Biography
John Porter was a young vice-president of the New Bedford Textile Workers' Union and a Young Workers League organizer. John Porter had earlier enlisted in the U.S. Army; when his strike leadership drew the authorities' attention in 1928 he was seized, court-martialed as a "deserter," and sentenced to two and a half years of hard labor — a punishment the movement understood as retaliation for the strike. Held first at Fort Adams, Rhode Island, then near-incommunicado at the Fort Leavenworth military prison, he became the subject of a national "Free John Porter" campaign led by the ILD.
The June 1, 1928 New Bedford bulletin reports a one-month sentence for organizer Porter alongside William T. Murdoch. This concerns the textile organizer’s earlier civilian strike prosecution, separate from the June 18 military-custody episode already recorded. An imposed month is not actual completed service; the defense’s plan to appeal and obtain release was prospective. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n129-NY-jun-01-1928-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
Labor Defender, August 1932, printed page 155 (PDF page 17): The retrospective concerns the New Bedford textile organizer and former soldier, not the unrelated New York taxi driver of the same name. It says police offered to overlook desertion if he abandoned the 1928 strike, then turned him over to military authorities after refusal. He was held incommunicado for two weeks at Fort Rodman and Fort Adams before court-martial and a maximum two-and-a-half-year hard-labor sentence at Fort Leavenworth. The two weeks is a reported pretrial segment and the nominal term is not a documented complete service total. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1932/v08n08-aug-1932-LD.pdf
The April 24 report says he had recently been physically released after twenty months in federal prison following the New Bedford textile strike. The statement reports completed service retrospectively but does not establish an exact discharge day. His Indiana tour dates are not custody endpoints. Daily Worker, April 24, 1930, original PDF page 3. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v06-n353-NY-apr-24-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
Paul Crouch reported a visit to textile-strike organizer John Porter in the guardhouse at Fort Adams, Rhode Island. The article said Porter was held incommunicado, denied reading material, supplied inadequate clothing and compelled to shovel coal on a seven-day intensive schedule. It described military desertion proceedings and alleged authorities also targeted his New Bedford strike organizing; a possible 59-year sentence was threatened, not imposed. Daily Worker, July 4, 1928, original PDF page 6. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n157-NY-jul-04-1928-DW-LOC.pdf#page=6
1920s custody review: The Daily Worker of June 26, 1928, pages 1-2, reports that the arrest leading to John Porter being handed to military authorities occurred at 4 p.m. on June 18. Bail was furnished at 6 p.m., but civilian authorities refused release; at 10 p.m. he was transferred to military custody at Fort Rodman. Arrest and the beginning of this continuous detention are therefore recorded as June 18, 1928. Posting bail did not produce a release. This date is not an assertion that he entered Fort Leavenworth that day. Earlier strike arrests, later military transfers and the inherited February 1930 release date still need separate records. Existing photograph retained.
Source: Daily Worker, June 26, 1928, pages 1-2, original report visually inspected.
Labor Defender, December 1928, printed page 265 (PDF page 7), reported that John Porter had been held incommunicado for weeks at Fort Rodman, Massachusetts, and later at Fort Adams, Rhode Island. It described his subsequent confinement at Fort Leavenworth as practically incommunicado, with correspondence from comrades and visits prohibited. Governors Island appears as an alternative that was not used; no confinement there is inferred. His mother's letter on printed page 277 (PDF page 31) described fifteen months and twenty-six days still to serve, which is a forecast rather than a release record or an actual time-served total.
The original masthead of this source is Wednesday, February 26, 1930, despite its archive URL saying February 25. Page 1 announces John Porter’s expected arrival that morning from Governors Island; page 2 reports that he left Governors Island that morning and describes previous confinement at Leavenworth and Alcatraz. This supports a Governors Island confinement stage in 1930, which must not be confused with an unused alternative mentioned in a 1928 article. The issue mixes advance announcement and retrospective wording; the inherited February 1930 release month is preserved without asserting a newly verified physical discharge day. Its rounded eighteen-month wording is not used to replace a measured custody total.
Reviewed original source 2083, relevant PDF pages stated in note.
The circulation column identifies the young New Bedford textile militant, reported released from Leavenworth about a year earlier, as ordering fifty back numbers and twenty-five Daily Workers daily for distribution. This is post-release organizing activity. The rounded phrase does not establish a precise physical discharge day or show that Leavenworth was his final confinement site; other documented transfers and the existing February 1930 release month are preserved.
The Alcatraz letter thanks the ILD for supplies and support and expresses the hope of soon being free. The military-prison and ex-soldier context identifies the textile-strike soldier John Porter, not the later Harlem taxi driver. The anticipated release is not an executed discharge.
Labor Defender, August 1932; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The October 27, 1930 Daily Worker announces a November 2 Passaic rally and identifies John Porter by his New Bedford textile-strike activity, saying he served two years in jail. This is the newspaper’s rounded account of actual service, distinct from his nominal two-and-a-half-year military sentence. It is not converted to 24 months or a precise day total: the existing military case begins June 18, 1928 and has a February 1930 release month, an earlier report uses rounded eighteen-month wording, and his separate earlier civilian strike custody remains unmeasured. The brief supplies no new admission or discharge day and does not resolve how its rounded account relates to those episodes.
Daily Worker, October 27, 1930, page 2, Passaic Red Rally Sunday.
Paul Crouch reports Porter still held at Fort Adams, nearly a week in solitary confinement, while Isaac Shorr prepares legal action. The accompanying first-person letter from Porter confirms solitary and continuing support for the New Bedford strike. Court-martial, eventual sentence and release were future; printed comparisons to Crouch and Trumbull are not Porter’s imposed term. The correspondence address prints Porter (Walerysiak).
The July15 FortAdams dispatch reports military censorship of all communication with Porter, refusal to disclose his physical condition and unsuccessful efforts to reach him after a letter reporting illness and solitary confinement. Counsel’s visit and possible civil-court action were still planned. This documents continuing military detention, not a new sentence or release.
