Reed, John (1887-1920), was an American journalist and revolutionist. He is best known for his book Ten Days That Shook the World (1919), an eyewitness account of the Russian Revolution of 1917. He also helped organize the first Communist party in the United States.
Reed was born in Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 22, 1887. He graduated from Harvard University in 1910 and the next year moved to New York City. There, he became an editor of The Masses, a socialist journal of politics and culture. Reed gained national attention for his reporting of the revolt led by Pancho Villa of Mexico in 1914. He served as a reporter in Europe later in 1914 and in 1915, during World War I. In 1917, Reed and his wife, the journalist Louise Bryant, went to Russia. Reed became a supporter of V. I. Lenin, leader of a group of Russian Communist revolutionists known as the Bolsheviks. Reed observed the Bolsheviks’ victory in the Russian Revolution.
After returning to the United States, Reed helped form the Communist Labor Party. In 1919, he went to Russia on business for the party. In 1920, while trying to return to the United States, Reed was arrested in Finland and imprisoned for 13 weeks. Then he returned to Russia. Reed died of typhus there on Oct. 19, 1920, about a month after being reunited with his wife. He was buried in front of the Kremlin of Moscow, the traditional headquarters of Russian governments.
