Earl Browder Quotes
Did you think we are making a united front [with the Socialists] because we have suddenly been convinced that they are good class-conscious fighters, good leaders of the working class? … precisely the reason why we make the united front with them is because we have got to take their followers away from them.
Earl Browder, 1891-1973, Presidential candidate, Communist Party of the United States, Statement to the Communist Party Central Committee who had followed the past party line and regarded the Socialists as enemies and now were told to make a political alliance with the Socialists., This was a technique by which the American Communists had taken over control of many other left-wing organizations. See Norman Thomas {46108}. Despite the Communists’ efforts, they did not get control of the Socialist Party, although they did get some of their followers.
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This to some is a surprising statement for a Marxist, but Marxists have a wide range of political opinions just like Republicans, Christians, and Factor Owners do.
In 1927 the Russian Communist Party changed its position regarding the world union movement. Prior to that the Communists would not organize unions competing with already existing trade unions. Foster was one of the communist leaders who was the strongest advocate of this solidarity of the working class. However, after years of preaching one thing, he reversed himself. This type of adherence to party discipline led to him getting a derogatory nickname. See {592421}.
Although the Nazis railed against the Communists & Socialists, the potential opposition they feared the most was the middle class. See also {582966}.
Orthodox communist thinking assumed that the Blacks would “fall into the communist camp,” because of the legal support for racism and discrimination of the majority of America. While a few did, as Allen warned most would not as much of the communist doctrine was antithetical to Black cultural values. Religion is probably the best example. Allen was prescient.
The devastating and disillusioning effect of The Depression on the middle class brought a new kind of recruit in droves to the Communist ranks. The Party was used to attacking the middle class and its values not appealing to them. The party workers were blue collar and now thousands of professionals with their work styles and value system entered the ranks. These new communists were better educated, more independent, better read, and less ideological than the Party was used to. They joined quickly and quit the party if there was something they didn’t like. So they were received by the party loyalists ambiguously.
Every sect of Russian communism had an offshoot in America and in other countries as well. When bad blood broke out between sects in Russia, the battle spread to the rest of the world as when Leon Trotsky was assassinated by Stalinists in Mexico and the Trotskyites were viciously and physically attacked here in America. In many cases there was little ideological difference but the split reflected different leadership styles and personalities. Despite Frank’s warning, American communism was a mirror reflection of Russia until Stalin negotiated the WWII pact with Hitler, when anti-Stalin Communists began to be active, and because America was a more open society, American communists were ahead of their Russian comrades in denouncing Stalinism.
A. B. Magil
So often in America, citizens and government officials have made alliances or joined organizations under the theory that “the enemy of my enemy must be my friend.” It has almost always been a mistake ranging from joining the Communist Party in the 1930s to supporting the dictators or the Middle East, Asia, and South America. In the 1930s Fascism was growing and already on the march and neither America nor England—the leading democracies were not doing anything to combat the threat. America was emerging from the Great Depression, had a string Isolationist movement, and a small but influential group of Fascists and Hitler enthusiasts. Also, no one outside of Russia knew about the Stalin atrocities.
Howe was specifically referring to the Gastonia strike of 1929. The Communists, never known for their skill at organizing labor action, sold out the workers in order to have a political issue to campaign on throughout the world. Meanwhile, the Southern establishment saw the strike as an Armageddon where Communism and racial integration had to be stopped cold and therefore not only refused even reasonable demands, but used the National Guard {592420} and law enforcement authorities to murder and jail innocent people. Both sides got what they wanted unfortunately, with the communists cleverly exposing to the rest of the world, the worst of Southern racism. All civil rights protests thereafter in America were claimed by the Southern segregationists to be communist organized, and even affirmative action efforts are still often so labeled.
Note that he proudly describes himself as a Marxist-Leninist, but distinguishes that from Communism—especially Russian Style communism.
Earl Russell Browder was an American political 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.
