MANAGING THE LEFT: SOCIALISTS, COMMUNISTS, AND THE POPULAR FRONT Colleague David Pietrusza. Roosevelt contended with established leftist parties, including the Socialists led by Norman Thomas and the Communist Party USA under Earl Browder. While the Socia

MANAGING THE LEFT: SOCIALISTS, COMMUNISTS, AND THE POPULAR FRONT Colleague David Pietrusza. Roosevelt contended with established leftist parties, including the Socialists led by Norman Thomas and the Communist Party USA under Earl Browder. While the Socialists appealed to urban intellectuals, the Communists, following Stalin's "popular front" strategy against Hitler, tacitly supported Roosevelt. Browder ran for president to avoid being a "kiss of death" endorsement for FDR, while focusing his party's attacks on the Republicans. This era also saw violent political instability in the upper Midwest, where radical agrarian figures like Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson maneuvered between supporting Roosevelt and harboring their own presidential ambitions. NUMBER 4