Browderism refers to the variant of Marxism–Leninism developed in the 1940s by American communist politician Earl Browder, who led the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) from 1930 to 1945. It was characterized by its deviations from traditional Marxist–Leninist positions on class conflict and the role of the communist party. Browderism aligned the CPUSA with mainstream American politics and contemporary events; this involved incorporating Americanism and its nationalist values into the party's message and strategies.
During the 1940s, the CPUSA was liquidated into the Communist Political Association (CPA) and supported peaceful coexistence towards the beginning of the Cold War. In the communist world, particularly Latin America, parties also began pursuing class collaboration and internal reorganization. However, in 1945, the French communist magazine Les Cahiers du communisme published the 'Duclos letter' (attributed to Jacques Duclos), which attacked the party's policies and liquidation as revisionist. Browder was then expelled from the party, leading to a snap election in July, where Stalinist member William Z. Foster was re-elected as party leader and reverted back to traditional policies. Since the 1940s, Browderism has remained scrutinized in the communist world by anti-revisionists (including within the CPUSA) as indicative of American exceptionalism, and accusing Browder's leadership of betraying the American labor movement.
History
Beginning of Browder's leadership Earl Russell Browder became General Secretary of the Communist Party USA in 1930, and served as the party's unilateral leader and public face throughout his leadership—coinciding with the Great Depression and presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The CPUSA's initial hostility to the New Deal resembled the theory of social fascism, attacking Roosevelt's policies in their 1934 manifesto while claiming Roosevelt's program to be "in political essence and direction [...] the same" as that of Adolf Hitler. Browder clarified in a 1933 pamphlet on social fascism that fascism in general was "the dictatorship of finance capital", and therefore Roosevelt and Hitler were the same in how "both are executives of finance capital". Browder also attacked the Socialist Party of America (SPA) and its 1932 presidential nominee Norman Thomas, accusing him of "cover[ing] up the class character of democracy by contrasting it with fascist dictatorship as if capitalist rule were not the essence of both", as well as "absolv[ing] the capitalist class of its fascist terror and mak[ing] it appear as a measure of self-defense against Communist provocation." Yet in 1935, coinciding with the 7th World Congress of the Comintern endorsing the popular front strategy, Browder in turn endorsed the New Deal, and described the political situation as between democracy and fascism, rather than socialism and capitalism.
While Browder continued to serve as the Communist nominee for the 1936 and 1940 presidential elections, he gave a public speech on January 6, 1935, outlining an alliance with the SPA. Browder formally proposed a large-scale united front between the two parties, recognizing how Thomas acknowledged specific issues for cooperation. Within the American Left, such an alliance was endorsed by The New Republic, arguing that a broad anti-fascist platform meant "agree[ing] with Mr. Browder that common action is imperative and that the way to unite is to unite; and with Mr. Thomas that the way to begin is on specific issues." Browder also sought to form new mass organizations to unite communists with other progressive forces, including the American League Against War and Fascism in 1933, and the Psychologists League and League of American Writers, both in 1935.
Americanism and World War II
As this popular front strategy progressed leading up to World War II, Browder further de-emphasized Marxist rhetoric by utilizing American patriotism to appeal to a broader audience in U.S. politics. This coincided with Comintern policy under Joseph Stalin, which still supported the popular front strategy worldwide up until the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the beginning of World War II. Due to the undermining of the Soviet Union's anti-fascist reputation, the CPUSA's ranks and recruitment numbers diminished. Browder was imprisoned in 1941; following his early release a year later, he returned to the general secretary position strongly in support of the American war effort, contrasted by the accusations of "imperialist war" the party had previously made. This led to the brief end of class conflict and beginning of class collaboration in Browder prioritizing the popular front in the party's appeal above all else. These tendencies of Browderism, emphasizing an uncompromising popular front and aim to popularize the party with Americans culminated in 1944, when the CPUSA was officially dissolved for a short time and was restructured into the Communist Political Association (CPA). This decision from Browder, though receiving unanimous support from the National Committee as a constitutional convention for the new organization was planned for May 1944, there was bitter opposition to this change in the form of the Foster-Darcy letter, co-signed by CPUSA factional rival William Z. Foster and Philadelphia District Organizer Samuel Adams Darcy. Limited circulation of the letter was tolerated within the party leadership, but it would later lead to Darcy's expulsion by a CPA committee headed by Foster, who submitted to party discipline as emphasized by Browder.
Fallout and decline
Following the Tehran Conference in 1943, Browder hoped for the alliance between the Allied powers to continue after the war in peaceful coexistence, yet with the beginning of the Cold War and McCarthyism, Browderism became open to scrutiny. Jacques Duclos, Comintern member and leader of the French Communist Party (PCF) published an article in the party's theoretical magazine, Les Cahiers du communisme, attacking Browder's positions in what became known as the "Duclos letter". Quoting the Foster-Darcy letter, Duclos criticized Browder's beliefs about a harmonious post-war world as "erroneous conclusions in no wise flowing from a Marxist analysis of the situation", and that liquidating the CPUSA constituted a "notorious revision of Marxism". In retrospect, the article was found by historians Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes and Kyrill M. Anderson to have already been written in Russian and initiated by Moscow, after they determined post-war relations would become hostile. With the end of the Pacific War, Duclos was instructed to publish the article under his own name.
The article had major consequences for Browderism (sealing Browder's fate within the party) and the American communist movement, as the article had circulated worldwide among Comintern officials. The Communist Party USA was re-established at a snap election in July 1945, and Browder was removed from his position as general secretary, with Foster, who led the effort against Browderism, appointed as chairman and Eugene Dennis appointed as general secretary. Browder remained in the party, continuing to espouse Browderism in the form of Distributors Guide: Economic Analysis: A Service for Policy Makers, a weekly newsletter outlining his own vision for Soviet–American relations in contrast to the unfolding Cold War. This was considered to breach party discipline, and Browder was formally expelled from the CPUSA on February 5, 1946.
Legacy within the CPUSA Browder died in June 1973. At this point, the Communist Party USA was under the leadership of Gus Hall, Browderism was fully removed from the party platform, as the party remained committed to traditional Marxism–Leninism. However, within Hall's policies, there were similarities with Browderism. This included a brief attempt to forge a "broad people's political movement", aligning the CPUSA in a new popular front with the civil rights movement and anti-Vietnam War movement to amass support among baby boomers. This would've tied the CPUSA, a by-product of the Old Left, with the New Left, yet was unsuccessful. Hall also coined the term "Bill of Rights socialism", advocating for socialist ideals to be incorporated into the U.S. Constitution. However, Hall did not cite Browderism as inspiration for these policies, as there are notable differences which reflect a different era, particularly as Hall was more restrained when deviating from tradition, being a committed Soviet ally. Joseph C. Mouledous noted how Hall advocated in 1961 for a united front policy, allying with different groups around certain political issues. Moreover, Hall stressed elsewhere the party's necessity not to take over such organizations, which Mouledous attributed to how "[t]he dangers of the united-front policy were made manifest during the Browder period, when the Party dissolved itself."
Components Popular front Browderism supported the organization of a popular front, attracting middle-class forces towards socialism amidst the influence of reactionaries and fascism. This strategy was adopted by the Comintern from 1934 until the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in 1939, with examples of popular front governments briefly holding power in the 1930s including Spain, France and Chile. Browder's push for such a broad anti-fascist coalition was due to the rise of fascism in Europe and the popularity of the New Deal, which Browder was initially hostile to, but then came to seek an alliance with the New Dealers, despite orders from Moscow in September 1939 to oppose Roosevelt, leading to conflict within the CPUSA.
Class conflict and collaboration Under Browderism, the need for class conflict against the bourgeosie by the proletariat was de-prioritized and downplayed by the necessity for as broad a popular front as possible. This evolved into class collaboration, where distinctions between socioeconomic classes were put aside in favor of cooperation for an underlying goal, feeding into the need to resist fascism during World War II, as Browder justified in his 1942 book Victory and After. Browder's leadership made use of softer rhetoric more in line with terms used by the Roosevelt administration, such as "economic royalism".
Americanism
Browder utilized Americanism to promote the CPUSA's platform in accordance with traditional values of liberty and republicanism. In a New Masses article in June 1935, Browder positioned communism as part of the American revolutionary tradition:
During the recession of 1937–1938, Browder re-affirmed his "full and complete support" of Roosevelt as an anti-fascist who could be relied on to prevent World War II, despite Roosevelt's reputational damage within the American Left. This caused tensions with Foster, who judged it as ill-timed with the recession. The CPUSA's liquidation into the CPA further exemplified the notion of a uniquely American approach to communism, disregarding the relevance of vanguardism and prioritizing electoral politics going forward.
Racial integration The Browderist approach to race relations was unique within the CPUSA's history of strong relations with African Americans. According to Mouledous, the CPA diverged from the Leninist principle of self-determination for African Americans, instead advocating for social integration; Browder cited World War II as the opportunity, writing in 1944 for the Communist that "[t]he immediate achievement in this period, under the present American system, of complete equality for the Negroes, has been made possible by the war as a peoples' war of national liberation." Mouledous argues this approach amounted to class collaboration based on progressive tendencies.
International influence