17 Facts About Caroline Decker

Caroline Decker was born on April 26,1912, in Macon, Georgia.

Caroline Decker's parents were Jewish immigrants that emigrated to the US after fleeing pogroms in Ukraine.

Caroline Decker's family moved to Syracuse when she was 12, and her father Bernard is buried there in the Workman's Circle Cemetery.

In Syracuse, Caroline Decker met many leaders of left-wing organizations who frequented the family home.

Caroline Decker joined the Young Communist League USA, helped organize cigar workers and shoe workers in Binghamton and became a speaker at such events as International Women's Day.

Caroline Decker stopped in Carmel at the home of Lincoln Steffans, where Langston Hughes and Ellen Winter celebrated the victory by writing a pageant.

Several of the CAWIU leaders, including Caroline Decker, were members of the Communist Party, and she became the union secretary.

In October 1933, Caroline Decker became involved with the San Joaquin cotton strike.

Caroline Decker led strikers to the courthouse in Visalia where, on October 19,1933, the committee began its hearings.

Caroline Decker questioned strikers on the stand, where she brought out the details of their lives: "a work day extending from daylight to dark, their fingers bleeding from the prickly cotton bolls, the children working alongside their parents until they collapsed on the ground in exhausted sleep".

Caroline Decker "immediately offered to let him personally select all further strikers' witnesses" but he declined the offer.

In June 1934, Caroline Decker traveled to Contra Costa County to organize apricot pickers, working alongside members of the AFL-affiliated Cannery Workers Union.

Caroline Decker was found guilty on two of six counts and sentenced to a term of imprisonment at Tehachapi.

Caroline Decker served for three years and was released in 1937.

Caroline Decker divorced her first husband, Jack Warnick, shortly after her release from prison.

Caroline Decker had served time for violating California's Criminal Syndicalism laws.

Caroline Decker Gladstein died in Marin County, California, on May 17,1992.