Anna Louise Strong facts for kids

Anna Louise Strong in 1918, when she was removed from the Seattle School Board.

Anna Louise Strong (born November 24, 1885 – died March 29, 1970) was an American journalist and activist. She wrote about and supported communist movements in the Soviet Union and China.

Biography
Published works
- Reportage and travelogues
Images for kids
See also

Biography

Early life and education

Anna Louise Strong was born on November 24, 1885, in Friend, Nebraska. Her father, Sydney Dix Strong, was a minister and a missionary. Anna was a very bright student and finished school quickly. She then traveled to Europe to learn other languages.

She studied at Pennsylvania's Bryn Mawr College from 1903 to 1904. Later, she graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio. She returned to Oberlin many times to give speeches. In 1908, at age 23, she earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago. Her thesis was later published as The Social Psychology of Prayer.

Anna Louise Strong cared deeply about child welfare. She traveled around, giving speeches about how to help children. When she spoke in Seattle in May 1914, more than 6,000 people came each day. On her last day in Seattle, at least 40,000 people attended her talks.

In 1915, Strong, then 30, moved back to Seattle to live with her father. He was a pastor at the Queen Anne Congregational Church. She liked the progressive ideas popular in Seattle, which supported worker's unions.

Strong also loved mountain climbing. She organized summer camps in the Cascades mountains. She led groups on climbs up Mount Rainier.

Time in politics

In 1916, Anna Louise Strong ran for the Seattle School Board. She won easily because women's groups and worker's unions helped her. She was also known as an expert on child welfare. She was the only woman on the board.

Strong believed public schools should offer social programs for poor children. She thought schools should be community centers. However, she could not do much. Other board members focused on things she felt were less important, like school plumbing.

In 1916, the Everett Massacre happened. This was a violent conflict between workers and armed guards in Everett, Washington. Strong was hired by the New York Evening Post to report on it. At first, she was just an observer. But soon, she began to support workers' rights and speak out about her beliefs.

Strong's support for left-wing causes made her different from other school board members. She was against war. When the United States joined World War I in 1917, she spoke against the military draft. The PTA and women's clubs agreed with her about opposing military training in schools. However, a group called the Seattle Minute Men, many of whom were war veterans, said she was not patriotic.

Many members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), known as "Wobblies," were arrested. This happened because they were against the war. Louise Olivereau, a typist, was sending letters to people drafted into the army. These letters told them to think about refusing to join the war. In 1918, Strong supported Olivereau in court. Olivereau was found guilty of speaking against the government and sent to prison.

Strong's fellow school board members started a campaign to remove her from the board. They won, and Strong was removed. She attended their next meeting to argue that they should choose a woman to replace her. The board agreed but said they wanted a more traditional, patriotic person and a mother with children in the schools. They replaced Anna Louise Strong with Evangeline C. Harper.

Journalism and travel

Strong became well-known for her work at The Union Record, a daily newspaper owned by workers. She wrote strong articles supporting workers. She also praised the new Soviet government. On February 6, 1919, just before the Seattle General Strike of 1919, she wrote: "We are undertaking the most tremendous move ever made by labor in this country, a move which will lead — NO ONE KNOWS WHERE!" The strike stopped the city for four days. It ended peacefully, but its goals were still unclear.

In 1921, she traveled to Poland and Russia. She worked as a reporter for the American Friends Service Committee. Her first job was to help bring aid to people suffering from the Volga famine. After a year, she became the Moscow reporter for the International News Service.

Strong saw many things in Europe that inspired her to write. Some of her books from this time include The First Time in History (1924) and Children of Revolution (1925). After living in the area for several years, Strong became a supporter of socialism in the new Soviet Union. In 1925, she returned to the United States. She tried to get business people interested in investing in Soviet industries. During this time, Strong also gave many speeches. She became known for her knowledge about everyday life in the USSR.

In the late 1920s, Strong traveled in China and other parts of Asia. She became friends with important leaders like Soong Ching-ling and Zhou Enlai. She wrote more books about her travels, including China's Millions (1928) and Red Star in Samarkand (1929).

In 1930, she returned to Moscow. She helped start Moscow News, the first English-language newspaper in the city. She was the managing editor for a year, then became a main writer. In 1932, she married Joel Shubin, a Soviet official and fellow socialist. Both Strong and Shubin were very dedicated to their work. They were often apart because of their jobs and spent little time together before Shubin's death in 1942.

While living in the Soviet Union, she became more supportive of the Soviet government. She wrote many books praising it. These include The Soviets Conquer Wheat (1931), I Change Worlds: the Remaking of an American (1935), and This Soviet World (1936).

In 1936, she returned to the United States. She was quietly upset with some news from the USSR. Still, she continued to write for major magazines like The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's. A trip to Spain led to her book Spain in Arms (1937). Visits to China resulted in One Fifth of Mankind (1938). In 1940, she published My Native Land. Other books include The Soviets Expected It (1941) and Peoples of the U.S.S.R. (1944). She also wrote three books about the early success of the Communist Party of China during the Chinese Civil War.

While in the USSR, she traveled across the large country. She visited places like Ukraine, Siberia, and Central Asia. She also traveled to Poland, Germany, and Britain. In the Soviet Union, Strong met with leaders like Stalin and Molotov. She also interviewed factory workers, farmers, and everyday people.

During World War II, when the Red Army advanced against Nazi Germany, Strong followed behind the soldiers. She went through cities like Warsaw and Gdańsk. In 1949, she was arrested in Moscow. The Soviets accused her of espionage, partly because she openly supported Chinese Communists. She returned to the USSR in 1959 but then settled in China until her death.

Strong met W. E. B. Du Bois, who visited Communist China in the late 1950s. Neither of them supported criticisms about food shortages during the Great Leap Forward. Strong wrote a book called When Serfs Stood Up in Tibet. This book was based on her experiences during the Chinese invasion of Tibet.

She moved to China and stayed there until her death in 1970. She published a newsletter called "Letter from China." During this time, she became very close with Zhou Enlai and also knew Mao Zedong. She lived in a building that used to be the Italian Legation, which was turned into apartments for important "foreign friends."

Death

Anna Louise Strong died in Beijing, China, on March 29, 1970.

Published works

Reportage and travelogues

The First Time in History (1924) (with preface by Leon Trotsky)
Children Pioneers (1925)
Pioneer: The Children's Colony on the Volga (1927)
China's Millions (1928)
Red Star in Samarkand (1929)
The Soviets Conquer Wheat (1931)
China's Millions: The Revolutionary Struggles from 1927 to 1935 (1935)
I Change Worlds: the Remaking of an American (1935)
This Soviet World (1936)
The Soviet Constitution (1937)
Spain in Arms (1937)
One Fifth of Mankind (1938)
My Native Land (1940)
The Soviets Expected It (1941)
Peoples of the U.S.S.R. (1944)
I Saw the New Poland (1946)
Tomorrow's China (1948)
The Chinese Conquer China (1949)
The Rise of the Chinese People's Communes (1959)
When Serfs Stood Up in Tibet (1960)
Cash and Violence in Laos (1961)
Letters from China (1963–1966)
Is the Soviet Union turning from world brotherhood to imperialism? (1967)
Man's New Crusade (1968)
The Thought of Mao Tse-Tung (1969)

Images for kids

Anna Louise Strong in 1921 in Samara, Russia, working for the American Friends Service Committee.
Strong with Mao Zedong in 1967.
Tomb of Anna Louise Strong.