Biography
William Z. Foster was the national chairman of the Communist Party USA and the lead-named defendant in the 1948 Smith Act indictment of the party's leadership. His case was severed because of a serious heart condition and he was never brought to trial, but he remained under indictment through the 1950s.
Foster's imprisonment and prosecution reach back well before the 1948 indictment. During the IWW free-speech fight at Spokane in 1909 and 1910 he was jailed for forty-seven days. On August 22, 1922 he was arrested at Chicago after federal and Michigan authorities raided the underground Communist Party convention at Bridgman, Michigan, and was the first Communist leader tried under Michigan's Criminal Syndicalism Act; his 1923 trial ended in a hung jury, divided six to six after more than thirty-one hours, and he served no sentence on it.
Western Worker, July 15, 1932, page 1, 5: The June 29 Los Angeles dispatch describes his arrest the preceding Tuesday, June 28, while addressing about five thousand Plaza protesters after the shooting of an unemployed worker. It reports him released on $10,000 bail pending habeas corpus sought by Leo Gallagher. This is a distinct 1932 arrest; the precise physical release day is unreported. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/westernworker/1932/v1n14-jul-15-1932.pdf
Daily Worker, September 11, 1925, page 2: The Labor Defense Day report identifies Foster and C. E. Ruthenberg as defendants in the Michigan proceedings and forthcoming Chicago speakers. It does not report a fresh arrest or a new completed trial outcome. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n206-NYE-sep-11-1925-DW-LOC.pdf
Allen’s memoir describes Foster’s 1928 southern election tour and his arrest with unnamed campaign workers at Wilmington, Delaware, after publicity demanded racial equality. Authorities treated the publicity as a breach of the peace. The memoir supplies the year and context but no exact custody endpoints or completed term. Source: https://www.marxists.org/archive/allen/organizing-south.pdf#page=22
The March 11, 1924 Daily Worker reports Foster’s January 11 Newark arrest while speaking at a Labor Defense Council meeting with Bishop Paul Jones, followed by Civil Liberties Union false-arrest suits. Officials later promised that lawful discussion meetings would not be obstructed. Foster’s proposed return speech was still prospective, and the report does not give his physical discharge or complete detention length. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1924/v01-n361-mar-11-1924-DW-LOC.pdf#page=4
Daily Worker, November 3, 1928, page 2: Richard B. Moore cites Foster’s arrest in Wilmington, Delaware, for denouncing lynching and demanding racial equality during the 1928 campaign. This contemporary reference corroborates the separately stored Wilmington episode without supplying its exact arrest day or final custody length. Identified campaign portraits on pages 1 and 8 are retained as candidates; an existing production portrait is preserved. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n261-NY-nov-03-1928-DW-LOC.pdf
Page 1’s Robert Minor birthday-banquet notice recalls Minor, Israel Amter, William Z. Foster and Harry Raymond serving six months at Welfare Island after the 1930 unemployed demonstration. This is a retrospective collective description of the known prosecution; no new custody episode, lifetime total or replacement of source-dated bail interruptions is inferred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n206-aug-28-1934-DW-LOC.pdf
John Howard Lawson’s birthday profile recalled Foster’s Philadelphia childhood, early stonecutting work and limited formal schooling, followed by work as a steamfitter, stationary engineer, seaman and logger. It connected his later organizing methods to the Philadelphia streetcar struggle and his decision to work within established unions. Lawson also recalled Foster’s 1914 meeting with Tom Mooney at Lucy Parsons’s home and his leadership in the 1919 steel strike. The profile’s conflicting chronology for other events is not used to replace independently established dates. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n049-Nat-feb-26-1935-DW-LOC.pdf#page=5
The Wilmington dispatch describes release early in the morning after an arrest the previous night during the election campaign. Its itinerary references leave a chronology ambiguity, so no exact arrest or discharge day or measured interval is assigned. This supplements the already recorded Wilmington case. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n247-NY-oct-18-1928-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The September 29,1930 Daily Worker, page 4, publishes his article Here Is Something New About the Soviet Union under prisoner number 52350 and explicitly states it was written at Hart’s Island Penitentiary. The article identifies him as Communist candidate for New York governor. This supplies a documented place and prison-writing context for the existing 1930 unemployed-delegation confinement, without treating publication day as admission or adding a new sentence. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v07-n234-NY-sep-29-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=4
The September 8, 1930 Laisve, page 5, reproduces an International Labor Defense political-prisoner directory. Its row prints Wm. Z. Foster, a term of 6 months–3 years, the year 1930 in the sentencing-year column, and confinement or correspondence location 800 Fordham Street, City Island, New York. This is an attributed historical directory entry; printed years and nominal terms are not exact intake dates or measured time served, and mailing boxes do not independently identify a prison. The directory contains stale or conflicting chronology, so this row does not override independently established conviction, death or release facts. Source: https://www.spauda2.org/laisve/archive/1930/1930-09-08-LAISVE.pdf#page=5
Daily Worker, January 4, 1935, page 5: In the quoted Harry Eisman memoir reviewed by Martha Campion, Foster is individually named among Foster, Minor, Raymond and Amter arrested in the March 6, 1930 unemployed-demonstration context. This is retrospective corroboration of the existing New York prosecution, without an additional arrest, exact sentence or custody endpoint inferred from the memoir. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n004-Nat-jan-04-1935-DW-LOC.pdf
The March 15, 1930 Daily Worker describes the five elected unemployed delegates appearing before Special Sessions and the Board of Estimate after their initial jail detention. The photo caption recalls refusal of bail and rearrest when bailed, while the news report and Foster meeting advertisement establish liberty before the planned March 24 trial. This is evidence of a pretrial bail gap, not proof of uninterrupted imprisonment from March 6 through later sentence; the exact bail-release day is not supplied here. The refusal of the defense requests for thirty or ten days to prepare is a procedural fact, not a completed sentence. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v06-n319-NY-mar-15-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1 and https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v06-n319-NY-mar-15-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
The July 18, 1930 Daily Worker identifies Foster, Minor and Amter as still jailed after the March 6 unemployment demonstration and announces that a Communist Party/TUUL delegation would visit Welfare Island that day to notify them of their election nominations. It records their continued confinement and the proposed notification visit, not a new arrest or an accomplished release. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v07-n172-NY-jul-18-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1 and https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v07-n172-NY-jul-18-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=2
The August14 report says ILD attorneys intended to seek permission to appeal to Justice Louis Brandeis because Harlan Stone was in Europe. It alleges the March6 unemployment defendants, despite misdemeanor accusations, had been held incommunicado, denied bail and refused jury trial. The Parole Commission recommended a six-month definite term (ten months for Raymond), but judicial confirmation remained necessary. The proposed October21 release for the three six-month defendants is not an accomplished discharge and cannot replace later verified endpoints. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v07-n195-NY-aug-14-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
Labor Defender, August 1932, printed page 152 (PDF page 12): Joseph North identifies Foster as Communist presidential candidate and recalls a six-month Welfare Island sentence associated with the March 6, 1930 Union Square unemployed demonstration. A separately captioned photograph shows Foster being fingerprinted after arrest and a police beating in Los Angeles, without dating that Los Angeles event. The two places are not collapsed into one arrest, and neither caption nor six-month imposed term establishes an exact full custody duration. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1932/v08n08-aug-1932-LD.pdf
Printed page 169 reports Los Angeles police pulling Foster from a speaking platform amid tear gas, holding him overnight and releasing him the next day to prevent his speech. It also describes separate Lawrence, Massachusetts street-speaking and Scranton, Pennsylvania hall-speaking arrests, the latter on disorderly-conduct charges. Those two locations are distinct from his existing Los Angeles episode, without exact individual custody dates. The caption identifies his visit to Edith Berkman in hospital confinement; existing portraits are retained. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1932/v08n09-sep-1932-LD.pdf
Grovers Newark history corroborates the January 1924 Broad-and-Market speaking arrest and the ACLU false-arrest suit for $30000. It separately describes canceled 1923 and February 1924 meetings; those cancellations alone do not establish additional arrests. Source: https://www.newarkhistorysociety.org/images/articles/resources/PDF/NHS-Communists-061813.pdf#page=7
Printed page 20 (PDF page 4) reports Foster again speaking in Denver for recognition of Soviet Russia after an earlier administration had driven him out of Colorado and barred his speaking. It connects free speech to the November election defeat of that administration. This corroborates political exclusion and subsequent speaking activity, without supplying a fresh arrest, a dated prison interval or a sentence. Printed pages 24 and 33 also identify his FSR advisory and publication-support roles. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/srp/v8n02-feb-1923-sov-rus-pict.pdf
Pages 2 and 5 repeat a release demand for Foster, Minor, Amter and Raymond, described as in prison for fighting for unemployment insurance. This is contemporary evidence of an ongoing defense campaign, not a new prosecution, exact gate-release date or additional numerical duration. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v07-n221-NAT-sep-13-1930-DW-LOC.pdf
The account of the March6 New York unemployed delegation states that City Hall arrest was followed by incommunicado detention, denial of counsel and bail, and fresh charges delaying release until March12. It dates trial April11 and return to the Tombs after conviction without bail. Predicted Sing Sing confinement is not proof of a transfer or completed term. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1930/v05n05-may-1930-LD.pdf#page=7
The September 15, 1930 Daily Worker, page 1, prints William Z. Foster’s signed column as prisoner No.52351 at Hart’s Island Prison. Earlier reports print conflicting prisoner numbers. This historical byline is retained without replacing the existing identifier, inferring a transfer date or adding a custody episode. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v07-n222-Nat-sep-15-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The July 1931 issue reports Foster as principal speaker at the June 19 anti-alien-registration protest at Detroit’s Olympia Auditorium, where the John Reed Club performed the pageant Undesirables. It also lists him in the honorary presidium of the June 14 New York Workers Cultural Federation conference; honorary selection does not establish attendance. Vern Smith’s Pittsburgh dispatch dated June 22 describes his address to a miners’ gathering at Cheswick before the Wildwood shooting. These are political activities, not additional arrests. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1931/v07n02-jul-1931-New-Masses.pdf#page=39
The June 1930 Labor Defender places William Z. Foster at Hart's Island during the unemployed-delegation imprisonment. It reports denial of bail pending appeal and announces a June 3 appeal argument and a separate felonious-assault hearing. These are a contemporary confinement snapshot and scheduled proceedings, not new convictions, completed release dates or total time served. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1930/v05n06-jun-1930-LD.pdf#page=9
The August 1 issue prints a joint statement attributed to the imprisoned New York unemployed delegates Foster, Minor, Amter and Raymond, calling on workers to join the anti-war demonstrations, oppose wage cuts and demand unemployment insurance. It links the prison statement to the March 6 unemployed demonstration. This is a dated record of political writing and activity during the existing case; it does not establish another arrest, a new jail admission or an actual release.
The Trade Union Unity Council requested permission for a committee to consult the imprisoned March 6 unemployed delegates on a municipal relief campaign, and sent its proposals to Foster, Minor, Amter and Raymond. The advertised parole dates and six- or ten-month recommendations are prospective, not proof of a physical release. Engdahl’s campaign announcement identifies Foster as still held at Hart’s Island; the visitation request refers to Welfare Island collectively, so no individual dated transfer is inferred from the differing location references.
The issue prints Commissioner R. C. Paterson’s reply confirming that the TUUC committee of five could not visit the imprisoned unemployed delegates as a body. Individual visits remained governed by the rule allowing one visitor at a time, two weeks apart. This is the documented refusal following the earlier request to consult on unemployment relief, not evidence of a new arrest or discharge. Proposed parole reductions remain prospective. His signed article The New Wave of Wage-Cutting identifies him as prisoner number 52350 and says it was written at Hart’s Island Penitentiary. This is a historical local prison number, not a federal BOP register number.
Contemporary labor and defense account, August 1925
Arne Swabeck’s “The Makers and Masters of Steel” credits Foster with the strategy of the 1919 steel organizing drive: simultaneous approaches against the Pittsburgh center. This contemporary account documents labor-organizing work and does not establish an additional arrest or prison admission.
Daily Worker, September 11, 1925; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, November 3, 1928; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, August 28, 1934; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The March 26 Detroit dispatch reports Judge White granting the prosecution’s request to revive the 1922 Bridgman criminal-syndicalism prosecution and set aside a previous separate-trials order. The ILD statement individually names Foster, Browder, Bedacht, William F. Dunne, Bloor, Minor and Rose Pastor Stokes among the indicted leaders. The suggested ten-year exposure is prospective, not a sentence imposed in 1931. The report supplies no new physical arrest, completed trial outcome or complete custody total.
Protest and trial announcements before April 11
The April 8 issue announces a protest for April 9 at the Central Opera House against the threatened imprisonment of the New York March 6 unemployment delegation. Its page 3 continuation anticipates trial that Friday, April 11, in Special Sessions before three judges without a jury and warns of possible six-year penalties. These are campaign announcements and threatened exposure before the proceedings, not proof of a completed trial, an imposed six-year term or an actual admission. An adjacent caption criticizes Chief Magistrate McAdoo’s refusal of bail; it does not date a new remand or erase the separately documented March 12 bail gap. Existing later verdict, sentencing, individual custody intervals and numerical storage are preserved, without treating release demands as evidence of uninterrupted detention.
Daily Worker, April 8, 1930, original pages 1, 3. Accounts and allegations are attributed to the newspaper; prospective proceedings are not treated as completed events.
Daily Worker, January 4, 1935; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The illustrated historical account, adapted from Foster’s first-person account of the 1919 steel strike, dates his Johnstown encounter to November 7. It describes a mob of roughly forty men holding guns against him, taking him to the depot, attempting to force a return-to-work card on him and putting him aboard a train under escort for several miles. This is an attributed account of actual extrajudicial detention and forced removal in 1919, separate from his Spokane, Bridgman and later cases. It does not describe a judicial charge, prison admission or measured detention total.
Labor Defender, August 1932; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Labor Defender, September 1932; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Soviet Russia Pictorial, February 1923; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, September 13, 1930; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
The June 30 Los Angeles dispatch reports Foster released the previous day, June 29, after the June 28 Plaza arrest. He describes a club blow in the police car, questioning and punching in a soundproof room, and middle-of-the-night release without formal charges. The latter is preserved alongside the earlier $10,000-bail report rather than silently replacing the discrepancy. His June 29 Phoenix appearance confirms freedom by then.
The June28 LosAngeles dispatch dates Foster’s arrest shortly after noon as he began speaking from an open car at the Plaza. It attributes arrest to CaptainHynes and says suspicion of criminal syndicalism was the reported allegation. Foster was dragged into a police car and taken to city jail. StanleyWarren and J.H.Dickson were in the speaking car, but this wording does not establish their arrest. The issue precedes Foster’s later release.
The June29 LosAngeles dispatch explicitly reports Foster released that day and attributes to Hynes an admission of insufficient evidence for criminal syndicalism. It reports a blow to Foster’s eye during removal and police treatment after arrest. This confirms the June29 physical release already recorded; protest pressure is the newspaper’s explanation, not a new court finding.
The Bridgman defense sought a change of venue for Foster and twenty-one others because Berrien County opinion had been inflamed. The prosecution’s bill listed 192 seized pamphlets and documents. A venue request and prospective trial are not a new conviction or prison term.
Jury selection was underway in the Bridgman trial. The prosecution withdrew three counts and retained voluntary assembling with an organization alleged to advocate criminal syndicalism. Prosecutor Charles W. Gore, Assistant Attorney General O. L. Smith, Judge Charles E. White and defense attorneys Frank P. Walsh and Humphrey S. Gray are identified. This is a preliminary narrowing of counts, not a final acquittal.
The issue reports the four elected unemployed delegates still confined and prints Commissioner R. C. Paterson’s August 21 letter denying repeated political conferences in prison. It permits ordinary individual screened visits and correspondence while recalling the earlier Welfare Island nomination ceremony. This is contemporary confinement and visiting-policy evidence; it does not erase pretrial bail gaps, prove a fresh admission, or replace later established release dates.
A March 24, 1930 pretrial hearing report
The March 25, 1930 Daily Worker names William Z. Foster among the five New York unemployment delegates whose Special Sessions hearing the previous day was continued to April 11. It reports police excluding spectators and a proposed labor jury, and describes defense attorney Joseph Brodsky seeking time to prepare witnesses and moving pictures of police violence. In this March 24 hearing, the report identifies Assistant District Attorney Unger as opposing a longer delay and Judge Voorhees as denying it. These are hearing-specific roles, not a finding that Unger was the sole prosecutor at the later trial or that Voorhees replaced the separately recorded trial panel. April 11 was still a future hearing date. The newspaper’s rhetoric about the period since arrest is not evidence of continuous imprisonment across the separately documented March 12 bail release; no new admission, discharge, conviction or numerical custody total is inferred.
Daily Worker, March 25, 1930, original pages 1 and 3. Allegations and courtroom descriptions are attributed to this contemporary newspaper.
