Leonore (Ella) Sophie Winter Steffens Stewart (1898–1980) was an Australian-British journalist and activist.

Early life

She was born in 1898 to Freda Lust and Adolph Wertheimer in Nuremberg, Germany. Her parents were Freda Lust and Adolph Wertheimer from

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

( Nürnberg) in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, who lived in London, Melbourne, Australia and again in London, when they changed their name to Winter (around 1910). In 1924 she married

Lincoln Steffens Lincoln Austin Steffens (April 6, 1866 – August 9, 1936) was an American investigative journalist and one of the leading muckrakers of the Progressive Era in the early 20th century. He launched a series of articles in '' McClure's'', called " ...

after which she then had a son and moved to the largest art colony on the Pacific Coast, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Their children Rudolph, Rosa and Eleanora (Ella) were born in Melbourne.

Fredric Wertham Fredric Wertham (; born Friedrich Ignatz Wertheimer, March 20, 1895 – November 18, 1981) was a German-American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafarg ...

was a relative. She studied at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

in England.

Career

The Steffenses were instrumental in helping to create ''The Carmelite,'' a new local paper. The Carmelite made a name for its alternative view on art and soon became one of California's most controversial publications. Within the paper, Ella wrote on various topics. She and her family were also involved in controversial national campaigns, including the Scottsboro Boys Defense Fund which sought to free nine black men who were still incarcerated after the Supreme Court of the United States reversed their convictions for rape twice. She met the U.S. journalist and muckraker

at the

Versailles Conference The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed ...

, where she was secretary to US Supreme Court Justice

Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Austrian-American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, during which period he was a noted advocate of judic ...

. Winter and Steffens married in 1924. They moved to Italy, where their son, Peter, was born in San Remo. Two years later, they moved to the largest art colony on the Pacific Coast, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Where their social circle included photographer

Edward Weston Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was a 20th-century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers..." and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." ...

, poet

Robinson Jeffers John Robinson Jeffers (January 10, 1887 – January 20, 1962) was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. Much of Jeffers's poetry was written in narrative and epic form. However, he is also known for his short ...

, philosopher/mythologist Joseph Campbell, nutritionist/author Adelle Davis, short story writer/poet Clark Ashton Smith, marine biologist/ecologist

Ed Ricketts Edward Flanders Robb Ricketts (May 14, 1897 – May 11, 1948) was an American marine biologist, ecologist, and philosopher. He is best known for '' Between Pacific Tides'' (1939), a pioneering study of intertidal ecology. He is also known as a m ...

, Nobel prize winner

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...

, and novelists John Steinbeck and

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

. An online facsimile of the entire text of Vol. 1 is posted on the Traditional Fine Arts Organization website ().

The creation of ''The Carmelite''

Carmel Colony was sharply divided between conservative and liberal factions; the latter quickly coalesced around the Steffenses, who publicly debated the most controversial topics. The Irish poet and folklorist

Ella Young Ella Young (26 December 1867 – 23 July 1956) was an Irish poet and Celtic mythologist active in the Gaelic and Celtic Revival literary movement of the late 19th and early 20th century. Born in Ireland, Young was an author of poetry and c ...

, as well as the local press, described the relaxed social intercourse in this counterculture world. In 1928 the Steffenses helped to create ''The Carmelite'', a publication that was offered as an alternative to the town’s somewhat stodgy local paper, the ''Carmel Pine Cone''. With contributions by numerous leftist literati, including Jeffers, Martin Flavin, Lewis and the Steffenses, along with theater, dance and art reviews by feminist artists such as Alberta Spratt, Jennie V. Cannon and Roberta Balfour, ''The Carmelite'' became one of California’s most controversial publications. Its illustrations ranged from Weston’s enigmatic photos to the "anarchist" prints of

James Blanding Sloan James Blanding Sloan (September 19, 1886 – October 5, 1975), also known as Blanding Sloan, was an American etcher, printmaker, theatrical designer, educator, painter, and puppeteer. Biography J. Blanding Sloan was the first son born to Alexande ...

. The Steffenses also arranged for public exhibits of Europe’s most avant-garde art, including

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...

, Surrealism and the paintings of

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented ...

. Ella wrote on various topics and once reported on the very unusual meeting between the popular Modernist artists John O’Shea and Frederick O’Brien. The Steffenses' support of the art community extended to their own home where they entertained local painters and offered to display their work. Ella loved publicity and when two Carmel reactionaries, artist William Silva and writer/editor Perry Newberry, tried to ban her local chapter of the communist-affiliated

John Reed Club The John Reed Clubs (1929–1935), often referred to as John Reed Club (JRC), were an American federation of local organizations targeted towards Marxist writers, artists, and intellectuals, named after the American journalist and activist John ...

as well as her "socialist reading room", she made sure that the press as far away as Los Angeles was apprised of the violation of her civil rights. The Steffenses also joined controversial national campaigns, including the Scottsboro Boys Defense Fund which sought to free nine black men who were still incarcerated after the Supreme Court of the United States twice reversed their convictions for rape.''The San Francisco News'', 24 February 1934, p. 11.''Carmel Pine Cone'', 23 February 1934, p. 5.''The Oakland Tribune'', 24 February 1934, p. 9. Lincoln Steffens died in Carmel in 1936.

Publications

A close associate with the Communist Party USA and strong supporter of the

Soviet Union under Stalin The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, she wrote her first book, ''Red Virtue'', after visiting the Soviet Union in 1932.Ros Pesman. "'Red Virtue': Ella Winter and the Soviet Union." ''Political Tourists: Travellers from Australia to the Soviet Union in the 1920s–1940s.'' Sheila Fitzpatrick and Carolyn Rasmussen, eds. Melbourne University Press, 2008
pp.102–104.
She returned to the Soviet Union in 1944 and published ''I Saw the Russian People'' the following year. In her autobiography, ''And Not to Yield'' published in 1963, she affirmed her support for the Soviets while admitting that she had concealed negative aspects of the murderous regime.Ros Pesman. "'Red Virtue': Ella Winter and the Soviet Union." ''Political Tourists: Travellers from Australia to the Soviet Union in the 1920s–1940s.'' Sheila Fitzpatrick and Carolyn Rasmussen, eds. Melbourne University Press, 2008
pp.116.
At the time, she told a friend that she was not part of the "' God that failed' brigade and did not want her book to be of advantage to that group".

Later life

In 1939, Winter married the screenwriter and humorist

Donald Ogden Stewart Donald Ogden Stewart (November 30, 1894 – August 2, 1980) was an American writer and screenwriter best known for his sophisticated golden age comedies and melodramas such as '' The Philadelphia Story'' (based on the play by Philip Barry), '' T ...

and became stepmother to his sons, Donald and Ames. They lived in California and then in Hampstead, London. She died of a stroke on 5 August 1980 died at her home in Hamstead, London. She was 82 years old.

Bibliography

*
Red Virtue: Human Relations in the New Russia
'. Harcourt, Brace & Company, New York 1933 * Ella Winter, Granville Hicks (eds.): ''The Letters of Lincoln Steffens''. Harcourt, Brace & Company, New York 1938 * ''I Saw the Russian People''. Little, Brown and Company, Boston 1945 * Ella Winter, Herbert Shapiro (eds.): ''The World of Lincoln Steffens''. 1962 * ''And Not to Yield: An Autobiography''. Harcourt, Brace & World, New York 1963

Notes

External links

* Donald Ogden Stewart and Ella Winter Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.