Happy Birthday Elizabeth Gurley Flynn! August 7, 1890

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http://rosicrucian1970.blogspot.com/2011/10/elizabeth-gurley-flynn-here-is-where-i.html

“America needs socialism. It has outgrown capitalism. All the patching and stretching will not make capitalism fit the America of today and tomorrow”

-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, “Horizons of the Future for A Socialist America”, 1959

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was a gallant fighter for workers and justice as a girl of 13 up until her passing in 1964 while holding the position of National Chairwoman of CPUSA. She was a living embodiment of the history of American Socialism and Communism, starting her career as "Rebel Girl" agitator extraordinaire of the I.W.W., presiding over legendary labor strikes: “In 1913 I was a leader in the Paterson, New Jersey silk strike; in 1916, in a strike of the iron ore miners on the Mesaba range in Minnesota, where the mines are owned by the U.S. Street trust... I saw workers clubbed, beaten and shot down." (Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Statement at the Smith Act Trial, 1951)

She tells here of her life-changing decision to enter the ranks of the Communist Party, USA on the eve of the heroic fight against world-wide fascist oppression in 1936:

"George Dimitroff was a Bulgarian Communist who had been in exile in Germany and while there was framed in the infamous Reichstag fire case. Dimitroff was freed. He took refuge in the Soviet Union, where he delivered this speech in 1935 at the Congress of the Communist International. It is an eloquent and dramatic appeal to fight fascism, which he describes as the most vicious enemy of mankind. It is addressed to Communists especially and other progressive people elsewhere, to put aside all immediate partisan or sectarian interest or differences or ultimate political aims to unite to stop fascism. We will prove that this is what is meant by “united front.” This policy brought Communists together with all other honest and patriotic people who were determined to save their country from the ravages of fascism. We will show that Hank Forbes, one of our party organizers who might otherwise be here as a defendant, lost his life at the Anzio Beachhead in pursuance of that policy, as did hundreds of American Communists in World War II.

I resolved when I read this powerful appeal, “Here is where I belong. As soon as I am well I will again apply to join the Communist Party.” I did so. William Z. Foster, whom I first met in 1909 in the I.W.W., and Ella Reeve Bloor, whom I knew from the old Socialist Party, presented my application in the winter of 1936 and 1937. It was accepted and publicly announced in the press.”

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[TBF]

1. I am thrilled to share my birthday week with Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

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2. Hey, that is cool!

Happy early birthday!