Biography
Meyer Baylin was a Russian-born electrical worker and Communist organizer active in the Los Angeles Unemployed Councils. On August 14, 1932, he joined five others in running onto the track at the Los Angeles Olympics with shirts and banners demanding freedom for Tom Mooney. Police arrested the demonstrators and took them to a station at the Coliseum, then downtown. During the trial Baylin was taken from his sickbed to court and committed to county jail after Judge Thurmond Clarke canceled his bail. A higher court granted bail, and he was released on August 25. He was subsequently imprisoned following conviction and also received a separate hundred-day contempt sentence. Baylin later organized in New York and worked in the electrical business in San Francisco.
Western Worker, July 15, 1932, page 5: The continuation individually identifies Baylin of the Unemployed Council as arrested during a mass protest against closing the Music Arts Hall to Foster’s meeting. Several other people were reportedly beaten. The issue does not give a precise individual arrest day or charge; this precedes and is distinct from Baylin’s August Olympics case. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/westernworker/1932/v1n14-jul-15-1932.pdf
The June27 LosAngeles report published June28,1932 explicitly names Baylin as the Unemployed Council leader arrested during protest against police closure of a hall to William Z.Foster. It describes police charges with clubs and cars, with workers re-forming their demonstration, and connects the campaign to protest over Basil Dell being shot. This supplies an earlier contemporary account of the existing pre-Olympics Foster-meeting arrest, not another inferred duplicate case or an exact arrest day. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1932/v09-n153-jun-28-1932-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The Daily Worker, August 14, 1933, page 6, reports that the six Mooney runners' original nine-month terms were reduced on appeal to six months. It recounts Judge Clarke imposing an additional one hundred days for contempt when Baylin challenged the prosecution's question about Young Communist League membership and says he was serving that extra term. The article forecasts the runners' release the following week, but does not establish a completed individual discharge; Baylin's additional term is not silently erased or converted into a precise aggregate service count. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1933/v10-n194-aug-14-1933-DW-LOC.pdf
Revolt, October 1932, pages 5-6, individually names the six August 14 Los Angeles Olympic Stadium demonstrators for Tom Mooney's freedom and reports their September 1 sentences of nine months in Los Angeles county jail for disturbing the peace and a public meeting. This is the original imposed term, not nine months of proven service; subsequent appeal and release evidence remains preserved. It reports an additional hundred days for challenging the procedure and says Baylin had to attend court with a temperature of 102 degrees. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/student-outlook/v01n01-oct-1932-revolt.pdf
Labor Defender, October 1932 (PDF page 15): The Olympic-trial report prints his name Meyer Beylin. It reports his August 23 illness-related absence, cancellation of bond, bench-warrant arrest and Red Squad officer Phelps bringing him to court despite a doctor’s objection; a hospital temperature of 104 degrees is alleged. This corroborates the existing distinct August 23 remand case, without treating the August 14 protest and later remand as continuous custody. The article’s six-defendant count accompanies only five printed names. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1932/v08n10-oct-1932-LD.pdf#page=15
August23 recommitment after a bail gap
The continuation of the Olympic demonstrators’ trial report explicitly dates the court proceedings to Tuesday, August23,1932. It says Meyer Baylin was already out on $100 cash bail when police brought him from his home to court; Judge Thurmond Clarke canceled the bail and committed him to the county jail. He was brought back to court Wednesday. This is an actual recommitment after a period at liberty, not uninterrupted custody from the Olympic demonstration through sentencing.
The article says the Superior Court heard habeas corpus on Thursday and ordered release on $200 bond. Thursday is August25, but an order alone does not prove the precise executed discharge day. The current biography’s August25 release statement may rest on another account; this newspaper alone establishes the order, not physical departure. The new structured remand episode records only the explicit August23 admission, with release and duration unknown. The later imposed prison and contempt terms are not treated as time served.
Western Worker, volume1 number17, September1,1932, original pages [1, 3]. Contemporary allegations are attributed to the newspaper.
The November 1932 Labor Defender political-prisoner greetings explicitly lists Meyer Baylin at Los Angeles Lincoln Heights City Jail. This is a contemporary individually mapped custody observation, not a prison admission date, final discharge or additional conviction. Other names lower on the page identify supporters and organizational branches, not necessarily prisoners.
Daily Worker, August 14, 1933; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Revolt, October 1932; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Baylin recalls an antiwar-leaflet arrest in 1928, with ILD bail and Leo Gallagher’s assistance. His accounts differ between about eight and twenty-four hours in custody.
In his oral history, Baylin recalled about thirty days in county jail pending deportation in 1930, followed by release on bail and representation by Leo Gallagher. He also recalled gaining U.S. citizenship before Judge Lloyd Burke in April 1971.
