Student Activism in the 1930s
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SLID Essays (Summer, 1935)

Autobiography of Michael B. Smith


Washington

1. I was born 23 years ago in Billings, Montana, the son of tenant farmers. When I was six years old my mother died from the result of over work, of having had too many children, and poverty. I suppose the constant worry over the welfare of my brother who had gone to France with the A.E.F. at the age of seventeen was a contribution factor. At the age of 11 I left my home which was then in Minnesota, and with a daring and determination that would have delighted Horatio Alger, set out to 'make my own way'. After several months of wandering, I was overtaken in Van Buren, Arkansas by a very anxious and somewhat angry father.

2. I lived in Denver, Colorado for the next four years. During that time I attended school regularly until graduating from the eighth grade. That was the longest period I have ever gone to school without interruption. -

3. The next five years of my life was a strange conglomeration of Karl Marx, Plato, Schopenhauer and prize-fighting. This, of course after I had run the gamut of popular writers of the day, end I had outgrown the Menckens, the Durants, et al. As a result of having started fighting when I was not sufficiently developed, physically, I found myself in the pugilistic scrap heap at the age of 19, in a very poor state of health.

4. My first experience in the radical movement was in an unemployed organization, which had its inception in Seattle. In response to a desperate need for organized opposition to the retrenchment in relief standards, the organization developed rapidly to a point where it assumed a position of major significance as a political force in the State.

5. At a state wide convention held early in 1933, I was elected to the State Executive Board. For the next several months, I was busy assisting in the preparation of demonstrations, hunger marches, etc. After the state hunger march, factional differences split the group and I dropped out of active participation.

6. In the spring of 1934 I cooperated with several other young men in the forming of an 'anti war' organization. On April 6th, 1934 we held a counter demonstration to the 'army day' parade. An open clash between the militarists and the radicals followed with the result that 13 of the 'leaders' of the youth were arrested and sentenced to serve 30 days. Our hero was among those martyred.

7. During the longshore strike I was quite active. When 'open season' was declared on the reds, I was arrested as a dangerous radical, 'unfit to be at large' and held until the strike was ended three days later. Although I had hardly enough to warrant the compliment, I think it was the greatest honor ever conferred upon a Smith.

8. Immediately after the strike an organization of which I was a member, attempted to recall the Mayor of Seattle. I assisted in the campaign, organizing mass meetings, making speeches, circulating petitions, etc.

9. I was a member of the executive board of the Commonwealth Builders of Washington for a short time until I was asked to run for the State Legislature. Running as a left wing democrat, I surprised us all by being elected by a fairly large majority.

10. After the close of the session I again became active in the anti-war work. This time as an organizer for the American League against War and Fascism. I devoted all of my time to organizing congresses in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, until leaving L.A. for New York City to attend the summer school.

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