William Z. Foster

William Z. Foster
Foster in 1951

General Secretary of the Communist Party USA
In office July 29, 1945 – February 12, 1957
Preceded by	Earl Browder
Succeeded by	Eugene Dennis
Chairman of the Communist Party USA
In office May 17, 1929 – July 29, 1945
Preceded by	Jay Lovestone
Succeeded by	Eugene Dennis

Personal details
Born	William Edward Foster (1881-02-25)February 25, 1881 Taunton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	September 1, 1961(1961-09-01) (aged 80) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Party	Socialist Party of America (1901–1909) Communist Party USA (1921–1961)
Other political affiliations	Wage Workers (1909–1910) Syndicalist League (1912–1914)
Occupation	Trade union leader politician

Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "otherparty". Replace with "other_party".

Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "nationality". It should be removed.

Socialism in the United States
Part of a series on

Ideologies African-American Anarchism Individualist Bill of Rights Browderism Christian De Leonism Democratic Maoism Marxism-Leninism Marxism–Leninism–Maoism Owenism Sewer Social democracy Shachtmanism Syndicalism Trotskyism
History Utopian socialism United Order Bishop Hill Commune Brook Farm Icarians Looking Backward New Harmony Oneida Community Progressive Era 1877 St. Louis general strike Christian socialism in Utah 1912 Lawrence textile strike Catholic Worker Movement Green Corn Rebellion Labor unionization Haymarket affair Women's suffrage Red Scare American Defense Society American Protective League Communist Party USA and African Americans Communist Party USA in the labor movement 1919–1937 1937–1957 Espionage Act of 1917 First Red Scare John Birch Society McCarthyism Seattle General Strike Smith Act Smith Act trials Anti-war and civil rights movements Black power movement COINTELPRO "I Have a Dream" March on Washington Jonestown New Left Poor People's Campaign New Communist movement Contemporary 1999 Seattle WTO protests 2008 financial crisis Occupy Wall Street
Activists Allen Alston Avakian Balagoon Berkman Berrigan Bond Clark Dixon Dennis Ehrenreich Ervin Flynn Goldman Grace Guthrie Hammett Hampton Hay Haywood (Bill) Haywood (Harry) Hill Hoffman Jackson Jones Keller Kahn King Knudsen Labadie London (Jack) Lovestone Marcy McNeill Mitchell Morello Newton Ochs Parsons (Albert) Parsons (Lucy) Reed (John) Robbins Rocha Rustin Sacco and Vanzetti Seale Seeger Shakur Walker
Commentators Ameringer Brooks Bruenig (Elizabeth) Bruenig (Matt) Cockburn Featherstone Ford (Glen) Harrington Hartmann Hedges Hinkle Kochinski Magdoff Moore Most Niebuhr Piker Robinson (Nathan) Sinclair Stone Sunkara Sweezy Turner
Intellectuals Albert Andrews Avrich Bellamy (Edward) Bellamy (Francis) Bookchin Brisbane Butler Cabet Cannon Cantor Carmichael Chomsky Cleaver Davis (Angela) Davis (Mike) Dean Dreiser Du Bois Fearing Feinberg Foster Fraser George Gilmore Graeber Greene Hahnel Heywood (Angela) Heywood (Ezra) Jameson Kelley Lum Mills Noyes Parenti Piven Reed (Adolph) Ripley Robinson (Cedric) Rocker Roediger Sandburg Schweickart Shachtman Smith Sweezy West Wolff Wood Wright Zinn
Politicians Abern Berger Bowman Bush Casar Conyers Cozzini Debs De Leon De la Cruz Dellums Ford (James) Foster Gitlow Hall Hawkins Hillquit Hoan Hoopes Johns Lee London (Meyer) Mamdani Maurer Marcantonio McLevy McReynolds Ocasio-Cortez Panken Pason Randolph Ruthenberg Sanders Sawant Seidel Stedman Stein Thomas Thompson Vladeck Wilson Zeidler
Parties Active American Communist Party Black Riders Liberation Party Communist Party USA Freedom Party of New York Freedom Road Socialist Organization Freedom Socialist Party Green Mountain Peace and Justice Party Green Party of the United States Legal Marijuana Now Party New Afrikan Black Panther Party Party for Socialism and Liberation Peace and Freedom Party Progressive Dane Progressive Labor Party Revolutionary Communist Party, USA Socialist Action Socialist Alternative South Carolina Workers Party Socialist Equality Party Socialist Party USA Socialist Workers Party Working Families Party (factions) Workers World Party Working Class Party World Socialist Party of the United States Defunct American Labor Party American Workers Party Black Panther Party Citizens Party Communist League of America Communist League of Struggle Communist Workers' Party Farmer–Labor Party Human Rights Party Independent Socialist League International Socialists Justice Party Labor Party of the United States Labor Party New Party Nonpartisan League Patriot Party People's Party Proletarian Party of America Raza Unida Party Red Guard Party Revolutionary Socialist League Social Democracy of America Social Democratic Federation Social Democratic Party of America Socialist Labor Party of America Socialist Party of America Spartacist League/U.S. White Panther Party Workers Party of the United States
Organizations Active Antifa Black Socialists in America Democratic Socialists of America Industrial Workers of the World Platypus Affiliated Society Redneck Revolt Social Democrats, USA Socialist Rifle Association Solidarity Spark Defunct American Indian Movement American Union of Associationists Democratic Socialist Federation Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee International Socialist Organization International Workingmen's Association Maoist Internationalist Movement Red Guards New American Movement Revolutionary Youth Movement SDS Weather Underground Young Lords Young Patriots Organization
Media Appeal to Reason The Black Panther Chapo Trap House Current Affairs Daily Worker Dissent International Socialist Review Jacobin The Militant Monthly Review New Masses The New Nation People's World ZNetwork
Literature Looking Backward (1888) Voluntary Socialism (1896) The Jungle (1906) Why Socialism? (1949) The Other America (1962) Monopoly Capital (1966) Revolutionary Suicide (1973) A People's History of the United States (1980) Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat (1983)
Related topics American Left Intercommunalism Labor history Labor laws Labor unions Millennial socialism Minimum wage Progressivism in the United States
Socialism portal United States portal

William Z. Foster (born William Edward Foster; February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a radical American labor organizer and Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1945 to 1957. He was previously a member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, leading the drive to organize packinghouse industry workers during World War I and the steel strike of 1919.