Luella Twining (November 14, 1871 - December 22, 1939) was a journalist, labor organizer and Socialist politician. Twining presided over the ratification meeting during the first convention of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...

, representing the American Federal Union. At this convention she was a major advocate of a May 1st "labor day" holiday for workers, stating "We do not want a capitalist Labor Day. Let us have a labor day of our own. Let us have an international labor day, the first day of May." Twining was known as "The Joan of Arc of the working class" in the early part of the 20th century, a title she shared with Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. Twining organized 18,000 women during a general strike in Philadelphia. She was on the payroll of the Western Federation of Miners in 1907-1908 as a solicitor of the defense and frequently would speak on labor topics as their representative. She toured the country with Bill Haywood, as his manager, in 1908. She was also a sought-after public speaker on topics such as class conflict and improvement of labor conditions for women. She wrote for many labor and socialist papers including writing about the

Cherry Mine Disaster The Cherry Mine disaster was a fire in the Cherry, Illinois, coal mine in 1909, and surrounding events, in which 259 men and boys died. The disaster stands as the third most deadly in American coal mining history. History Background The Cherry ...

and other topics for the Appeal to Reason newspaper.

Political activities

In 1906 she ran for U.S. Congress from Colorado, as a Socialist. In 1910 she was a delegate to the International Socialist Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was elected to the Women's National Committee of the Socialist party in 1912. She ran for election in California's 6th congressional district in 1918 as a Socialist. In 1921 she was living in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

and rented a room to Alfred Korzybski. by 1930 she was living in Santa Monica California where she would live the rest of her life. Her census profile describes her as a writer of books.

Personal life

Twining was born in 1871 in

Washington, Iowa Washington is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Iowa, United States. It is part of the Iowa City, Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,352 at the time of the 2020 census. History Washington was founded in 1 ...

to Edward and Florence Conger Twining. She died in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

of cancer in 1939.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twining, Luella 1871 births 1939 deaths American feminist writers American political writers American socialists Industrial Workers of the World leaders American trade unionists Socialist feminists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American writers American political women Western Federation of Miners people