Harry Haywood

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Harry Haywood
Haywood in 1948
Born	Haywood Hall (1898-02-04)February 4, 1898 South Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Died	January 4, 1985(1985-01-04) (aged 86)
Resting place	Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Occupation	Political figure
Spouse	Gwendolyn Midlo Hall
Children	3
Military career
Allegiance	Spanish Republic  United States
Service/branch	International Brigades United States Army
Unit	370th Infantry Regiment (United States) The "Abraham Lincoln" XV International Brigade
Battles/wars	World War I Spanish Civil War World War II

Harry Haywood (February 4, 1898 – January 4, 1985) was an American political activist who was a leading figure in both the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). His goal was to connect the political philosophy of the Communist Party with the issues of race.^[1]

In 1926, he joined other African-American Communists and travelled to the Soviet Union to study the effect of Communism on racial issues found in the United States.^[1] His work there resulted in his selection to be the head of the Communist Party's Negro Department.^[1] The party platform changed by the late 1930s and began to stray away from advocating for African-American self-determination.^[1] As the party's platform changed over time, Haywood lost his stance within the party.^[1] His work also included creating a group to help the Scottsboro boys case.^[1]

Haywood was also an author. His first book was Negro Liberation, published in 1948. After he was expelled from his affiliating party, he wrote an autobiography called Black Bolshevik, which was also published in 1978. He contributed major theory to Marxist thinking on the national question of African Americans in the United States. He was also a founder of the Maoist New Communist movement.