Chaplin, Ralph Hosea (1887–1961)

US editor and poet. He illustrated Jack London's The Dream of the Debs (1912), and wrote several poetry volumes. He joined the International Workers of the World (IWW) in 1913, and edited the IWW newspaper, Solidarity. He joined the Communist Party in 1919, but left in 1928 and from then on worked to combat communism in organized labour.

He was born in Ames, Kansas, of New England colonial stock; he studied art while working as a commercial artist in Chicago. He wrote the words to ‘Solidarity Forever’ (1915). He was jailed (1921–23) for conspiracy to violate the wartime espionage and sedition acts. His autobiography, Wobbly: The Rough and Tumble Story of an American Radical (1948), vividly describes his political and social beliefs.