Biography
Richard Brazier was an Industrial Workers of the World organizer, General Executive Board member and former Spokane-based officer of the union, prosecuted in the federal government's mass Chicago IWW case during the First World War. He joined the IWW in 1908 and became a national organizer. Convicted of conspiracy under wartime federal law, he was sentenced on August 30, 1918 to twenty years and fined $20,000, and served at Leavenworth Penitentiary as inmate 13103. He had already been held since about September 1917, and remained in federal custody until August 3, 1923, when he was handed to the immigration authorities for deportation. The Industrial Worker of May 1923 gives his birthday as May 18; no birth year is recorded.
The National Archives index confirms the inmate number. NARA notes that most Leavenworth files of this period contain a mugshot, so his file is worth requesting.
Daily Worker, September 11, 1925, page 6: The New York Labor Defense Day notice identifies Dick Brazier as a former Leavenworth IWW prisoner still under deportation charges and scheduled to speak. This supports the distinction between deportation proceedings and an executed removal; it does not establish a new confinement or completed deportation. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n206-NYE-sep-11-1925-DW-LOC.pdf
The March 1920 One Big Union Monthly prisoner roster, under the printed name BRAZIER , RICHARD, reports: Federal . Indicted Chicago , Sept. 28 , 1917. Conspiracy to violate Sections 6 , 19 and 37 and Section 4 of Espionage Act. Convicted , 20 year sentence , $ 10,000 bond . Leavenworth Federal prison. This is the contemporary labor organization’s account. Indictment, bail and imposed sentence are distinguished from physical admission, actual release and complete time served; no missing custody endpoint is inferred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/one-big-union-monthly/v02n03-mar-1920_One%20Big%20Union.pdf#page=7
Daily Worker, September 11, 1925; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
White uses Brazier’s Leavenworth disciplinary history to illustrate punishment for defiance, including insolence, greeting other inmates, lateness for bugle call and refusal to break rocks. These are reported prison disciplinary matters, not independent criminal convictions or a new custody interval.
Ahmed White, Under the Iron Heel (University of California Press, 2022), physical PDF pages [204, 205] (printed page = physical minus 11); source193 SHA256 7c24fb0ba336fcbf379fb9720f70dcdbf754d796a50dee77b39e38e0f9bd2868.
The March1922 official report lists Richard Brazier in List1 of convicted prisoners or parolees. The government entry reports Conspiracy and violating the espionage act, etc. a sentence of August 30, 1918, 20 years, Leavenworth; fined $20,000.. Imposed terms, projected term-expiration dates, parole eligibility and intervals on bond are different measures; none is entered as a complete actual custody total. This attributed government entry is retained alongside the independently established individual chronology. [PDF5]
Government Prosecutions under the Espionage Act, Senate Document159 (March1922), PDF page 5.
