Stew Albert

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Stew Albert
Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York
DiedJanuary 30, 2006(2006-01-30) (aged 66)
Portland, Oregon
Known forPolitical activism, writing
SpouseJudy Gumbo

Stewart Edward "Stew" Albert (December 4, 1939 – January 30, 2006) was an early member of the

political activist, and an important figure in the New Left
movement of the 1960s.

N.Y

Born in the

Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, New York, to a New York City employee, he had a relatively conventional political life in his youth, though he was among those who protested the execution of Caryl Chessman [citation needed]. He graduated from Pace University
, where he majored in politics and philosophy, and worked for a while for the City of New York welfare department.

San Francisco

In 1965, he left New York for San Francisco, where he met the poet Allen Ginsberg at the City Lights Bookstore. Within a few days, he was volunteering at the Vietnam Day Committee in Berkeley, California. It was there he met Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, with whom he co-founded the Youth International Party or Yippies. He also met Bobby Seale and other Black Panther Party members there and became a full-time political activist. Rubin once said that Albert was a better educator than most of the professors.

Activism

Among the many activities he participated in with the Yippies were throwing money off the balcony at the

co-conspirator in the Chicago Seven case. His wife Judy Gumbo Albert claimed, according to his New York Times obituary, that this was because he was working as a correspondent for the Berkeley Barb. Later, he would work closely with the Berkeley Tribe
underground newspaper and lived at the Tribe's commune when he was not traveling for political engagements.

1970

In 1970, he ran for sheriff of Alameda County, California, in revenge for "getting my balls sprayed with hot, painful chemicals as a welcome-to-prison health measure" after being arrested in 1969. Although he lost to the incumbent, Frank Madigan, Albert garnered 65,000 votes, in an ironic twist, in a race with the sheriff who had supervised his earlier incarceration during the Vietnam Day Committee anti-draft protests in downtown Oakland.

1971

After the

First National City Bank in Manhattan
the previous year. He was not charged in either case.

1978

In the early 1970s, he and his wife sued the

FBI
for planting an illegal wiretap in his house. They won a $20,000 settlement and, in 1978, two FBI supervisors were fired for this action.

Oregon

In 1984, he and his wife moved to

anti-war movement, the counterculture, and the women's movement
.

His memoir, Who the Hell is Stew Albert?, was published by Red Hen Press in 2005. He ran the Yippie Reading Room until he died of liver cancer brought on by hepatitis in 2006. Two days before his death, he posted on his blog, "My politics haven't changed."

In popular culture

In the 2000 film Steal This Movie! Albert is played by Donal Logue.

See also

Sources

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