Grace Carlson was the only female member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) (predecessor organization of Socialist Action) to be convicted and sentenced under the notorious anti-communist Smith Act of 1940. She was sentenced to sixteen months in the Federal Correctional Facility For Women in Alderson, West Virginia. The trial and convictions of the 17 male leaders of the SWP is a well known part of Trotskyist history. All 18 leaders were convicted of allegedly trying to overthrow the U.S. government by force and violence on the eve of the U.S entrance into World War II . (See “Socialism On Trial” by James P. Cannon).
Grace Carlson: Unsung Hero of the Early Trotskyist Movement
