Biography
Jennie Cooper was the secretary of the Unemployment Councils in Philadelphia. The Daily Worker of November 8, 1934 names him or her among three people arrested as police attacked a meeting protesting the gassing of Sutko’s children. It also reports an earlier arrest of Bismark following the eviction attempt. The exact arrest dates and releases are unresolved.
The Daily Worker of December 30, 1932 identifies Cooper as district organizer of the International Labor Defense and reports Cooper, Ben Gold and William Powell out on bail on assault and battery charges after Wilmington police arrested and beat them during an attack on Hunger Marchers. Trial was scheduled for January 4, 1933. This is a separate episode from the Philadelphia arrest reported in November 1934; exact Wilmington arrest and physical release dates remain unknown.
The July 20, 1934 Daily Worker identifies the Lancaster Communist section organizer as leader of the united-front delegation arrested at the German consulate in Philadelphia on July 19 while demanding freedom for Thaelmann. The page-two continuation explicitly confirms her arrest after the consul’s secretary called police. This is a separate event from the existing Wilmington and later Philadelphia relief cases, with no exact discharge established. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n173-jul-20-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
Daily Worker, June 14, 1929, page 4: The June 12 Philadelphia dispatch identifies the district ILD secretary among workers arrested at the Saturday Bethlehem open-air meeting and now out on bail. This June 8, 1929 detention is distinct from later Wilmington, Philadelphia and unemployment cases; no exact release day or full served duration is printed. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n084-NY-jun-14-1929-DW-LOC.pdf
The May 3, 1931 Cleveland report describes Cooper as International Labor Defense organizer. After police dragged Young Communist League organizer Rudolph Shohan from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, she took his place speaking and was arrested in turn. The report names seven speakers held at Central Station on open investigation charges. This is a Cleveland May Day episode, separate from the later Wilmington and Philadelphia cases, without a documented discharge or complete duration. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n107-NY-may-04-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
Page 1 reports the Cleveland ILD organizer badly gas-burned while trying to open the Lake Anna Park protest in Barberton. It attributes the tear-gas attack to plainclothes forces while uniformed police watched and reports several unnamed workers arrested. Cooper’s injury does not independently establish her arrest at this event. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n155-NY-jun-29-1931-DW-LOC.pdf
The Daily Worker of December 30, 1932 identifies Cooper as district organizer of the International Labor Defense and reports Cooper, Ben Gold and William Powell out on bail on assault and battery charges after Wilmington police arrested and beat them during an attack on Hunger Marchers. Trial was scheduled for January 4, 1933. This is a separate episode from the Philadelphia arrest reported in November 1934; exact Wilmington arrest and physical release dates remain unknown.
Daily Worker, June 14, 1929; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, June 29, 1931; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
