John Reed
John Reed
Independent activity
Communism
1887–1920
○ Typhus
1887–1920
○ Typhus
From eyewitness of the Bolshevik Revolution to founder of the Communist Labor Party of America: an American buried at the Kremlin Wall
At the mass funeral for revolutionary martyrs in Red Square, Reed suddenly understood: the devout Russian people no longer needed priests to pray them into heaven. On earth they were building a kingdom more bright than any heaven had to offer.
American journalist and communist. He witnessed the 1917 October Revolution and wrote Ten Days That Shook the World. He co-founded the Communist Labor Party of America and served on the Comintern Executive Committee. One of the very few Americans buried at the Kremlin Wall.
Career timeline
- 1910Graduated Harvard, began journalism career in New York
- 1913Joined The Masses; first arrest covering Paterson silk strike
- 1913–1914War correspondent in Mexico — 4 months with Pancho Villa's army; published Insurgent Mexico
- 1917Witnessed the October Revolution in Petrograd; worked with the Bolshevik Foreign Commissariat
- 1919Published Ten Days That Shook the World; co-founded the Communist Labor Party of America
- 1919–1920Comintern Executive Committee member; U.S. delegate to 2nd Comintern Congress; attended Baku Congress of the Peoples of the East