International Labor Defense
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International Labor Defense was the legal arm of the Communist Party USA. The founding conference was held on June 28, 1925.
"The ILD began with a discussion between James P. Cannon and "Big Bill" Haywood in Haywood's room in Moscow in 1925.[1]
They published a monthly magazine in Chicago called Labor Defender.
About
Excerpt from the Communist Party USA website:[2]
- "The Communist Party stands for democratic rights, full equality, freedom, and socialism. It is the party of Claudia Jones, Edna Griffin, Mildred McAdory, Debbie Bell, Henry Winston, James Jackson, W.E.B. DuBois, Angelo Herndon, Ferdinand Smith, and Alphaeus Hunton.
- It is the founder of the American Negro Labor Congress, International Labor Defense, the National Negro Congress, the Civil Rights Congress, the Southern Negro Youth Congress, the Council on African Affairs, the W. E. B. Du Bois clubs, and the Southern Conference for Human Welfare. We joined others in helping initiate the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the National Anti-Imperialist Movement in Solidarity with African Liberation, and the Black Radical Congress.
International Labor Defense Organizational History
From Marxists.com:[3]
- "The International Labor Defense organization, while clearly started through the volition of the Communist organization, included among its governing National Committee of 38 members a number of prominent figures from the Socialist Party, Ralph Chaplin of the IWW, and an array of non-party libertarian radicals.
- According to a list published in early issues of The Labor Defender, the initial executive officers of the ILD in 1926 were:
- James P. Cannon --- Executive Secretary.
- Andrew T. McNamara --- Chairman.
- Edward C. Wentworth --- Vice-Chairman.
- The National Committee (38) included: Rose Baron, Max Bedacht, J.O. Bentall, F.G. Biedenkapp, Alice Stone Blackwell, William Bouck, William Montgomery Brown, James P. Cannon, Ralph Chaplin, Henry Corbishley, Eugene V. Debs, Jacob Dolla, Robert W. Dunn, William F. Dunne, John Edenstrom, Lovett Fort-Whiteman, William Z. Foster, Harrison George, Benjamin Gitlow, Ellen Hayes, Rose Karsner, Fred Mann, George Maurer, Andrew T. McNamara, E.R. Meitzen, Fred Merrick, Cora Meyers, Robert Minor, William Mollenhauer, Scott Nearing, Charles E. Ruthenberg, Mandel Shuchter, Upton Sinclair, Dan Stevens, John T. Taylor, Edward C. Wentworth, Robert Whitter, David Rhys Williams. (Those who were known members of the Workers (Communist) Party in italics).
Elaine Black Yoneda Connection
Elaine Black Yoneda was an official of International Labor Defense.[4]