Earl Browder | |
|---|---|
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| Chairman of the Communist Party USA | |
| In office 1934–1945 | |
| Preceded by | William Z. Foster |
| Succeeded by | William Z. Foster |
| General Secretary of the Communist Party USA | |
| In office 1930–1945 | |
| Preceded by | Max Bedacht |
| Succeeded by | Eugene Dennis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Earl Russell Browder May 20, 1891 Wichita, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | June 27, 1973 (aged 82) Princeton, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Political party | Socialist Party of America (1907–1920) Syndicalist League of North America (1912–1917) Communist Party USA (1920–1945) |
| Spouse | Raisa Berkman |
| Children | |
| Relatives | |
| Signature |  |
Earl Russell Browder (May 20, 1891 – June 27, 1973) was an American politician, spy for the Soviet Union, communist activist and leader of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Browder was the General Secretary of the CPUSA during the 1930s and first half of the 1940s. During World War I, Browder served time in federal prison as a conscientious objector to conscription and the war. Upon his release, Browder became an active member of the American Communist movement, soon working as an organizer on behalf of the Communist International and its Red International of Labor Unions in China and the Pacific region.
In 1930, following the removal of a rival political faction from leadership, Browder was made General Secretary of the CPUSA. For the next 15 years thereafter Browder was the most recognizable public figure associated with American communism, authoring dozens of pamphlets and books, making numerous public speeches before sometimes vast audiences, and twice running for President of the United States. Browder also took part in activities on behalf of Soviet intelligence in America during his period of party leadership, placing those who sought to convey sensitive information to the party into contact with Soviet intelligence. In the wake of public outrage over the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Browder was indicted for passport fraud. He was convicted of two counts early in 1940 and sentenced to four years in prison, remaining free for a time on appeal. In the spring of 1942, the US Supreme Court affirmed the sentence and Browder began what proved to be a 14-month stint in federal prison. Browder was subsequently released by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in May 1942 as a gesture to "promote national unity."
Browder was a staunch adherent of close cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union during World War II and envisioned continued cooperation between these two military powers in the postwar years. Coming to see the role of American Communists to be that of an organized pressure group within a broad governing coalition, he directed the transformation of the CPUSA into a "Communist Political Association" in 1944; however, following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Cold War and internal red scare quickly sprouted up. Browder was expelled from the re-established Communist Party early in 1946, largely due to a refusal to modify these views to accord with changing political realities and their associated ideological demands. Browder lived out the rest of his life in relative obscurity at his home in Yonkers, New York, and later in Princeton, New Jersey, where he died in 1973. He wrote numerous books and pamphlets on political issues.