Oscar Coover

Oscar Coover (October 7, 1887 - May 3, 1950) was an American union organizer and founding member of the Socialist Workers Party.

Biography

Coover was born in Republic, Missouri and worked as a railroad electrician until 1924. ^[1] In 1919, Coover met Carl Skoglund who convinced him to join the Communist Party. ^[2] During the Great Railroad Strike of 1922, Coover was the secretary of the Pullman and Great Western R.R. Employees' Strike Committee. ^[3] The Communist Party expelled Coover in 1928 because of Trotskyist sympathies. ^[4] Coover became a founding member of the Socialist Workers Party, along with Vincent Dunne and James P. Cannon. ^[5]

In 1941, Coover was indicted along with twenty-eight other SWP leaders and charged under the Smith Act. ^[6] In December 1941, Coover was found guilty of violating the Smith Act and was sentenced to sixteen months in prison. ^[7] He died in New York, at Lenox Hospital, from spinal encephalitis. ^[8]

References

1. "OSCAR COOVER, 62, A LABOR LEADER; Former Organizer for Railway Unions Dies--Long Active in Socialist Workers Party (Published 1950)". The New York Times. 1950-05-04. p. 26. Retrieved 2025-09-06.
2. Blackstock, Nelson (November 18, 1988). "Oscar Coover, Jr: communist activist, leader for 50 years". The Militant. p. 4.
3. "Thumbnail Biographies of 18 Convicted". The Militant. December 20, 1941. p. 2.
4. "Oscar Coover, Socialist Workers Leader, Dies". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. May 4, 1950. pp. 6C.
5. Haverty-Stacke, Donna T. (2023). Trotskyists on Trial: Free Speech and Political Persecution Since the Age of FDR. New York: NYU Press. p. 11. ISBN   9781479849628.
6. Alexander, Robert J. (1991). International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement. Duke University Press. p. 822. ISBN   0822309750.
7. "18 Are Sentenced in Sedition Trial". The New York Times. December 9, 1941. p. 64.
8. Preis, Art (May 8, 1950). "Oscar Coover, Pioneer American Trotskyist, Dies" (PDF). The Militant. p. 1.