Henry Snipper: Life-long supporter of the party
1992Hayden Perry 1992-01Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 17 →
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Socialist Action lost a staunch supporter when Henry Snipper died on Oct. 25 at the age of 81 in Oakland, Calif.
Almost a native Californian, Henry spent much of his lite in Los Angeles, where he worked as an electrician. The Socialist Workers Party is indebted to Henry for the hours he spent wiring the numerous headquarters the party opened around L.A. throughout the years.
In a sense, Henry inherited his radical politics. His parents came from Russia carrying with them the socialist ideology of the Jewish Bund. It was natural for Henry and his brother, Mitt, to join the Socialist Party. Their wives, Alice and Ann, also became active socialists in the 1930s.
When the Trotskyists entered the Socialist Party in 1937, the young Snippers were attracted to the militant program the revolutionary socialists introduced. When the Trotskyists were expelled in 1938, Henry and Alice joined in founding the Socialist Workers Party.
Life for the Snippers revolved around the party. The two families built a house together in Los Angeles that was designed to serve as a social center for the party. In the dark days of the witch hunt of the 1950s, the Snipper home was a rallying center. In 1967, Cuban counterrevolutionary "gusanos" recognized the political importance of the house, and fire-bombed it.
Now the years have taken their toll. Mitt Snipper died in 1984. Alice Snipper died in December 1987. Ann Snipper 16 SOCIALIST ACTION Henry and Alice Snipper in 1981 died in October, and Henry the same month. This is a grievous loss for the But a younger generation of Snippers and Snipper in-laws is active today in Socialist Action, pursuing the socialist goal their parents and grandparents fought for.
JANUARY 1992