Transfer from the Barrie Stavis Papers, 2012.
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MSS 099, F922, George Hardy letters to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.
Processed and encoded by Anita Wellner, November 2012.
Labor activist and communist organizer George Hardy was born on July 26, 1884, in Cottingham, Yorkshire, Great Britain.
George Hardy joined the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) in Vancouver, British Columbia, in about 1909 and served as General Secretary-Treasurer of the I.W.W. in 1921. In 1923 Hardy returned to Great Britain and began a lifelong association with the Communist Party of Great Britain. In the 1935 he was a "special instructor" to the South African Communist Party and worked in China as well.
Hardy wrote many articles and reviews for
George Hardy died at the age of 82 on May 24, 1966. In his obituary the editor of
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, born on August 7, 1890, in Concord, New Hampshire, formed the original united front defense group for labor, the Workers Defense Union (WDU), in 1914.
Although Flynn did not graduate from high school, her interest in constitutional law and her strike organizing work made her a defender of workers' rights and free speech. Flynn organized the defenses and directed the legal strategies for Joe Ettor and Arturo Giovannitti, Joe Hill, Tom Mooney and Warren Billings, as well as for Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. She also helped defend women opposed to World War I who were arrested for conspiracy or espionage, including Emma Goldman and Marie Equi.
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was indicted under the Smith Act during the Anti-Communist trials of the 1940s and1950s. Found guilty in January 1953 of attempting to, or advocating the, overthrow of the government of the United States of America, Flynn was imprisoned from January 1955 until May 1957 at Alderson, West Virginia.
After her imprisonment, Flynn worked mainly defending Communist Party members against charges brought under the Smith Act. On September 5, 1964, Flynn died in Moscow.
In 1954 British labor activist and Communist organizer George Hardy wrote to his American colleague Elizabeth Gurley Flynn to renew their acquaintance, express support for her testimony at her recent trial, and discuss the labor struggles in the United States and Great Britain.
Both letters were written following Flynn's 1953 trial but prior to her 1955 incarceration in violation of the Smith Act for Communist activities. The first letter, written by Hardy on July 29, 1954, began by reminding Flynn of their acquaintance which began in 1923. Hardy continued by acknowledging Flynn's recent trial and praising her testimony. Hardy's long letter also mentioned China's negotiation of the cease fire in Vietnam with France and his work for the Communist Party from 1927 to 1930 in China. He offered his thoughts on the class struggles in the United States, the negative perceptions of U. S. government leaders (particularly in Great Britain), and his attempts to undo the bitterness against Americans as a result of American foreign policy.
Hardy's second letter, written September 9, 1954, thanked Flynn for a recent letter and the leaflet announcing her candidacy for Congress, which he had passed on to the
Both letters offer a unique perspective on labor activism and the early organizing efforts of Communists in Great Britain and the United States.
Arranged in chronological order.
This item forms part of MSS 099 Miscellaneous Literary and Historical Manuscripts.
Barrie Stavis papers