In Literature
Throughout his life, Gold wrote short stories in Yiddish that often dealt with labor relations and Jewish immigrants. His 1944 novel Avreml Broide included illustrations by fellow communist William Gropper. In 1948, he wrote Mentshn, published by the Needle Trades Workers Committee. His last work of fiction was The Storm in Riverville, published in 1972. It is a semi-fictional account of garment workers in the 1920s, their fight against organized crime, and their attempt to win a 40-hour work week.
Gold himself appears as a character in the fiction novel Union Square. The book, published in 2001, is about two Russian Jewish families—one Marxist, the other socialist—who are forced by pogroms to flee to the United States. Sarah Levy, one of the most prominent characters in the novel, meets a slightly fictionalized Ben Gold in her attempt to unionize women garment workers in New York City.
Gold also appears as a character in the stage play I'm Not Rappaport. Actor Ron Rifkin played Gold in the film version of the play.
Read more about this topic: Ben Gold
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