Dorothy Healey, RIP.

"Legendary Communist and, later, legendary ex-Communist Dorothy Healey died [a decade ago today] at age 91. At barely five feet tall, with piercing blue-grey eyes, a razor sharp-intellect, often a pipe or a panatela in her hand, Dorothy was a power-house orator, a relentless organizer, and a fireball of political energy and optimism. The most

notorious figure in the Southern California Communist Party, she had already make her mark as an agitator while in her teens: Steinbeck fashioned one of his farm labor organizer characters of his In Dubious Battle directly from Dorothy’s real-life persona. No one, at least no one I knew, could conduct any ideological debate with half the gravitas and wit that Dorothy could conjure. She knew her stuff and was always ready to patiently prove it. She never recruited me or any of my close friends into the Party. But we, nevertheless, considered Dorothy to be our den mother – we were all proud to be known around L.A. as one of 'Dorothy’s kids.'” -- Marc Cooper (2006 obituary).

Thanks to her son, Richard Healey, her autobiography is available as a free pdf (Grass Roots Policy).

More:
-> Dorothy Ray Healey, Activist by Marc Cooper (Z Magazine).
-> An appreciation of one of the last members of the left's "greatest generation," known for her physical courage, warmth and intelligence, who spent a lifetime arguing eloquently for socialism, feminism and peace: Dorothy Healey by Mike Davis (The Nation).