Biography
Alfred Wagenknecht Wagenknecht was a Marxist organizer whose early activism included organizing “street meetings” and participating in free-speech fights tied to the Socialist Party of America in Seattle. During World War I, his antiwar stance brought direct criminal prosecution: he and other Ohio socialists—among them Charles Ruthenberg and Charles Baker—were indicted for obstructing the draft, convicted in 1917, and sentenced to a year in prison; the conviction was later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and the men served their terms at the workhouse in Canton. After release, Wagenknecht remained active on the revolutionary wing of American socialism and went on to play a leading role in founding the Communist Labor Party of America.
Case
Canton Workhouse
