'''William Z. Foster''' was a highly influential figure within the [[USA|American]] [[communist]] movement. He was born in Massachusetts in 1881 to poor European immigrants and was forced to work full time from the age of 10. As he entered his twenties he began to subscribe to socialist views, joining the Socialist Party in 1901 but was expelled in a faction war, and later the Industrial Workers of the World in 1909, leaving the latter organisation when his plan to infiltrate the American Federation of Labor was turned down. He went on to join the AFL in the 1910's and soon gained much influence within its ranks. | '''William Z. Foster''' was a highly influential figure within the [[USA|American]] [[communist]] movement. He was born in Massachusetts in 1881 to poor European immigrants and was forced to work full time from the age of 10. As he entered his twenties he began to subscribe to socialist views, joining the Socialist Party in 1901 but was expelled in a faction war, and later the Industrial Workers of the World in 1909, leaving the latter organisation when his plan to infiltrate the American Federation of Labor was turned down. He went on to join the AFL in the 1910's and soon gained much influence within its ranks. |