Harvey O'Connor (29 March 1897 – 29 August 1987) was an American radical

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

newspaper editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...

, author, and political activist. The author of nearly a dozen books in his lifetime, O'Connor is best remembered for his activity in the 1919 Seattle General Strike and as a memoirist about early 20th Century politics in

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

Biography

Early years

Harvey O'Connor was born March 29, 1897, in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, the son of a railway cook.Solon DeLeon with Irma C. Hayssen and Grace Poole (eds.), ''The American Labor Who's Who.'' New York: Hanford Press, 1925; pg. 176. He attended public school in neighboring

St. Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

before relocating with his family to

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

, where he completed

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in 1914. Owing to the death of his father and his mother's need for financial support, O'Connor went to work in various lumber camps as a logger after graduation rather than continuing his education.Harvey O'Connor, ''Revolution in Seattle: A Memoir.'' New York: Monthly Review Press, 1964; dust jacket biography. There he joined the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

, a radical

industrial union Industrial unionism is a trade union organising method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ba ...

espousing the doctrine of

syndicalism Syndicalism is a labour movement within society that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through Strike action, strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goa ...

— the overthrow of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

in favor of rule by industrially-defined workers organizations.

Political career

O'Connor was the editor of the left wing ''Seattle Daily Call'' during its short-lived existence in 1917 and 1918. Thereafter, he took a position as the editor and business manager of the ''Farmer-Labor Call'' of

Centralia, Washington Centralia () is a city in Lewis County, Washington, Lewis County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. It is located along Interstate 5 in Washington, Interstate 5 near the midpoint between Seattle and Portland, Oregon. The city had a ...

. During the 1919 Seattle General Strike which shut down the city for nearly a week during the month of February, O'Connor played a role producing leaflets and agitating on behalf of the strike. His activities caught the attention of the authorities, which subsequently indicted him for criminal anarchy. O'Connor was never brought to trial, however, owing to the loss of a

test case In software engineering, a test case is a specification of the inputs, execution conditions, testing procedure, and expected results that define a single test to be executed to achieve a particular software testing objective, such as to exercise ...

by the state on a similar complaint. In 1921, O'Connor went to work as a department editor at the ''

Seattle Union Record The ''Seattle Union Record'' was a union-owned newspaper edited by Harry Ault. The paper was published weekly from February 20, 1900 to April 2, 1918 and was published daily from April 24, 1918 until it discontinued publication in 1928. In its ...

,'' a daily produced by the Seattle

labor movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

under the editorship of his friend E.B. "Harry" Ault. He stayed with this paper until 1924. In 1924, O'Connor left the ''Union Record'' to move to

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, to take a position as assistant editor of the ''Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers' Journal,'' the monthly magazine of the BLE. O'Connor next went to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1927 to head the New York bureau of the

Federated Press ''This is not to be confused with the independent, research-based organization of Toronto, Canada, also called that targets executives, lawyers, professionals.'' The Federated Press was a left wing news agency, news service, established in 1920, ...

, a left wing press agency which supplied material to newspapers of the labor movement and left wing political organizations around the country. He remained in this position until 1930. When he joined the newspaper,

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer and intelligence agent. After early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), he defected from the Soviet u ...

later realized that "Harvey O'Connor was then effective editor of the ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPU ...

''."

Later years

In later years, O'Connor was a professional author, writing a number of non-fiction books accentuating the lifestyles of the rich and powerful and the difficult situation of the

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

for commercial publishers. Some of his publications include ''Mellon's Millions,'' ''The Astors,'' ''The Guggenheims,'' ''History of the Oil Workers International,'' and ''The Empire of Oil.'' O'Connor remained politically active throughout his life, serving as chairman of the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee from 1954 to 1963 and as chairman of the National Committee to Abolish the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

in 1964. O'Connor was a sponsor of the

Fair Play for Cuba Committee The Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC) was an activist group set up in New York City by Robert Taber in April 1960. The FPCC's purpose was to provide grassroots support for the Cuban Revolution against attacks by the United States government. I ...

. In 1964, O'Connor published his memoirs, regarded by historians as an important work detailing the history of the radical movement of Washington state during the first decades of the 20th century.

Personal and death

O'Connor married Jessie Lloyd O'Connor, a fellow journalist and social activist, born in Winnetka, Illinois, on February 14, 1904, and granddaughter of

Henry Demarest Lloyd Henry Demarest Lloyd (May 1, 1847 – September 28, 1903) was an American journalist and political activist who was a prominent muckraker during the Progressive Era. He is best known for his exposés of Standard Oil which were written before Ida ...

(1847–1903), a 19th-century American progressive political activist and pioneer muckraking journalist. On August 29, 1987, he died of heart failure at his home in

Little Compton, Rhode Island Little Compton is a coastal town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, bounded on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by the Sakonnet River, on the north by the town of Tiverton, Rhode Island, Tiverton, and on the east by the t ...

. (Jesse died a little over a year later on December 24, 1988, in Fall River, Massachusetts.)

Legacy

O'Connor's papers reside at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

Works

* ''How Mellon Got Rich'' (New York:

International Publishers International Publishers is a book publishing company based in New York City, specializing in Marxism, Marxist works of economics, political science, and history. Company history Establishment International Publishers Company, Inc., was founde ...

, 1933) * ''Mellon's Millions, the Biography of a Fortune: The Life and Times of Andrew W. Mellon'' (New York: John Day Co., 1933) * ''Steel — Dictator'' (New York: John Day Co., 1935) * ''The Guggenheims: The Making of an American Dynasty'' (New York: Covici Friede, 1937) * ''The Astors'' (New York:

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

, 1941) * ''History of Oil Workers International Union (CIO)'' (Denver:

Oil Workers International Union An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

(CIO), 1950) * ''The Empire of Oil'' (New York:

Monthly Review Press The ''Monthly Review'' is an independent Socialism, socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. Established in 1949, the publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States. History Establishment ...

, 1955) * ''For Abolition of the Inquisitorial Committees of Congress: A Pamphlet'' (New York: Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, 1957) * ''New Light on Iraq'' (London: Union of Democratic Control, n.d. . 1958 * ''McCarthy Goes Marching On: An Appeal to the British Public'' (London: Union of Democratic Control, n.d. . 1960 * ''World Crisis in Oil'' (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1962) * ''Revolution in Seattle: A Memoir'' (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1964)