Top Party Leaders
- Charles Ruthenberg, Executive Secretary of old CPA (1919–1920); Executive Secretary of WPA/W(C)P (May 1922–1927)
- Alfred Wagenknecht, Executive Secretary of CLP (1919–1920); of UCP (1920–1921)
- Charles Dirba, Executive Secretary of old CPA (1920–1921); of unified CPA (May 30, 1921 – July 27, 1921)
- Louis Shapiro, Executive Secretary of old CPA (briefly, late 1920)
- L.E. Katterfeld, Executive Secretary of unified CPA (July 27, 1921 – October 15, 1921)
- William Weinstone, Executive Secretary of unified CPA (October 15, 1921 – February 22, 1922)
- Jay Lovestone Executive Secretary of unified CPA (February 22, 1922 – August 22, 1922); of W(C)P/CPUSA (1927–1929)
- James P. Cannon, National Chairman of WPA (Dec. 1921–1922)
- Caleb Harrison, Executive Secretary of WPA (Dec. 1921 – May 1922)
- Abram Jakira, Executive Secretary of unified CPA (Aug. 22, 1922–dissolution of underground party in 1923)
- William Z. Foster, Party Chairman (1929–1934)
- Earl Browder, Party Chairman (1934–1945)
- Eugene Dennis, General Secretary (1945–1959) and William Z. Foster, Party Chairman (1945–1957)
- Gus Hall, General Secretary (1959–2000)
- Sam Webb, Chairman (2000–present)
Read more about this topic: Communist Party USA
Famous quotes containing the words top, party and/or leaders:
“We fight our way through the massed and leveled collective safe taste of the Top 40, just looking for a little something we can call our own. But when we find it and jam the radio to hear it again it isn’t just ours—it is a link to thousands of others who are sharing it with us. As a matter of a single song this might mean very little; as culture, as a way of life, you can’t beat it.”
—Greil Marcus (b. 1945)
“If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened—that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death. ... “Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan,”controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.””
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“The rank and file have let their servants become their masters and dictators.... Provision should be made in all union constitutions for the recall of leaders. Big salaries should not be paid. Career hunters should be driven out, as well as leaders who use labor for political ends. These types are menaces to the advancement of labor.”
—Mother Jones (1830–1930)