Biography
Bob Young, also identified as Robert Young, was a National Miners' Union striker arrested on the Wildwood picket line on June 22, 1931, when deputies and mine guards shot at strikers and killed Pete Zigaric. He was sentenced to two years in the Allegheny County Workhouse at Blawnox, where he distributed the Labor Defender among fellow prisoners. The International Labor Defense sought bail while appealing the convictions. Young and union organizer Tom Myerscough were released on parole in September 1932 after serving eleven months of their sentences.
The Daily Worker of January 4, 1932, page 3, reports that the International Labor Defense had filed an appeal for a new trial on December 14 and was seeking bail for Myerscough, Bob Young, Joe Soch, Kitty Preselac and Mike Federoff. The court had not decided whether bail would be allowed or fixed an amount. It says these Wildwood picket-line defendants were at Blawnox Workhouse and permitted only one visitor monthly. This records continued confinement and an unsuccessful-to-date bail application, not an actual release or separate case.
The November 27, 1931 International Labor Defense appeal names Myerscough, Thompson, Adam Ghetto, Bob Young and Stella Rasefsky among twenty-nine miners sentenced during the preceding month to long terms at Blawnox after the coal strike. It supplies neither individual numerical terms nor exact sentencing or transfer days. The source calls the institution a penitentiary; the existing Allegheny County Workhouse identification is retained. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n285-NY-nov-27-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=4
Labor Defender, July 1932, identifies Miner Bob Young among twenty-two miners in Blawnox Workhouse and asks supporters to subscribe to Current Events and Literary Digest so he can share the permitted periodicals. It describes poor food and restrictions on books. The article’s general discussion of terms up to five years is not assigned to Young as an individual sentence or actual time served. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1932/v08n07-jul-1932-LD.pdf#page=20
Printed page 174's Youth in Prison directory lists Bob Young at Allegheny County Workhouse, Blawnox, Pennsylvania. The undated listing corroborates the existing mine-strike confinement; it does not override the separately documented September 1932 parole or establish that he remained confined through the entire publication month. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1932/v08n09-sep-1932-LD.pdf
Labor Defender, October 1932 (PDF page 21): The Blawnox roster identifies Bob Young among strike prisoners still confined under nominal two-year sentences, alongside Tom Myerscough, Leo Thompson and Adam Getto. The group faced restricted screened visits, mail censorship and rejected books; this is existing strike imprisonment, not a new case. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1932/v08n10-oct-1932-LD.pdf#page=21
The November 24, 1931 report individually lists this National Miners Union strike prisoner at Allegheny County Workhouse, Blawnox. The roster establishes actual confinement during the mine-strike repression. It does not supply an individual statutory count, exact initial arrest, physical release or completed custody duration. Daily Worker, November 24, 1931, original PDF page 2. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n282-NY-nov-24-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
The September 26 dispatch reports physical release on parole that day from Allegheny County Workhouse following the Wildwood mine-picket prosecution of June 22, 1931. Two years is the imposed term, not actual two years served; the reported event dates do not support that service claim. Daily Worker, September 27, 1932, original PDF page 1. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n231-NY-sep-27-1932-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
Labor Defender, September 1932; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Contemporary portrait
The Daily Worker of July 18, 1931, page 4, identifies this photograph as Bob Young, shot by a deputy sheriff during the June 22 attack on striking mine pickets at Wildwood, Pennsylvania. The caption’s place, date and strike context identify the National Miners’ Union striker described here.
Portrait: Daily Worker, July 18, 1931, page 4.
