Rebel Girl

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was an American labor leader, activist, and feminist. She was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union, played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World. In 1936 she joined the Communist Party USA, becoming it’s chairwoman just a few years before her death in Russia in 1964.  

Her autobiography was first published as I Speak My Own Piece: Autobiography of "The Rebel Girl,” by Masses and Mainstream  in New York in 1955. The book was published while Flynn was serving in prison after being convicted of being a communist under The Smith Act, and she wasn’t able to edit the final draft before release. After her draft a book with her corrections was used to revise and amend, republished as “The Rebel Girl: An Autobiography, My First Life 1906-1926.”

The title is based on the song, “The Rebel Girl,” by labor activist and musician Joe Hill, written in 1915 and dedicated to Flynn.