Against the Current, No. 25, March/April 1990
Archie Lieberman
RUBE SINGER, a lifelong socialist, died December 23, 1989. Much more died than a comrade and long-time friend. Rube was a rare breed, a worker-socialist leader without which no socialist movement can survive. The crisis of all the socialist sects in existence today is their failure to win the thousands of potential Rube Singers in the working class.
No dilettante socialist, Rube was the open socialist leader of the rank and life in General Motors Hyatt Ball Bearing plant in Clark Township, New Jersey. They elected him to the local union presidency and many other positions in which he consistently defended them.
Rube Singer was a charter member of the Socialist Workers Party, the Workers Party and the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee. In the socialist movement he gave freely of his energy, time and finances. Nobody had to plead with Rube when it came to giving to the movement.
It used to be said that one worker-socialist was worth at least 100 members. Today we would have to increase their worth. Any movement that could have a hundred Rube Singers would instantly become a force in the working class.
Rube Singer is dead and I miss him terribly, but his example as a consistent representative of the rank and life makes hope spring eternally that one day the socialist movement will be filled with thousands like him.
© 2020 Against the Current
March-April 1990, ATC 25