June Croll (1901-1967) was a U.S. labor organizer most active during the interwar years.

Biography

June Croll was born Sonia Croll in 1901 in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

in the Ukraine region of Russia. During her girlhood, she emigrated illegally to Canada and then to the United States, where by the age of 12 she was working in the garment industry in New York City. It is not certain when she changed her name from Sonia to June. Croll became involved in trade unionism, organizing textile and millinery workers and leading strikes. She joined the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

and by 1935 was secretary of the Anti-Nazi Federation. She later became the executive director of the Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women’s Clubs (ELF). The ELF was a progressive organization formed by

Clara Lemlich Clara Lemlich Shavelson (March 28, 1886 – July 12, 1982) was a leader of the Uprising of 20,000, the massive strike of shirtwaist workers in New York's garment industry in 1909, where she spoke in Yiddish and called for action. Later bl ...

and others to provide relief to victims of World War II, to combat antisemitism, and to provide educational programs on Jewish identity and women's rights. Croll still held this job at the time of her death in 1967. Her communist beliefs and labor activism made her a target of

McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...

. An attempt was made to deport her, and she was called to testify before the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

. She died in 1967.

Personal life

Croll married Carl Reeve, the executive chairman of the Communist Party of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Reeve was the son of labor organizer

Ella Reeve Bloor Ella Reeve "Mother" Bloor (July 8, 1862 – August 10, 1951) was an American labor organizer and long-time activist in the socialist and communist movements. Bloor is best remembered as one of the top-ranking female functionaries in the Communis ...

. Croll later divorced him and had a long relationship with African-American journalist Eugene Gordon, starting in the 1930s. She traveled to the Soviet Union with Gordon in 1937-38. She married Gordon after he divorced his first wife in 1942. At times she used the alias "Mrs.

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

", possibly to confuse U.S. immigration authorities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, June 1901 births 1967 deaths Odesa Jews American women trade unionists Jewish women activists American communists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Canada Canadian emigrants to the United States Jewish American trade unionists Jewish communists Jewish anti-fascists Victims of McCarthyism Jews from the Russian Empire