Rubinstein was born on April 12, 1910, on the Lower East Side, in New York City.^[1] Both of her parents, Abraham and Jean Rubinstein, were teachers.^[2] Rubinstein earned her PhD from Columbia University and then became the principal of the Robert Louis Stevenson High School.^[3] Rubinstein joined the Communist Party in the 1930s and remained a secret member of the Party until 1952.^[4] She was also active in the American Labor Party, and served as its state vice-chairman.^[5] She met American Labor Party politician Vito Marcantonio in 1934 and later worked for him as an adviser.^[6] In 1958, she ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York on the Independent-Socialist ticket.^[7]

As a writer and literary critic, Rubinstein was the author of the two-volume book The Great Tradition in English Literature: From Shakespeare to Shaw, which focused "from a Marxist perspective on the relationship of political and social movements to 'major literary works'.^[8] Rubinstein taught in East Germany between 1960 and 1962 and served as the vice-chairman of the German-American Friendship Society, which advocated for American recognition of the German Democratic Republic.^[9]

Her papers are held in the Tamiment Library at New York University.^[10]

Biography

References