Martin Abern

Martin "Marty" Abern (né Martin Abramowitz) (1898–1949) was a Marxist politician who was an important leader of the Communist youth movement of the 1920s as well as a founder of the American Trotskyist movement.

Martin Abern was born on December 2, 1898 in Berlad, Romania, the son of Joseph Abramovitz an ethnic Jewish peddler and Hinda Schwartz and brother of Rita Abramovitz. The family emigrated to the United States in 1902, moving to Minneapolis the following year. Abern attended public elementary school and high school in Minneapolis. He married Lydia Winter in November 1928.

The young man was radically inclined from an early age, joining the Socialist Party of America's youth section, the Young People's Socialist League in 1912, the Socialist Party itself in 1915, as well as the Industrial Workers of the World. He attended the University of Minnesota for two years, starring on the football team. The radical Abern staunchly opposed World War I and following American entry into that conflict he refused induction into the military on political grounds. This refusal to join the military resulted in his expulsion from the university and ultimately led to a six-month prison term.

Abern seems to have been a member of the Communist Party of America at the time of its establishment in the fall of 1919 or shortly thereafter. In November 1920, the US Department of Justice attempted to make Abern a test case for the deportation of alien radicals citing Communist Party membership as sole grounds for action. He was saved from deportation at the last minute by a court order obtained by his attorney.

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