SISTERHOOD IN THE REVOLUTION The Holmes Sisters and the

ELIZABETH R A A S C H - G I LM AN

O N MAY 14, 1944, GRACE HOLMES CARLSON wrote to her sister, Dorothy Holmes Schultz, "It's lucky that I didn't know when I graduated from St. Catherine's that

I'd be in prison on the 15th anniversary of our Com­ mencement. I was much too dependent, much too petit- bourgeois to have been able to encompass the situation then. But... I would so much rather be myself, today, sitting here than any one of the [particular students], whose minds and souls are full of diy rot." When Schultz responded by sending a clipping showing two sisters celebrating the anniversaiy of their gradua­ tion, Carlson replied, "The picture . . and your com­ ment about being glad we took the road we did recalled

[Robert Frost's] poem to me 'I shall be telling this with a sigh/Somewhere, ages and ages hence/Two roads diverged in a wood and I/I took the road less travelled by/And that has made all the difference.' "^

Grace Carlson wrote from the Federal Correctional

Facility for Women in Alderson, West Virginia, con\acted

Sisters and Dorothy Schultz, front row, listen Intently at a Socialist Workers' Party meeting, about 1940. Teamster leader Vincent Dunne (with hat) is next to Carlson; the man at far right is probably Henry Schultz, Dorothy's husband.

358 Socialist Workers' Party 9SM.

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^ of tiying to overthrow the U.S. government by force forgiveness from her priest, confessing that she had and violence. Like her sister, Dorothy, Grace belonged helped to deprive the laborer of his wages. (The puz­ to the Socialist Workers' Party (SVVT), an openly revolu­ zled priest absolved her.)^ This was an indication, tionary political group. Carlson and 17 of her com­ though, that by the age of 16 she was on her way to rades, all men, shared the dubious distinction of being being a trade unionist. the first people sentenced under the Alien Registration, Besides the turbulence of the shopmen's strike, or Smith, Act of 1940. In another ten years, this act Grace and Dorothy were exposed to polidcal influ­ would be used more widely to discourage political dis­ ences from another-and unlikely-source. The Holmes sent dming the so-called McCarthy Era, but the tiny sisters attended Roman Catholic schools, and some of SWP felt the first sting of the law. their teachers were Irish immigrants. The 1910s saw an Carlson was perhaps the most prominent woman upsurge in Irish nationalism, culminating in a revolt in the SWP at that time. Her background was ordinai7 against British rule on Easter Sunday in 1916. The enough, though. Grace Marie Holmes was born on Irish-born nuns in St. Paul apparently made no secret November 14, 1906, in St. Paul. Her father, James A. of their sympathies with the nationalists and conveyed Holmes, was a semiskilled laborer of Irish descent. As to their pupils an anti-British attitude. Carlson trans­ Grace and her younger sister, Dorothy, were growing lated this into a vague distrust of all government, and tip, he worked mainly for the Great Northern Railway, when she entered the College of St. Catherine in 1925 first as a boilermaker's assistant and then as a boiler- she considered herself "an independent thinker," if not maken The family lived in a largely Roman Catholic exactly a radical."* working-class neighborhood off Rice Street.- After she left St. Catherine's in 1929, Grace went on Carlson's mother, Mary Nuebel Holmes, was a to earn a Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Min­ German immigrant, and as a child Grace was very close nesota in 1933 and stayed at the university for another to her Although an invalid for most of her davighters' two years as a part-time teaching assistant. Dorothy childhood, she had strong intellectual interests, read also completed a bachelor's degree at St. Catherine's widely, and encouraged their education. Carlson and a master's in political science at the University of remembered, "It was lucky for us that [my father] was Minnesota in 1933.^ interested in making a living so that we could go on to school." THE EARLY 19305, of course, was the bottom of the In 1922 six craft unions associated with the rail­ . As unemployment gradually wors­ roads nationwide went on strike to protest wage cut­ ened and the administration of President Herbert backs and loosened work rules. Initiated by the workers Hoover vacillated in its approach to the problem, more who made equipment and serviced railroad cars, it and more desperate workers cast about for new politi­ came to be called the shopmen's strike. The bitter cal solutions. Starting in 1930, the Communist Party- strike was one of a wave of large-scale actions in several USA launched an all-out organizing effort among the industries across the country that year, and the ultimate unemployed, featuring marches, protests of e\ictions, defeat of most of them dispirited organized labor for direct assistance to workers who needed relief, and much of the decade. James Holmes participated in the renewed efforts to organize in unions. In Minnesota, strike, and (Carlson remembered feeling badly when popular discontent resulted in the election of a third- financial necessity forced him to cross the picket lines part)' candidate as governor Farmer-Laborite Flovd B. and return to work. Her mother evidently persuaded Olson took office in 1931 as the champion of the work­ Holmes to take his daughter as an escort, hoping that ers and farmers against the interests of big business.'^ the presence of a young woman would deter any vio­ The Comnimiist Party USA, which dated back to lence from the pickets. Afterwards, Carlson sought 1919, had already weathered two splits. In 1928 one splinter group was expelled for its sympathies wdth , and in 1929 another experienced a simi­ lar fate for its sympathies with Nikolai Bukharin. Both Elizabeth Raasch-Gilman served as research associate for the of these heroes of the Russian Revolution were maneu­ 20th Century Radicalism in Minnesota Project of the Minnesota vered out of leadership in the So\'iet Lhiion by Josef Historical Society. Her biographical essay on her grandmother Stalin, who consolidated his control of the Russian Catheryne Cooke Oilman appeared in Women of Minnesota (and worldwide) Communist Party in 1929. (reprint, 1998). The followers of Leon Trotsky were not easily dis­ couraged, however Trotsky himself, a powerful intellec-

360 MINNESOTA HISTORY came. The)- told me that 1 just didn't know what I was doing; that this was led b) the CP. Well, at that stage it just seemed to me it was a good thing to participate in this hunger march . . . [To the Trotsk\-ists] polemics counted more than the ideas, in a sense. It wasn't just winning )-ou oxer to ; it was winning \-ou o\-er to [the Trotsk)-ist] branch of social­ ism. Well, when I finallv was won over and became part of the whole mo\-ement, 1 became that way myself, as far as that goes. '"^

In the mid-1930s, socialist philosoph)' presented a powerful and attractive option to idealistic young peo­ ple like the Holmes sisters and to fearful workers. The Trotskvists established a base in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in , and in 1934 they engineered a series of dramatic strikes that boldly challenged the power of employers who had managed to keep Minneapolis a largelv nonunionized cit\-. With a combination of careful planning, good timing, and biilliant strategy. Local 574 of the teamsters' union managed to force the firms that employed drivers to the bargaining table. The low-skilled, seasonally em- ploved teamsters won both the right to union represen- tadon and substandal improvements in pay and work­ Leon Trotsky, whose Intellect and charisma inspired a ing conditions. Trotskrists like , Vincent worldwide socialist movement, 1930s (Rav) Dunne, Miles Dunne, and Carl Skoglund pro- rided much of the know-how and hard work behind the teamsters' rictories.^ Dorothv and Grace Holmes watched these exciting mal and charismatic leader, escaped from the Soriet events from the L^niversits' of Minnesota. Through Union and ultimateh' took up residence in . her political-science professors, Dorothv became From this distance he issued a stream of books, articles, acquainted with some Trotskyist students, and both and speeches denouncing Stalin's government for its sisters began to attend their open meetings. Grace bureaucracy and brutality. \ATiile endorsing the Russian recalled, "[At their] headquarters the\- d talk about the Revolution and the leadership of \ladimir Illych Lenin, strike and about political events and so forth. I became Trotsky maintained that Stalin had corrupted and veiT interested in their program and in the people, like betrayed the true \ision of . He worked Vincent Dunne and the others. Thev seemed to be so tirelessly to build an international commimist alterna­ much stronger characters than the politicians that 1 tive to the So\-iet-dominated Communist Party (CP). came to know- in the Farmer-Laljor Part)."'" Trotskv acquired a small but intensely loval following in The spring of 1934 must have been full of promise. the U.S.-and in Minnesota." Wliile Grace was discovering the Trotskrists she was also The differences between the Communists and falling lo\-e with Gilbert Carlson, a law- student whom the Trotskyists seemed minuscule to most observers, she apparentl)- met at the unixersin. The\- were married though both pardes made much of them, each hurling that summer and for a few )ears Cilbcrt sened as the invective at the other Grace Carlson remembered attorne)- for Local 574. In the meandme, Dorothv being confused on the subtleties at first: Holmes also met her futme husband, Henn- Schultz, through her support activides for the teamsters." They would start haranguing me about what was wrong with the CP. One time, there was some kind of THE TRO'rsK-\-iST nEXERMiNATiON to organize Minne- a march on the state capitol . . a hunger march . . apolis's teamsters and allied workers (such as warehouse and I went to it and the Trotskyists, none of them workers and ga.s-station emplovees) did not allow manv

FALL19Q0 361 Vincent Dunne, arrested by national guardsmen for his role in the iyi4 riinneapoiis trucKers scrii

axenues for women to build their leadership skills. journalist for the Trotskvist press assigned to cover the Teamsters were, of coiuse, men, and while women teamsters' strikes, sent back to the New York office a provided significant support dming the strikes, they very favorable opinion of Grace Carlson. He added that played no leadership role in the teamsters' union, her sister was even more impressive. \'incent Dunne either locally c^r nationally. Similarlv, thev took a dis­ gave Carlson considerable tutoring; she credited him tinct back seat in the Trotskyist party. As historian for trying to teach her patience (though she was not (loiistance Ashton Myers wrote of the period before sure how well he had succeeded).'' Nonetheless, U.S. entry into the Second World War, "The post of Dorothy Schultz's career in the parn tmtil the Second district organizer or a rare local candidacy (or office World War was more npical for a woman than Carlson's: appeared the ceiling to which a female IVotskyist could while Carlson l)ecame a fiery public speaker, Schultz aspire." From 1929 througli 1941, no women sat on did more Ijehind-the-scenes work. The birth of a either the large, elected national committee or tlie daughter in 1938 and a son in 1942 also kept Schultz smaller, appointed |:)olilical committee; "Despite Marx­ closer to home. (Carlson never had children.) ist theoi7 which enjoins female ec|uality, pressures from Although organizing within the International the social enxironment and the lealilies ofday-lo-day Brolherhood of Teamsters was closed off to her, Carl­ survival made women Trotskyists accept williout resist­ son did tr)- her hand at union organizing. In June 1935 ance a subordinate place," Myers concluded.'-' she took a full-time job as a vttcational rehabilitation The entrance of promising women into the party coimseloi- with the Minnesota Department of Educa­ did not go unnoticed, however (Charles R. Walker a tion. There she helped patients recovering from crip-

362 MINNESOTA HISTORY pling illnesses to get retraining and find steady employ­ "Old Man's" widow comn-ianded some authorit)' in the ment. At work, Carlson made no secret of her pohdcal U.S. part)-, and a trip to Mexico was something like a beliefs, and when state employees began to organize a pilgrimage. This visit marked the beginning of a cor­ union in 1937, she was in the lead. She was a charter dial correspondence between the two women."' member of the American State, County, and Municipal Employees' L^nion Local 10 and served on its exectidve WHH.E CARLSON WAS TRAVELING in 1941, U.S. entry board for two years. She also was a member of the exec­ into the Second World War seemed more and more utive committee of the St. Paul branch of the National likely. W^ien Adolf Hitler enlarged the scope of conflict Association for the Advancement of Colored People in June b\' breaking his secret pact with Stalin and (NJ\ACP). Both of these acti\ities gave her valuable invading the , the U.S. Communist Part)' experience in organizing and allowed her to claim that did one of the political about-faces for which it was she was a "militant trade unionist"—an essential cre­ justlv famous. .Almost instantlv, it changed from loud dential for anv Trotskvist.'-' opposition to U.S. involvement in the war to loud sup­ Articulate, intelligent, and hard working, Carlson port. The SWT, wishing to strengthen the Marxist rev­ quicklv found a place for herself in the parts'. Less than olution in the Soviet Union without strengthening two years after she had officiallyjoined the Trotskyists Stalin's grip on power, continued to oppose U.S. entry. within the Socialist Party in 1936, she attended the This put the tiny SWP on a collision course with the founding convention of the Socialist Workers' Part)' U.S. government.'" (see sidebar, page 364). The first trouble came from a nongovernmental In August 1940—and, coincidentallv, the dav after quarter Local 574 of the Teamsters, where the Dunnes TroLskv was assassinated—Grace resigned from her job still held a good deal of influence, had long been at and became the state organizer for the SWT. A few days odds with the president of the International Brother­ later she filed as a candidate for the U.S. Senate on the hood of Teamsters, Daniel Tobin. Tobin had tried to Trotskyist .-Vnti-War Party ticket. The publicity from her undercut the Trotskyists" authoritv as earlv as 1936, filing fueled the ongoing feud between the state Board but the rank-and-file drivers had great personal lovalty of Education and Carlson's former boss. Commissioner to their leaders. In that round, Tobin was forced to of Education John G Rockwell. The board suspended Rockwell at the end of November and a month later commenced a sensational public investigation into his com­ petence as commissioner The media and the hearings them­ selves paid a good deal of atten­ tion to the fact that Rockwell had tolerated a Trotskyist in the educa­ tion department for several years. In the meantime, Carlson polled nearly 9,000 votes in the senatorial elecdon—a small showing next to the major parties, but larger than the Communist candidate—a fact that gave the SWT considerable satisfaction.'-'' To further introduce this rising star to members of the Socialist Workers' Party, the New York office ("the center") sent Carlson on a coast-to-coast speaking tour in the spring of 1941. Her trip cul­ minated with a visit to Natalia Women preparing food for truckers and supporters at the strike commissary, Sedova Trotsky in Mexico. The Minneapolis, 1934

FALL UW 363 EVOLUTION OF THE SOCIALIST WORKERS' PARTY

BEFORE THE FORMATION of the Socialist Workers' not Trotskyists. Due to repeated subscription drives Party, the Trotskyists went by several other names. by party members. usually had a circula­ "When James Cannon and his followers were expelled tion of several thousand copies. The Fourth Interna­ from the Communist Party in 1928, they called them­ tional yi2iS a denser, more analytical publication, selves the Communist League of America and tried which often reprinted statements and articles by to persuade other Communists to join them. Trotsky. Grace Carlson wrote for both publications, Trotsk)ist involvement in the Minneapolis truckers' mainly exposing how capitalism undermined work­ strike of 1934, along with a restaurant strike in New ers' health. York, marked a turning point for the CLA. It began In Minnesota, Trotskyists and their sympathizers to attract workers who had never been Communists also staffed and edited the Teamsters' newspaper. and to exert some influence in the labor movement. The Northwest Organizer, the main English-language Cannon launched an aggressive recruitment leftist labor paper in the state until the CP started effort, which involved joining with other non- publishing Midwest Labor \n 1937. Although not Stalinist radical pardes. Late in 1934 the CLA overtly factional, the weekly Northwest Organizer's merged into the , which had militant tone and harsh critiques of the labor hierar­ also been organizing and supporting strikes. There chy, craft unionism, and Communists reflected the the Trotskyists stayed and went by the Workers Party Trotskyist line. It ceased publication in 1941, a casu­ name until 1936, when they struck an uneasy alliance alty of the arrests and trial. Daniel Tobin, with and entered the Socialist international president of the Teamsters' union, Party. (Hence, when Grace Carlson and Dorothy probably breathed a sigh of relief. Schultz became card-carrying Trotskyists, they joined the Socialist Party.) Early in 1938 the Trotskyists SOURCES: Tim Wohlforth, '," in Mari Jo Buhle, formed a new party, using parts of their most recent Paul Buhle, and Dan Georgakas, The Encyclopedia of the names: the Socialist Workers' Party. Ever since, the , 782-85; Alan Wald, The New York Intellectuals. Trotskyists have been known by that name. Each time they merged with another group and then left it, the Trotskyists took some of the other party's followers with VU I H LMBUK them—not a recruitment technique that GfiyQCE CARLSONIDOQOTHY SCHULTZ made them popular in the anti-Stalinist U.S.SE NA TE T U. 5. CONGRESS Left. In some kind of poetic justice, Trot­ skyists also continuously lost members through internal struggles. In 1936 one faction walked out of the movement to form its own small party, and in 1940 the Socialist Workers' Party split almost in half This time the departing faction formed a second Workers Party, which continued to rival the SWP and attract its disaffected members for most of the decade. The names of Trotskyist publications changed along with their affiliations. The CLA published a weekly newspaper called The Militant, which became the Socialist Appea I and a.g3.m The Mi litem t in 1941. (It is published under that name today.) During the 1930s and 1940s Trotskyists also put out a monthly theoretical journal, first called The New International, then The , and finally the Interna­ tional . The Militant covered current news from a radical perspective Socialist Workers' Party campaign headquarters, 540 Cedar and appealed to many readers who were Street, St. Paul, 1946 Til umlrmhti»»

• - -— •— •—' ^'-"tTtl'.T '^m tOVI^DUi IN IM7

.-..fjif^rc* >«•. s^ «.-. UlNNEAPOLtS. UINN , SATURDAY, JUNK 38 IHl PrlM 3 emu :. accept that the Minne­ apolis teamsters wanted Socialist Worker Party Offices the Dunnes, Farrell Dobbs, and Carl Skoglund Here Raided by U. S. Marshals to guide them."^ At the teamsters' LEADERSHIP FACES CONSPIRACY CHARGE national convention in l.iliraliiif and t)lli«'r .Articles Seizetl at Loral Office 2 Red Flags Announcement Links and Trotzky Some 544-CIO Chiefs September 1940, a series Phoio Taken f„ Group Under Fire of challenges h\ 'Vincent Local OUtcitdi Accuurf o/ 'Cmninj Coi of Ltgitimtitm Labor Umory lo Utt Dunne and the Minne­ lot llUgitimatt Pur pott t' apolis local, now Local 544, caused Tobin to tiy again to rid his union of these radicals. The conflict escalated through the spring of 1941, com­ ing to a head in June, when an ovenvhelming majority of Local 544's members voted to secede from the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and join their disloyalty.'-" The Trotskyists were to be the first test the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Tobin, case under this law. a pillar of the AFL, was not pleased by the loss of At least in public, the defendants were stoical about approximately 5,500 members to the rival CIO and their arrest. After all, many revolutionists had gone to feared that the revolt would spread. As one part of his prison in the making of the Russian Revolution, includ­ campaign to purge the Socialist Workers' Part)' from ing Trotsky himself. WTiy should U.S. revolutionaries the Teamsters for good, he appealed to his personal expect any different treatment? Nonetheless, they friend. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, for help. If the explored legal channels, trying to get the charges countr)- were to go to war, Tobin argued, the go\'ern- dropped. One of the defendants, Albert Goldman, ment would have to rely on the Teamsters to deliver acted as the main attorney, and Grace's husband essential goods. The vast majority of them were, of Gilbert was on the defense team. (By that time the course, loyal, but these Trotskyists opposed U.S. enti7 Carlsons were estranged, although they remained into the war and could not be trusted. Two weeks later, legally married and friendly.) Once it was clear that the on June 27, 1941, the Department of Justice raided the case would go to trial, the defendants decided to use offices of the SWT in Minneapolis and St. Paul, seizing the occasion to explain to a larger atidience. portraits of Lenin and Trotsky, pamphlets for sale, and They \iewed the proceedings as a political trial, not a books from the libraries. Grace Carlson was one of the criminal one, and intended to make the most of their people working in the Minneapolis office that day. A time in the limelight. "We set out," wrote Felix Morrow, month later she, Dorothy Schultz, and 27 of their com­ journalist for the SWP's newspaper and magazine, "to rades were indicted for advocating the overthrow of the get those jurors to cease abhorring socialism and to government through force and violence and attempt­ recognize and respect the sincerity, sanity and serious­ ing to create an armed militia disguised as a Union ness of the defendants and their ideas." Furthermore, Defense Guard.'^ they insisted that the case sprung from a labor union The weapon that the government used against the dispute and that the federal government had no right SWP was a new law called the Alien Registration Act, interfering. The prosecution of people like Grace or the Smith Act. The Smith Act required aliens over Carlson (a party organizer not a teamster), James the age of 14 to register and be fingerprinted; it Cannon (head of the SWP, who lived in New York), allowed criminals and subversives to be deported; and and Morrow was merely window-dressing, thev said, in it criminalized advocating the overthrow of the U.S. order to disgtiise the prosecution of the labor leaders government by force and violence. The law also made who had dared to cross Daniel Tobin.-' it illegal to publish and distribute literature advising For its part, the rival Commtmist Party was unable servicemen to disobey regulations or contributing to to overcome a sectarian response to the case. Its paper.

FALL IQW 365 the , ignored the indictments of the SWP LIni\'ersity of Minnesota that they should accept train­ leaders for a full month and then labeled the Trot- ing under the Selective Service Act because "it would skvists "the agents of fascism in this countr\-" and be useful when the seizure of power came." On Novem­ applauded the go\ernmeni's prosecution. Ironically, ber 25 she took the stand to respond to that charge. the CP's half-hearted denunciation of the Smith Act The Minneapolis Daily Times described the scene: paved the \\-ay for the prosecution of its own leaders under the same law- in the 1950,s—as the liberal maga­ Slim, sxelte Grace Carlson, the only woman defend­ zine The Nation warned might happen. Wliere the CP ant in the trial of 23 persons on charges of seditious was strong in CIO unions and CIO coimcils, as it was in conspiracy, took the stand in federal court today to Minnesota, it used its influence to stop donations to admit frankly that she was a member of the part)', in the defendants or statements supporting their cause.2'- fact state organizer, but to deny that the party's prin­ ciples, or her own beliefs, called for armed overthrow of the government. THE TRIAL OF THE 28 TROTSKVISTS opened in Minne­ She cited her own candidacy for the Lhiited States apolis on October 27, 1941. (Twent)-nine were original- Senate on the "Trotskyist Aiti-War" ticket as proof of h indicted, but Grant Dunne, who had long suffered her contention that the part)' was attempting to bring from depression, killed himself on October 5.) After about a revolution by ballot rather than by bullet. the prosecution rested its case, charges against five of Her nei-vousness was evident as she told her story the defendants, including Dorothy Schultz, were . . . Her voice was pitched a little high, her smile a dropped for lack of eridence. That left Grace Carlson little strained; but her aiiswers were direct. as the only woman still in the case. She was specificalh' accused of tellii-ig members of the Socialist Club at the The defense also produced four members of the Social­ ist Club who denied that Carlson had advised them to prepare for a violent overthrow of the government.^s The jury, however did not entirelv believe the Grace Carlson (right) and an unidentified woman leaving Trotskyists' contention that they predicted that \iolence SWP headquarters during the raid; picture from the front would accompany revolutionary change in the U.S. but page of the Minneapolis Tribune, June 28, 1941 did not advocate \io\ent means. For a group that did not intend to use force and \iolence, the S'V\T's litera­ ture certainly was full of warlike language and meta­ phors. In spite of a full day of Marxist philosophy deliv­ ered by James Cannon and a passionate eight-hour closing speech b)-.\lbert Goldman, thejuiT exonerated only five of the defendants. It convicted the remaining 18, including Carlson, of ad\-ocating the overthrow of the government through force and violence. The juiT acquitted them on the second charge of attempting to organize an underground armv.--' The defendants were sentenced to 16 months in prison on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor The)- immediatelv appealed on the grounds that the Smith Act placed unconstitutional restrictions on their right to free speech. Until their legal appeals ran out, the\- were free on bail. Carlson continued as Minnesota organizer for the SWT until Jul)- 1943, when she was transferred to the New York office of the partv'. As more and more Trotsk)ist men were drafted into the armed services, the New York leadership was depleted, and the Twin Cities provided some of the necessary back-up.'-"^ Vincent Dunne also moved to New York during this time. On November 22, 1943, the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of the Smith Act defendants, and

366 MINNESOTA HISTORY MINNEAPOLIS iStTIMES TU«MUT Etanlnq D»e»talfi 2. JMI

GERMAN SEA RAIDER, ANZAC until 7:00 P.M. we can wash and iron, take baths, etc. CRUISER BOTH SUNK IN BATTLE At 7:00 P.M., we either go to the fixing room to play Cavalry Slashes Fleeing Nazis 645 Lost With cards, sew, etc. or be Warship Sydney locked in our rooms. I usu- Tody's Russ Take i-OSERS IN RED TRIAL DISCUSS APPEAL Off Australia all)' stay in m)' room to ACTS \ Towns in Spot- read. Lights are turned off at 9:30 P.M. Except for every other Saturday night when we go to a mo\ie and Sunda)- when there is no regular w-ork, this is my daily routine.

She further asked her sister to assure Natalia Trotsky that this prison xvas a far cry from School Board ^ ^ the Czarist dungeons that she i.-. coUsSeeref H-jSL^r^n^ 18 Convictcd in SWP Trial was imagining.'-" Even so, Carlson suffered HAND THAT FEEDS ^*r^,ll'l!l\ ilPl Ask Willkie Direct Appeal from isolation and homesick­ Convicted under the Smith Act, Trotst

F.-\LLlwq ^67 she undertook a program to conduct psychological test­ One of the more exasperating features of the back­ ing and treatment of inmates.'"' It was tmusual to ha\e a wardness of the girls here is their attitude on the Ph.D. psxchologist in prison, and the warden was happy "woman question." Since so many of thei-n have been to take advantage of Carlson's specialts-. convicted as prostitutes, you can readily see that the As time went by, her judgments about her fellow struggle for equality of women on the intellectual, prisoners softened. "I was awfully amused," she wrote social and economic levels is not understood. They her friend Miiiam Braverman, "b)- xoin- reference to take it for granted that women are "different," "more one of the former inmates whose picture you saw in the emotional," etc. etc. They want things to be that way. [New York] Post a.s a 'tough-looking customer' She That is, in fact, their pathetic stock in trade. I don't acted as an assistant organist here, and as I remember argue this or any other question much, but some­ her, was relatively ladylike in appearance and actions. times I am provoked into answering back someone You still have alot to learn (as I did) about the 'facts of who thinks that the Clinic is not run efficieiitly life.' Few of these girls had the chances to learn self- because a woman doctor is the Chief Medical Officer discipline that we did, and the lack of it is stamped on or that conditions would be better in the institution their faces and reflected in all their words and actions." as a whole if we didn't have a woinan as Warden.-^^' A few months later, she described another of her fellow- inmates to Dorothy: IN THE MEANTIME, life in the SWT outside was not easy, either Generally, more and more work fell on fewer She herself is the mother of 10 children—one daugh­ and fewer shoulders—and most of those shoulders ter is here with her. The\- are from North ("arolina belonged to women. The Trotskyists' continued opposi­ and are here as "public prostitutes' under the May tion to a popular war left them almost as isolated as Act. But she's devoted to her children and can hardly Carlson was in prison. The Minneapolis and St. Paul wait to get back to them. I sa)- with embarassment branches were depopulated by the Smith Act prosecu­ [sic] now that when I first came here, I thought that tions and by the draft. Nationally, by the summer of she was crude and xtilgar and no-good, but I have 1944, some 166 SWP members had been drafted out lived to learn better. People realh- do tr)' but the of a total membership of perhaps 700.-^^ No precise cards are stacked against them! I alwavs knew that in numbers from the Twin Cities are available, though a statistical sense but I'm learning about its meaning Carlson's correspondents frequently mentioned their in individual lives now. -^' reduced numbers. The branches tried to maintain programs that pre­ The warden urged C^arlson to "be a good influence dated the war Members of both the Minneapolis and on these younger girls," and she obliged—though her St. Paul SWT belonged to the NAACP chapters in their influence might not have been exactly the kind the respective cities and participated in their acti\ities. warden had in mind. One other visitors, Henrietta Dorothv Schultz ai-id Beatrice Jai-iosco served on the Geller, reported to their part)' comrades that: executive committees. The SWT had regular public Grace said that she felt she had a great responsibility meetings, called Stindav Forums, where a inember in demonstrating to [the other girls], and to the would speak and lead a discussion. The topics usuallv staff, what a Trotskyist is. She was told by one of the involved a certain amount of research and were gener­ staff that they expected a hulking Scandina-vian fire- ally related to current events. Some of the topics dur­ eater, and were bowled over when she appeared. ing 1944 included Ireland, labor politics, women and Grace told me that it was a great satisfaction to her to the war and the reconstruction of Europe. In addition, see the preconceived prejudices and notions of what party members tried to participate in electoral politics, a Bolshevik is give way to respect and confidence. although with the most experienced candidates in She told me that when she is asked how she can work prison, this was hard. The SWT considered running the way she does, and maintain good relatioiiships C'arlson in the Senate race that fall from prison but with everybody, she tells them, "My part)' trained me evenluall) decided against it. There were also occasion­ in hard work, discipline, objectivits' and devotion to al celebrations to organize: a May Dav speech, the principles." '-' annual strawbern- festival in June, the raspbern' festival in July, and the Trotsky memorial in August on the Still, political and cultinal differences remained, anniversan- of his death.•''' even when Carlson could feel sympathetic to her com­ Of course, 1944 was anything but a normal year for panions: the SWT, and many demands flowed from the abnor-

368 MINNESOTA HISTORY r y*

Marx, Trotsky, and Lenin surround the honor roll listing the i8 Smith Act defendants, 14 of whom posed before their send-off to prison. Back row (from left): Farrell Dobbs, Harry DeBoer, unknown, Clarence Hammel, unknown, Oscar Coover, Jake Cooper; front: Max Geldman, Felix Morrow, Albert Goldman, James Cannon, Vincent Dunne, Carl Skoglund, Grace Carlson

mal situation. The task of supporting the prisoners at pus. I intend to put the baby in the buggv- and just Sandstone fell primarily to the Twin Cities locals of the make the rounds that way. It is verv difficult getting party. The inmates needed visitors, books, cash, and son-ieone to sta)- with her even for a few evenings a part)' publications. The hundred-mile drive to Sand­ week, so I know that is the only wav I am going to be stone was not to be undertaken lighdy, given gasoline able to get t)ut." The accumulation of duties led to rationing, vet prisoners with families in the area all weeks like this for Dorothy Schultz: received one or more visits a month.'''^ And part\' mem­ bers on the outside raised money, money, and more Lillian Pankratz was here for supper Monday, signed monev—to buv things for the prisoners, give stipends the [pardon] petition, gave me $1 for the case; to their families when needed, and print pamphlets Tuesday was N/AA.CP branch meeting at which I about the case. made the report on a questionnaire to all St. Paul Comrades tried to build public presstire for a presi­ candidates in the city elections . . and I got an­ dential pardon and repeal of the Smith Act. In this other 8-10 signatures [on the pardon petition]. they were assisted by civil libertarians; however, when it Wednesday night I spent at the libran'; Thursday came to organizing a rummage sale, or getting signa­ night I went to bed while Henry went over to Mpls. tures on the pardon petitions, or arranging speaking fonight we are taking Ann [their daughter] with us engagements about the case, the stalwarts were SWT to the W[orkers'] D[efense] L[eague] meeting. members. BeatriceJanosco wrote to Clarlson, "[We] Sattuday afternoon I have a sub-committee meeting made a lot of plans for the campaign. Among other [of the NA-VCP] on the Minn. Home Guard, prepar­ things, Winnie [Nelson] and I are to work on the cam­ ing a letter to Governor [Edward] Thve . . . Sunday

FALL 19W 369 is mv Fortnn on Italv. And that, as Eleanor As CARLSON OBSERVED, Dorothy Schultz was now the [Roosevelt] would sav, is mv week. leader in the Twin Cities SWT, although her husband held the title of "organizer" She was not the only .After a uncharacteristically gloom)- letter from Schtiltz woman whose responsibilities had increased dramati- in late Mav, Carlson wrote from Alderson, "How fortu­ callv under the double impact of the war and the nate I am to have fotmd this haven of peace and rest! I imprisonments. Janosco fotmd herself scrambling to think that if I were to use mv influence, I could get you learn public speaking so that she could lead Sunday in here, too."-'" Forums. Other women were being groomed as well. On June 15, 1944, Dorothv's husband, Henn-, was Schultz wrote approvingly: 'Jean [Tilsen] gave her first admitted to the hospital. He had been complaining of Fortim speech last Sunday on the British WTiite Paper stomach pain, and it finallv got so severe that he could and Palestine. She did ven' well .... She has promise if not eat. In the next three worry-filled weeks he nearly she can slough off some of this adolescent coyness and died twice, as the doctors gradualh' determined that he personal concentration."* had a rare complication of appendicitis. His recovery Still, women in the party found themselves ham­ was long and slow. Once she was sure of his recupera­ pered b)- the requirements of home life. Janosco tion, Dorothy began to worrv about money; Henn' was described an NAACP meeting she attended: "Ining the family breadwinner On impulse she took a 48- [Bltimberg] was scheduled to make a report and hour-a-week job at the Ford Motor Company plant and Reverend [Clarence] Nelson was present and was put her two children in summer camps. Her comrades expected to speak, but I could not wait to hear either quicklv stepped in. One of Carlson's New York corre­ one, as the meeting started late, and bv the time all the spondents wrote, "Dorothy . . . acted like this was her mirsical numbers were included in the program, it was personal trouble, and [took] a job in indtistr)', to make 5:30 and I was due home to feed the baby, get dinner up for the loss of weekly income. The center inter­ for John, make him a limch, etc. etc." .Arother of vened however, sent a representative from Chicago and Carlson's correspondents, Miriam Braverman, spoke the necessary funds and ordered her to give up the job. more strongly when her letter-writing was interrupted: She will have to learn, like the rest of us, that not only "To be continued later, because I have to go home and her services belong to the party, but also her troubles." do my duty .... cook for Harry. (WTiy was I born a Carlson added her own voice to the chorus of objec­ woman? . . . grrrrrrr)."^' tions: 'You mvist not think of going back to work . . Elaine Roseland, the secretary at the Minneapolis You have a different role to play in the organization headqtiarters of the party, was coached by both sisters. there. You're the leader there—all the more so now Carlson's letters to her were full of encouragement, that HeniT is out of things and you must have the prop­ and when Roseland took on a Stindav Forum, Carlson er amount of time and energy to be able to deal with suggested where she might find reference materials. In all of the problems. I'm glad to hear that Morrie August Roseland was sent to a two-week vacation school [Stein] sent in some money. You'll need plenty, I know, sponsored by the Detroit branch of the party to but Henry and you are worth that to the Party."-"-* improve her knowledge of Marxism and Trotskvist prin­ Dorothv, for her part, was intensely grateful for the ciples. Much to Schtiltz's. Janosco's, and Carlson's dis­ support. She told her sister "I can't even begin to enu­ tress, the plan backfired, for the gentle, impressionable merate the kindness and help of all the comrades. Roseland fell head over heels in love with a comrade Betty and Paul stayed at the house for a couple of days from the Chicago branch, whom the older women and nights. If it hadn't been for Elaine [Roseland], 1 agreed was quite unsuitable. As tactfully as thev could, am not quite stue how things wotild have gone on. She the)- tried to persuade her to disentangle herself came over with me Friday and simph' stayed until late "Who would ever have ihouglu," lamented Janosco. yesterday when the turn for the better became more "we would have a problem like this?"^'- convincing . There's nothing like an organization! In general during this time, the line between per­ Bea [Janosco], Winnie [Nelson] and Evelyn [DeBoer] sonal and political seemed rather thin. Party members got nurses when the hospital authorities said flatly, they appeared to be happiest and at their best when en­ weren't to be had." In a separate letter, Roseland gaged in social functions. Thev prepared meals togeth­ described how the determined tiio had ptit their orga­ er two or three times a week at the parn headquarters. nizing skills to woik to get leads on muses who wotild They showed home movies of past events, like the stay with Henr)' aroimd the clock in the hospital. raspberry festivals and the departure of the 18 for During wartime, such nursing care was rare, indeed.''" prison. And they helped one another out with personal

370 MINNESOTA HISTORY difficulties and routine needs, such as child care. ship, program, and direction. .After the SWT national This sense of togetherness may well have reflected the convention, Janosco wrote frankly, "Although the con­ fact that they were a small group whose political stand vention was an inspiring affair for us here, it is a con­ on the most important isstie of the day—the war— trast to our isolation, and I know Elaine [Roseland] was quite unpopular. WTien the prisoners left for their finds this a little depressing. Problems of all kinds are penitentiaries, the party set a goal of recruiting ten magnified now. We all feel that. Sometimes it is hard to new members for ever}- one in prison, or 180 all told. remember as Ray [Dunne] says, that we live for a bet­ At the first gathering of the national committee after ter day. "-15 the release of the prisoners, it was reported that the S"VVT had gained 125, for a nationwide total just over A BETTER D.AY EOR GR.\CE CARLSON came onjantian' 1,000 members.^-^ Carlson's correspondents often 31, 1945, when she and the Sandstone prisoners were mentioned the appearance of new faces at parts- events released with five months of supervision. She was happy or the return of old ones that had not been seen for to be leaving prison, although she felt quite proud of a while. the psychological-testing program she had pioneered. The only others who opposed the Second World "I had had my heart set on a year of academic study War consistently were religious pacifists. The SWT dis­ and research, but Fate and the Department of Justice dained both religion and pacifism, however and never determined otherwise," she wrote to Natalia Trotsky. made any real attempt to form alliances with them. Not "By a happy conjuncture of circumstances, my work a structured group, the pacifists included a number of assignment turned out to be even more advantageous different denominations and did not have a unified to me than such a vear of luxurious stud)'. The opportu- response to the war; the majority went to Civilian nit)' for this intensive clinical stud)' of human behavior, Public Service camps run by the military, while others especially of subjects who are products of the terrible chose prison rather than cooperate with the militar)' at economic and social conditions of the South, is one all. There were a few connections between Trotskvists which would please anv Marxist."^'' and conscientious objectors; for instance, Carlson knew The Sandstone prisoners, bv wav of contrast, had Wally Nelson, an African American from St. Paul who more leisure time in which to studv and discuss Marx- entered prison at about the same time she did. His \sife, Juanita, assisted with fund-raisers for the SWP pris­ oners.^-* WTiile there is no guarantee that an alliance v\ith the pacifists would have increased the SWT's SWP members relax at Mountain Spring camp, northeast­ influence, many conscientious objectors did go on to ern U.S., 1949. From left: Arnie Swabeck, James Cannon, devote their lives to social service and social change, Rose Karsner (a correspondent of Carlson's and married and they might have been more radical if they had to Cannon), Oscar Coover, and Carl Skoglund adopted some Marxist analvsis from the SWT. In the long run, association with the NAACP did not strengthen the SWT, either After her conviction and before her imprisonment, Carlson had written to Natalia Trotsky, "We have come to have many real friends among the colored men and woi-nen in the St. Paul and Minneapolis branches of the NAACP. It has been rather startling to me to see how little dis­ turbed they are by having their names a,ssociated pub­ licly with ours." After the trial, she admitted, she began to think that "those of us who were directly involved would be pretty well cut off during this period from anv fresh contacts. It is, therefore, doubly satisf)ing to find the reverse of this situation to be true." By the fall of 1944, however, Carlson's correspondents sounded dis­ couraged with their NAACP work. It appeared to them that the Communist Party was making inroads with some of the best leaders in St. Paul, and the Minneapo­ lis branch seemed to be suffering from lack of leader­

FALL I'JOQ 371 ism. This proved to be a mixed blessing. Wliile James sexism and male chauvinism when a new wave of femi­ Cannon wrote an elaborate plan for a Trotskyist univer- nism emerged in the 1960s.-'y sit)-, Felix Morrow, Carlos Hudson, and Albert Goldman Sexism and male chauvinism aside, leadership in were beginning to have doubts about the structure and the SWT was hardly democratic. WTiile Leon Trotsky politics of their party. Even before their release, com­ lived, he analyzed all world events, formulated all party rades in New York knew that the)- were discontented, positions, and advised all the socialist parties loyal to and at the 1944 national convention tensions had him around the world. After his assassination in 1940, exploded into another of the periodic battles over doc­ the U.S. party was left to guess how the Old Man would trine that repeatedly splintered the part)'. After their have analyzed the world situation and what policies he release, Hudson and Goldman left the part)' in disgust; would have put foi'ward, based on his voluminous writ­ Morrow was expelled at the 1946 national convention."'' ings. James Cannon and Trotsky's other close acquaint­ Other former prisoners sank quietly into private life ances did that interpretation. The result was a combi­ and appear to have played little further role in the S'WP. nation of openness to individual analyses and overall To bolster the morale of the party workers who had stultification in the party's thought. For example, when supported the prisoners so faithfully and to counter Carlson went on a speaking tour in 1940 or gave a cam­ the defection of some of those "heroes," it was impor­ paign speech in 1948, she chose her OWTI subjects, tant that at least one of the prisoners be seen as more reflecting her own interests and experiences. She fiery and dedicated to the cause than ever Here broke no new theoretical ground for the party—but no Carlson stepped willingly into the breach, as soon as the terms of her probation would allow it. From June 19 to August 22, 1945, she undertook a coast-to-coast speaking tour, lecturing on the subject of "W''omen in Prison." At first the subject of her speech met with some polite resistance from branch leaders. Others simply added to her topic. They feared that the indus­ trial workers they had been trying to recruit would not care much about conditions for women in prison. Carlson was able to report from Detroit, however, "Bob Kingsley told me that he had been very opposed to this subject but that he realized during the meeting that the workers were really interested. This has been my experience everyplace." Newspaper coverage certainly made the most of Carlson's undiminished dedication to the cause: "Woman WTio Served Term Renews Politi­ cal Crusade," announced the Detroit News, and "Aident Socialist Undaunted After 13 Months in Prison,' said the Detroit Free Press."^*^ Carlson continued her prominent role in the part)'. She resumed her post as state organizer in Minnesota, and she ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1946, the same year that Dorothy Schultz campaigned for the House of Representatives. Two years later, Carlson ran for vice-president on the SWT's first presidential ticket. Schultz, too, remained active until the late 1950s and even served on the national committee, although the birth of two more children limited her activity some­ what. Still, the role of women in the party did not change significantly as a result of their work in 1944. As in other segments of society, women's leadership in the workplace and in public life decreased at the end of the war This reversion to prewar patterns robbed Natalia Trotsky, with whom Grace Carlson established a the SWP of talent and left it vailnerable to criticisms of warm friendship

372 MINNESOTA HISTORY Sisters Dorothy Schultz and Grace Carlson filing petitions to have their names on the 1946 ballot, when Schultz ran for Congress and Carlson for Senate

one did, even durinsr and after World War II. For to the Catholic Church and it will be immediately clear instance, rather than examining the posnvar situation to you and to the other national committee members through the lens of 1945, the SWT looked back to that I would be unable to sene as a candidate.""'^ 1917. This led to the curious prediction that the disgust Her decision was a complete bombshell; even her of working-class soldiers over the long and difficult sister did not know that she was contemplating this "imperialist war would boil over once formal hostili­ step. Later in life Carlson explained her conversion this ties ceased, and the soldiers would revolt against their way: "M)- father died. That was a ven- traumatic situa­ commanders. That, Trotskyists reasoned, was what the tion for me. It wasn't that I thought his death was so Old Man had foreseen happening in Russia in 1917, tragic—he was old and he'd been sick and I don't think and it must be readv- to happen again."'" he even minded d)ing, but then the whole philosophi­ Trotskyists were not alone in looking back, though. cal question came up: WTio would make up to him for U.S. elected officials also remembered 1918, when evei-)'thing that he had missed in his life? All the prob­ World W^ar I veterans had returned to their interrupted lems that he'd had (and I certainlv had been one of lives, often without much money or many prospects, them). That's when I went back to the church." and social unrest resulted. The G.I. Bill of 1944 was Cannon made a special trip to the Twin Cities after designed specificallv to avoid a repeat of that situation receiving her letter and concluded: "She just got tired. and to give veterans a considerable boost into the mid­ That is all. She was good for sixteen v ears but the next dle class. Thus the second postwar period, which began sixteen appeared too tough for her She has rational­ with a wave of labor strikes, did not in the long run ized it on the church. That is an escape." One of her provide verv fertile ground for socialism in the U.S.— contemporaries later speculated that she was despon­ especially when Cold War tensions began to build dent over the state of the Twin (Cities branches of the after 1948. SWT. Wliatever the reasons, Carlson's departure from the partv led to a painful estrangement between the GRACE CARLSON ABRUPTLY RESIGNED from the SWT in Holmes sisters, which ended when Dorothv herself June 1952, when she was on the verge of a second run dropi^ed oul of the SWT. Grace reconciled with her for vice-president of the U.S. In a two-paragraph letter husband Crilbert, however and went on to become a she informed James Cannon, "I am planning to return professor of psycholog)- at St. Man's Junior College in

FALL IWQ 373 Minneapolis—a post she held until 1979. She identified the Minnesota chapters, which throughout the 1930s herself as a Marxist—only as a religious, rather than an were second only to "the center" in importance. atheist, Marxist—up to her death on July 7, 1992. Government repression was only one factor in the Dorothy Schultz is still alive.'''- SWT's stagnation, though. Its own lack of theoretical imagination, internal feuding, and continued hostilits' from the more influential Communist Party combined THE SMITH Acr PROSECUTION had something of a to keep the SWT marginalized throughout the postwar dela)-ed effect on the Socialist Workers' Part)'. As long years. Furthermore, it did not have the foresight to as the case against the defendants was in the courts, it build upon the leadership shown by women during its provided a rallying point and made party members crisis period to counter its own stagnation. It took a feel heroic—and perhaps a bit more important on the renewed wave of student activism in the early 1960s to political scene than the)- really were. As 1944 wore on, put the Socialist Workers' Part)' back on the national however, the strain on the party grew, particularly on political map. J

NOTES

1. Grace Carlson to Dorothv Schultz, May 14, June 11, (Chapel Hill: Universit)' of North Carolina Press, 1991), 72-73, 1944, Grace Carlson Papers, 1929-1986, Minnesota Historical 115; Myers, Prophet's Army. 190. Societv- (MHS), St. Paul. L'nless otht'i'v\ise noted, all correspon­ 13. Charles Walker to Herbert [Solow?], May 28, 1936, dence is in these papers. Charles Ruinford Walker Papers, 1924-1937, MHS. On 2. Here and below, "Biographical Sketch, Grace Carlson," patience, see, for example, Grace Carlson to Dorothv Schultz, Carlson papers; Grace Holmes Carlson, inteiview by Carl Ross, Feb. 13, July 2, 1944. Julv 9, 1987, transcript, p. 1-4, 20th Centuiy Radicalism in 14. State of Minnesota, "In the Matter of the Removal of Minnesota Project, in MHS Libraiv. The information on Man- John G. Rockwell," hearing before Board of Education, tran­ Holmes is from the birth certificate, "Baby Girl Holmes," in script, p. 1407, 1409, Rockwell and Carstater Hearing Files, possession of Dorothy Schultz, Madison, WI. Minnesota Department of Education, Commissioner's Office, 3. David Montgomerv-, The Fall of the House of Labor: The Minnesota State Aj'chives, MHS; Socialist Appeal (New York), Workplace, the Stale, and .-{merican Labor Activism, 1865-1925 special Minnesota campaign ed., Oct. 19, 1940, p. 1, Rockwell (New York: Cambridge Universitv Press, 1987), 400-09, and Carstater Hearing Files, box 2, "Carlson, Grace, 1940" fold­ 422-24; Carlson intemew, 1. er, hereinafter, Carlson file. 4. Carlson inter\de\v, 2, 4-5. 15. Grace Carlson to D. H. Dabelstein, Aug. 21, 1940, copy, 5. "Biographical Sketch," Carlson papers; Dorothv M. and John G. Rockwell to Herbert L. Lewis, .Aug. 31, 1940, both Holmes, "A Study on International Relations and the Grade in Carlson file; Maiy Herrick, "Dr. John Rockwell vs. Minnesota School" (master's thesis. University of Minnesota, 1933). Spoils,' American Teache>,]!in. 1941, in "Clippings 1938-1941" 6. Roy Rosenzweig, "Unemployed Movements of the 1930s," folder, Rockwell and Carstater Hearing files, box 2; Minneapolis in Encyclopedia of the American Left, ed. Mari Jo Buhle, Paul Morning Tribune. Dec. 27, 1944, p. 1,9. For Trotskvist gloating Buhle, and Dan Georgakas (New York: Garland Publishing, over election results, see "Minnesota Vote Tops Minorities: 1990), 79.3-96; George H. Mayer, The Political Career of Floyd B. Final Returns Show Carlson above CP and SP Combined," Nov. Olson (1951; reprint, Sr Paul: MHS Press, 1987), 17-56. 30, 1940, p. 1; "Our Partv's Vote in Minnesota," Dec. 14, 1940, 7. Constance Ashton Myers, The Prophet's Army: Trotskyists in p. 2; "Our Party's Election Campaign in Minnesota," Dec. 21, Atnmra, 192H-I941 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1977), 1940, p. 4; "The Vote for Trotskyism in Minnesota," Feb. 8, 2.3-33, 44-51; Tim Wolilforth, "Trotskv-ism," and Paul LeBlanc, 1941, p. -1—all in .Socialist Appeal, microfilm copv- labeled The "Socialist Workers' Part)'," both in Lncyclopedia of the American Militanl (its predecessor and successor title), Liniversitv of Left, 782-85, 727-29. Minnesota. 8. Carlson interview, 41. 16. Farrell Dobbs to Grace Cadson, Nov. 28, 1940. Rose 9. By far the most detailed and gripping (though somewhat Karsner remarked that Carlson seemed to have the best rela­ self-sersing) account of the truck drivers' strikes is by Farrell tionship with Natalia of anv of the U.S. female leaders; Karsner Dobbs, a Trotskyist and participant: Teamster Eehellion (New to Cadson, Dec. 14, 1944. Y'ork: Monad Press, 1972). 17. For the SWP's position on the war, see "Defend the 10. Carlson interview, 6. Soviet Union: Manifesto of the Socialist Workers' Part)'," Fourth 11. Dorothy Schultz, interview by author, Dec. 29, 1994, International^ (July 1941): 170-73; on the partv''s size, see Myers, notes in author's possession. Prophet's Army. 165. In 1940 the SWT had between 500 and 625 12. Elizabeth Fane, Commniiit\ n/ Siff-niiL;; an/I Struggle: members nationwide, having just weathered one of its internal Woi/wn. Men. anil Ihe I.alxn- Moin'iinnil in Minnra/iiilis. 1915-1945 disputes, which resulted in half the membership leaving.

374 MINNESOTA HISTORY 18. The number of Local 574 changed to 544 as a result of 36. Elaine Roseland to Cadst)n, Mar. 21, 1944. this tangle; for details of the struggle, see Ralph ('.James and 37. Beatrice Janosco to Carlson, Mar. 1, Schultz to Carlson, Estelle James, "The Purge of the Trotskyists from the Team­ Mar. 24, Carlson to Schultz, June 4—all 1944. sters," Western Political Quailerly 19 (Mar. 1966): 5-15. 38. Rose Karsner to Carlson, Julv 3, Carlson to Schultz, July 19. On Roosevelt's involvement, see James and James, 2, Schultz to Cadson, July 3—all 1944. "Purge of the Trotskvists," 10; on the raid, see Minneapolis Mont- 39. Schultz to Carlson, July 3, 1944; Roseland to Carlson, ing Tribune,]un€ 28, 1941, p. 1, including picture of Carlson July 5, 1944. "fleeing"; for the charges against the Trotskvists, see Felix 40. Schultz to Carlson, Apr. 7, 1944. Morrow, "The Federal Prosecution of the Socialist Workers' 41. Janosco to Carlson, July 30, 1944; Braverman to Party," Fourth International2 (Aug. 1941): 214-17. Carlson, Apr. 26, 1944. 20. Myers, Prophet's Anny. 178. 42. Carlson to Roseland, May 14, 1944; Janosco to Carlson, 21. Felix Morrow, "The Minneapolis Sedition Trial," Fourth Aug. 29, Oct. 4, 15, 1944. Internationally (Jan. 1942): 7; "The FBI-Gestapo Attack on the 43. Roseland to Carlson, Mar. 21, May 5, 1944; Janosco to Socialist Workers' Partv-," Fourth International 2 (July 1941): 163. Cadson, Mar. 22, Aug. 23, Sept. 17, 1944; Schultz to Carison, According to Grace, a priest told Gilbert that he could not be a May 1, 1944; "Organizatiorial Report," submitted to the socialist and a Roman Catholic at the same time, so he left the National Committee's plenum. May 12-14, 1945, p. 8, 10, SWT. The couple separated in about 1940; Carlson interview, Records of the Socialist Workers' Part)', microfilm edition 7. Gilbert was one of the seven correspondents Grace was (1977), roll 3, State Historical Societ)' of Wisconsin, hereinafter allowed to select while in prison; see "List of Authorized cited as SV\T Records. The originals are in the Libraiy of Social Correspondents," in folder marked "SWT Correspondence Histoiv, New York Cir\-. Jan.-Feb. 1944," Carlson papers. 44. Schultz to C^adson, Feb. 21, Mar. 10, 1944. 22. Daily Worker, Aug. 16, 1941, p. 5; "The Issues at Minne­ 45. Carlson to Trotsky, Feb. 5, 1943; Janosco to Carlson, apolis," The Nation, Dec. 13, 1941, p. 602. George Novack, an Oct. 4, 15, Nov. 24, 1944; Schultz to Cadson, Nov. 10, 1944. SWT leader from New York, toured the U.S. in 1944, speaking 46. Carlson to Trotsky, Dec. 31, 1944, in possession of on behalf of the prisoners. His letters to Evelvn Anderson, his Dorothv- Schultz. secretary, frequendy reported on opposition encountered 47. Miriam Carter and Rose Karsner to Carlson, both Aug. from Communists in the CIO. These letters are in Civil Rights 30, 1944; Alan M. Wald, The New York Intellectuals: The Rise and Defense Committee (CRDC) Records, 1941-1958, State Histor­ Decline of the Anti-Stalinist Left from the 1930s to the 1980s (Chapel ical Societv- of Wisconsin, Madison (microfilm edition, 1994), Hill: Universitv' of North Carolina Press, 1987), 255-56, 287. hereinafter cited as CRDC records. 48. See letters from P. Ryder, R. Kendall, and M. Ingersoll 23. St. Paul Pioneer Press, Nov. 7, 1941, p. 5; Minneapolis to Morris Stein, June 10, 13, 1945; Carlson to Stein, Julv 12, Daily Times, Nov. 25, 1941, p. 1. 1945; flyer from Philadelphia, promising that Carlson would 24. William F. Warde, "Capitalist Frame-up: 1941 Model," address issues like 'women under capitalism, how to abolish Fourth International2 (Dec. 1941): 295-96. racial discrimination, and the wav to economic securiu- and 25. Carlson to Natalia Trotsky, June 19, 1943. lasting peace"; articles, July 12, 1945—all CRDC' Records. 26. The Militant,]a.n. 8, 1944. 49. Farrell Dobbs to Dorothy Schultz, Dec. 1, 1953, SWT 27. Carlson to Schultz, Jan. 16, 30, Mar. 19, 1944. Records. 28. Contained in Carlson to Schultz, Mar. 5, 1944. For a 50. Farrell Dobbs to Carlson, Nov. 28, 1940; Cadson to while Grace was unable to get V-Mail paper, so her letters to Dobbs, Dec. 1, 1940; Wald, Netv York Intellectuals, 254-55, 295-97. Gilbert were transmitted thiough her sister. 51. Cadson to Cannon, June 18, 1952, SWT Records. 29. Carlson to Schultz, Feb. 27, 1944; Carlson inteniew, 52. Schultz interview; Carlson inteniew, 38-39; unsigned 8-9, 37. memorandum of a telephone call with "Jim [Cannon],"June 30. Evelyn Anderson, "My Visit to Grace Carlson, Apr. 26, 20, 1952, SWP Records; Jean Tilsen Bnist, obituar)' of Grace 1944," typescript, n.p., SWP Correspondence #5 folder, and Carlson, Bulletin of the Socialist Workirs' League, Mar. 12, 1993, Henrietta Geller, "Report on My Visit to Grace Carlson on p. 14-16. June 28th, 1944," typescript, n.p., SWP Correspondence #7 folder—both Carlson papers. 31. Carlson to Miriam [Braverman], May 7, 1944; Carlson to Schultz, Aug. 6, 1944. Alt images are/rom Ml IS collections, including p. 358-59. from the 32. Carison to Schultz, Jan. .30, 1944; Geller, "Report on Miimeapolis Ti ilsune. Visit." 33. Cadson to Elaine Roseland, May 14, 1944. 34. Undated, unsigned report, probably from Morris Stein, acting national secretary, to Political Committee, June 27[?], 1944, CRDC Records. 35. Beatrice Janosco to Carlson, Mar. 17, Apr. 6, Carlson to Elaine Roseland, May 14, Schultz to Cadson, Oct. 1.3—all 1944.

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