Michael Alexander
Michael Alexander died 2016, age 65, was born July 10, 1950, to Dorothy Saker Alexander and Nicholas Faris Alexander in Youngstown.
His widow is Diane Alexander, his daughter, Dr. Amy Hochadel, an international urban economic development planner in London, England, and his son, Saker Alexander, a middle school teacher in Columbus, Ohio.
Career/activism
Michael Alexander worked in the open hearth at US Steel until its closure. He then went on to work for several local trade unions as an organizer and staff person. He retired from the Mahoning County Engineers in 2012.
He represented the unions on the Youngstown Labor Council for almost 20 years, including AFSCME, 1199 and the Teamsters. He was a steadfast and passionate activist in the struggle for peace, justice, and the working class, and was a proud, life-long member of the Communist Party USA. [1]
In a 2004 presentation to the Socialist Scholars Conference, Mike recalled that in 1969, he "was completely radicalized by the Vietnam War," and "flunked the mental test" given by the draft board, "tore up all the papers" he got and sent them back with "not a very nice letter" and "that's the last I heard from them."
He soon joined the Communist Party and became a leader of the party's Joe Dallet Club, named after a Youngstown resident who died fighting against fascism in 1937 as a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade of American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War.
Alexander became active in the Mahoning Valley Coalition for Peace and Justice and was key to mobilizing thousands of protesters in demonstrations against the Gulf War in downtown Youngstown. He also worked with the Youngstown Arab Community Center in the fight to end Israeli occupation and establish a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza.
He was active in local progressive Democratic Party politics.[2]