John Gates

John Gates, the son of Polish Jews, was born in New York in 1913. His name was originally Solomon Regenstriet but he later changed it to John Gates.

In 1930 Gates enrolled in the City College of New York. While a student he discovered the writings of Karl Marx and soon afterwards joined the Young Communist League (YCL). He also became involved in the campaign to free the Scotsboro Boys.

In 1932 Gates left college and the YCL sent him to represent unemployed workers in Ohio. On the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Gates joined the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, a unit that volunteered to defend the Popular Front government against the Nationalist Army.

The American forces suffered heavy casualties in the war. In March 1938 the Lincoln-Washington Battalion lost two of its most senior officers, Robert Merriman and David Doran, when they were killed at Gandesa on the Aragón front. Milton Wolff now assumed command of the battalion and Gates became battalion commissar.

Gates soon developed a reputation as a strict disciplinarian. He later admitted that he became "intolerant of criticism. I increasingly used vile language against subordinates, and disciplined people for minor questioning of my authority."

In August 1938 Gates took the controversial decision to execute Paul White, a soldier who had deserted but changed his mind and returned to the front. The news of the execution caused a great deal of dissent in the Lincoln-Washington Battalion and it was quickly announced that no further executions would take place.

On his return to the United States Gates was appointed head of the Young Communist League. In the Young Communist Review Gates upset some members when he argued that as the Soviet Union was "a socialist island in a sea of hostile capitalism" it would be understandable if Joseph Stalin signed a military alliance with Adolf Hitler.

After the Second World War Gates became editor of the Daily Worker. He resigned for the American Communist Party in January 1958. He claimed the the party had "ceased to be an effective force for democracy, peace and socialism in the United States".

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