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[[Earl Browder]] assumed party leadership after 1929 and actually dissolved the party in 1944, replacing it with the Communist Political Association. For this he was in turn expelled and [[William Z. Foster]] became head of the party. Foster published a 'new history' of America, which was highly praised in Moscow, translated into many languages and made a handbook of anti-American propaganda all over the world. Of it Browder wrote, "This extraordinary book interpreted the history of America from its discovery to the present, as an orgy of 'bloody banditry' and imperialism, enriching itself by 'drinking the rich red blood' of other peoples." Foster joined in the Thorez declaration of French Communist [[Maurice Thorez]] that said if the Soviet armies found it necessary to occupy all Western Europe, the working people would greet them as liberators; the only thing missing was a direct welcome to Soviet armies in America itself."  Foster was to lead the party until he retired in 1958 and was succeeded by Gus Hall.

[[Earl Browder]] assumed party leadership after 1929 and actually dissolved the party in 1944, replacing it with the Communist Political Association. For this he was in turn expelled and [[William Z. Foster]] became head of the party. Foster published a 'new history' of America, which was highly praised in Moscow, translated into many languages and made a handbook of anti-American propaganda all over the world. Of it Browder wrote, "This extraordinary book interpreted the history of America from its discovery to the present, as an orgy of 'bloody banditry' and imperialism, enriching itself by 'drinking the rich red blood' of other peoples." Foster joined in the Thorez declaration of French Communist [[Maurice Thorez]] that said if the Soviet armies found it necessary to occupy all Western Europe, the working people would greet them as liberators; the only thing missing was a direct welcome to Soviet armies in America itself."  Foster was to lead the party until he retired in 1958 and was succeeded by Gus Hall.

[[Louis Budenz]] started as a Communist and ended a leading an anti-Communist, beginning with his involvement in the Toledo, Ohio, Electric Auto-Lite strike of 1934. Although the intensity of Budenz's later opposition to communism during the McCarthy era made his former involvement in the CPUSA difficult to understand, his entry into the Party was the logical result of his involvement in the Auto-Lite strike. Intrigued by the idea of an "Americanized" socialism, Budenz's desire to assimilate leftism and nationalism spurred him to join the American Workers' Party (AWP) and, later, the Communist Party. Fervently patriotic, Budenz's interest in the CPUSA was based on the group's adoption of an approach that focused on the American experience. When the CPUSA realigned itself with Russia in 1945, Budenz left the organization. Following his departure, Budenz acted as an informant in the Red Scare, assisting the government in the condemnation of many of his former Communist sympathizers.<Ref> Roger Chapman, "Louis Francis Budenz's Journey from the Electric Auto-Lite Strike to the Communist Party and Beyond," ''Northwest Ohio Quarterly'' 2001 73(3-4): 118-141. 0029-3407 </ref>

[[Louis Budenz]] started as a Communist and ended a leading an anti-Communist, beginning with his involvement in the Toledo, Ohio, Electric Auto-Lite strike of 1934. Although the intensity of Budenz's later opposition to communism during the McCarthy era made his former involvement in the CPUSA difficult to understand, his entry into the Party was the logical result of his involvement in the Auto-Lite strike. Intrigued by the idea of an "Americanized" socialism, Budenz's desire to assimilate leftism and nationalism spurred him to join the American Workers' Party (AWP) and, later, the Communist Party. Fervently patriotic, Budenz's interest in the CPUSA was based on the group's adoption of an approach that focused on the American experience. When the CPUSA realigned itself with Russia in 1945, Budenz left the organization. Following his departure, Budenz acted as an informant in the Red Scare, assisting the government in the condemnation of many of his former Communist sympathizers.<Ref> Roger Chapman, "Louis Francis Budenz's Journey from the Electric Auto-Lite Strike to the Communist Party and Beyond," ''Northwest Ohio Quarterly'' 2001 73(3-4): 118-141. 0029-3407 </ref>

The CPUSA drew a large fraction of its members from certain ethnic groups, such as Finns, Jews and Italians.   

The CPUSA drew a large fraction of its members from certain ethnic groups, such as Finns, Jews and Italians.   

Before World War I, Finnish immigrants in Michigan and Minnesota waged internal disputes as the Finnish Socialist Federation fought the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] for dominance. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Communist Party and the Communist Labor Party gained a strong following, and fought both the Socialists and the conservative Lutherans. Thousands of Finnish radicals voluntarily migrated to Soviet Russia. Stalin executed most of them in the 1930s.  

Before World War I, Finnish immigrants in Michigan and Minnesota waged internal disputes as the Finnish Socialist Federation fought the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] for dominance. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Communist Party and the Communist Labor Party gained a strong following, and fought both the Socialists and the conservative Lutherans. Thousands of Finnish radicals voluntarily migrated to Soviet Russia. Stalin executed most of them in the 1930s. John Wiita (1888-1981), alias Henry Puro, fled from the U.S. to Canada to escape prosecution; in Canada he helped create the Workers' Party of Canada in 1921-22, which eventually became the Communist Party of Canada (CPC). Wiita was also editor of the Finnish socialist newspaper ''Vapaus'' (Liberty) from 1919-23.  Wiita returned to the United States in 1923 and readopted his real name. He became a major figure in the Finnish-American Communist movement in the in the 1920s. In 1943, however, he left the Party after becoming disillusioned by the treatment of American Finns in Soviet Karelia, Stalin's purges, the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and the Soviet annexation of Karelia from Finland in the Winter War. <ref> J. Donald Wilson, "The Canadian Sojourn of a Finnish-American Radical," ''Canadian Ethnic Studies'' 1984 16(2): 102-115.</ref>

===Blacks===

===Blacks===

* Dyson, Lowell K. ''Red Harvest: The Communist Party and American Farmers.'' (1982). 259 pp.

* Dyson, Lowell K. ''Red Harvest: The Communist Party and American Farmers.'' (1982). 259 pp.

* Isserman, Maurice. ''Which Side Were You On? The American Communist Party during the Second World War.'' (1982). 305 pp.

* Isserman, Maurice. ''Which Side Were You On? The American Communist Party during the Second World War.'' (1982). 305 pp.

* Keeran, Roger. ''The Communist Party and the Auto Workers Unions.'' (1980). 340 pp.

* Keeran, Roger. ''The Communist Party and the Auto Workers Unions.'' (1980). 340 pp.

* Klehr, Harvey; Haynes, John Earl; and Anderson, Kyrill M. ''The Soviet World of American Communism.'' (Yale U. Press, 1995). 378 pp., by leading conservative historians

* Klehr, Harvey; Haynes, John Earl; and Anderson, Kyrill M. ''The Soviet World of American Communism.'' (Yale U. Press, 1995). 378 pp., by leading conservative historians

* Klehr, Harvey. ''The Heyday of American Communism: The Depression Decade.'' (1984). 511 pp. by a leading conservative historian

* Klehr, Harvey. ''The Heyday of American Communism: The Depression Decade.'' (1984). 511 pp. by a leading conservative historian; argues that the CPUSA of the 1930s blindly followed directives from Moscow with little individual initiative.

* Klehr, Harvey E. ''Communist Cadre: The Social Background of the American Communist Party Elite.'' (1978). 141 pp. by a leading conservative historian

* Klehr, Harvey E. ''Communist Cadre: The Social Background of the American Communist Party Elite.'' (1978). 141 pp. by a leading conservative historian

* Kraditor, Aileen S. ''"Jimmy Higgins": The Mental World of the American Rank-and-File Communist, 1930-1958.'' (1988). 283 pp. by a leading conservative historian

* Kraditor, Aileen S. ''"Jimmy Higgins": The Mental World of the American Rank-and-File Communist, 1930-1958.'' (1988). 283 pp. by a leading conservative historian

==See also==

==See also==

*[[Cold War]]

*[[Cold War]]

*[[Soviet spies in America (1921-1948)]]

*[[Soviet spies in America (1921-1948)]]

==References==

==References==

<references/>

<references/>

==External links==

==External links==

*[http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/digest/992/beichman.html Article: Guilty as charged by Arnold Beichman, survey of Soviet documents on Communists in America] [[Hoover Institute]] - Hoover Digest 1999.

*[http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/digest/992/beichman.html Article: Guilty as charged by Arnold Beichman, survey of Soviet documents on Communists in America] [[Hoover Institute]] - Hoover Digest 1999.