About Eric Lee

Eric Lee.Born in New York City, Eric Lee has been active on the democratic Left for more than forty years. Initially involved in the anti-Vietnam-war movement, he joined the Young People's Socialist League, the youth section of the Socialist Party USA, in 1971. His first jobs were with the trade union movement -- working with the United Federation of Teachers' Youth Vote Project in 1972 and as an intern with the Textile Workers Union of America in 1974.

In 1977 he founded The New International Review, a quarterly journal of democratic socialist theory and analysis. It continued publishing until 1989.

While living in New York City, he worked for the Mayor's Office of SRO Housing (1979) and, in 1980, Helsinki Watch (now, Human Rights Watch). He wrote for a wide range of publications including Democratic Left, In These Times and others.

In 1980, he spent 6 weeks living in Toronto where he worked on the successful election campaign of New Democrat Neil Young (no, not that Neil Young). He published several articles on Canadian politics for left publications in the US.

In 1981, he moved to Israel where he became a member of Kibbutz Ein Dor. There, he worked on the shop floor of its wire and cable factory Teldor, milked cows, cared for children, and learned to program computers. He began programming on an IBM S/34 midrange computer in 1984 and continued on the S/36 and AS/400 models, becoming proficient in RPG II and successor languages. Several of his programs were published in professional journals such as Scope/36 and Midrange Computing.

He lectured regularly on political issues at the Givat Haviva center, a kibbutz educational facility, and wrote for a wide range of newspapers and magazines in Hebrew and English, including Davar, Ha'aretz, and the Jerusalem Post. In 1987 he began writing regularly for the daily newspaper Al Hamishmar, covering foreign affairs. In 1990, he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the United Workers Party, Mapam.

In 1991, he completed his first book, Saigon to Jerusalem: Conversations with Israel's Vietnam Veterans, which was published in the United States. It was well-received by critics and sold 4 copies.

In 1993 he began work for the International Federation of Workers Education Associations as founding editor of its quarterly magazine, Workers Education, which was published in English, French and Spanish. Later that year, he published a special edition of the magazine devoted to computer communications and the labour movement.

During the mid 1990s he completed writing his second book, Mole: Stalin and the Okhrana, which despite a foreword from George F. Kennan and a contract from a US publisher, was not published. However, a portion of the book is available online. He intends eventually to find another publisher and bring the book to print.

In 1996, immediately following the election victory of Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, he launched the highly popular (and controversial) BibiWATCH website.

Later that year his third book, The Labour Movement and the Internet: The New Internationalism, was published in Britain by Pluto Press.

In 1997 and again in 1998, he lead the annual "Internet Blackouts" to commemorate (and mourn) Netanyahu's election victory.

In 1998, he began work in London as the ICT Co-ordinator for Labour and Society International, and launched the LabourStart website. That same year, "The Labour Movement and the Internet" was published in Korean.

In 2000, he ran as an independent labour candidate in the first (and last) elections to the ICANN Board. He placed 4th out of 54 candidates in what the winner called a "strong expression for organized labor". As part of his campaign, he published his fourth book, The Internet Belongs to Everyone.

In April 2005, Lee published his fifth book, How Internet Radio Can Change the World.

In 2012 he was one of the contributors to an International Labor Organization (ILO) book, Confronting Finance.

In 2013-14, edited or co-wrote four books as part of the LabourStart book series. These included a book on online campaigning, an introduction to the global labour movement, Firefox OS, and selected essays by Dan Gallin.

In 2015 he became active in the campaign to elect Bernie Sanders as US president in 2016, and coordinated the efforts among Americans in the UK. He was a member of the Democrats Abroad delegation to the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, and in 2017 was elected a member of the Executive Committee of Democrats Abroad UK. In 2020 he again played a leading role in the Sanders camapign in Democrats Abroad.

In 2016, his book Operation Basalt: The British Raid on Sark and Hitler's Commando Order was published by The History Press (UK).

In 2017, Zed Books (UK) published his book, The Experiment: Georgia's Forgotten Revolution, 1918-1921.

In 2020, Greenhill Books (UK) published his book, Night of the Bayonets: The Texel Uprising and Hitler's Revenge - April-May 1945 and in 2022, Greenhill published Britain's Plot to Kill Hitler: The True Story of Operation Foxley and SOE.

Hundreds of his essays and articles are available to read on his blog.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and in May 2022, he was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa from Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia.


For another view -- "Lee is one of the most experienced and influential agents of the bourgeoisie in the world labor movement" -- go here. One other well-informed source has promoted him, referring to "ex-colonel Eric Lee of the Israeli Occupation Forces".