Works > Communist Party USA, 2007

Yevgeniy Fiks: Portrait of Estelle Katz, Communist Party USA
Portrait of Estelle Katz, Communist Party USA
oil on canvas
36 x 48"
2007

Estelle Katz. "The New York Infirmary welcomed me on June 27, 1916 into this world. From Kindergarten through the high school and Ethical Culture Teacher Training I was fortunate to attend these Schools. During these years the weekly ethics classes never fully answered my questions about society's ills. The full answers came to me through the study of Marxism. As a result I first joined and worked in the American Youth Congress, joined the Young Communist League in 1935 and the Communist Party in 1937. This was the time of mass action. The struggles of the working class have always existed and are getting worse as time goes on. Mass action will come again and I will still be in the Party. My vocations have been many: pre-school teaching, waiting table, office work, ending my work career with teaching science in junior and senior high school."

What is your view of the former Soviet Union:
- I was fortunate to visit many parts of the Soviet Union four times for a total of ten weeks. Was critical of areas needing improvement mainly in the factories.

What is your opinion of Mikhail Gorbachev:
- No comment.

What is your view of today's Russia:
- Today, however, having gone backwards, there is the reestablishment of a most early barbaric form of capitalism. "Bill of Rights" Socialism will be the eventual historical answer in the United States for curing the existing ills that we suffer with under capitalism.