John Reed Dies in Russian Capital -- October 17, 2020

 

Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, 18-October-1920

100 years ago today, on 17-October-1920, American journalist John Reed died in Moscow. He took a radical position on social and labor issues and supported the Bolshevik Revolution. I read his book Ten Days that Shook the World. I enjoyed the movie Reds, but I haven't seen it since we first saw it in a theater. 

JOHN REED DIES

IN RUSSIAN CAPITAL

Magazine Writer and Socialist

Leader Succumbs to

Attack of Typhus

NATIVE OF PORTLAND, ORE.

By the Associated Press.

Portland, Ore., Oct. 18. -- John Reed, magazine writer, died Sunday in' Moscow, Russia, of typhus, according to a telegram received here by Henry G. Reed, a brother, from Louise Bryant, Reed's widow.

Reed had made several visits to Russia during the Soviet regime. Since his latest departure from this country last year relatives here had received various conflicting reports regarding him. One was to the effect that he had been executed in Finland, as a Soviet emissary and another that he had been imprisoned in Russia.

John Reed, for the last ten years, was prominent as a writer in magazines and as a war correspondent. In addition he wrote a number of books on the world war and problems arising from that conflict.

In 1916 he was in Russia as a Socialist delegate, and upon his return it was announced he had been appointed Russian consul in New York. He was not accorded recognition by the United States Government, however, and later dispatches from Petrograd said his credentials as consul had been canceled.

Reed's pronounced views on communism led to his arrest on several occasions, and it was charged he made seditious utterances while the United States was engaged in the war. Charges of sedition brought against him were dropped, however, in April, 1919.

Reed sailed for Russia during the autumn of the same year, and subsequent to that time was indicted at Chicago for violation of the state syndicalism act. He later returned to the United States, and once more went to Europe, it being reported he had been found in the coal bunker of a ship in a Finnish port. The State Department at Washington denied he had an American passport, and it was charged he was traveling with forged papers.

Since reaching Finland, Reed has been reported arrested on two occasions, and at one time it was said he had been executed in that country. On August 28 it was reported he had been sent to Moscow to represent American communists.

John Reed was born at Portland, Ore., on October 22, 1887. He received the degree of bachelor of arts at Harvard University in 1910, and immediately began his career as a writer. He served at various times on the editorial staffs of prominent magazines.

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