Paul P. Crosbie

Crosbie c. 1937

Paul Pembroke Crosbie (February 27, 1881 – July 30, 1949) was an American Communist Party official.

Biography

Crosbie shakes hands with Mildred Schwab, congratulating her for selling fifty copies of the Daily Worker in a single day, September 27, 1943

Crosbie was educated at Lake Forest Academy and Harvard University, where he was a classmate of Franklin D. Roosevelt.[1] Crosbie joined the military and was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in August 1917.[2] During the First World War, Crosbie fought in the Field Artillery at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel.[3]

Crosbie began his political career as a Democrat.[4] While serving as a captain of the Democratic Party in Queens, Crosbie resigned in protest of a Party executive's refusal to resign from a personal real estate business.[5] In 1934, while working as an insurance agent in Manhattan, Crosbie joined the Communist Party.[6] He stated that he decided to join the Party because of his opposition to Roosevelt's agricultural policy.[7] Crosbie's membership in the American Legion was challenged in 1934 by another Legion member because of his Communist Party affiliation but a trial board upheld his membership.[8] Crosbie was finally forced out of the American Legion in 1941, ostensibly for non-payment of dues, although Crosbie argued that he had paid.[9]

Crosbie ran several unsuccessful campaigns as the Communist Party's nominee for New York City Council from the Queens district between 1937 and 1943.[5] In October 1939, the Court of Appeals banned Crosbie from appearing on the ballot as a Communist Party candidate for New York City Councilman, along with Israel Amter, Isidore Begun, and Peter Cacchione,[10] though this was later reversed.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Sommers, Martin (August 1934). "Babbitt & Son Go Red". New Outlook. 164 (2): 19.
  2. ↑ "Winners of Army Commissions At Fort Myer Camp Announced". New York Tribune. August 12, 1917. p. 8.
  3. ↑ Briggs, H.E. (September 22, 1934). "The Fighting Vet". The Daily Worker.
  4. ↑ "Legion Adjourns Crosbie Hearing". Brooklyn Times Union. October 5, 1934. p. 18.
  5. 1 2 "PAUL P. CROSBIE, 68, COMMUNIST LEADER". The New York Times. August 2, 1949. p. 19. Archived from the original on 2020-08-07. Retrieved 2025-12-04.
  6. ↑ "Meet Four Communists". New Masses. 33 (6): 9. October 31, 1939.
  7. ↑ "Why Did He Turn?". The Berkeley Gazette. August 18, 1949. p. 13.
  8. ↑ "Communist Upheld as Legion Member". The New York Times. November 20, 1934. p. 11.
  9. ↑ "Red Leader Charges Legion Wrongfully Ousted Him". The Brooklyn Eagle. March 21, 1941. p. 3.
  10. ↑ "4 Communists Barred From Council Race". The Brooklyn Citizen. October 20, 1939. p. 1.
  11. ↑ "Wins Place on Ballot". The New York Times. October 25, 1941. p. 9.
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