WEINSTEIN, James 1926-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 17, 1926, in New York, NY; died of brain cancer June 16, 2005, in Chicago, IL. Publisher, editor, and author. Weinstein was best known as the founding editor of the leftist journal In These Times. After serving in the U.S. Navy during the last months of World War II, he returned to his interrupted studies at Cornell University to complete his B.A. in 1949. He also briefly attended law school at the university, but dropped out to work for the Young Progressives of America. A member of the Communist Party, he found himself often followed by Central Intelligence Agency agents and was called once before a grand jury, though he was never put on trial. He knew himself to be a special person of interest after he was accosted while giving a ride to Julius Rosenberg, the scientist later accused, convicted, and executed for being a Soviet spy. Weinstein left the party in 1956 after learning about atrocities committed by Joseph Stalin in Russia. Meanwhile, during the early 1950s, he worked as a product tester for electronics companies and became involved with labor unions. Weinstein returned to college to earn a master's degree in history from Columbia University in 1957. Moving to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1960, he edited the leftist periodical Studies on the Left and wrote the books The Decline of Socialism in America, 1912–1925 (1967) and The Corporate Ideal in the Liberal State, 1900–1918 (1968). An unsuccessful attempt to run for Congress as an independent candidate was followed by a move to San Francisco in 1967. Here, Weinstein settled down to literary pursuits. He founded the Modern Times book store and the journal Socialist Review, which he ran through the early 1970s. Weinstein moved again in 1976, this time to Chicago, where he founded In These Times, his most successful magazine. He continued to serve as its editor and publisher until retiring in 1999; the magazine is still in print. Though he abandoned communism, Weinstein was a devout socialist throughout his life, and held that socialist ideals are more in keeping with the democratic philosophy of America's founding fathers than the strong conservative politics that came to dominated government in the United States during his lifetime. His later publications include Ambiguous Legacy: The Left in American Politics (1975) and The Long Detour: The History and Future of the American Left (2003).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, June 17, 2005, section 1, p. 9.

Los Angeles Times, June 20, 2005, p. B9.

New York Times, June 21, 2005, p. A21.

Washington Post, June 19, 2005, p. C11.