Three comrades remember Laszlo Berkovits
October 2, 1946 – April 19, 2021
At CCNY and in Central Europe
In 1968, at City College of New York, I was giving out Progressive LaborParty (PLP) leaflets inviting people to a demonstration against the U.S. war on Vietnam. A student read the leaflet and approached me. His name was Laszlo Berkovits and he was Hungarian. I thought he might be an anti-communist Hungarian refugee. The slide rule hanging from his belt indicated he was a math, science, or engineering major. Most leftist students were liberal arts majors. But no, Laszlo said he had studied Marxism in high school in Hungary. He thought it was a scientific analysis of capitalism and agreed with the leaflet. He started participating in our anti-war activities, joined the Students for a Democratic Society chapter, read CHALLENGE, and soon joined PLP.
In January 1969 Laszlo and Edna met while washing dishes at a birthday party. They married in 1970 and were together until April of this year, when ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) claimed Laszlo far too soon. They loved their 2 children and 3 wonderful grandchildren, and they extended their love to sons-in-law. Laszlo, a master soup chef, cooked soups for the family every Friday evening.
My wife and I travelled through Central Europe with Laszlo and Edna in 2012. We visited several Jewish cemeteries where Laszlo’s relatives were buried — those who had not been murdered by the Nazis. Laszlo had a deep-seated hatred of fascism. In Budapest, we had dinner with about 10 of Laszlo’s high school friends. It was obvious that they loved and respected him. At Laszlo’s hometown, Salgótarján, we had dinner with another 10 of his high school friends; one subscribed to CHALLENGE.
People everywhere counted him among their best friends. He loved people, took an interest in them and their families, and their problems. As a communist, he looked for the best in people. He believed that working people could unite to overthrow capitalism and rid the world of racism, sexism and the other horrors it generates.
We often sing Bella Ciao at PLP events. When we sing, “Soy comunista toda la vida,” I see Laszlo, truly “a communist all his life.”
At New York University Hospital and in New Jersey
Laszlo’s kind personality was not in contradiction to his fighting spirit and staunch antiracism. In 1979, while working at NYU Hospital, Laszlo and two comrades mounted a campaign against harassment and regular searches of the predominantly Black and Latin workers by hospital security guards. Threats of disciplinary action did not stop Laszlo and others. They even led workers to loudly picket a hospital administrator’s home.
When Laszlo and his comrades were disciplined by the hospital bosses, they filed grievances, which were dismissed by the administration and by an “impartial” arbitrator. They then hired a militant labor lawyer.
After a long battle at the National Labor Relations Board and a federal court, and supported by rank-and-file actions, NYU was forced to rescind all the disciplinary actions, and issue back pay.
Laszlo and his family moved from the Bronx to Teaneck, NJ in 1982. The Party there joined with parents and launched campaigns against racism in the schools and against racist police terror. As these battles continued, Laszlo and Edna encouraged their children to become active antiracists.
Laszlo had a sharp internationalist perspective. He understood that the fall of the old communist movement had given new life to world capitalism. He worked with other comrades to analyze the rise of imperialist China and why imperialist rivalry between China and the U.S. would inevitably lead to war.
More class struggle in New Jersey
When Laszlo and Edna moved to Teaneck, they helped us develop a PLP collective with two other families. In joyful cooperation we helped each other raise our children with communist values. In 1982 we organized support for the township’s striking teachers, who were thrown in jail for their efforts.
Edna and Laszlo became active in the Bergen Society for Ethical Culture, which in the mid 1980s had declared sanctuary for refugees and asylum seekers. They supported expanding this fight and joined in the Society’s effort to work for climate justice. Laszlo was also a regular participant in many of the Society’s forums and gatherings. Only two weeks before his death, Laszlo spoke about David Bohm and Ilya Prigogine, scientists whose works have contributed to our understanding of the communist philosophy of dialectical materialism.
Farewell dear comrade. Farewell dear friend. Who you were and what you have done will live vividly within each of us and will continue to help shape an emerging communist world as long as the working class lives.