Ella Reeve Bloor is best known as a feminist, a labor agitator, a lecturer, an organizer of the Socialist Party, and one of the founders of the American Communist Party. Affectionately known as "Mother Bloor," her career as a columnist, investigative reporter, writer of children's books, and journalist lasted almost thirty years. Bloor's role as an organizer, as well as her significant contributions to the Socialist and Communist Parties, were dismissed by party historians. Frequently portrayed as the token woman arriving at her position due to her ties with well-placed men, the record of Bloor's efforts on the part of American workers easily disproves this misconception.

Ella Reeve was born on Staten Island, New York, on 8 July 1862 to Charles and Harriet Disbrow Reeve. The oldest of eleven children, she was raised in a fairly affluent neighborhood in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Her father was a tailor and later owned...