Biography
Pete Turney was a Black Birmingham worker and union activist imprisoned for possessing a leaflet that called a police official a rat. Police arrested him with other workers during an October 1934 raid over possession of literature. The initial charges were dismissed on November 3, but he was rearrested for criminal libel. He served time on an Alabama chain gang while the International Labor Defense supported his wife and children. In a prison letter published in December 1935, he thanked the organization for helping his family, asked about the union's progress and said that 125 days remained on his term.
Daily Worker, November 30, 1934: Page 1 (scan-confirmed spelling, misrecognized as Turley in native text) reports that the International Labor Defense announced on November 29 its intention to appeal his criminal-libel conviction for possessing an ILD leaflet calling red-squad members rats. This documents a planned appeal within the existing prosecution, not a successful reversal, new sentence or release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n286-NAT-nov-30-1934-DW-LOC.pdf
Daily Worker, January 21, 1935: Page 3 names Turney among Black Birmingham workers sentenced for possessing literature and supported by the ILD in its campaign against the Downs ordinance. This corroborates the existing literature prosecution without a second sentence, completed appeal or release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n018-Nat-jan-21-1935-DW-LOC.pdf
The Daily Worker, November 14, 1934, page 3, “2 Year Term Given Negro In Alabama,” in a Birmingham November 13 dispatch, names him as Peter Turney and reports conviction the previous day, November 12, on two criminal-libel counts, with a two-year imprisonment sentence. It connects the prosecution to a circulated leaflet criticizing Professor Wood of the Ensley Council School and naming officer J. T. Moser, who had raided Turney’s home approximately three weeks earlier. The newspaper describes the evidence as framed. It reports that ILD attorney C. B. Powell filed an appeal application; no completed reversal or release is established. The two-year imposed term is not treated as time actually served. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n272-NAT-nov-14-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
A signed letter printed in the October 1936 Labor Defender reports Turney home and free with his family. Its accompanying caption explicitly states that he had just been released after serving twenty-one months on an Alabama chain gang. This is a source-reported completed period, distinct from his nominal two-year sentence. No exact release day or month is supplied. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1936/v12-%5B10%5Dn10-oct-1936-orig-LD.pdf#page=23
Turney’s signed October 1936 letter reports he was at home with his wife and children, had a job and hoped to resume ILD work after twenty-one months away. He names baby Mary and thanks the ILD for her shoes and the family’s support. The editor explicitly says he had just been released after twenty-one months on an Alabama chain gang. This confirms accomplished release by the issue’s reporting time, but supplies no exact calendar day and does not justify replacing earlier sentence figures with an exact-day total. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1936/v12-%5B10%5Dn10-oct-1936-orig-LD.pdf#page=23
Daily Worker, November 30, 1934; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, January 21, 1935; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The October 25 Birmingham dispatch published October 26, 1934, page 2, reports a raid on Dave London's home, seizure of a printing machine and leaflets criticizing detective J. T. Moser, and arrests of London, Pete Turney, Will Sullen, John Dailey and Wheeler Thomas. The group was charged with possessing/publishing Communist literature and criminal libel. All five were out on bond by the dispatch, and the case was continued to November 2. That date was prospective, not a verdict or new arrest. The officer's alleged death threat and political motive are attributed to the newspaper. No exact arrest or bail-release day or complete actual duration is supplied. This bail-ended October episode precedes his separately documented November 3 rearrest; the two custody periods are not merged.
The November 4 Birmingham brief reports dismissal of radical-literature charges and release of the workers arrested about two weeks earlier, individually naming Fanny and Andrew Poole. It then says Pete Turney was rearrested for criminal libel. This supports the distinction already recorded between the October raid prosecution and November 3 rearrest; it does not collapse the bail/dismissal interruption into continuous custody or establish an additional sentence here.
