Vito Marcantonio Forum, Chelsea Rising Launch Reading Circle

The Algonquin Round Table by Robert Sherwood

Through his allies in the Puerto Rican nationalist movement, Vito Marcantonio was introduced to tobacco factories wherein the “tabacqueros” working them would choose one among their number to read news and literature out loud. Each day a different tabacquero assumed the duty.

This practice of “La Lectura” impressed the radical congressman.

In the tradition of La Lectura, the Vito Marcantonio Forum (VMF)and the anti-gentrification group Chelsea Rising have launched a reading circle currently considering the text, “I Vote My Conscience: Debates, Speeches and Writings of Vito Marcantonio.”

According to the VMF's website, the text, edited by Marc's colleague Annette Rubinstein, “is an invaluable source for all those interested in studying the life and work of seven-term American Labor Party congressman Vito Marcantonio, who courageously represented East Harlem and the entire American left.”

The book is available for a trifle at $10 from the VMF Book Shop on its website at http://vitomarcantonioforum.org

The next meeting is June 21 at 6 p.m., in Penn South's “community room,” at 339 West 24^th Street (between 8^th and 9^th avenues). It will focus on Marc's congressional speeches and debates from the early part of his House career.

Penn South

The chosen venue is apt, Penn South being a project developed by the United Housing Foundation, brainchild of a former Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union official by the name of Abraham Kazan.

His projects tended toward cooperatively owned apartment buildings with lots of common spaces and social activities to encourage communal interaction. When it was inaugurated in 1962, Mayor Robert Wagner, Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Rockefeller and garment union leader David Dubinsky were joined by none other than President John F. Kennedy in the festivities.

Penn South stands as an example from a time identified by Joshua Freeman, author of “Working Class New York,” when, “the labor movement played a huge role in housing New Yorkers, massively intervening in a social sphere previously deemed the domain of the market.”

The reading circle is convened the third Wednesday of every month.

"La Lectura" in a tobacco factory.

There have been two meetings thus far. Laura Kaplan, a participant in the sessions said, “I'm getting so much inspiration from reading about this remarkable, courageous, articulate man. He is truly a model of a leader for our times.”

The readings are guided by VMF co-chair, professor Gerald Meyer, author of “Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician,” whose “expertise and lectures during the reading group,” said Kaplan, “add to the depth of knowledge and context which increases my appreciation of Marcantonio's speeches.”

Chelsea Rising's Lizette Colon said, "I am simply in awe with the depth of Marcantonio's speeches, his sharp use of humor and, moreover, the relevance of his positions to issues and concerns we are still dealing with nowadays in the mainland and in my beloved Puerto Rico." 

Aldolph Freda, another reading circle participant and frequent attendee of VMF events, claimed to be impressed with the clarity of Marc's thought after considering speeches from his second congressional term.

“I was impressed, in addition to what he had to say, with his style. Everything he wrote was clear and unambiguous,” said Freda, who likened Marc's prose to what he called the “Attica Style” of 18^th century Enlightenment writers, who strove for the clean prose typical of scribes from that ancient Greek city-state.

“They tried to write everything in a clear and lucid way, with a lack of ambiguity,” said Freda. "They would say, 'Ce qui ne se concoit pas clairement ne peut pas s'exprimir clairement,' or 'Whatever is not thought out or clearly conceived cannot be expressed clearly.'"

“In Marcantonio's case," Freda added, "I can say everything was clear without having to re-read anything. You know what it is that he is trying to say.

In the spirit of Freda's comments, in the spirit of La Lectura, and in the spirit of the VMF/Chelsea Rising reading circle, what follows are three posts treating pieces of Marcantonio's writing to a deeper consideration. Enjoy.

"The Goodfather (A Novel): The Rising Fall of the Marvelous Marcantonio," can be found here: MARC LIVES

Sixty Years Later, Marc Remembered.

"Be it known the Council of the City of New York is proud to honor the inspiring life and indelible legacy of the Honorable Vito Marcantonio for his outstanding service and enduring contributions to our city and nation upon the 60^th Anniversary of his death on this the 9^th day of August in the year 2014."


And with this recitation did New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito rescue Rep. Vito Marcantonio (ALP) from an anonymity that has blanketed the six decades since he burned across the political firmament.

On the 60^th anniversary of his death, Marc did not lay alone beneath the grass and leafy trees at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, an ungrateful and indifferent metropolis clanking around him.

Instead, some 60 people organized, poked and prodded by the Vito Marcantonio Forum, gathered to pay homage and renew recent efforts to revive a reputation that was grand even in Gotham.

The crowd was peppered with public officials courageous enough to break the long-standing silence about Marcantonio's contribution to the well-being of New York's poorest, face the public and acclaim America's most successful radical congressman.

New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito

Said Vito Marcantonio Forum member David Giglio, “It's like we've opened up the dam of silence.”

Speaker Mark-Viverito promised to get a street in East Harlem named after Marcantonio.

Said Madame Speaker: “We all know that, too often, it is the brave and those who stand up for their ideals that are overlooked in the history books.”

The speaker recalled how her mentor, East Harlem housing attorney Gloria Quiñones, “sat me down and really wanted me to know about Marcantonio and the progressive legacy he embodied.”

Mark-Viverito discussed the crucial cover Marc gave those in the movement for Puerto Rican independence, “at a time when it was difficult to do that. He was our congressman. He was our ally. He was our voice.”

She said the life-long East Harlemite was the embodiment of a true New Yorker who, “grew up in a progressive community of Italians, Irish, Jewish, Black, Puerto Rican, and Caribbean immigrants who made East Harlem their home. It is no mistake he became a leader of his times and his community, which continues to be a microcosm of New York, as well as the rest of the nation.” 

New York State Assemblyman Robert Rodriguez (D)reflected, “I would not have had the opportunity to serve the community I love, in this way, were it not for Vito Marcantonio.”

Assemblyman Robert Rodriguez.

The congressman was beloved in his community, said Rodriguez, for the way he put its people first, regardless of race, class or ethnicity.

“At that time,” the assemblyman stated, “it was revolutionary, the concept that he could be a civil rights leader for African-Americans in the '30s and '40s - an Italian-American from Harlem - that is impressive.”

Rodriguez closed his remarks by presenting a proclamation “commemorating Marcantonio's accomplishments, life and legacy."

Actor and writer Roberto Ragone read from Marcantonio's speeches against militarism and the arms race, including this passage from June 1950, when he stood up to cast the sole vote against American intervention in the Korean War:  



Roberto Ragone.

“After all, Mr. Chairman, you live only once; and it is best to live one's life with one's conscience rather than to temporize or accept with silence those things which one believes to be against the interests of one's people and one nation."

Lulu Lolo read Gil Fagiani's “Litany of San Vito.”



LuLu LoLo

Actor Troy Hodges revived singer Paul Robeson's parting words to Marcantonio. Frank Marcantonio suggested that perhaps there's something in the family blood, for he had followed the path blazed by Marc without knowing much about him.

Professor Gerald Meyer of Hostos Community College also spoke of the man whose light he has carried through the dark years.


Professor Gerald Meyer

"The Bronx Chronicle" dedicated ink to the happening in its bailiwick. Reporter Kathleen Canzoniero wrote, “Marcantonio defended Italian-Americans against discrimination during World War II and advocated for African-Americans civil rights, especially in making lynching a federal crime. During his political career in the House of Representatives, he sponsored five bills calling for Puerto Rico's independence. A staunch and vocal activist, Marcantonio was against both the Cold War and Korean War. He tragically died from a heart attack in 1954 at the age of 51.”

Inspired by the event and others resuscitating Marcantonio's work “Bronx River Sancofa” blogger Morgan Powell took his readers on a walk of Marcantonio's East Harlem, pointing out the brick-and-mortar structures through which the congressman's presence asserts itself still.

Noting that Marc's childhood birthplace at 325 East 112^th Street was razed, so that room might be made for the Thomas Jefferson Houses, Powell wrote, “Perhaps it's fitting that low-cost modern housing for the masses – which he and La Guardia advocated – would succeed his own former address."

The event was also covered in New York's Italian-language daily, “Oggi,” which observed, and we quote:

"Marcantonio è stato senza ombra di dubbio uno de piú combattivi sostenitori dell classe operaia del XX secolo durante i suoi 14 anni di Congresso e uno dei politici piú radicali di sinistra, continuamente rieletto per sei mandati.”

Marc's graveside memorial was given a boost prior to Aug. 9, with an interview of Powell and Ragone on "BronxNet."

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz declared the anniversary “Vito Marcantonio Day,” and so on.

All of which is to say that the Vito Marcantonio Forum, with its multi-media campaign to put flesh and bones on a decimated reputation through events combining political discussion, theatrical play and poetry has piqued the interest of local thinkers and doers, while launching a process for restoring Marcantonio's work and thought to their rightful place in New York politics, past and present.