Charles Edwin Taylor | |
|---|---|
 Taylor,c. 1918 | |
| Member of theMontana Senate from theSheridan County district | |
| In office January 1, 1923 – January 5, 1931 | |
| Preceded by | Hans J. Dixon |
| Succeeded by | Lars Angvick |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1884-02-27)February 27, 1884 Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | April 22, 1967(1967-04-22) (aged 83) Little Falls, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Resting place | Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, US |
| Party | Communist Farmer–Labor Nonpartisan League Republican |
| Spouse | Agda |
| Children | 3 |
| Occupation | Politician, newspaper editor, orator |
Charles Edwin Taylor (February 27, 1884 – April 22, 1967), also known as "Red Flag"Taylor, "Red Flag Charlie", andCharley Taylor, was an American politician, newspaper editor, and orator. He served as a member of theMontana State Senate from theSheridan County District, from January 1, 1923, to January 5, 1931, and was candidate forUnited States Senate in the1930 Election.[1][2][3] Taylor started off as an editor ofThe Producers News which was a popularfarmer-labor newspaper inPlentywood.[4] He joined theCommunist Party of America in 1922 but kept it a secret from the public.
During the early 1920s,Montana was affected by droughts which had farmers lose about 2 million acres of land in 11,000 farms, which was about 20% of all farm land in Montana.[5] The firstcommunist to be elected during this time wasRodney Salisbury, an early follower of Taylor, who served as Sheriff ofSheridan County from 1922 to 1928 due to Taylor's support. Taylor thought Salisbury was "an extremist and kind of aWobbly type".[4]
There was a rumor that that at about 5:45 AM on November 30, 1926, Salisbury, along with three other people, robbed the Treasurers Office getting away with $116,579.25 ($1,954,823.26 as of December 2022) in order to fundsocialist activities,[1][4][6] this rumor caused Salisbury to lose the 1928 election. On January 5, 1925, Taylor was elected to the Montana Senate. During the 1930 election for Senate, he was the Farmer-Labor Party candidate for Montana, getting 1,789 votes, with 1.02% of the total vote.[3][7]
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