Biography
Carl Larson was born 1885 in Upsala, Sweden. Immigrated to the United States in 1911.
Joined the IWW in 1912 and the Scandinavian section of the Socialist Party of America in 1917. Arrested May 3, 1918 after denouncing the US government, he was convicted under the Espionage Act in February 1919 and sentenced to one year and a day in Leavenworth. While imprisoned he joined the Communist Labor Party. After his release he served as literature agent for Salt Lake City’s Scandinavian Socialist Club. Arrested again in August 1920, he was deported June 9, 1921.
He reportedly left Sweden in 1924 as a seaman and jumped ship in Canada, returning to the US. On January 7, 1925, the Swedish Communist paper Folkets Dagblad Politiken printed a letter from him about Communist activity in America. In 1932 he was believed to be living in Seattle, and in 1933 authorities received confidential reports that he was in San Francisco under an assumed name and active in the Communist Party.
Adapted from Kenyon Zimmer, Red Scare Deportees (kenyonzimmer.com), compiled from INS deportation case files.
1920s custody-date review: Larson's signed April 6, 1920 letter records May 3-13, 1918 detention ending in bond, a February 15, 1919 sentence, February 27 Leavenworth arrival, and a December 17, 1919 term end. These are separate from his August 1920 immigration rearrest and June 9, 1921 deportation. The previous uninterrupted 1918-1921 total is removed.
Sources: One Big Union Monthly, May 1920, printed page 53; Zimmer, Carl Larson biography.
His signed April 6, 1920 Salt Lake City letter individually reports arrest May 3, 1918, bail release May 13, February 15, 1919 sentence of one year and one day, Leavenworth arrival February 27, and time expired December 17, 1919. This corroborates the two separately recorded criminal-custody episodes and is not assigned to the unrelated 1930 Buffalo Carl Larson.
The One Big Union Monthly, May 1920, vol. 2 no. 5, PDF page 61.
