Biographical Note

Lena Morrow Lewis was one of the most active women socialists in the United States during the first half of the 20th century. Throughout her career in radical politics, Lewis was immersed in a variety of socialist activities. She was a candidate on the Socialist Party ticket in numerous local, state, and congressional elections in California and Alaska. Besides her electoral endeavors, Lewis gave lectures on contemporary socialist issues and worked as a journalist for several socialist and labor publications in California and Alaska, including The Labor World, which she edited. Lewis also worked diligently in support of the release of Warren K. Billings who, along with Tom Mooney, was convicted and imprisoned for 23 years on a charge of complicity in the Preparedness Day parade bomb explosion at San Francisco in July 1916.