[4] Garlin told historian Howard Zinn: Reading The Appeal to Reason and the writings of Upton Sinclair, Sender at thirteen or fourteen considered himself a socialist.
He said: "In later years, it was Karl Marx who recreated me with his criticism of this cruel, unjust society... No one has refuted his fundamental critique.
"[4]Garlin worked on the staff at the Daily Worker newspaper for 17 years (1927-1943) and was associate editor (1950-1952) of New World Review.
[5] Interviews included: Clarence Darrow, Emma Goldman, Lucy Parsons, Huey Long, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and Olga Knipper-Chekhova.
"[8] He also worked for the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union, managed the New York Heart Association's public affairs, and was editor of the Legal Brief of Physicians.
Speakers he helped to bring include: Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Angela Davis, Ann Fagan Ginger, and Milt Wolff (last commander of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War).
He was also active in political groups, including the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Left Hand Books, and the Rocky Mountain Peace Center.
In his 1952 memoir, Whittaker Chambers recalled that in 1925there had once passed across the Columbia campus a high-strung, red-headed boy from an upstate college.
[9]While reporting for the Bronx Home News, he introduced Chambers to Harry Freeman, younger brother of Joseph Freeman (who succeeded Chambers as editor of the New Masses magazine, while Garlin's younger sister, Tiba Willner (1906-1999), worked for many years at the New Massess as its promotional manager.[3]).