Obituary: Moses Baritz (1938)

Moses Baritz (circa 1912)

From the May 1938 issue of The Western Socialist 

It is with the deepest regret that I have to write the obituary of one who was so well known among the old-timers of the Socialist movement. I first met Moses in 1914 in those stirring early days of the war, and remember so well his huge meetings on Winnipeg Market Square in the weeks preceding August 4th.

He died at the age of fifty-four in the Manchester Victoria Memorial Jewish Hospital, and the “Manchester Guardian,’’ of March 31st, 1938, in a lengthy obituary, tells of his “vast store of knowledge of opera and particularly of Wagnerian music dramas. . . . He was one of the first to give radio talks on music and gramophone lecture recitals.” Again, they say: “He was for many years lecturer and musical adviser to the Columbia Graphophone Company, but he steadfastly refused to live in London, maintaining that the cultural facilities were better in Manchester.”

Of him personally they say: “As a man he hid a very generous disposition under a certain brusqueness of manner.”

Of particular interest to Socialists is the following quotation: “His interests were not only musical. He lectured in the United States, for instance, on economics as well as on music. He will be remembered as a leading figure in the lively debates of the Manchester County Forum before the war, and he was known on many platforms as a forceful advocate of Socialism. Research into the associations of Marx and Engels with Manchester was a particular hobby of his, and until recently he had been collecting material for a book on the subject.”

His mother, who is still alive, and is now ninety-two years old, was interviewed by one of the newspapers, and claimed Moses was not a success because he “got this Socialism,” while her other sons were becoming fairly successful business men.

As a debater, his like was never heard in Winnipeg, and his debate with Mr. Mobius, a clever German reformer who used to live here, is still remembered by all who were present.

His historical lectures on the French Revolution and like subjects were attended by students and faculty from our local colleges and his encyclopaedic knowledge often was marvelled at. His memory was sponge-like in its absorbent qualities, and what he read he knew and could quote readily from, after one perusal.

He conducted classes for the Winnipeg Local one winter and left his mark in the memory of all who attended.

The I.W.W. was a potent force on this continent in those days and his opposition to that organization had an amusing sequel, as he was held by the authorities in Seattle during the war years as an I.W.W., and some respectable citizens of Winnipeg as well as others of us had to give lengthy evidence on his behalf before the U.S. consul before he was released.

He was widely travelled, having lectured in practically every city in Canada, most parts of the U.S.A. and also in Australia.

He had a biting and bitter tongue, was feared by his opponents, but highly respected for his vast fund of knowledge, his honest Socialist convictions and the lucidity of the presentation of his views.

When visiting London in the summer of 1934 he came down from Manchester to see me. His rotund figure more pronounced, his shortsighted eyes more short-sighted, but his voice not quite so loud. We lived the old days over, “do you remember” being repeated again and again, old battles re-fought, old bitternesses laughed at, old memories, old friends, old enemies all recalled. That day was to be repeated later in Manchester or Glasgow, but an attack of the illness that ultimately finished him made that meeting our last.

His hatred of Russian Communist trickery and double dealing made him keep valuable information about Engels and his life in Manchester from them, and I hope his material which he was collecting at that time and up to his death can yet be edited and published.

He was essentially a product of his city and his time — the youth of today turned out of schools machine-like and with ideas, clothes and mannerisms so much in common and so respectable could never produce a Baritz.

The Socialist movement is poorer by his loss. We pay honor to him, whose like we may never see again.

A.P.