[Grace Carlson, flanked by Carl Skoglund (I.) and…]

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Grace Carlson, flanked by Carl Skoglund (I.) and Vincent two of her 17 co-defendants during 1941 Smith Act trial in Grace A. Carlson, 85, a long-time socialist and labor activist in the Twin Cities, Minn., area during the 1940s, died July 7, in Madison, Wis.

Carlson was the first woman ever to run for vice president of the the United States, running on the Socialist Workers Party ticket in 1948. Prior to that, she ran as a socialist candidate for mayor of St. Paul, Minn., in 1942, and for Congress in 1940, 1946, and 1950.

She was the only woman among the 18 leaders of the Socialist Workers Party who were convicted in 1941 of "trying to overthrow the U.s. government." In reality, the socialists were framed up because of their opposition to U.S. entry into World War II. Carlson ended up serving 13 months in prison in 1944.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court later declared the law under which she was convicted-the Smith Act— unconstitutional, Carison, a doctor of psychology, was blacklisted from employment for many years after her release.

While Carlson was a committed socialist fighter, she was also a devout Catholic, in spite of the fact that she had been excommunicated because of her political beliefs. In 1952, at the height of the McCarthyite witchhunt, she abruptly resigned from the Socialist Workers Party and returned to the Catholic Church.

Grace Carlson was born in 1906 in St. Paul, Minn., and earned her doctorate in psychology at the University of Minnesota in 1933. She taught psychology at the university and worked for the state Department of Education as a vocational rehabilitation counselor. But the1930s were a period of labor upsurge and Carlson became heavily involved with the tradeunion movement. As a result, she became increasingly interested in socialist politics, which led her to join the Socialist Workers Party in 1936.

During the 1960s and "70s, she taught at a nursing school in Minneapolis and moved to Madison, Wis., after her husband, Gilbert Carlson, died in 1985.

In an article in the July 7, 1952, issue of The Militant, the newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party, a poignant in resigning from the numerically small and persecuted Socialist Workers Party for sanctuary in the rich and powerful Catholic Church is only the final effect of the many successive blows of persecution, poverty, and discrimination which had been inflicted upon her during the long time she fought on the side of the poor for the great ideals of socialism. ...

"When Grace Carlson came to the Socialist Workers Party in 1936 she held a good position in the Minnesota State Department of Education, received a good salary and was honored and respected in the Twin Cities circles of the rich and the powerful. ... Her decision at that time to Ray Dunne (r.), Minneapolis. join with us in the service of the great ideal of socialism was a happy decision, as she stated at the time and repeated many times thereafter. We won her by our ideas and ideals and kept her for 16 years.

"We won her by persuasion, by arguments, and by the example of comrades putting service to a great cause above personal interest.

"The forces of reaction have finally broken her away from the socialist movement by a different method. They made Grace Carlson pay for her idealistic and self-sacrificing work for socialism.

"She had to give up her position with the Minnesota State Department of Education and drastically cut her standard of living. She had to sacrifice her honored position in the community.

"In 1943 she had to go to federal prison along with 17 other members of the party. On her return from prison in 1945, she had to register with the police department of St. Paul as an ex-convict. "She was blacklisted from all employment in the Twin Cities. Sacrifice after sacrifice was imposed upon her.For 16 years, the powerful forces of reaction hammered and pounded at this woman until they finally beat her down, broke her spirit of resistance, and compelled her to leave the party which she had served so long and so honorably." But despite her return to the Church, Carlson kept up a lively interest in politics. "Over the last few years she would read for eight, 10, maybe 12 hours a day, watch [political talk shows] every night and have political arguments with whoever was willing," said her nephew, Raymond Schultz. "She liked discussions, but if they turned into arguments, that was OK with het, too."

In the end, Grace Carlson's spirit wasn't broken. According to her sister, Dorothy Schultz, "She was a socialist until she died."