Biography
Leo Tuuri, later known as Leo Turner, was a Finnish American Young Communist League organizer in Minneapolis. Police arrested him on April 6, 1934, after a demonstration against the dismissal of Civil Works Administration workers. On May 4, Municipal Judge Clyde R. White sentenced him to thirty-five days in the workhouse. Arvo Halberg and James Bartlett received the same sentence. The International Labor Defense obtained a stay until May 14 while seeking a new trial, but Tuuri subsequently served time at the Minneapolis workfarm. He later became an organizer for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.
Labor Defender, June 1934: Davis’s account identifies Tuuri as a Young Communist League section organizer and CWA worker who defended the demonstrators’ right to remain at City Hall during cross-examination. It reports the thirty-five-day term imposed May 4 after the April 6 protest. This supplies his courtroom self-defense and organizing role without inferring an unprinted release date. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1934/v10n06-jun-1934-orig-LD.pdf#page=6
The June 1934 account dates sentencing in the represented Minneapolis demonstration prosecution to May 4 and identifies the trial judge as Clyde White. It does not establish a precise physical discharge or uninterrupted arrest-to-sentence custody. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1934/v10n06-jun-1934-orig-LD.pdf#page=6
The May 8, 1934 Daily Worker reports a 35-day workhouse sentence imposed in the Minneapolis CWA demonstration prosecution. The report dates the demonstration April 6, the sentencing Friday (May 4), and the ILD stay until May 14 while a new trial was sought. It names Judge Clyde R. White. A stayed nominal sentence is not itself proof of the amount served. The source spells Arvo Halberg for Gus Hall, Leo Tuuri, Arthur Hazelton, George Payne and Sam K. Daviss; these name forms are preserved within the established identities. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n110-may-08-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
The Minneapolis CWA sentencing report names Leo Tuuri among those receiving thirty-five days, with a stay until May 14. The term is not itself proof of completed service.
