Alfred Wagenknecht

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Alfred Wagenknecht (15 August 1881 in Germany [1] - 26 August 1956 in Illinois [2]) was an American Communist, and editor of The Commonwealth. He, Charles Ruthenberg and Charles Baker were imprisoned in 1918 on charges of obstructing registration for the draft by calling for a general strike to oppose the United States' entry into World War I.

Wagenknecht ran as a Socialist Candidate for Congress in 1906 and 1912. He produced and co-starred in The Passaic Textile Strike, a semi-fictional account of the 13-month strike of 16,000 textile workers, initially led by Wagenknecht and other American Marxist and Communist leaders [3].