Biography
Walter Lowenfels was a poet and journalist whose activism was tightly linked to labor and anti-racist politics. A member of the Communist Party USA, he edited the Pennsylvania edition of the Daily Worker and used reporting and poetry to spotlight working-class struggles and civil-rights campaigns in and around Philadelphia.
His political work led directly to arrest and prosecution during the height of McCarthy-era Smith Act enforcement. In the early hours of July 29, 1953, federal agents raided his cabin and arrested him on a conspiracy charge under the Smith Act, and he was held during the proceedings at Holmesburg Prison. He was convicted in 1954, but the case later unraveled in appellate litigation; his conviction was overturned and he was released. Afterward, Lowenfels returned to writing and remained active in peace and anti-war organizing, including high-profile protest activity during the Vietnam era.
