Larkin was reported as having helped to disrupt Allied munitions shipments in New York City during World War I . In 1937 , he voluntarily assisted US lawyers investigating the Black Tom explosion by providing an affidavit from his home in Dublin . According to British Army Intelligence officer , Henry Landau : Larkin testified that he himself never took part in the actual sabotage campaign but , rather , confined himself to the organising of strikes to secure both higher pay and shorter hours for workmen and to prevent the shipment of munitions to the Allies . Larkin 's speeches in support of the Soviet Union , his association with founding members of the American Communist Party , and his radical publications made him a target of the " First Red Scare " that was sweeping the US ; he was jailed in 1920 for ' criminal anarchy ' and was sentenced to five to ten years in Sing Sing prison . In 1923 , he was pardoned and later deported by Al Smith , Governor of New York
Black Tom explosion
Black Tom explosion
James Larkin