Anna Louise Strong: Journalist, Poet, and Radical Activist
Anna Louise Strong (1885-1970)
Anna Louise Strong was a journalist, activist, and author of over 30 books and countless articles. The daughter of a Congregationalist minister who was a pacifist and practitioner of the social gospel, Anna Louise was educated at Oberlin College, Bryn Mawr, and the University of Chicago, where she earned a PhD. After graduation, Strong joined the National Child Labor Committee and organized child welfare exhibits throughout the country from 1910 to 1912.
Strong lived in Seattle from 1916 to 1921; a period of radicalizing events, including the Everett Massacre and trial (1916), and the Seattle General Strike (1919). In Seattle, she began her journalism career and wrote for the Seattle Union Record. Strong was elected to the Seattle School Board but was recalled in 1918. In the wake of these events, Strong left to seek socialism in practice and was based in the Soviet Union from 1921 to 1940, spending part of the year there and returning annually to the US for lecture tours.
Strong also became one of the first Western journalists to cover the Communist revolution in China, and visited frequently between 1925 and 1947. Strong gained the trust of Chinese Communist leaders, including Chou En-lai and Mao Tse-tung, through her interviews. It was in Strong’s 1946 interview with Mao that he first used the expression “paper tiger” to describe the US.
Strong’s enthusiasm for the Chinese revolution may have led to her imprisonment and expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1949. After her expulsion, she was shunned by American Communists and denied a passport by the US government. She moved to California, where she wrote, lectured and invested in real estate. She was cleared finally of the Soviets’ charges against her in 1955, and returned to China when she regained her passport in 1958. During the latter part of her life, Strong was honored and revered by the Chinese, one of the few Westerners with entry to China after the revolution and one of the last “Old China Hands” to remain in the good graces of the Chinese through the cultural revolution. The Chinese leaders considered her their unofficial spokesperson to the English speaking world, and she lived there until her death in 1970, when she was given a state funeral.
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Anna Louise Strong papers. Accession no. 1309-001, Box 4/40. Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.
In her early years, Anna Louise Strong was active in the anti-child labor and children’s welfare movement. After earning her PhD. at the University of Chicago, Anna Louise Strong joined the National Child Labor Committee, organizing child welfare exhibits from 1910-1912. These exhibits traveled across the country, educating the public on caring for the health and welfare of infants and children. Strong wrote several publications about these exhibits, including the bulletin on display, providing instruction on how to create a child welfare exhibit and their importance.
Anna Louise Strong papers. Accession no. 1309-001, Box 8/1. Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.
This booklet, featuring a statement from Strong herself, argues against the 1918 recall of Strong from the Seattle School Board. Strong’s advocacy of anti-poverty programs, opposition to World War I, and support of IWW members jailed in the wake of the Everett Massacre in late 1916 led to a backlash from more conservative factions in Seattle, and she was recalled from the board in 1918.
Anna Louise Strong papers. Accession no. 1309-001, Box 33/15. Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.
In 1916, Strong was elected to the Seattle School Board with the support of women’s groups and organized labor. Strong’s academic credentials and work on behalf of child welfare helped her win by a wide margin.
Anna Louise Strong papers. Accession no. 1309-001, Box 15/10. Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.
In the above poems from a September 1919 issue of the Seattle Union Record, Strong details the political climate of patriotism inspired by World War I, the suppression of internal dissent and radicals, and a wave of populist uprisings in the wake of the 1917 Russian Revolution. In the first poem, “The Men in Power,” Strong recounts President Woodrow Wilson’s visit to Seattle on September 13, 1919 during his whistle stop tour to garner support for the peace treaty ending World War I and for the creation of the League of Nations. Wilson was not greeted with enthusiasm by the bulk of the Seattle labor movement. In the second poem, Strong lampoons the idea of suppression of free speech, critical thought, and dissent as being “patriotic” and equated with Bolshevism.
Portraits collection. PH Coll 0563. University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.
As a journalist, Strong covered the Everett Massacre of 1916 and the trial of Thomas H. Tracy, the sole IWW member of those arrested following the tragedy to stand trial. In this article, Strong summarizes witness testimony and describes the defense team’s central question: “Did the IWW in Everett ever resist arrest? Did any of them actually use violence?” Strong argued that most of the witnesses could not answer “yes” to this question. The article discusses the Beverly Park Incident on October 30, 1916. In this episode of extralegal violence, Snohomish County Sheriff McRae and citizen deputies abducted and severely beat a group of IWW members who had held a free speech rally in Everett earlier that day. The article argues that this incident gave impetus to the IWW’s attempt to mount another free speech fight on November 5th. Witnesses aboard the Verona described the IWWs as “orderly, well-behaved, even good natured, and ma[king] no threats”—a stark contrast to the prosecution’s portrayal of Wobblies as slovenly, unruly aggressors. In the end, charges were dropped against Tracy and 73 Wobblies arrested for being aboard the Verona.
Anna Louise Strong papers. Accession no. 1309-001, Box 4/40. Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.
In the 1910s, active in the child labor reform movement, Anna Louise Strong worked as a clerk for the Children’s Bureau of the Department of Labor. On display is Strong’s certification card from the bureau from 1914.
Anna Louise Strong papers. Accession no. 1309-001, Box 20/2. Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.
Anna Louise Strong visited China often in the 1920s through the 1940s, meeting and interviewing Chinese communist leaders, including Mao Tse-tung. The verso of this photograph identifies the child in the photograph as the “daughter of Mao.”
Anna Louise Strong papers. Accession no. 1309-001, Box 19/20. Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.
After her participation in the Seattle General Strike, Strong was inspired to seek examples of socialism in practice, touring the Soviet Union and China for the next two decades.