About Eric Lee
Thursday, July 14th, 1955
Born in New York City in 1955, Eric Lee has been active on the democratic Left for nearly 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. He chaired its second largest chapter (at Cornell University) until 1975 and was elected to serve on the organization’s National Executive Committee.
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 1975, he went to work (briefly) for the YPSL, which was by then the youth section of Social Democrats USA. In late 1975, he joined the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, chaired by Michael Harrington, and a year later began work on its national staff.