Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was an American labor leader, activist, and feminist who played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Flynn was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union and a visible proponent of women's rights, birth control, and women's suffrage. She joined the Communist Party USA in 1936 and late in life, in 1961, became its chairwoman. She died during a visit to the Soviet Union, where she was accorded a state funeral with processions in Red Square attended by over 25,000 people.
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
Historical marker commemorating Flynn's birthplace, which, in May 2023, was unveiled in Concord and subsequently removed
1913 photo of Paterson silk strike leaders Patrick Quinlan, Carlo Tresca, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Adolph Lessig, and Bill Haywood
Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, where Flynn was incarcerated
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with industrial unionism, as it is a general union, subdivided between the various industries which employ its members. The philosophy and tactics of the IWW are described as "revolutionary industrial unionism", with ties to socialist, syndicalist, and anarchist labor movements.
Big Bill Haywood and office workers in the IWW General Office, Chicago, summer 1917
The first IWW charter in Canada, Vancouver Industrial Mixed Union no.322, May 5, 1906
A Wobbly membership card, or "red card"
1914 IWW demonstration in New York City