Biography
James P. Cannon was the National Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP); leading figure in American Trotskyism. Born in Rosedale, Kansas; founded CPUSA before being expelled in 1928 for supporting Trotsky. Co-founded the SWP in 1938. Convicted under the Smith Act in 1941 for opposing US entry into WWII; testimony published as the classic "Socialism on Trial" (1942). 16 months federal prison.
Contemporary labor and defense account, August 1925
Thurber Lewis reports Cannon chairing the June 28, 1925 National Conference for Labor Defense at Ashland Auditorium, Chicago. The conference established International Labor Defense and elected Cannon its secretary; he reviewed its program at the closing Temple Hall mass meeting. This documents his defense work without adding a custody event.
The Workers Monthly, August 1925, printed pages 460–461, 474.
Pages 5 and 8 report that the National Guard expelled Cannon and Shachtman from Minneapolis during suppression of radical labor reporting, later permitting return as reporters following union pressure. The paper identifies their editorial roles with The New Militant and The New International. This is reported coercive military expulsion, distinct from the existing judicial prosecution; no exact day, jail admission or measured period is printed.
