Irving Potash

Irving Potash (December 15, 1902 - August, 16, 1976) was a leader of the International Fur and Leather Workers Union.

Biography

Potash was born in Starokostiantyniv, Russia in 1902.^[1] He immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 10.^[2] In 1916, he joined a branch of the Socialist Party in Williamsburg, eventually leaving the Party with the other Williamsburg socialists to enter the Communist Party around 1919.^[3] His involvement in the International Fur and Leather Workers Union originated while he was a student at City College, when he asked Ben Gold if the Union could get him a job in a fur shop.^[4] In 1920, Potash was sentenced to three years for criminal anarchy in a Brooklyn court.^[5]

While working for the Union, Potash helped to reduce the influence of mobsters like Jacob Shapiro and Lepke Buchalter over the IFLWU.^[6] Potash and Samuel Burt testified against the two mobsters in court, securing a conviction.^[7] Their testimony on October 29, 1937, linked Shapiro and Buchalter to violent intimidation tactics.^[8] Around this time, Potash was elected to be the manager of the Furrier's Joint Council, CIO, and he would be re-elected to this position in the following six consecutive elections until 1949.^[9]

During the Peekskill riots, Potash was traveling in the same car as Paul Robeson when they were attacked by a mob.^[10] He was struck by a stone thrown through his windshield and lost sight in one eye.^[11]

In July, 1948 Potash was indicted with 12 other members of the Communist Party on charges of plotting to overthrow the government.^[12] While on Ellis Island awaiting trial, he participated in a hunger strike that lasted until he and four other detainees were granted bail.^[13] After the case went to trial, Potash and the other defendants received sentences of five years in federal prison.^[14] While serving his sentence at Leavenworth Penitentiary, Potash worked in the bakery and tried to teach other inmates about Communism.^[15] He was released from Leavenworth on December 9, 1954.^[16] Immediately after his release, he was indicted on the charge of being a member of the Communist Party.^[17]Potash left the United States in 1955 for Poland, avoiding a second trial under the Smith Act on these charges.^[18]

He returned to the United States and while eating in a Bronxville restaurant on the night of January 4, 1957, he was arrested by the FBI for illegally re-entering the country.^[19] He was sentenced to two years in prison.^[20] Potash died on August 16, 1976 in Moscow, while he was visiting the Soviet Union for medical care.^[21]