Biography
Benjamin Gitlow was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants and a former New York State assemblyman; founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America in 1919 and business manager of The Revolutionary Age, which published "The Left Wing Manifesto" in July 1919. Arrested by NYPD November 1919 along with James Larkin under New York's Criminal Anarchy Law of 1902. Convicted February 11, 1920; sentenced 5-10 years at Sing Sing. Conviction famously upheld 7-2 in Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652 (1925) — the case that "incorporated" the First Amendment against the states. Pardoned by Governor Al Smith December 1925.
Daily Worker, September 11, 1925, page 6: The Labor Defense Day notice describes him as recently remanded to Sing Sing following the United States Supreme Court decision and as a scheduled speaker. This contemporaneous wording is not treated as proof of physical readmission or uninterrupted confinement through the event; no new admission or release dates are inferred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n206-NYE-sep-11-1925-DW-LOC.pdf
Daily Worker, September 10, 1926, page 2: The issue reports his actual speech at the Anti-Fascisti Alliance’s Cooper Union convention, representing the Workers (Communist) Party. Delegates demanded asylum for victims of fascism and a Sacco–Vanzetti retrial. This is public political and defense activity after the previously recorded imprisonment, with no new arrest asserted. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1926/1926-nat/v03-n203-NAT-sep-10-1926-DW-RIAZ-op.pdf
Daily Worker, February 18, 1927, page 5: A Boston International Workers Forum notice announces a February 20 talk on the right and left in the trade-union movement at New International Hall. This is an announced public engagement, not proof of attendance or a new arrest. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1927/1927-nat/v04-n031-NAT-feb-18-1927-DW-Q.pdf
Daily Worker, November 3, 1928, page 1, 7: A November 2 New Bedford dispatch reports his actual address the previous night, a station reception and parade, Thomas Corrigan as meeting chair, and Fred Beal, Joseph Fineran and Anthony Samieras as fellow speakers. He addressed the textile struggle and Sacco–Vanzetti evidence. The coming Providence talk is prospective. Identified campaign portraits are retained; existing production photo preserved. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n261-NY-nov-03-1928-DW-LOC.pdf
Jeremiah Kelly’s February 6, 1934 New Masses report on the New York hotel strike identifies Gitlow as a leader of the Amalgamated Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union. It describes his opposition to cooperation with the Communist-led Food Workers Industrial Union and attributes to him the argument that such cooperation would cost public and NRA support. This is the contemporary correspondent’s critical account of his later union activity, rather than evidence of a new detention. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1934/v10n06-feb-06-1934-NM.pdf#page=28
The 1928 campaign introduction describes Gitlow as having served three years in prison. This is a rounded retrospective claim of actual service; it cannot establish an exact 1,095-day total or validate a continuous 1920–1925 interval. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n176-NY-jul-26-1928-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The December 29, 1925 issue prints a greeting to Gitlow on his completed release from jail. It confirms freedom by that publication, without providing a different exact gate-release day or proving uninterrupted imprisonment since 1920. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n297-NYE-dec-29-1925-DW-LOC.pdf#page=5
Page 1's New York municipal-election report promotes Gitlow for mayor and says he had served twenty months at Sing Sing and faced return after the United States Supreme Court upheld his sentence. This is a retrospective phase of custody and a threat of return, not proof he had already physically re-entered prison. It is not a new twenty-month term or a continuous lifetime total. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n228-NYE-oct-07-1925-DW-LOC.pdf
The Socialist Call, June 26, 1937, page 9, cites Gitlow v. People (1925) as an example of the Supreme Court sustaining state antiradical legislation. The article supplies legal-criticism context for the established case, not a new prosecution, custody admission or completed service. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/socialist-call/call%203-119.pdf
Laura Weinrib’s 2025 study explains that the ACLU expressly asked Governor Smith to withhold Gitlow from the February 1923 pardons so that his constitutional test case could continue. Gitlow personally preferred to withdraw the appeal and accept clemency, but deferred to the organization. The study describes twenty-six consecutive months in prison from February 1920 to April 1922 and more than thirty-four months cumulatively, with intervening liberty; these rounded claims do not establish exact days or continuous confinement through 1925. Source: https://www.journaloffreespeechlaw.org/weinrib.pdf#page=27
Custody and sentencing source conflicts requiring reconciliation
The 2006 editorial footnote to the National Defense Committee’s 1922 account, page 2, states that Benjamin Gitlow was freed on $7,500 bail on December 13, 1922. That intervening release conflicts with treating the current enclosing 1920–1925 dates as one uninterrupted custody period. The original pamphlet’s main text dates conviction/sentence to February 5, 1920, while the editorial footnote says February 11 and the current case field says February 10. No custody span or sentencing day is changed from this conflicting source alone; the original prison and bail records are needed.
The University of Minnesota Law Library history identifies Gitlow’s fellow criminal-anarchy defendant as the Irish activist James Larkin. This corrects the biography’s mistaken name Alan Larkin; it does not change Gitlow’s custody dates, sentence, appeal outcome or duration.
Contemporary labor and defense account, August 1925
Thurber Lewis reports Gitlow participating in the June 28, 1925 National Conference for Labor Defense in Chicago and its closing mass meeting. Gitlow discussed the Supreme Court decision in his case while expecting a call back to Sing Sing. This establishes his participation and an anticipated prison return, not the day he actually reentered custody.
The Workers Monthly, August 1925, printed pages 460–461, 474.
Daily Worker, September 11, 1925; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, September 10, 1926; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, February 18, 1927; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, November 3, 1928; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, October 7, 1925; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Socialist Call, June 26, 1937; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The biographical dictionary records Gitlow’s birthplace as Elizabethport, New Jersey, and his place of death as Crompond, New York. It identifies him as an autobiographical author as well as a Socialist and Communist politician. Its brief reference to imprisonment for publishing revolutionary material supplies no additional custody dates or duration.
Jacob Rader Marcus, editor, and Judith M. Daniels, associate editor, The Concise Dictionary of American Jewish Biography, printed page 199 (PDF page 202).
