- Original name:
- Ella Reeve
- Byname:
- Mother Bloor
- Born:
- July 8, 1862, near Mariners Harbor, Staten Island, N.Y., U.S.
- Died:
- Aug. 10, 1951, Richlandtown, Pa. (aged 89)
- Political Affiliation:
- Communist Labor Party of America
- Socialist Labor Party
- Socialist Party of America
Ella Reeve Bloor
-
Who was Ella Reeve Bloor?
Ella Reeve Bloor (1862-1951) was an American political organizer and writer prominent in the socialist and communist movements. She was born near Mariners Harbor, Staten Island, NY, and died in Richlandtown, PA.
Bloor was involved in various reform movements, including the Womanâs Christian Temperance Union and the womenâs rights movement. She joined the Social Democratic Party in 1897 and later the Socialist Party of America. As a party organizer, she organized strike support among miners, steelworkers, and others. In 1905, she assisted Upton Sinclair with his book The Jungle. Known as "Mother Bloor," she helped form the National Womenâs Committee of the Socialist Party in 1910.
In 1919, Bloor joined the Communist Labor Party and attended conventions in Moscow. She served on the Central Committee of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1948 and organized the United Farmersâ League in the 1930s. Bloor also advocated for women's equality within the Communist Party. Her autobiography, We Are Many (1940), recounts her numerous arrests during her career as an organizer.
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What kind of work did Ella Reeve Bloor do?
Ella Reeve Bloor was an American political organizer and writer who advocated for socialism and communism. Throughout her career, she organized labor actions and ran for public office.
Bloor was actively involved in various reform movements, such as the Womanâs Christian Temperance Union and the womenâs rights movement. As a party organizer, she coordinated strike and striker-relief activities for miners, steelworkers, and others. Bloor also helped Upton Sinclair gather information on the Chicago stockyards for his book The Jungle. She worked to achieve an equal voice for women within the Communist Party and was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1948.
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What causes did Ella Reeve Bloor support?
Ella Reeve Bloor, also known as Mother Bloor, was an American political organizer and writer who championed various causes throughout her career. She was involved in the Womanâs Christian Temperance Union and the womenâs rights movement.
As a member of the Socialist Party and later the Communist Party, Bloor organized strike and striker-relief activities among miners, hatters, steelworkers, and needleworkers. During the 1930s, she actively organized the United Farmersâ League and advocated for women's equality within the Communist Party. She supported the party line regarding American participation in World War II, initially opposing it and later supporting it after the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
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How did Ella Reeve Bloor help workers and women?
Ella Reeve Bloor, also known as Mother Bloor, was an American political organizer and writer who advocated for workers and women. As an organizer for the Socialist Party, she organized strike relief for miners, steelworkers, and others. In 1905, she assisted Upton Sinclair in gathering information on the Chicago stockyards for The Jungle and served on a presidential commission investigating the conditions there in 1906. In 1910, she helped form the National Womenâs Committee of the Socialist Party and worked to achieve an equal voice for women within the Communist Party. Throughout her career, she was arrested hundreds of times for her activism.
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What organizations was Ella Reeve Bloor involved with?
Ella Reeve Bloor was involved in a number of reform and political movements. After her marriage, she became involved in the Womanâs Christian Temperance Union and the womenâs rights movement. In 1897, she joined the Social Democratic Party, and later the Socialist Labor Party, before returning to the Socialist Party of America.
Bloor helped form the National Womenâs Committee of the Socialist Party in 1910. After being expelled from the Socialist Party, she helped organize the Communist Labor Party. During the 1930s, she was active in organizing the United Farmersâ League and worked to achieve an equal voice for women within the Communist Party.
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How did Ella Reeve Bloor's writing influence social and political movements in America?
Ella Reeve Bloor, also known as Mother Bloor, was an American political organizer and writer whose work influenced social and political movements in America.
Bloor's early writings include Three Little Lovers of Nature (1895) and Talks About Authors and Their Work (1899). She wrote articles on political subjects for periodicals and used her autobiography, We Are Many (1940), to share her experiences as an organizer, including being arrested "hundreds" of times.
Bloor was involved in the Womanâs Christian Temperance Union and the womenâs rights movement. As a member of the Socialist Party of America, she organized strike and striker-relief activities. Later, as a member of the Communist Labor Party, she organized on behalf of the new party and worked to achieve an equal voice for women within the Communist Party.
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Ella Reeve Bloor (born July 8, 1862, near Mariners Harbor, Staten Island, N.Y., U.S.âdied Aug. 10, 1951, Richlandtown, Pa.) was an American political organizer and writer who was active as an American socialist and communist, both as a candidate for public office and in labour actions in several industries.
Ella Reeve grew up in Bridgeton, New Jersey. After her marriage to Lucien Ware in 1881 or 1882 (they later divorced), she became involved in a number of reform movements, notably the Womanâs Christian Temperance Union and the womenâs rights movement. She contributed articles on political subjects to various periodicals and also published Three Little Lovers of Nature (1895), a textbook, and Talks About Authors and Their Work (1899). In 1897 she joined the Social Democratic Party, formed that year by Eugene V. Debs and Victor L. Berger. In 1898 she moved to the more radical Socialist Labor Party, headed by Daniel De Leon, but in 1902 she returned to Debsâs renamed Socialist Party of America.
For the next 17 years she was a tireless and effective organizer for the party, particularly in Connecticut, where in 1908 she became the first woman to run for state office when she filed for secretary of state. In Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Ohio, New York, and elsewhere, she organized strike and striker-relief activities among miners, hatters, steelworkers, needleworkers, and others. In 1905 she helped Upton Sinclair gather information on the Chicago stockyards for his book The Jungle, and at his invitation she served in 1906 on a presidential commission investigating conditions there. In Chicago she had worked under the assumed name of Mrs. Richard Bloor, and thenceforward she was known among workers and fellow socialists by the affectionate nickname Mother Bloor. In 1910 she joined in forming the National Womenâs Committee of the Socialist Party. She ran for lieutenant governor of New York in 1918.
She was among the radical faction of the Socialist Party that was expelled in 1919 and then organized independently as the Communist Labor Party. She continued her ceaseless organizing on behalf of the new party and in 1921 and 1922 was selected to attend the first and second Red International of Labor Union conventions in Moscow. From 1922 to 1948 she sat on the Central Committee of the Communist Party. During the 1930s she was especially active in organizing the United Farmersâ League. She also worked to achieve an equal voice for women within the Communist Party. She campaigned on behalf of the party line first against and then, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, for American participation in World War II. In 1938 she was the partyâs candidate for governor of Pennsylvania. In her autobiography, We Are Many (1940), she claimed proudly that in her long career as an organizer she had been arrested âhundredsâ of times, the last in Nebraska in 1936, when she was 74 years old.