Vincent Copeland (June 19, 1915 â€" June 7, 1993) was an American
actor, labor official, writer, and political activist. A communist,
Copeland was an actor during the 1930s but soon turned to political
activism. Turning to industrial labor, Copeland was a welder,
grievance officer, and editor of his unions' newspaper at the
Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna, New York. He "opposed the
company's practice of denying black furnace workers better jobs by
hiring outsiders to fill them" and 16,000 workers walked off the job
in a wildcat strike. Copeland, however, was not rehired.A member of
the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party (SWP), Copeland, Sam Marcy and
others formed a faction which eventually left the party in 1958. A
year later, Copeland became a founding member of Workers World Party
(WWP). He was the founding editor of the party's newspaper, the
eponymously named Workers World.During the 1960s, he was a board
member of National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, a
major coordinating organization for mass protests against United
States involvement in the Vietnam War. Copeland was a long-time
resident of Jersey City, New Jersey, where he edited the Community
Voice newspaper from 1985â€"1988.Copeland married fellow communist
Elizabeth 'Libby' Ross in 1940. Ross died in 1989. He had two
step-children, one of whom, Deirdre Griswold, was Workers World's
nominee for president in 1980. He died on June 7, 1993 at his home in
Hoboken, New Jersey.
actor, labor official, writer, and political activist. A communist,
Copeland was an actor during the 1930s but soon turned to political
activism. Turning to industrial labor, Copeland was a welder,
grievance officer, and editor of his unions' newspaper at the
Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna, New York. He "opposed the
company's practice of denying black furnace workers better jobs by
hiring outsiders to fill them" and 16,000 workers walked off the job
in a wildcat strike. Copeland, however, was not rehired.A member of
the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party (SWP), Copeland, Sam Marcy and
others formed a faction which eventually left the party in 1958. A
year later, Copeland became a founding member of Workers World Party
(WWP). He was the founding editor of the party's newspaper, the
eponymously named Workers World.During the 1960s, he was a board
member of National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, a
major coordinating organization for mass protests against United
States involvement in the Vietnam War. Copeland was a long-time
resident of Jersey City, New Jersey, where he edited the Community
Voice newspaper from 1985â€"1988.Copeland married fellow communist
Elizabeth 'Libby' Ross in 1940. Ross died in 1989. He had two
step-children, one of whom, Deirdre Griswold, was Workers World's
nominee for president in 1980. He died on June 7, 1993 at his home in
Hoboken, New Jersey.
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