Biography
Dave Benson was a Workers Alliance organizer who supported the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union during the June 1936 cotton-choppers' strike in eastern Arkansas. A jury convicted him on June 4 of inciting a riot and enticing labor and imposed $1,060 in fines. Benson remained in the Forrest City jail while supporters raised bail for an appeal, and attorney D. M. Moody of Little Rock took up his defense. By January 1937 he had resumed organizing and attended the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union convention as executive secretary of the Workers Alliance.
Josephine Johnson’s firsthand account in New Masses, June 30, 1936, printed page 12 / PDF page 15, describes Benson’s trial before a jury composed of planters except one member. Three Black witnesses refused to identify him under oath as the man who threatened them for not striking. The jury returned in seven minutes with a guilty verdict and recommendation for the maximum punishment. Johnson lists interfering with labor, rioting and driving without a state license, with $1,060 in fines. This supplies a contemporary account and an additional reported count; no new admission or completed custody duration is inferred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1936/v20n01-jun-30-1936-NM.pdf#page=15
Printed D. M. Benson in the same Arkansas cotton-choppers’ case, the Workers Alliance organizer’s trial at Forrest City was postponed for a March 15 change-of-venue hearing. That hearing was prospective. The new procedural account does not establish another arrest or uninterrupted confinement through January 1937. Socialist Call, January 23, 1937, original PDF page 5. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/socialist-call/call%202-97.pdf#page=5
Documented case history
The June 8, 1936 Daily Worker reports his $1,060 fine and continued Forrest City custody while supporters sought appeal bail. Its statement that he would work off the fine at 75 cents per day describes potential consequences, not documented time actually served. No exact initial admission or release day is given.
