Johnson, Olive M.

JOHNSON, OLIVE M. (1872–1952). One of the most prominent women in American Socialism, Olivin “Olive” Malmberg Johnson was editor of the Weekly People, organ of the (American) Socialist Labor Party, from 1918 to 1938. Born in Lund, Sweden, she emigrated in the 1890s to the United States, where she joined the Socialist Labor Party in 1895. Like many Scandinavian immigrants, she lived in the Midwest. After moving to California, she was elected to the national executive committee. Her marriage to another member broke up and she never remarried.

She was a close friend to Daniel De Leon, and much of their voluminous correspondence still survives. In 1907 she made an unauthorized trip to the national executive committee meeting in New York to support De Leon in his conflict with James Connolly over editorial and party policies. Her vote was also crucial in opposing national secretary Frank Bohn’s moves toward unity with the Socialist Party. In 1910 she attended the socialist international congress in Copenhagen with De Leon. In 1918 she was chosen by the national executive committee to replace Edmund Seidel, who as national editor espoused pro-unity views.

Her editorial positions were especially hostile to the Communist and Socialist parties and the anti-political Industrial Workers of the World, but she also condemned the Congress of Industrial Organizations as well as non-revolutionary movements such as the cooperative movement and the New Deal. She was very active during this period, not only as editor, but also as pamphlet writer, speaker, and candidate for public office. She was a spokesperson for a socialist women’s group in greater New York and in 1907 wrote Woman and the Socialist Movement. Other works include The Cooperative Movement (1924), Industrial Unionism (1935), and a history, Socialist Labor Party, 1890–1930 (with Henry Kuhn, 1931).

In the 1930s, she suffered from tuberculosis and carried out her editorial duties more and more at home. This, along with personality differences with national secretary Arnold Petersen, resulted in her removal as national editor in 1938. Her health continued to worsen and she died in Malibu, California.

“In Memoriam Olive M. Johnson.” Weekly People, July 10 1954, p. 5.
Records of the Socialist Labor Party Collection. Microfilm Edition. Published by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison. National Historical Publication & Records Commission, National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/nhprc/projects/catalog/socialist-labor-party-of-america-0