Earl Browder | |
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1st Chairman of the Union of American People's Republics | |
In Office | March 1, 1933 - June 27, 1964 |
1st Premier of the Union of American People's Republics | |
In Office | March 1, 1933 - June 27, 1964 |
1st General Secretary of the Union of American People's Republics | |
In Office | March 1, 1933 - June 27, 1964 |
Born | Earl Russell Browder
May 20, 1891 Wichita, Kansas, USA |
Died | June 27, 1964 (aged 73)
Washington City, UAPR |
Political Party | American Communist Party |
Spouse(s) | Raissa Berkman Browder |
Religion | Atheist |
Language | English |
Earl Russell Browder (1891–1964) was the first Chairman and Premier of the Union of American People's Republics from 1st March 1933 until his death on the 27th June 1964. One of the Communist revolutionaries who brought about the Second American Revolution in 1933, Browder held the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee from 1930 until his death.
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.
Following the removal of Jay Lovestone as head of the CPUSA in 1929 and a short interregnum during which the party was headed by former Lovestone factional associate Max Bedacht, Browder was made General Secretary of the CPUSA. After the victory of the Communist Faction in the Second American Civil War, Browder was made the Chairman of the newly-renamed American Communist Party. Under his direction, the country underwent a period of collectivization. This was accompanied by brutal purges-it is estimated that nearly 1.5 million Americans died during the Browder era, most of them in labor camps.
When news reached America of the potential Nazi-Soviet Unholy Alliance in 1936, the UAPR and Browder, which had held the Soviet Union in high regard, quickly broke ties with the Soviet Union and denounced it as having betrayed socialism. With the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces in 1942, the UAPR under Browder entered World War II, joining one of the bloodiest theatres of war in history in the Pacific Campaign. The UAPR joined the Allies and despite heavy human and territorial losses in the initial period of war, it stopped the Japanese advance in the decisive Second Battle of Midway. Eventually, the American Red Army invaded Eastern Asia and captured Tokyo in mm/yyyy. Having played a decisive role in the Allied victory against Japan, the UAPR emerged as a recognized superpower after the war. Browder attended the delegation at the Taipei Conference, which drew the map of post-war Asia. State communist governments loyal to the UAPR were installed in East Japan, Korea and the People's Republic of China, as satellite states. Browder died of a stroke on June 27, 1964.
Browder and his regime have been condemned on numerous occasions, the most significant being when Browder's successor, Gus Hall, denounced his legacy and initiated a process of de-Browderization. Modern views of Browder in the world remain mixed, with some viewing him as an incompetent and a mass murderer, others as a visionary and a necessary leader for the time.