Luella Twining
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Luella Twining (November 14, 1871 - December 22, 1939) was a journalist, labor organizer and Socialist politician. Twining presided over the ratification meeting during the first convention of the Industrial Workers of the World, representing the American Federal Union.[1][2] At this convention she was a major advocate of a May 1st "labor day" holiday for workers, stating "We do not want a capitalist Labor Day. Let us have a labor day of our own. Let us have an international labor day, the first day of May."[2]: 197
Twining was known as "The Joan of Arc of the working class" in the early part of the 20th century, a title she shared with Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.[3][4] Twining organized 18,000 women during a general strike in Philadelphia.[5]
She was on the payroll of the Western Federation of Miners in 1907-1908 as a solicitor of the defense and frequently would speak on labor topics as their representative. [6][7] She toured the country with Bill Haywood, as his manager, in 1908.[8] She was also a sought-after public speaker on topics such as class conflict and improvement of labor conditions for women.[3] She wrote for many labor and socialist papers including writing about the Cherry Mine Disaster and other topics for the Appeal to Reason newspaper.[9]