The 1944 Communist National Convention was held May 20–22, 1944, in New York City. The convention endorsed the re-election of incumbent president Franklin D. Roosevelt (a Democrat) and saw Communist Party USA restructure as a non-party organization.
Background In 1944, Communist Party USA reached its peak membership of 80,000.Belknap, Michal R., "Foley Square Trial", in American Political Trials, (Michal Belknap, Ed.), Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994, , pages 209–210Hoover, J. Edgar, Masters of Deceit: the Story of Communism in America and How to Fight It, Pocket Books, 1958, p 5 (80,000 peak in 1944). The convention took place amid American involvement in World War II.
Logistics
The convention was held in New York City on May 20–22, 1944 The convention featured 400 delegates.
Most sessions of the convention were held at the Riverside Plaza Hotel. Convention business was held in a ballroom that was adorned with the national flags of the United States, Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union; as well as a large banner of a group portrait taken at the Tehran Conference of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The closing rally of the convention was held at Madison Square Garden.
The keynote address was delivered by the party's general secretary, Earl Browder.
Nomination of Roosevelt and party restructuring
The convention saw the party organizationally endorse incumbent president Franklin D. Roosevelt for re-election, and also disband and reassemble to form a new organization, tentatively named the "Communist Political Association". The organization would be reformed as a non-party association for political education that would support Roosevelt's re-election Party General Secretary Earl Browder (its general secretary and past nominee for president in the previous two presidential elections) introduced the formal motion to do so, which was adopted.
Browder delivered a 90-minute address to the convention in which he touted the restructuring of the party and decision to endorse Roosevelt as historic in nature, and in the best interest of national unity. He declared that the American communists were disbanding "all aims of partisan advancement for themselves".
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