Biography
Harry Gannes was named among those indicted for criminal syndicalism after the November 1931 Dreiser committee investigation of hunger and repression in the Harlan and Bell County coalfields of Kentucky. The November 17 Daily Worker says prosecutor W. A. Brock planned to seek extradition. It lists Theodore Dreiser, John Dos Passos, Charles Rumford Walker, Adelaide Walker, Marie Pergain, Samuel Ornitz, Celia Kuhn, George Maurer, M. P. Levy and Harry Gannes; the introductory counts do not agree neatly with that ten-name roster. The first six are described as committee visitors to the mines; Gannes is identified with the Daily Worker. The indictment and extradition plan do not establish an actual arrest, jail admission, conviction or term served. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n276-NY-nov-17-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
In a 1935 account of the Communist youth movement, Gannes recalled joining the Young Peoples Socialist League late in 1916, its wartime struggle over internationalism, the fragmentation of the independent League, and the organizing process leading to the 1922 Young Workers League conventions. He described underground meetings at Bethel, Connecticut followed by the legal New York convention of May 13–15, and later relocation of League headquarters to Chicago. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n095-NAT-apr-20-1935-DW-Q.pdf#page=4
The September 10, 1924 account describes Gannes taken from the platform at Orchard and North Avenue, Chicago, on the preceding Saturday, indicating September 6, and booked at the police station for disorderly conduct. It reports dismissal yesterday morning, indicating September 9. That court event is not proof of physical discharge that day or continuous three-day detention. George Maurer continued speaking despite threats; this passage does not say Maurer was arrested. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1924/v02a-n147-sep-10-1924-DW-LOC.pdf#page=4
The July 3 dispatch, continued on page 2, named these participants among those arrested in the Wall Street anti-imperialist demonstration and jailed at the second precinct. The report gave collective charges of obstructing traffic, speeches to incite riot and insulting an officer, with hearings scheduled that night and International Labor Defense representation. Later case-specific reporting may differ from these initial collective charges. Daily Worker, July 4, 1928, original PDF page 2. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n157-NY-jul-04-1928-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
