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The Portland Red Guide: Sites & Stories of Our Radical Past

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I must say outright that I've never been a lover of historical reading. I often find myself falling asleep with each turn of the page. To my surprise, this was not the case with The Portland Red Guide. Sure it had its dull moments, but overall I would say the, because it presents such an interesting side of Portland, Oregon that is not often discussed, The Portland Red Guide held my attention from start to finish. In particular, I like that author Michael Munk includes exact street addresses of the locations of socialist, communist, and protest activity in Portland. Readers are able to find the buildings and link them directly to the historical accounts in the book--I find this the most endearing quality of the book; one that certainly peaked my interest. I've got to hand it to Munk, though: the amount of research it surely took to compile such an extensive account of Portland history is seriously impressive. Definitely a recommended reading for any Portland resident, or simply lovers of urban history.

The Portland Red Guide covers much of Portland's radical past, particularly that of Socialists, Communists, and working class people who spoke truth to power. It also describes situations in which those in power, whether politicians or police, oppressed people they find threatening. The book is divided into different time periods, from the nineteenth century to the present. It includes Wobblies, doctors who performed abortions, black people harassed by racist cops, Communists and sympathizers attacked by McCarthyism, and so much more.

I would have liked to have seen more on the women's movement, and neither the Freedom Socialist Party nor its feminist branch Radical Women is ever mentioned. For that matter, Radical Women's headquarters, The Bread and Roses Center on Killingsworth Street, isn't included , nor is In Other Words: Women's Books and Resources. (The Latin root for radical is "going to the root," not "extreme.") Yet overall, this is a fascinating and informative book about a side of Portland often overlooked in mainstream history books.

The book includes not only historical and biographical information, but also site listings with exact street addresses and maps, so the reader can take walks around Portland and see locations mentioned in the book. As a Portlander, I found it exciting to read about places I've seen or visited numerous times, and to anticipate looking for significant places mentioned in the Red Guide. Both history book and guide book, the Portland Red Guide will have a second, updated edition soon from Ooligan Press.

The Portland Red Guide tells you everything you ever wanted to know and more about the secret history of Portland. I found out about the history of all my favorite neighborhoods in Portland. Driving or walking through the streets of my home town, I've never thought about how these streets were named, but the Portland Red Guide has the answers. It was a fascinating, fun, and educational read. I would recommend The Portland Red Guide to anyone who wants to know a little more about their favorite city. I'm generally not a huge fan of historical books, but this one kept me engaged and interested the whole way through.

This is Portland's version of "A People's History of the United States." When the winners write the history you get a very neat clean version of how they would like you to believe things were, but when the losers get a chance to write their side, that's when things get really interesting. This book is telling the loser's side, and an interesting side it is, filled with struggle, betrayal, courage, persecution and ultimately hope. It's a history that every city, state and country should write for themselves. And it's a book that everyone should read, not just those who live in Oregon, because it will cause you to wonder just what is missing from your own city's history, what the winners in your area aren't telling you.

Portland's lively left-of-center history is brought back to life in 'Red Guide'
The Oregonian
June 17, 2007

By John Terry




Interesting, the things found in the closets of Portland's radical past:

The founder of the exclusive Catlin Gabel School was accused of being a communist.

Two Tuskegee Airmen of World War II fame were from Portland; 12 in all were from Oregon.

The principal of Kenton Elementary School allied herself with social reformer Jane Addams, played host to muckraker Upton Sinclair and hobnobbed with Eleanor Roosevelt at the White House.

All this and much more thanks to the closet-cleaning work of intrepid Portland radical Michael Munk, whose new book, "The Portland Red Guide, Sites and Stories of our Radical Past," is new from Portland State University's Ooligan Press.

Munk is a native of Prague, Czechoslovakia, whose family fled the Nazis and came to Portland in 1939. He's a graduate of Lincoln High School and Reed College, has a master's degree from the University of Oregon and doctorate from New York University. For 25 years Munk taught political science at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, Chicago's Roosevelt University and Rutgers before retiring in Portland.

Munk -- Internet moniker "lastmarx" -- freely admits he's about as far to the political left as one can get without straying into the lunatic fringe. He's also an engaging personality with a delicious sense of irony evident throughout "Red Guide."

The book is divided into six political eras from the 19th century to the present, each entry in each section numbered and cross-referenced to maps and photographs.

Here is where radical writer John Reed grew up unfettered by Portland's upper-upper crust. There is where the Marine Workers Industrial Union headquartered during the 1934 Maritime Strike. Here is where Dr. Marie Equi in 1918 railed against war and was rewarded with three years in San Quentin.

Much of Munk's material understandably deals with the social, labor and political conflicts that roiled local waters throughout the city's history, events old-guard conservatives would just as soon see black-lined from its history. It also memorializes many who added richly to the city's fabric and heritage -- racial minorities, social reformers, religious leaders.

Ruth Catlin opened Miss Catlin's School for Girls in 1911 on Northwest Irving Street. She dedicated it to the "independence and freedom of action for women" and drew students "largely from Portland's wealthy elite," Munk says. She turned the school over to a board of directors in 1928 to become Catlin Gabel School.

The late 1930s found her on the infamous Portland Police Red Squad's list of communist sympathizers because she was active in a group "devoted to defending the elected Spanish government against a fascist invasion," says Munk.

Brothers Robert (Ruby) and Carl Deiz, graduates of Franklin High School, were Portland's contribution to the Tuskegee Airmen. Robert flew 93 missions with the segregated 332nd Fighter Group in Europe and was featured on a 1943 War Bond poster, "one of few depicting a black person," Munk says. Another Tuskegee airman, Charles Duke, was the first African American member of the Portland Police Department.

Grace De Graff, Kenton Elementary principal, was among the founders of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, organized to urge women worldwide to "refuse to do the work men cannot do because they are busy murdering other men."

Munk quotes a De Graff niece as recalling her thinking "what the Russians were doing was a desirable state of affairs," but also "Aaron Frank (of the department store Meier & Frank) was the nicest man" for helping out needy Kenton families.

You can reach John Terry, a retired copy editor for The Oregonian and member of the Oregon Geographic Names Board, at terryjohnf@cs.com

It's a wonderful book and it's so well organized I can't believe it... delighted that my May Day toast is part of it. Gary Snyder