William F. Dunne
Encyclopedia
William Francis "Bill" Dunne (18871953) was an American
Marxist political activist and trade union
ist. He is best remembered as the editor of the radical Butte Bulletin around the turn of the 1920s and as an editor of the daily newspaper of the Communist Party USA
from the middle-1920s through the 1930s. Dunne was founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America, but was removed from the national leadership of the party in 1934 and expelled in 1946 on charges of factionalism.
, the son of an Irish
immigrant father and a French-Canadian mother. His father was a railroad worker.
Dunne grew up in Minnesota
and attended the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, a private, Roman Catholic institution. Dunne was forced to leave school in 1907 due to a financial panic, however. Dunne went to work on the Northern Pacific Railroad as an electrician, making a home in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
.
During World War I
, Dunne returned to the United States from Canada, settling in Butte, Montana
.
Dunne later joined the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
Dunne was married to a woman named Marguerite. The couple had one son, killed by an automobile in 1925.
in 1910.
Dunne was elected Vice-President of the Montana Federation of Labor during World War I
. Dunne also edited the Butte Bulletin, a paper established in December 1917 by the Montana Federation of Labor. Dunne stood down from this position in 1918 to run for political office and resumed the position following the end of his term of office in 1920, remaining at the post until 1921.
In 1918, Dunne was arrested on charges of sedition for an anti-militarist
editorial in the Bulletin. His trial finally began on February 20, 1919, in Helena
, with his defense team led by Burton K. Wheeler
. Following a three day trial, during which Dunne was blasted as a "Bolshevist and an agitator," Dunn was convicted and fined $5,000. This conviction was overturned by the Montana Supreme Court
in May 1920, however, on the grounds of judicial error. The judge in the case had not allowed the defense to ask prospective jurors whether they could vote for acquittal if they should entertain a reasonable doubt that Dunne's editorial was "calculated to incite or inflame resistance" to the Montana state council of defense.
In the fall of 1918, Dunne was elected as a Democrat to the Montana
State Legislature in 1918, serving in that capacity through 1920.
In the fall 1919, with the split of the Socialist Party into socialist and communist factions, Dunne made his exit to become a founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America, bringing the Butte Local with him into the new organization.
In 1920, Dunne ran for mayor of Butte, but was the victim of electoral chicanery which denied him the seat.
Despite his long tenure in the movement, Dunne was always regarded as a bit of a loose cannon in the Communist movement, as historian Theodore Draper
recounts:
Dunne was a delegate to the ill-fated August 1922 convention
of the Communist Party of America (CPA), held in Bridgman, Michigan
. He was arrested when the gathering was raided by state and federal authorities for alleged violation of the Michigan state Criminal Syndicalism law. Released on bail, Dunne was never brought to trial on these charges. During the underground period of American communism, Dunne used the pseudonym
s "Driscoll" and "Donovan."
At the end of 1922, when the underground CPA established its overground sibling, the Workers Party of America
(WPA), Bill Dunne was elected one of three editors of the organization's weekly newspaper, The Worker. Dunne served as the "Labor Editor" of that paper.
Dunne was elected to the Central Executive Committee of the WPA and its Executive Council in 1923 and was re-elected by the convention for 1924. During the bitter factional struggles which swept the organization during the 1920s, Dunne was a supporter of the faction headed by William Z. Foster
, Alexander Bittelman
and James P. Cannon
against that of John Pepper
and C.E. Ruthenberg
. Later in the 1920s, when Foster parted company with Cannon, Dunne allied himself with the latter.
In 1923, Dunne was expelled from the American Federation of Labor
for his communist political views and activity in organizing the so-called "left wing" of the labor movement through the Communist Party's trade union affiliate, the Trade Union Educational League
.
Dunne was a delegate to the 5th World Congress of the Communist International in 1924. He presented a report to the congress on the American racial situation and was elected as an alternate member to the Executive Committee of the Communist International
.
Dunne remained in Moscow during 1924 and 1925 as the representative of the Workers (Communist) Party of America to the Comintern
. He was elected a member of the Comintern's Organization Bureau at the 5th Enlarged Plenum of the Communist International, held in March 1925.
Later in 1925, Dunne returned to the United States to become an editor of the Communist Party's daily newspaper, The Daily Worker.
Dunne was an occasional candidate for political office, running for U.S. Senate from New York state in 1926 and for Governor of New York
in 1928, both times on the ticket of the Workers (Communist) Party.
In 1928 he returned to Moscow as a delegate to the 4th World Congress of the Red International of Labor Unions (Profintern), as well as the 6th World Congress of the Communist International.
Dunne was elected a member of the Politiburo of the CPUSA in 1929.
In the early 1930s, Dunne returned to the Soviet Union
, where he worked as a personnel specialist in charge of the 500 or 600 Americans working at the tractor plant in Stalingrad in 1931 and 1932.
With the rise to power of Earl Browder
in the American Communist Party from the middle-1930s, Dunne's position and authority in the party were reduced. He was removed from the national leadership in 1934, but he remained as an editor at The Daily Worker until 1936.
Although Bill Dunne's brothers, Vincent, Miles, and Grant, were active in the American Trotskyist
movement, participating in the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934
, Bill Dunne was never part of that dissident communist movement. In 1934 he went so far as to author a polemic pamphlet for the Communist Party against his brothers and their comrades entitled Permanent Counter-Revolution: The Role of the Trotzkyites in the Minneapolis Strikes.
During World War II
, Dunne worked in the Navy shipyards.
In 1946, Dunne was accused of having promoted a leftist faction in the Communist Party and was expelled.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Marxist political activist and trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
ist. He is best remembered as the editor of the radical Butte Bulletin around the turn of the 1920s and as an editor of the daily newspaper of the Communist Party USA
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
from the middle-1920s through the 1930s. Dunne was founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America, but was removed from the national leadership of the party in 1934 and expelled in 1946 on charges of factionalism.
Early years
William F. Dunne, known to his friends as "Bill," was born October 15, 1887, in Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, the son of an Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
immigrant father and a French-Canadian mother. His father was a railroad worker.
Dunne grew up in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
and attended the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, a private, Roman Catholic institution. Dunne was forced to leave school in 1907 due to a financial panic, however. Dunne went to work on the Northern Pacific Railroad as an electrician, making a home in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Dunne returned to the United States from Canada, settling in Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
.
Dunne later joined the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
Dunne was married to a woman named Marguerite. The couple had one son, killed by an automobile in 1925.
Political career
Bill Dunne joined the Socialist Party of AmericaSocialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-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 which had split from the main organization...
in 1910.
Dunne was elected Vice-President of the Montana Federation of Labor during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Dunne also edited the Butte Bulletin, a paper established in December 1917 by the Montana Federation of Labor. Dunne stood down from this position in 1918 to run for political office and resumed the position following the end of his term of office in 1920, remaining at the post until 1921.
In 1918, Dunne was arrested on charges of sedition for an anti-militarist
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
editorial in the Bulletin. His trial finally began on February 20, 1919, in Helena
Helena, Montana
Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...
, with his defense team led by Burton K. Wheeler
Burton K. Wheeler
Burton Kendall Wheeler was an American politician of the Democratic Party and a United States Senator from 1923 until 1947.-Early life:...
. Following a three day trial, during which Dunne was blasted as a "Bolshevist and an agitator," Dunn was convicted and fined $5,000. This conviction was overturned by the Montana Supreme Court
Montana Supreme Court
The Montana Supreme Court is the highest court of the Montana state court system in the U.S. state of Montana. It is established and its powers defined by Article VII of the 1972 Montana Constitution...
in May 1920, however, on the grounds of judicial error. The judge in the case had not allowed the defense to ask prospective jurors whether they could vote for acquittal if they should entertain a reasonable doubt that Dunne's editorial was "calculated to incite or inflame resistance" to the Montana state council of defense.
In the fall of 1918, Dunne was elected as a Democrat to the Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
State Legislature in 1918, serving in that capacity through 1920.
In the fall 1919, with the split of the Socialist Party into socialist and communist factions, Dunne made his exit to become a founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America, bringing the Butte Local with him into the new organization.
In 1920, Dunne ran for mayor of Butte, but was the victim of electoral chicanery which denied him the seat.
Despite his long tenure in the movement, Dunne was always regarded as a bit of a loose cannon in the Communist movement, as historian Theodore Draper
Theodore Draper
Theodore H. "Ted" Draper was an American historian and political writer. Draper is best known for the 14 books which he completed during his life, including work regarded as seminal on the formative period of the American Communist Party, the Cuban Revolution, and the Iran-Contra Affair...
recounts:
"Unlike most of the other former Socialists, Dunne was never completely housebroken in the Communist movement. It seems that he tried to get to MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1921 by working his way across on a boat bound for Stettin, Germany [now part of Poland]. There he went on a spree with some shipmates, invited the attention of the German police, and never reached his destination. He returned to New York to add one more radical trade-unionist to the new Communist leadership."
Dunne was a delegate to the ill-fated August 1922 convention
1922 Bridgman Convention
The 1922 Bridgman Convention was a secret conclave of the underground Communist Party of America held in August 1922 near the small town of Bridgman, Michigan, about outside of the city of Chicago on the banks of Lake Michigan...
of the Communist Party of America (CPA), held in Bridgman, Michigan
Bridgman, Michigan
Bridgman is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,428 at the 2000 census. The Bridgman post office, with ZIP code 49106 opened with the name "Laketon" on November 11, 1862. The name changed to Bridgman on April 9, 1874...
. He was arrested when the gathering was raided by state and federal authorities for alleged violation of the Michigan state Criminal Syndicalism law. Released on bail, Dunne was never brought to trial on these charges. During the underground period of American communism, Dunne used the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s "Driscoll" and "Donovan."
At the end of 1922, when the underground CPA established its overground sibling, the Workers Party of America
Workers Party of America
The Workers Party of America was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. As a legal political party the Workers Party accepted affiliation from independent socialist groups such as the African Blood Brotherhood,...
(WPA), Bill Dunne was elected one of three editors of the organization's weekly newspaper, The Worker. Dunne served as the "Labor Editor" of that paper.
Dunne was elected to the Central Executive Committee of the WPA and its Executive Council in 1923 and was re-elected by the convention for 1924. During the bitter factional struggles which swept the organization during the 1920s, Dunne was a supporter of the faction headed by William Z. Foster
William Z. Foster
William Foster was a radical American labor organizer and Marxist politician, whose career included a lengthy stint as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA...
, Alexander Bittelman
Alexander Bittelman
Alexander "Alex" Bittelman was a Russian-born Jewish-American communist political activist, Marxist theorist , contributed a more complex analysis , and writer. A founding member of the Communist Party of America, Bittelman is best remembered as the chief factional lieutenant of William Z...
and James P. Cannon
James P. Cannon
James Patrick "Jim" Cannon was an American Trotskyist and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party.Born on February 11, 1890 in Rosedale, Kansas, he joined the Socialist Party of America in 1908 and the Industrial Workers of the World in 1911...
against that of John Pepper
John Pepper
John Pepper, also known as József Pogány, born József Schwartz was a Hungarian-Jewish Communist politician, active in the radical movements of both Hungary and the United States. He later served as a functionary in the Communist International in Moscow, before being cashiered in 1929...
and C.E. Ruthenberg
Charles Ruthenberg
Charles Emil Ruthenberg was an American Marxist politician and a founder and long-time head of the Communist Party USA .-Biography:Charles Emil Ruthenberg was born July 9, 1882 in Cleveland, Ohio...
. Later in the 1920s, when Foster parted company with Cannon, Dunne allied himself with the latter.
In 1923, Dunne was expelled from the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
for his communist political views and activity in organizing the so-called "left wing" of the labor movement through the Communist Party's trade union affiliate, the Trade Union Educational League
Trade Union Educational League
The Trade Union Educational League was established by William Z. Foster in 1920 as a means of uniting radicals within various trade unions for a common plan of action. The group was subsidized by the Communist International via the Communist Party of America from 1922...
.
Dunne was a delegate to the 5th World Congress of the Communist International in 1924. He presented a report to the congress on the American racial situation and was elected as an alternate member to the Executive Committee of the Communist International
Executive Committee of the Communist International
The Executive Committee of the Communist International, commonly known by its acronym, ECCI, was the governing authority of the Comintern between the World Congresses of that body...
.
Dunne remained in Moscow during 1924 and 1925 as the representative of the Workers (Communist) Party of America to the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
. He was elected a member of the Comintern's Organization Bureau at the 5th Enlarged Plenum of the Communist International, held in March 1925.
Later in 1925, Dunne returned to the United States to become an editor of the Communist Party's daily newspaper, The Daily Worker.
Dunne was an occasional candidate for political office, running for U.S. Senate from New York state in 1926 and for Governor of New York
Governor of New York
The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the 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 and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...
in 1928, both times on the ticket of the Workers (Communist) Party.
In 1928 he returned to Moscow as a delegate to the 4th World Congress of the Red International of Labor Unions (Profintern), as well as the 6th World Congress of the Communist International.
Dunne was elected a member of the Politiburo of the CPUSA in 1929.
In the early 1930s, Dunne returned to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, where he worked as a personnel specialist in charge of the 500 or 600 Americans working at the tractor plant in Stalingrad in 1931 and 1932.
With the rise to power of Earl Browder
Earl Browder
Earl Russell Browder was an American communist and General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1934 to 1945. He was expelled from the party in 1946.- Early years :...
in the American Communist Party from the middle-1930s, Dunne's position and authority in the party were reduced. He was removed from the national leadership in 1934, but he remained as an editor at The Daily Worker until 1936.
Although Bill Dunne's brothers, Vincent, Miles, and Grant, were active in the American Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
movement, participating in the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934
Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934
The Minneapolis General Strike of 1934 grew out of a strike by Teamsters against most of the trucking companies operating in Minneapolis, a major distribution center for the Upper Midwest. The strike began on May 16, 1934 in the Market District and ensuing violence lasted periodically throughout...
, Bill Dunne was never part of that dissident communist movement. In 1934 he went so far as to author a polemic pamphlet for the Communist Party against his brothers and their comrades entitled Permanent Counter-Revolution: The Role of the Trotzkyites in the Minneapolis Strikes.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Dunne worked in the Navy shipyards.
In 1946, Dunne was accused of having promoted a leftist faction in the Communist Party and was expelled.
Death and legacy
Bill Dunne died on September 23, 1953. He was 65 years old at the time of his death.Works
- William F. Dunne's Speech at the A.F. of L. Convention, Portland, 1923. Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, n.d. [1923]. Labor herald library #9
- The British Strike: Its Background, Its Lessons. Chicago: Daily Worker Publishing Co., n.d. [1926].
- http://digitool.fcla.edu:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?application=DIGITOOL-3&owner=resourcediscovery&custom_att_2=simple_viewer&forebear_coll=&user=GUEST&pds_handle=&pid=367712&con_lng=ENG&search_terms=WCT%20=(Lovestone%2C%20Jay)&adjacency=N&rd_session=http://digitool.fcla.edu:80/R/QEA8LBNAJH93FQK24NCUNV22JE6ER9SS16ENERGFIFEKT47J6E-01922 Our Heritage from 1776: A Working Class View of the First American Revolution.] With Wolfe, Bertram D.Bertram WolfeBertram David "Bert" Wolfe was an American scholar and former communist best known for biographical studies of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky, and Diego Rivera.-Early life:...
and Jay LovestoneJay LovestoneJay Lovestone was at various times a member of the Socialist Party of America, a leader of the Communist Party USA, leader of a small oppositionist party, an anti-Communist and Central Intelligence Agency helper, and foreign policy advisor to the leadership of the AFL-CIO and various unions...
New York: The Workers School, n.d. [1926] alternate link - Worker Correspondents: What? When? Where? Why? How? Chicago: Daily Worker Publishing Co., n.d. [1927]. (The Little red library #4)
- The Threat to the Labor Movement: The Conspiracy against the Trade Unions: Efficiency Unions for the Bosses or Effective Unions for the Workers. n.c.: n.p., 1927.
- Gastonia, Citadel of the Class Struggle in the New South. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1929. alternate link
- http://digitool.fcla.edu:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?application=DIGITOOL-3&owner=resourcediscovery&custom_att_2=simple_viewer&forebear_coll=&user=GUEST&pds_handle=&pid=363353&con_lng=ENG&search_terms=WCT%20=(Dunne%2C%20William%20F.)&adjacency=N&rd_session=http://digitool.fcla.edu:80/R/QEA8LBNAJH93FQK24NCUNV22JE6ER9SS16ENERGFIFEKT47J6E-00785Permanent Counter-Revolution: The Role of the Trotzkyites in the Minneapolis Strikes.] New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1934. alternate link
- The Great San Francisco General Strike: The Story of the West Coast Strike — The Bay Counties' General Strike and the Maritime Workers' Strike. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1934. alternate link
- The Supreme Court's Challenge to Labor: The N.I.R.A. Decision a Signal for Intensified Attacks on the Workers. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1935. alternate link
- Why Hearst Lies about Communism: Three Open Letters to William Randolph Hearst. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1935.
- The Struggle against Opportunism in the Labor Movement: For a Socialist United States. New York: New York Communications Committee, 1947.
External links
- William F. Dunne Internet Archive, Marxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet Archive is a volunteer based non-profit organization that maintains a multi-lingual Internet archive of Marxist writers and other similar authors...
. Retrieved November 11, 2009.