Hubbry Logo
logo
Olive M. Johnson
Community hub

Olive M. Johnson

logo
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Contribute something to knowledge base
Hub AI

Olive M. Johnson AI simulator

(@Olive M. Johnson_simulator)

Olive M. Johnson

Olivin "Olive" Malmberg Johnson (March 14, 1872 – June 16, 1954) was a Swedish-American socialist, newspaper editor and political activist. She is best remembered as a long-time editor of the weekly English-language newspaper of the Socialist Labor Party of America.

Olivin Malberg was born March 14, 1872, in Lund, Sweden, the daughter of a merchant. The family emigrated to the United States in the 1890s, with Olive graduating high school in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Olive joined the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP) in 1895. She acted as a lecturer and speaker on behalf of the party beginning in 1898. She worked variously as a retail clerk, restaurant worker, office worker, housekeeper, and teacher.

Malmberg was married to another member party member by the name of Johnson, took his name, and moved with him to California. The Johnsons' marriage eventually ended, but as was the custom of the day, Olive kept her former husband's surname after its dissolution. She never remarried.

Johnson attended Hunter College in New York City, from which she obtained a bachelor's degree in 1916, at the age of 44. She later did graduate course work at Columbia University and New York University.

Johnson was a close friend and trusted political associate of party leader Daniel DeLeon (1852–1914). She was first elected a member of the governing National Executive Committee of the SLP in 1904, remaining in that capacity until 1912. She joined DeLeon as a delegate of the SLP to the 1910 Copenhagen Congress of the Second International and was a delegate to many of the SLP's quadrennial national conventions, beginning in 1904.

Johnson was also close to Arnold Petersen (1885–1976), the Danish-born successor to Daniel DeLeon's mantle as top leader of the Socialist Labor Party. In 1918, Johnson became editor of the SLP's official newspaper, The Weekly People, replacing Edmund Seidel, who had begun advocating a merger with the leftward tilting Socialist Party of America. She remained in that position for 20 years, also writing many articles and pamphlets on behalf of the party. A number of Johnson's pamphlets were translated into Swedish, Hungarian, Ukrainian, and Croatian by the various foreign language federations of the SLP.

As editor of the SLP's official organ, Johnson continued to advocate a harsh line towards other political organizations on the left. Historian Ben Perry notes:

See all
American newspaper editor (1872–1952)
User Avatar
No comments yet.