Carolyn Augusta Strobell ( Lloyd; c. 1859 – 1940) was an American author and activist. She was a member of the

American Socialist Party 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 Americ ...

and, after 1935, the Communist Party. She published a biography of her brother, the Socialist leader

Henry Demarest Lloyd Henry Demarest Lloyd (May 1, 1847 – September 28, 1903) was an American journalist and political activist who was a prominent muckraker during the Progressive Era. He is best known for his exposés of Standard Oil which were written before Ida ...

, in 1912. In 1940 she became an owner of the Communist Party's newspaper, ''

The Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPU ...

''.

Biography

Early life

Carolyn Augusta Lloyd was born in 1859 in

Pekin, Illinois Pekin ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tazewell County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located on the Illinois River, Pekin is the largest city of Tazewell County and the second most populous municipality of the Peoria metropolitan area ...

to Aaron Lloyd, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church and bookstore owner, and Maria Christie ( Demarest) Lloyd. She attended

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

, graduating in 1881. She moved to Paris, where she attended the Sorbonne, taught school, and wrote articles for several American magazines. She returned to the United States in 1887, teaching school in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

and

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

Marriage and children

She married

Lothrop Withington Lothrop Withington (January 31, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American genealogy, genealogist, historian, and editing, book editor who was killed in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. Early life Lothrop Withington was born on January 31, 1856, i ...

, a professional genealogist, in Paris, in 1892 and lived with him there and in England; they divorced in 1910. In 1915 she married George Strobell, a manufacturing jeweler who had run for mayor of Newark on the Socialist ticket, and who later became the manager of the Socialist Party of America's Rand School of Social Sciences. He would die in Russia in 1925, working on Soviet farm reconstruction.

Later life

Strobell lived in New York City and summered in

Little Compton, Rhode Island Little Compton is a coastal town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, bounded on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by the Sakonnet River, on the north by the town of Tiverton, Rhode Island, Tiverton, and on the east by the t ...

. In addition to her writing, she worked for the Committee on Maternal Health of the

New York Academy of Medicine The New York Academy of Medicine (the Academy) is a health policy and advocacy organization founded in 1847 by a group of leading New York metropolitan area physicians as a voice for the medical profession in medical practice and public health r ...

, researching for a book on birth control. In Little Compton, she was a member of the Little Compton Garden Club and part of the summer colony that centered on her brother's family's home, a center for socialists and other radicals.

Political activism and writings

Strobell began writing for magazines and political journals when she lived in Paris, and continued to write for the rest of her life. Her first essays were for ''The Outlook'' on topics includin
"the organization of the Workingwomen of Paris
, encouraging their unionization, an
"the club for American girls studying in Paris"
She became a socialist in England in 1898 and a member of the Socialist Party in 1906. She was an editor of ''The Intercollegiate Socialist'', the magazine of the

Intercollegiate Socialist Society The Intercollegiate Socialist Society (ISS) was a socialist student organization active from 1905 to 1921. It attracted many prominent intellectuals and writers and acted as an unofficial student wing of the Socialist Party of America. The Societ ...

, writing many reviews and articles with titles like “War Collectivism in England”, “Concerning the German Revolution”, and “Karl Marx”. Other work appeared in, among other publications, '' The Socialist Review'', ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN radio and WGN tel ...

'', '' The New York Evening Post'', '' The Springfield Republican'', ''The Brooklyn Standard Union'', and ''

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 ...

''. Her essays, often a combination of personal observation and politics, were reprinted in many papers. In 1912, Strobell published ''

, 1847-1903; A Biography''. She collected his papers, which are now at the

Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of ...

. Strobell left the Socialist party in 1925 and joined the Communist party in 1935, contributing many articles to the party's official newspaper, ''The Daily Worker''. A family member recalled that “men in dark suits” came to visit her in Little Compton, bringing writing assignments and asking for money. In 1940, at the age of 81, Strobell bought ''The Daily Worker'' along with two friends, also elderly women, to protect it from government attacks on the Communist Party.

Published works

* Lloyd, C. (1912). ''Henry Demarest Lloyd, 1847-1903: A biography''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.