Bernard Livingston
1911-2000
By John Catalinotto
New York
Bernard Livingston, a close friend of Workers World Party
over the past decade, died Sept. 7 of a heart attack at age
89. It was his 62nd year as a committed Marxist. The near
nonagenarian, described by his close friends as "provocative
and feisty," attended political meetings and protests up to
the last days of his life.
People who met him in the past 15 years knew him as an
outspoken defender of socialism and the Soviet Union. Around
1985 he began organizing and attending an informal gathering
of people who shared Marxist ideas and his support for the
Soviet Union. The group met every two weeks at a Ukrainian
restaurant on Second Avenue and Ninth Street in Manhattan for
discussions.
More than outspoken, he wore oversized buttons on his
jacket with photos of revolutionary leaders like Marx,
Engels, Lenin and Stalin. He didn't flinch from the arguments
these sometimes provoked in the streets or the subways.
Livingston was born in Baltimore in 1911 and raised in
that city. He graduated from law school and then moved to New
York. He never practiced law.
Many of his current friends and comrades didn't know that
he was a successful photographer and author of six books,
including "Their Turf," "Papa's Burlesque House," "Zoo:
Animals, People, Places," and the best known, which he
published himself, "Closet Red."
In "Closet Red," Livingston revealed how his photography
career started from an abortive stint in the Army during
World War II. Though he was already a Marxist--not yet a
member of any party--he was asked to serve in a
counter-intelligence unit. He assumed he'd be tracking down
Nazi sympathizers.
Not so. He wrote:
"'Listen to what your buddies talk about,' I was
instructed. 'Keep an eye open for communists and red
propaganda, and file regular reports.'"
Livingston was suddenly relieved of that distasteful
assignment and later pushed out of the Army for his own world
outlook, though he managed to fight for an honorable
discharge based on his flat feet. He then began what was for
a Marxist an unorthodox career.
"After discharge from the Army, I managed to be admitted
into the world of the ruling class as an observer. There, not
being suspected of sympathy with the 'red focus of evil,' I
was able to circulate with an open eye among Kennedys, Dukes,
Whitneys and other pillars of the Establishment. In the
process I learned something about how, in its special style,
that Establishment responds to the issues of the day."
His book provides an insightful and amusing view of the
lives of the rich and otherwise banal.
Ending his contact with the power brokers, Livingston
became for a period a member of the Communist Party USA. He
later broke with that party, seeking a program more
independent of capitalist politics and the Democratic Party,
but always loyal to socialism and to the USSR.
He gravitated toward Workers World Party, where he
remained active to the end. He will be missed by his comrades
and friends in the struggle.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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