Red America: 9 Most Notable American Communists
Since the turn of the century, the ideologies of communism and socialism have held significant sway over the American political and social spheres. Despite intense government suppression, particularly during the Red Scare and the Cold War, several prominent public figures emerged advocating for communist ideas within the United States. These individuals were pivotal in advancing the plight of labor movements, promoting civil rights, and contributing to a more diverse political debate in the US.1. Eugene V. Debs: The Great American SocialistEugene V. Debs, 1912. Source: Library of Congress / Wikimedia CommonsEugene V. Debs was perhaps the most prominent American socialist, political activist, and union leader of the twentieth century. He is known for his founding role in the Industrial Workers of the World movement and his five attempted runs for president as a candidate for the American Socialist Party. However, Debs initially started his career as a Democratic politician and was elected to the Indiana General Assembly in 1884. As his political career continued, he became more involved in the plight of labor unions and began working with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, where he gained national recognition during the 1888 strike against the owners of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad.Debs went on to form the American Railway Union in 1893, a group that advocated for greater unity and bargaining power among industrial workers. One of the largest strike actions organized by this union was the Pullman Strike in 1894, which escalated into a nationwide action involving a quarter of a million railway workers. President Grover Cleveland was forced to deploy federal troops to break up the strike, and Debs was eventually arrested for his role. During his incarceration, Debs became an outspoken advocate of socialism and wrote several popular works of political theory.Upon his release, he co-founded the Socialist Party of America along with like-minded individuals. As its leader, he campaigned for president and in 1912, won a commendable six percent share of the vote. Due to his outspoken opposition to the involvement of the United States in World War I, Debs was charged with sedition and sentenced to ten years in prison. He died in 1926 due to health complications caused by his stay in jail.2. John Reed: An American Who Witnessed the Russian RevolutionJohn Reed, 1910. Source: Library of Congress / Wikimedia CommonsJohn Reed was a hugely influential American writer, poet, and revolutionary activist whose life inspired a generation of radical intellectuals. Born into a wealthy family in Oregon, he graduated from Harvard in 1910, where he began writing for the socialist newspaper The Masses. While working on the paper, he reported on the Mexican Revolution and became a prominent leader in the left-wing political movements of the time. He was frequently arrested for organizing unsanctioned strike action and advocating for workers rights.Upon leaving his role at The Masses, Reed went on to cover World War I for Metropolitan Magazine. His reports formed the bulk of his book, The War In Eastern Europe, which was published in 1916. Perhaps the most notable period of John Reeds career was during the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, which he witnessed firsthand as a close associate of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin. His reporting from Moscow became the basis for his popular work Ten Days That Shook the World, which has become one of the most famous examples of historical journalism of the twentieth century.After the US Communist Party split in 1919, Reed became leader of the Communist Labor Party, where he advocated for socialism in America. Due to his vocal anti-war stance, Reed was indicted for treason, which forced him to flee to the Soviet Union, where he eventually died of typhus in 1920.3. Paul Robeson: Musician and ActivistPaul Robeson, 1942. Source: Library of Congress / Wikimedia CommonsPaul Robeson was a prominent American concert singer, actor, football player, and political activist who advocated for communist causes. Robeson enjoyed a conventionally successful career as a cultural figure in the United States and Britain until the middle of the twentieth century when the Spanish Civil War allegedly awakened his political activism. Throughout 1937, Robeson used his cultural performances to highlight the plight of communist forces in their struggle against fascism in Spain. Robeson traveled to Spain in 1938, where he met members of the International Brigade at a military hospital and gave musical performances to boost their morale.In the wake of World War II, Robeson became a vocal proponent of trade unionism and supported greater workers rights as a crucial step towards desegregating American society. He also openly supported the communist forces of China in their fight against the Kuomintang, and disagreed with the US intervention in the Korean War. Robesons anti-war stance led him to become a derisive figure in American politics, and he was effectively blacklisted from cultural events. In 1952, the Soviet Union awarded Robeson the International Stalin Prize for supporting communist ideas. In 1976, Robeson died of a stroke aged 77.4. William Foster: American Labor LeaderA Soviet stamp celebrating William Foster, 1971. Source: USSR Post / Wikimedia CommonsWilliam Foster was a key figure in the American labor movement and a member of the US Communist Party who ran for president in the 1924, 1928, and 1932 elections. Foster was a fierce union organizer from 1894 when he joined the Industrial Workers of the World where he advocated for the advent of socialism in America through industrial strike action. Foster became a national political figure in 1919 when he organized the nationwide steel strike as leader of the American Federation of Labor.In the wake of the Bolshevik revolution, Russian communists designated Fosters Trade Union Educational League as an American wing of their Profintern. This elevated Foster to a leading figure in the American communist movement. The three presidential campaigns that Foster led focused on outlawing capitalism in the United States and establishing a fully-fledged workers republic in its place. After suffering from a near-fatal heart attack in 1932, Foster stepped back from his leadership role within the American Communist Party and was replaced by Earl Browder. Foster was a vocal supporter of Stalin and attempted to garner support among American intellectuals for the Soviet Unions military intervention during the Hungarian uprising. Foster died on September 1, 1961, while in Moscow and was given a state funeral in Red Square, where Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev personally led the honor guard.5. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: A Feminist Figure in American SocialismElizabeth G. Flynn. Source: Wikimedia CommonsElizabeth Gurley Flynn was born into a working-class family and became active in feminist socialist politics during her formal education. She joined the Industrial Workers of the World movement in 1906. Flynn left high school in 1907 and went on to organize nationwide actions for the Industrial Workers of the World. For several years, she took part in campaigns across the United States that advocated for free speech and womens rights. She played a key role during the Lawrence textile strike in 1912 and the Paterson strike in 1913, after which she helped raise funds for striking workers during the industrial action organized by the Mesabi iron miners in 1916.In 1918, Flynn went on to establish the Workers Liberty Defence Union and co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union two years later. After suffering from poor health, Flynn was forced to retreat from frontline politics and spent many years recovering. Upon her return to activism, Flynn was arrested along with other communist leaders in 1951 for violations of the Smith Act, which forbade political activism that favored the Soviet Union. Flynn was released in 1957 and traveled to the Soviet Union, where she died in 1964. For her role as a proponent of communist ideas, she was given a state funeral in Moscow where almost thirty thousand mourners came to pay their respects.6. Angela Davis: Black Rights and Communist ActivistAngela Davis, 1974. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAngela Davis is perhaps one of the most recognizable figures in the American communist movement and a key player in the black rights movement. Davis is perhaps best known for championing the rights of black prisoners during the 1960s and 70s when a number of legal cases gained national attention. During this time, she was an associate of the revolutionary figure George Jackson, who led the so-called Soledad Brothers. After several prison officers were killed in a violent attempt to free Jacksons brother from jail, Davis was accused of assisting the plotters and became one of the FBIs most wanted individuals. Davis was arrested by federal officers in 1970 and put on trial for her role in the prison break. She was acquitted of all charges.7. Gus Hall: A Minnesota RevolutionaryA Gus Hall campaign poster, 1975. Source: Library of Congress / Wikimedia CommonsGus Hall was an American communist from the state of Minnesota who is most known for his role as general secretary of the Communist Party of the United States from 1959 until his death in 2000. While chairman of the CPUSA, Hall ran four times for president of the United States, in 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984. Hall was born in the town of Iron in Minnesota and joined the CPUSA in 1927 as his parents were both active members of the Industrial Workers of the World Movement.Hall was among the few American politicians to study at the Vladimir Lenin Institute in Moscow, where he graduated in 1933. After returning to America, Hall began to organize aggressive strike action within trade unionsactions which frequently led to his arrest. In 1949, Hall was arrested for his role in a conspiracy to overthrow the United States government and sentenced to five years in federal prison. After being elected as general secretary of the American Communist Party in 1959, Hall ran unsuccessfully for president. While he did receive more than fifty thousand votes in his 1976 White House run he never became a mainstream political figure. Hall made several trips to the Soviet Union throughout his life and received the Order of Lenin for his role in advocating communism in America.8. & 9. Julius and Ethel RosenbergJulius and Ethel Rosenberg in court, 1951. Source: Library of Congress / Wikimedia CommonsTwo of the most tragic figures in the American communist movement are Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, civilians who were executed for conspiracy to commit espionage against the United States. Both born in New York City, the Rosenbergs were active members of the Communist Party. Julius Rosenberg was given privileged access to military intelligence through his work as an engineer with the US Army, and together with his wife Ethel, the couple began sharing classified military secrets with the Soviet Union. The most sensitive of these classified documents was provided by Ethels brother, David Greenglass, who worked as a machinist on the Manhattan Project. Through this connection, the Rosenbergs were able to smuggle sensitive information about the US Nuclear Weapons program to the Kremlin.The Rosenbergs were discovered when a courier, Harry Gold, was arrested and confessed that he had delivered sensitive classified military secrets to Julius and Ethel. They were both charged with espionage in 1961 and found guilty on March 29th. The Rosenbergs were executed by electric chair at a federal prison on June 19th, 1953. Notably, the couple were the first civilians ever executed for espionage during peacetime in the United States.
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