For my senior thesis, I decided to dive into the contentious historical debates surrounding the

CPUSA and what it means for genuine American radicalism. In order to do this in less than a
book, I have decided to focus on Earl Browder: the leader of the CPUSA from the early 30s until
his abrupt ousting in 46. In my paper, I will argue that the actions and motives of Browder
represent a genuine attempt to integrate the internationalist communist movement with American
radicalism as he understood it, and more specifically that his options were limited, but not
dictated, by soviet influence.

Context
What is communism?
o Small c and big C
Origins
o Bolshevism
o American Radicalism
o Left and Right split
Historiography
Politicized Beginning
o Being Written as soon as it happened
o Fight over history
o Bias of communists
o Anti-communist literature
Founding of the Traditionalist School
o Draper and his line
o Role of Communism
o Problems
Revisionists rise
o Genuine Americanism
o Communist history without the communism
Opening of the Archives
o Gladnost and Perstroyka
o Confirmed much of the traditionalist stance
Thesis: In his time as the leader of the CPUSA, Browder forged a coalition between domestic
radicalism and international communism while limitedbut not drivenby the interests of the
Soviet regime.

Moments of Importance:
Fall of Lovenstone
o Browder understood the need to anticipate changes in party-line.
o Ended in Browder sharing power with Weinstone and Foster
 o People learned what happens when you directly contradict party line
Rise to Power
o Weinstone was an orthodox Marxist
o Browder used his understanding of COMINTERN politics to cede points and take
responsibility, knowing that Weinstone would defend himself even if it meant
defending the state of the party
o Browder, careful to frame his disagreements with Weinstone as personal ones,
asked that one of them be assigned to a position out of the country.
o This was enough for the Comintern abolished the secretariat setting up a shared
leadership between Foster and Browder.
The Democratic Front
o After Dimitriov laid the groundwork for popular fronts, Browder took a decided
right turn that he would maintain till death
o Move to Americanize the CPUSA
o Election of 36, and convincing the COMINTERN
Run opposed to FDR while paying him lip service
The Moltov-Ribbentrop Pact
o Caught the CPUSA by surprise
The Ousting
o Americanization taken to new heights
o Believed he was a great thinker
o First crack broke in france
o Foster challenged him
o After his ousting

Evidence:
Sources in the background
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources

Conclusions:
Browders Drive
o The idea that Browder saw something in Stalin, trusted his opinions, and
apologized for him when his enemies spoke is founded.
o Browder, on a fundamental level, saw himself on the right-side of history.
o Not only did Browder seek to attach himself to the International Communist
movements, he also sought to define it.
o He did not act in anticipretory compliance.
Dynamics of Party Politics
o Agency of those within the party.
A Top Down View?
 o Draper would critique books like H&H as communism without the
communism
o The fact that the ongoing of upper politics were not impactful
represents historical context.
o His insistence that these forces dont matter is an example of the
perspective he worked within: one which sees the CPUSA is solely an
appendage of Soviet revolutionary power.
The Essence of a Party

For a while, the CPUSA represented a uneasy coalition forged between domestic
working-class radicalism and an international Soviet-led movement, held together
by the only man with the ability to attempt it, and the delusion to think it would last.
Browder watched his career slip into the chasm he had straddled for years, still
unable to accept its widening. Soon after his departure, the party laid in ruin by
historical circumstances he could not have defended against. And, quoting Drapers
characterization of the events 20 years prior, Nothing else so important would ever
happen to it again.