Biography
James Price was an IWW member from Los Angeles. James Price received a one- to fourteen-year prison sentence, which he served in Folsom from 1921 to 1926. Price was the only prisoner to serve time under both federal and state sedition laws. As a defendant at the mass IWW trial in Sacramento, Price spent one year in jail awaiting trial and was then sentenced to four years in prison under the Espionage Act, which he served in Leavenworth Penitentiary from January 25, 1919, to August 20, 1920, when he was released onbond. In May 1921, while out on bond, Price was arrested under the California criminal syndicalism law.
The International Labor Defense holiday roster in the December 29, 1925 Daily Worker lists this prisoner, printed as James Price, at Folsom California. This documents confinement at the roster’s reporting time, without establishing an admission, transfer, release, new conviction or complete duration. Existing independently sourced custody chronology remains separate. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n297-NYE-dec-29-1925-DW-LOC.pdf#page=5
The March 1920 One Big Union Monthly roster, printed as PRICE, JAMES, reports: Federal . Indicted Sacramento , Feb. 8 , 1918. Conspiracy to violate Sections 6, 9 , 19 and 37 and Section 4 of Espionage Act. Convicted , 4-year sentence . Bail , $ 4,000 . Leavenworth Federal prison. The roster is a contemporary labor-defense account. Its indictment, bail and imposed-term information is kept distinct from actual admission/release and complete time served; no missing gate date is inferred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/one-big-union-monthly/v02n03-mar-1920_One%20Big%20Union.pdf#page=17
The January 28, 1924 issue of The Daily Worker individually listed James Price among the political and class-war prisoners at Folsom State Prison in California, in an appeal to fund newspaper subscriptions for imprisoned people. This is a contemporary custody observation; the publication date does not establish admission, release, or a total period served. This Folsom confinement is distinct from his federal Leavenworth case that ended in 1920; no dates from that earlier case are applied to the Folsom episode.
The September defense report says bonds for James Price and Ceasar Tabib had been completed while both were in poor physical condition. It still hoped for their early release. This contemporaneous report does not replace the independently recorded August 20, 1920 release or establish another release day.
White distinguishes thirteen months of Sacramento pretrial jail, nineteen months at Leavenworth before bail, and a new Los Angeles criminal-syndicalism conviction in June 1921 while Price was raising defense funds. He reports actual Folsom imprisonment continuing until March 1926. The federal and state episodes are separate and the four-year imposed federal term is not substituted for actual service.
Ahmed White, Under the Iron Heel (University of California Press, 2022), physical PDF pages [219] (printed page = physical minus 11); source193 SHA256 7c24fb0ba336fcbf379fb9720f70dcdbf754d796a50dee77b39e38e0f9bd2868.
The March1922 official report lists James Price in List1 of convicted prisoners or parolees. The government entry reports Conspiracy (espionage act). a term expiration or parole status in the named roster. Imposed terms, projected term-expiration dates, parole eligibility and intervals on bond are different measures; none is entered as a complete actual custody total. This attributed government entry is retained alongside the independently established individual chronology. [PDF16]
Government Prosecutions under the Espionage Act, Senate Document159 (March1922), PDF page 16.
