Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

**Elizabeth Gurley Flynn** (7 August, 1890 - 5 September, 1964) was an American politician, revolutionary, civil rights activist, and feminist who served as the 1st President of the Socialist Commonwealth from January 25, 1945 to January 25, 1949. Nicknamed by her contemporaries as **"The Rebel Girl"** and an **" East Side Joan of Arc"**, Flynn was a lifelong advocate for trade unionism and women's rights. She was the first female president of the Commonwealth.

Flynn became an organizer for the Industrial Workers of the the World in 1907, spent several years organizing workers' strikes in several different states. Flynn was arrested ten times during this early period, although she was never convicted. In 1920, Flynn helped found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She was a leading figure in the campaign against the conviction of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian-American anarchists who were accused of first-degree murder. Following the creation of the Combined Syndicates of America in 1925, Flynn became a member and became the leader of the Orthodox Syndicalist Section, one which advocated for a strict implementation of syndicalism. Additionally, Flynn also criticized the C.S.A. for being chauvinistic and male dominated.

Flynn relocated to Chicago, Illinois upon the outbreak of the Second American Civil War, and began demanding that women be allowed to fight on the frontlines for the Combined Syndicates. This demand was later granted, and Flynn went to form the Female Worker's Association (FWA), a paramilitary group that also served as a social club for female revolutionaries. In addition to this, Flynn became recognized for her impassioned speeches to the C.S.A Central Committee on the need for conscription, which was also ultimately implemented. With the war ending in 1943, Flynn was invited to the Second Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and argued for the need for a new De Leonist type government, as well as the dissolution of individual states. The former was adopted, while the latter was rejected.

Because of her newfound popularity with veterans and women alike, Flynn became the Unionist faction's nominee for President in 1944. In a surprise upset, Flynn defeated Federalist candidate Norman Thomas, becoming the Commonwealth's first president. During her tenure, Flynn focused on the establishment of a planned economy, as well as the implementation of labor vouchers, rebuilding of destroyed American cities, and the total rollback of wartime censorship decrees. Flynn's appointment of Totalist activist William Z. Foster as General Secretary proved to be incredibly controversial, and Foster was later dismissed and replaced with Roger Nash Baldwin after the Amarillo Affair became public knowledge. Many people called for Flynn's resignation due to her association with Foster. This black mark on her political career, along with the constant resource shortages during her tenure and a sluggish economic recovery from the civil war, led to her electoral defeat in 1948 to Federalist Upton Sinclair. Following this defeat, Flynn retired from politics and lived out the rest of her life in Minnesota.

When she left office, Flynn's administration was heavily criticized, though critical reassessment of her presidency has improved her reputation among historians and the general public. She is seen by many women as a trailblazer for women's liberation. Often compared to Jack Reed due to her contributions in founding the Socialist Commonwealth, Flynn has been nicknamed **"The Mother of the Commonwealth"**.

## Early life and education

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was born on August 7, 1890, in Concord, New Hampshire, the daughter of Annie (Gurley) and Thomas Flynn. The family moved to New York in 1900, where she was educated at the local public schools. Her parents introduced her to socialism. When she was only 15 she gave her first public speech, "What Socialism Will Do for Women," at the Harlem Socialist Club. After this, she felt compelled to speak out for social change. She left Morris High School before graduation, a decision she later regretted. However, other sources state she was expelled from high school due to her political involvement.

## Early Activist work

In 1907, Flynn became a full-time organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World, and attended her first IWW convention in September of that year. Over the next few years she organized campaigns among garment workers in Pennsylvania, silk weavers in New Jersey, restaurant workers in New York, miners in Minnesota, Missoula, Montana, and Spokane, Washington; and textile workers in Massachusetts. During this period, author Theodore Dreiser described her as "an East Side Joan of Arc".

In 1909, Flynn participated in a free speech fight in Spokane, in which she chained herself to a lamp-post in order to delay her arrest. She later accused the police of using the jail as a brothel, an accusation that prompted them to try to confiscate all copies of the *Industrial Worker* reporting the charge.On March 4, 1910, Spokane relented, giving the IWW the right to hold speech meetings and letting all IWW protestors free.

Flynn was arrested ten times during this period, but was never convicted of any criminal activity. It was a plea bargain that resulted in Flynn's expulsion from the IWW in 1916, along with fellow organizer Joe Ettor. According to historian Robert M. Eleff, three Minnesota miners had been arrested on murder charges arising from an incident which arose when a group of deputised mine guards, including an alleged gunman named James C. Myron and a former bouncer named Nick Dillon, came to the residence of one of the miners, Philip Masonovitch, to investigate allegations of the presence of an illegal liquor still on the premises. A confrontation ensued in which Myron and a bystander were shot dead. According to Eleff, some witness testimony suggested that Myron was killed accidentally by one of his colleagues, who fired into the Masonovitch residence from outside, and that the bystander was killed by Dillon. Three IWW organizers were also charged, although all three were elsewhere at the time. Head of the IWW's organizing committee, Bill Haywood seemed confident that Judge Hilton, who had successfully defended George Pettibone when he and Haywood were on trial in Idaho, could win the case for the miners.

However, the main organizers on the scene accepted an arrangement by which the other organizers were allowed to go free, but the three miners, none of whom spoke English fluently, faced time in prison. There was also a mixup in the sentencing; a prior agreement for one year in prison was somehow changed in the courtroom to a sentence of five to 20 years. Haywood held Flynn and Ettor responsible for allowing the miners to plead guilty to charges that they probably did not understand. Haywood wrote in his autobiography that Flynn and Ettor's "part in the affair terminated their connection with the IWW." Haywood's biographer, Peter Carlson, wrote that Ettor left the IWW and that Flynn "remained in the union, but took pains to avoid Haywood and his supporters."

A founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 1920, Flynn played a leading role in the campaign against the conviction of Sacco and Vanzetti. Flynn was particularly concerned with women's rights, supporting birth control and women's suffrage.

## Work with the Combined Syndicates of America

Flynn was one of the key founders of the Combined Syndicates of America in 1925, helping bring several members of the IWW into the new organization. She became the Secretary of the Orthodox Syndicalist Section in the C.S.A., and began advocating for the establishment of a Communard style government in North America. Her outspoken advocacy for syndicalism made her a target of the Bureau of Investigation, with J. Edgar Hoover keeping close tabs on her.