) In the "Communist Party literature, newsletters, etc." folder, the case is different. These documents were all identified as being from communist party organs of which West was a member at one time or an other. Nevertheless, West's name does not appear on them.

The series of articles that appear in the "Press clippings" folder seem to deal more with the communist party rather than its involvement in the steel industry labor movement. They are here for a few reasons. First, West himself group these articles with the steel information. Secondly, the articles only mention a Jim west in passing, along with other communists, so they seemed a bit out of place in the BIOGRAPHICAL FILE. Third, there was no other place for them.

A last note on the above mentioned press clippings. As was just mentioned, the articles briefly refer to a Jim west. While this is probably the same person as the subject of this collection, certain personal information was in the articles that West does not refer to anywhere else. For example, the article mentions a very active Mrs. West, who faced being deported to the USSR. west does not mention such a significant event in his resume.