William Weinstone
William Wolf Weinstone (1897–1985) was an American Communist politician and labor leader. Weinstone served as Executive Secretary of the unified Communist Party of America, the forerunner of today's Communist Party USA, from October 15, 1921, to February 22, 1922, and was an important figure in the party's activities among the auto workers of Detroit during the 1930s. Background William Weinstone was born December 15, 1897, in Vilnius, then part of the Tsarist Russian Empire. Will was the son of Jewish parents who emigrated from Russia to escape that nation's pervasive antisemitism during the late Tsarist period. His original surname was "Weinstein," a name which he Americanized when he was older. Career Early years In June 1919, Weinstone was elected as an alternate delegate to the Left Wing National Conference held in New York City, at which he was seated to replace a regular delegate on the last day of the gathering. Weinstone was elected as a delegate to the founding convention of the Communist Party of America, called to order in Chicago on September 1, 1919. During the first years of the 1920s, the Communist Party of America was forced underground by the mass operation of the U.S. Department of