Irwin Suall was an American socialist, union organizer, civil rights activist, investigator and researcher. He was national director of fact-finding for the Anti-Defamation League from 1967 to 1997 in which capacity he directed that organization's undercover intelligence gathering on extremist groups.
Career
Born in 1924 on East Broadway on the Lower East Side to immigrant parents, Suall grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and graduated from Samuel Tilden High School. After briefly attending Brooklyn College, Suall joined the Merchant Marines in 1945, for three years. While a Merchant Marine, he visited Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe living in squalor in Shanghai. This experience left an indelible impression on him. After his stint in the Merchant Marines, Suall studied at Ruskin College, Oxford on a Fulbright scholarship. He graduated with a BA in political science in 1950. Suall joined the Young Peoples Socialist League as a teenager. When he returned to the U.S. after studying in England, he briefly worked as head of public relations for the Jewish Labor Committee, education director for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and national secretary for the Socialist Party–Social Democratic Federation. In the latter capacity, he was instrumental in convincing Norman Thomas and others to allow individual members of the Independent Socialist League, sometimes known as Shatchmanites, to join with the party. During that period, Suall was ejected from the Soviet consulate in New York when he and William Lusk tried to present a protest to Arkady Sobolev, the USSR's representative to the United Nation's. They were protesting the execution of Imre Nagy, Nicolas Gimes and other Hungarians. In 1957, Suall replaced Herman Singer as Executive Secretary of the Socialist Party of America. He would remain in that role until 1968. The Arab–Israeli 1967 Six-Day war had a profound effect on him. He visited Israel shortly thereafter and returned to the U.S. "a changed man" according to ADL head Abraham Foxman. His attitude towards socialism apparently changed, and he "began to realize that his efforts on behalf of democracy and human dignity were part of a larger Jewish struggle". He became fact-finding director of the ADL that year and his work "reinforced his growing awareness of the intimate linkages between extremism, totalitarianism, and anti-Semitism". Meanwhile, Suall was still active in the factional struggles within the Socialist party. He became aligned with a Shactmanite faction against the "new politics" wing led by Michael Harrington and others. At the Socialist Party's final convention in December 1972, he and James Glazer presented a majority report urging that the group's name be changed to Social Democrats, USA. This action was approved by a 73–34 vote. Afterwards, Harrington resigned his SDUSA membership and founded the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee. Suall remained as head of the Anti-Defamation Leagues fact-finding department until 1997, when his fight with emphysema forced him to retire. His work with the ADL was not without controversy. He was sued by the Lyndon LaRouche lead US Labor Party. Judge Michael Dontzin granted ADL summary judgement and dismissed the lawsuit in April, 1979 and upheld ADL’s right to label the group “anti-Semitic.” He was also criticized for expanding the focus of his activities to Black nationalist, Arab and leftist groups as well as far-right organizations. He died of emphysema in August 1998.
Personal life
While attending Oxford Suall met and married fellow student Sarah Mountain in 1949.For a time she was an assistant to the director of SANE,the world's first nuclear disarmament organization.She died in 1969, but they had a son together,Mark, a New York City musician. Suall's brother Bert and sister-in-law Joan were also active in the Socialist Party and the SDUSA.
