A00009 - International Labor Defense

In 1929, the integrated National Textile Workers Union struck against the textile mills in Gastonia, North Carolina. The strikers claimed that they were attacked by the police chief and a detachment of deputized civilians. The police chief and three deputies were killed, and 71 workers were beaten and thrown in jail. The International Labor Defense of New York City undertook the defense of fifteen union members charged with murder.

The International Labor Defense (ILD) was a legal defense organization in the United States, founded by James P. Cannon and headed by William L. Patterson after Cannon's expulsion from the Communist Party. It was the United States section of the International Red Aid organization, and was associated with the Communist Party USA. It defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was active in the civil rights and anti-lynching movements, and participated in the defense of the Scottsboro Boys. It was formed in 1925, and in 1946 merged with the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties to form the Civil Rights Congress.

Max Shachtman was an editor of the ILD's magazine, the Labor Defender, during the 1920s. Whittaker Chambers and Jacob Burck were contributing editors during the early 1930s.

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