Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley (1890–1964)

US labour leader and social reformer. She became an organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World. She also worked for women's suffrage, peace, and other progressive causes, and was one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union.

She was born in Concord, New Hampshire. She worked for such causes as the release of civilians imprisoned during World War I on war-related charges, and then worked to free the controversially convicted murderers Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (see Sacco–Vanzetti case). She joined the Communist Party and became one of its most outspoken leaders in the USA. She served two years in prison, charged with advocating the overthrow of the US government. She chaired the Communist Party of America 1961–64. She died in Moscow where she had gone to work on her autobiography.