RCIA AND RWDSU
Scope and Content Note: In New York, there was a strong Communist Party cadre in the department stores. Food, men's clothing and furniture stores were non-communist. RCIA's New York leadership was corrupt, which later led to raids by the AMC&BW and the Teamsters. Nathan Wertheimer was chief RCIA organizer (and later vice-president) in the East. Coulter trusted him, but he “was a thief...a racketeer; he used to sell our membership not only to employers but....to independent unions.” He later saved his reputation by dying shortly before the International planned to dump him. If it had not been for Wertheimer's reputation, Meyer feels he could have organized the whole city during the period he was in New York. The RWDSU leadership was no better than Wertheimer, and Meyers feels they split from RCIA simply in order to “get their hands on an International.”