Olivin "Olive" Malmberg Johnson (March 14, 1872 – June 16, 1954) was an American
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
, newspaper editor and political activist. She is best remembered as a long-time editor of the weekly English-language newspaper of the
Socialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...
.
Biography
Olivin Malberg was born March 14, 1872 in
Lund, Sweden
Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...
, the daughter of a merchant. The family emigrated to the United States in the 1890s,
[Ben Perry, "Olive M. Johnson," in ]Mari Jo Buhle
Mari Jo Buhle (born 1943) is an American historian and William R. Kenan Jr., William J. Kenan Jr. University Professor Emerita at Brown University.
Early life and education
Buhle was born in 1943 as Mari Jo Kupski. She graduated from North Chi ...
, Paul Buhle
Paul Merlyn Buhle (born September 27, 1944) is a (retired) Senior Lecturer at Brown University, author or editor of 35 volumes including histories of radicalism in the United States and the Caribbean, studies of popular culture, and a series of ...
and Dan Georgakas
Dan Georgakas ( el, Νταν Γεωργακάς; 1938–2021) was an American anarchist poet and historian, who specialized in oral history and the American labor movement, best known for the publication ''Detroit: I do mind dying: A study in u ...
(eds.), ''Encyclopedia of the American Left.'' First Edition. New York: Garland Publishing, 1990; pg. 394. with Olive graduating
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
in
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
.
[Solon DeLeon with Irma C. Hayssen and Grace Poole (eds.), ''The American Labor Who's Who.'' New York: Hanford Press, 1925; pg. 117.]
Olive joined the
Socialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...
(SLP) in 1895. She acted as a lecturer and speaker on behalf of the party beginning in 1898.
She worked variously as a retail clerk, restaurant worker, office worker, housekeeper, and teacher.
Malmberg was married to another member party member by the name of Johnson, took his name, and moved with him to
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. The Johnsons' marriage eventually ended, but as was the custom of the day, Olive kept her former husband's surname after its dissolution. She never remarried.
Johnson attended
Hunter College
Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, from which she obtained a
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in 1916, at the age of 44. She later did graduate course work at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
.
Political career
Johnson was a close friend and trusted political associate of party leader
Daniel DeLeon
Daniel De Leon (; December 14, 1852 – May 11, 1914), alternatively spelt Daniel de León, was a Curaçaoan-American socialist newspaper editor, politician, Marxist theoretician, and trade union organizer. He is regarded as the forefather ...
(1852–1914). She was first elected a member of the governing National Executive Committee of the SLP in 1904, remaining in that capacity until 1912. She joined DeLeon as a delegate of the SLP to the
1910 Copenhagen Congress of the
Second International
The Second International (1889–1916) was an organisation of socialist and labour parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued th ...
and was a delegate to many of the SLP's quadrennial national conventions, beginning in 1904.
Johnson was also close to
Arnold Petersen
Arnold Petersen (April 16, 1885 – February 5, 1976) was the National Secretary of the Socialist Labor Party of America from 1914 to 1969. Petersen played a major role as spokesman for that party and as a promoter of the De Leonist version of Mar ...
(1885–1976), the Danish-born successor to Daniel DeLeon's mantle as top leader of the Socialist Labor Party. In 1918, Johnson became editor of the SLP's official newspaper, ''
The Weekly People,'' replacing
Edmund Seidel, who had begun advocating a merger with the leftward tilting
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
. She remained in that position for 20 years, also writing many articles and pamphlets on behalf of the party. A number of Johnson's pamphlets were translated into Swedish, Hungarian, Ukrainian, and Croatian by the various
foreign language federations of the SLP.
As editor of the SLP's official organ, Johnson continued to advocate a harsh line towards other political organizations on the left. Historian Ben Perry notes:
"Her editorial positions were especially hostile to the Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
and Socialist parties and the anti-political 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 ...
, but she also condemned the CIO as well as non-revolutionary movements such as the cooperative movement
The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement bega ...
and the New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
. She was very active during this period, not only as editor, but also as a pamphlet writer, speaker, and candidate for public office."
On the SLP ticket, Johnson ran for
Governor of New York
The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...
in
1918
This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide.
Events
Below, the events ...
, for
Mayor of New York City
The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...
in
1929
This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...
, and for
U.S. Senator from New York
Below is a list of U.S. senators who have represented the State of New York in the United States Senate since 1789. The date of the start of the tenure is either the first day of the legislative term (Senators who were elected regularly before th ...
in
1934
Events
January–February
* January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established.
* January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...
.
Johnson was elected by the SLP as its fraternal delegate to the
3rd World Congress of the
Communist International
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...
in 1922, but was refused a passport to travel by the American government.
In the early 1930s Johnson contracted
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
, a disease which sapped her vitality, and she was forced to handle the editorial tasks of ''The Weekly People'' more and more from her home.
In 1938 she retired from editing the newspaper.
Death and legacy
Olive M. Johnson died in
Malibu, California
Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...
on June 16, 1954, at 82 years of age. Her ashes were scattered at
Topanga Canyon
Topanga () (Tongva: ''Topaa'nga'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located in the Santa Monica Mountains, the community exists in Topanga Canyon and the surrounding hills. The narrow s ...
, California where she had lived with her brother Nils Malmberg for several years.
Works
* ''Woman and the Socialist Movement: Published Under the Auspices of the Socialist Women of Greater New York.'' New York: New York Labor News Co., 1908. (Reissued 1919).
* ''Americanism: An Open Letter to the Board of Education, New York.'' New York : Socialist Labor Party, 1920.
* ''Revolution: "Dictatorship" and "Suppression" Incidental to Social Progress.'' New York: Socialist Labor Party, 1923.
''Daniel De Leon, American Socialist Pathfinder.''New York: New York Labor News Co., 1923.
* ''The Cooperative Movement: An Infantile Disorder and an Old-Age Disease.'' New York: New York Labor News Co., 1924.
* ''The Socialist Party: A Quarter Century Later: From the Kangaroo Exodus to La Follette.'' New York: Socialist Labor Party, 1924.
* ''Karl Marx: Forty years After (1883-1923).'' With Daniel DeLeon. New York: Socialist Labor Party, 1924.
* ''The Soviet Revolution, 1917-1927: A Historical Comparison.'' New York: Socialist Labor Party, 1927.
* ''Russia in Revolution: Selected Editorials.'' With Daniel DeLeon. New York: New York Labor News Co., 1927.
* ''The Reform Vote versus the Revolutionary Vote: The Socialist Party - Workers (Communist) Party: Petty Bourgeois Twins Contrasted with the Revolutionary Socialist Labor Party.'' New York: Socialist Labor Party, 1929.
* ''The Spy in the Labor Movement: Essays.'' With Paul LaFargue. New York: Socialist Labor Party, 1929.
* ''Industrial Government: Industrial Feudal Autocracy versus Industrial Democracy.'' With Arnold Petersen. New York: New York Labor News Co., 1930.
* ''The Socialist Labor Party during Four Decades: 1890-1930.'' With Henry Kuhn. New York: New York Labor News Co., 1931.
* ''Americanism: Reaction Subverting the Constitution and the American Tradition.'' New York: Socialist Labor Party, 1935.
* ''Industrial Unionism.'' With Thomas Grady. New York: New York Labor News Co., 1935.
* ''The Virus of Anarchy: Bakuninism vs. Marxism.'' With Arnold Petersen. New York: New York Labor News Co., 1935.
* ''May Day vs. Labor Day: A Comparison of the Social Significance of the Two Days of Labor Celebration.'' New York: New York Labor News Co., 1936.
* ''Revolution.'' With Arnold Petersen. New York: New York Labor News Co., 1936.
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Olive
1872 births
1952 deaths
American socialists
American Marxists
Socialist Labor Party of America politicians from New York (state)
American newspaper editors
Swedish emigrants to the United States
People from Lund
California socialists
New York (state) socialists
Minnesota socialists