Biography
Clay Naff led unemployed workers in Phoenix, Arizona, and ran for governor as a Communist in 1934. He was arrested with twenty-seven other workers on September 6, 1934, when police attacked a picket line of striking Federal Emergency Relief Administration workers. Convicted of riot that December, he was initially released on his existing bond. Judge Howard C. Speakman sentenced him to one to two years at the state penitentiary in Florence on January 8, 1935, denied a new trial and refused bail pending appeal. Naff had also organized cotton pickers in their campaign for higher wages.
The Daily Worker of December 12, 1934, page 3, reports that defense witness Kirk McGlocklin, a mechanic and FERA sub-foreman, testified that deputy Lon Jordan struck Naff repeatedly on the back of the head and kicked him after he fell during the September 6 confrontation. Naff defended workers' rights to organize, strike and picket in his testimony. The report announced sentencing for December 17; that was a scheduled hearing, not proof of the actual sentence date. It also named Thomas J. Croaff and Grover Johnson as defense counsel for the other defendants.
The Daily Worker of February 7, 1935, pages 1-2, reports that the International Labor Defense served notice of appeal against Naff's riot conviction and was defending all twenty-eight workers in the relief-strike prosecution. It separately reports James Sanchez released following a hung jury. These procedural developments do not establish Naff's release or change the documented January 8 sentence date.
Daily Worker, September 8, 1934: Page 3 names him and Myrtle Taylor among those seized during the September 6 Phoenix relief demonstration, and distinguishes those arrests from a subsequent raid that jailed twenty-two people at the Workers’ Center. It reports a crowd of about four thousand and injuries to many participants; these are contemporary aggregate claims, not additional individually named defendants or proof of his later sentence at this stage. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n216-sep-08-1934-DW-LOC.pdf
Daily Worker, February 4, 1935: Page 3’s Phoenix February 3 dispatch says Naff was taken to Arizona State Prison at Florence last Friday, corresponding to February 1, 1935, to begin the one-to-two-year riot sentence arising from September 6 relief-strike activity. This is a reported penitentiary transfer/admission, distinct from the January 8 sentencing and initial incarceration already recorded; it does not erase earlier custody. The article identifies him as thirty-one, Kentucky-born, an Arizona resident for fourteen years and an FERA auto mechanic, and announces an ILD appeal-fund drive. No release or completed appeal is established. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n030-Nat-sect-1-feb-04-1935-DW-LOC.pdf
The Daily Worker of November 6, 1934, page 2, in a Phoenix November 5 dispatch, reports Naff had been released on $1,200 bond pending a riot trial scheduled for November 23. It attributes his September 6 arrest to the police attack on the FERA strike picket line and alleges he was beaten unconscious before arrest. This documents an earlier pretrial bond release by the dispatch date, not release from his later penitentiary sentence or proof the scheduled November 23 trial occurred that day. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n265-NY-nov-06-1934-DW-LOC.pdf
The Daily Worker of March 2, 1935, page 3, reports that the Superior Court recorder filed the 1,427-page transcript for his Supreme Court appeal during the preceding week. It identifies Thomas J. Croaff as defense counsel, reiterates denial of appeal bond and confirms that Naff was then serving his sentence at Florence. The filing does not establish an appellate victory or release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n053-NAT-mar-02-1935-DW-Q.pdf
Daily Worker, February 7, 1935; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, September 8, 1934; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The Daily Worker of October 23, 1934, page 3, names twenty-eight defendants in the Phoenix FERA relief-workers strike prosecution. It reports their demand for separate jury trials, a delayed arraignment because Judge H. C. Speakman was absent, and an objection by Judge G. A. Rodgers to differing bail amounts on the same riot charge. Thomas J. Croaff is named as defense counsel. The arrests followed the September 6 demonstration attacked by police and deputies under Governor Moeur. This is a pretrial report, not an additional arrest, imposed sentence or continuous custody measurement. Allegations of political targeting and official violence are attributed to the newspaper.
The November 4 Phoenix dispatch reports Naff released the preceding Wednesday on $1,200 bail. PDF pages 14 and 16 announce the November 23 riot trial. Temporary bail is not final discharge from the later prison term.