Norman Henderson Tallentire (October 10, 1886-November 8, 1953) was a Communist Party organizer.
Biography
editTallentire was born in England, the son of a miner and preacher, and immigrated to Canada in 1907.[1] He was trained as a carpenter and established a business in Denver before becoming active in leftist politics.[2] In August 1922, Tallentire was arrested in the raid of a secret meeting of the Communist Party of America in Bridgman, Michigan.[3] For eight months, starting in September 1924, Tallentire was the district organizer for the Communist Party in Seattle, where he attempted to work with local Filipino union leaders to increase Filipino membership in the Party.[4] After the collapse of the underground Communist Party in 1926, Tallentire went to Baltimore to organize the city's Party branches.[5] In 1927, he was the Party's District Organizer in Kansas City.[6] In 1932, Tallentire traveled to the Soviet Union in the Communist Party delegation to celebrate the fourteenth anniversary of the Russian Revolution.[7] Tallentire served as the national organizer of the Friends of the Soviet Union,[8] and was also the assistant national secretary of the International Labor Defense.[9]
Rockwell Kent described him as "a lifelong agitator of men's consciences toward social justice, a firm upholder of the dignity of man and a literally restless organizer of the underprivileged".[10] He was known for his oratory and frequently quoted poetry in his speeches.[11] George Charney compared his speeches to William Jennings Bryant for the way he "interspersed dread prophecy and soothing homily".[12]
Tallentire was threatened with deportation from America under the McCarran-Walter Act.[13] He was arrested in 1951 and held on Ellis Island.[14] He died of a heart attack during this deportation hearing.[15] Vito Marcantonio defended Tallentire in the hearings, describing the defense as part of the struggle "to defeat the illegal, undemocratic, unconstitutional Walter-McCarran Act".[16] Some of Tallentire's colleagues blamed the stress of the deportation hearings for his heart attack and death.[17]
References
edit- ^ "In Memoriam: Norman H. Tallentire". National Guardian. November 16, 1953. p. 5.
- ^ Frost, Richard H. (1968). The Mooney Case. Stanford University Press. p. 329.
- ^ "17 in Red Plot Face Court Today". The Evening Star. August 24, 1922. p. 4.
- ^ Fowler, Josephine (2007-06-28). Japanese and Chinese Immigrant Activists: Organizing in American and International Communist Movements, 1919–1933. Rutgers University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-8135-4354-3.
- ^ Pedersen, Vernon L. (2001). The Communist Party in Maryland, 1919-57. University of Illinois Press. p. 33. ISBN 9780252023217.
- ^ Draper, Theodore (1963). American Communism and Soviet Russia: The Formative Period. The Viking Press. p. 492.
- ^ "Workers' Delegate to Revolution Birthday to Talk Here Tonight". The Fresno Morning Republican. March 1, 1932. p. 6.
- ^ "Tallentire to Give Talk on Russia". Reading Times. April 20, 1933. p. 9.
- ^ "I.L.D. Starts Drive to Help Mill Militants". The Daily Worker. December 18, 1928. p. 5.
- ^ Kent, Rockwell (1955). It's me, O Lord : The autobiography of Rockwell Kent. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. p. 490.
- ^ Wolfe, Bertram D. (1981). A life in two centuries : An autobiography. Stein and Day. p. 519. ISBN 0812825209.
- ^ Charney, George (1968). A Long Journey. Chicago: Quadrangle Books. p. 67.
- ^ "Between Deadlines". National Guardian. May 18, 1953. p. 7.
- ^ "Tallentire Held on Ellis Island". The Daily Worker. July 26, 1951. p. 8.
- ^ Stone, I.F. (1969). The Haunted Fifties. New York: Vintage Books. p. 33.
- ^ "Norman Tallentire's Career Lauded at Rites". The Daily Worker. p. 3.
- ^ "Norman Tallentire: McCarran-Walter Victim". Jewish Currents. 8 (2): 15. December 1953.