Anna Agnes Maley (January 6, 1872 – November 28, 1918) was an American school teacher,

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

newspaper editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...

, and

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. One of a small number of top female leaders of the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...

during the years prior to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Maley is best remembered as the first woman to run for

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

1912 This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15. In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...

Biography

Early years

Anna A. Maley was born January 6, 1872, in Faxon, Sibley County,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, the daughter of Irish immigrants.SteveNL
"Ungovernor, 1912 — Anna Agnes Maley,"
OlyBlog, February 22, 2008. www.olyblog.net/ After completing her secondary education, Maley worked first as a stenographer before taking a position as a schoolteacher.Margaret Riddle
"Anna Agnes Maley (1872-1918),"
HistoryLink: The Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History, Seattle, September 28, 2007. www.historylink.org/ She taught for six years in the

public schools Public school may refer to: *Public school (government-funded), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging private schools in England and Wales *Great Public Schools, ...

of Minnesota before entering the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, where she studied literature. During her time at the University of Minnesota, Maley was introduced to

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

ideas and became a committed adherent. She joined the

Socialist Labor Party of America The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 192 ...

and was the recording secretary of Section Minneapolis of that organization in 1899 when it cast its support with a dissident faction that attempted to depose powerful party leader

Daniel DeLeon Daniel De Leon (; December 14, 1852 – May 11, 1914), alternatively spelt Daniel de León, was a Curaçaoan-American socialist newspaper editor, politician, Marxist theoretician, and trade union organizer. He is regarded as the forefather of ...

and his associates from the National Executive Committee. Maley was elected the first Secretary of Local Minneapolis of the

at the time of its formation late in the summer of 1901.

Political career

In 1903, Maley was made part of the staff of Julius Wayland's seminal Socialist weekly, the '' Appeal to Reason,'' based in the small Southeastern

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

town of Girard. After a few years at the ''Appeal,'' Maley moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to continue her career in Socialist journalism, taking a position on the staff of ''The Worker,'' weekly forerunner of the daily ''

New York Call The ''New York Call'' was a socialist daily newspaper published in New York City from 1908 through 1923. The ''Call'' was the second of three English-language dailies affiliated with the Socialist Party of America, following the ''Chicago Daily S ...

.'' Maley continued on at the Call at the time of its launch in 1908. At the urging of the highly esteemed

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

, the

Second International The Second International, also called the Socialist International, was a political international of Labour movement, socialist and labour parties and Trade union, trade unions which existed from 1889 to 1916. It included representatives from mo ...

passed a resolution in August 1907 calling upon the Socialist parties of the world to launch their own women's sections to agitate for the right to vote and to better target socialist propaganda to a female audience.Mari Jo Buhle, ''Women and American Socialism, 1870-1920.'' Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1981; pg. 147. The governing National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America was quick to follow this international guidance, approving a national lecturer for the organization of independent women in January 1908 and moving the question of women's relationship to the socialist movement onto the agenda for the May 1908 National Convention of the party, held in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Further motivated by a May 12, 1908, gathering of the non-party Socialist Women's League of Chicago — held simultaneously with the party conclave — the 1908 SPA National Convention formally approved the previous appointment of a national lecturer for women and recommended the establishment of a five-member Woman's National Committee to coordinate the party's female-oriented activities. Although not one of the five original members of the National Woman's Committee, Maley was named to the committee in 1909, when she succeeded

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

attorney Marguerite Prevey as chairwoman.Buhle, ''Women and American Socialism, 1870-1920,'' pg. 153. Maley was regarded by her peers as a talented and effective public speaker and she spent extensive time in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1911 speaking on behalf of the mayoral campaign of

Job Harriman Job Harriman (January 15, 1861 – October 26, 1925) was an American minister who later became an agnostic and a socialist. In 1900, he ran for vice president of the United States along with Eugene Debs on the ticket of the Socialist Party of ...

in that year.Agnes H. Downing, "Reminiscent of Anna A. Maley: A Tribute," ''The Call Magazine,'' (Sunday supplement to the ''New York Call),'' February 2, 1919; pg. 9. In September 1911, Maley made her way to the Pacific Northwestern region of the United States to take over as editor of the Socialist newspaper ''The Commonwealth,'' based in the mill town of Everett,

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. During the time she headed the financially struggling paper, Maley earned her primary income as a public lecturer, drawing very little income from the paper's coffers. Maley remained on the staff until the end of May 1912, when she left wage a campaign running for Governor of Washington. Maley's candidacy marked the first time that a woman had run for the highest office in Washington state. Although she won more than 12% of the vote in the 1912 Washington gubernatorial race, finishing fourth, Maley's vote totals ran slightly behind those generated by

Presidential Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...

candidate

Eugene V. Debs Eugene Victor Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five-time candidate of the Socialist Party o ...

. Despite this, the number of ballots cast for Maley exceeded those cast for any other Socialist Party nominee for governor, before or since. Maley was a supporter of the moderate faction of the

Socialist Party of Washington The Socialist Party of Washington was the Washington state section of the Socialist Party of America (SPA), an organization originally established as a federation of semi-autonomous state organizations. During the 1910s, the Socialist Party of Wa ...

headed by Seattle dentist

Edwin J. Brown Edwin J. Brown (1864–1941) was mayor of Seattle, elected in May, 1922, and again in 1924. He graduated from Kansas City School of Law in 1899, and worked as a dentist, thus earning the moniker "Doc" Brown. As a politician during prohibition, ...

and Walter Thomas Mills and was essentially squeezed out of the state party during the bitter factional war of 1913. She ended her tenure as editor of ''The Commonwealth'' in February of that year. Leaving the West, Maley was active in a

free speech fight Free speech fights are struggles over free speech, and especially those struggles which involved the Industrial Workers of the World and their attempts to gain awareness for labor issues by organizing workers and urging them to use their collective ...

in the Eastern mining state of

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

in the summer of 1913. A return to New York City followed, with Maley taking a job as an instructor at the Socialist Party's

Rand School of Social Science The Rand School of Social Science was formed in 1906 in New York City by adherents of the Socialist Party of America. The school aimed to provide a broad education to workers, imparting a politicizing class-consciousness, and additionally served a ...

. Maley wrote a short works during this period, a textbook for students of socialism at the Rand School called ''Elements of Socialism: Twelve Lessons.'' Maley was elected to the governing National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party in 1916, becoming just the third woman to serve in that capacity from the time of the party's formation in 1901 until the coming of

Later years, death, and legacy

At the age of 41, Maley married Warren M. Ringsdorf, on December 22, 1914, in Chicago, Illinois. A few months after they wed, Ringsdorf fell ill from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. Maley nursed Ringsdorf through his protracted illness, which ultimately killed him. Returning to Socialist Party work after her husband's death, Maley hit the road as a touring lecturer on behalf of the organization. This continued until she contracted

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

while in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, a condition complicated by the onset of

Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine. It was frequently accompanied ...

. Maley remained in ill health for the rest of her life, returning to Minnesota to be cared for by her family. Back home in Minneapolis, Maley returned to work again as an assistant to

Thomas Van Lear Thomas H. Van Lear (April 26, 1869 – March 4, 1931) was an American politician who served as the 28th Mayor of Minneapolis from January 1, 1917 to January 6, 1919. Van Lear was a member of the Socialist Party of America. Early life Van Lear ...

, the Socialist mayor of the city. She remained in this position for the last two years of her life, eventually succumbing to her chronic illness. Anna Maley died on November 28, 1918, in Minneapolis, at the age of 46."Miss A.A. Maley, Socialist, Is Dead: Was Secretary to Mayor Van Lear, Prominent in Socialist Circles,"
''The Labor World'' uluth vol. 26, no. 16 (Nov. 30, 1918), pg. 1. Her body was interred at St. Mary's Cemetery in Minneapolis.

Footnotes

Works

* ''Elements of Socialism: Twelve Lessons.'' New York: Rand School of Social Science, 1914. * ''Our National Kitchen: The Substance of a Speech on Socialism.'' Minneapolis, MN: People's Press, 1916. * ''The Workers' Herald Campaign Leaflet.'' Minneapolis, MN: Hennepin County Central Committee for the Candidates of the Socialist Party, Committee on Information, 1918.

External links

"The Commonwealth (Everett, Washington),"
Chronicling America, Library of Congress, chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Maley, Anna A. 1872 births 1918 deaths American people of Irish descent Writers from Minneapolis Journalists from Minneapolis People from Sibley County, Minnesota People from Everett, Washington University of Minnesota alumni Minnesota socialists Socialist Party of America politicians from Washington (state) Socialist Party of America politicians from New York (state) Schoolteachers from Minnesota 19th-century American educators 19th-century American women educators American socialists Washington (state) socialists