Rae Elson (also Ray Elson) was a 20th-century American agent in the Soviet underground, who in the early 1940s replaced

Elizabeth Bentley Elizabeth Terrill Bentley (January 1, 1908 – December 3, 1963) was an American NKVD spymaster, who was recruited from within the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). She served the Soviet Union as the primary handler of multiple highly placed moles ...

as head of the Communist front organization called the " U.S. Service and Shipping Corporation."

Career

Elson was employed in the Civil Rights Committee in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in the 1930s and was a very active dues paying member of the

Communist Party of the United States The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

(CPUSA). Communist Party dues amounted to ten percent of a member's income. Elson was active in the CPUSA underground secret apparatus as a courier. Elson seems to have always had direct contacts with

Soviet intelligence This is a list of historical secret police organizations. In most cases they are no longer current because the regime that ran them was overthrown or changed, or they changed their names. Few still exist under the same name as legitimate police fo ...

. By May 1945,

had several messages with Soviet contacts communicated through Elson. When Bentley sought to remove herself from her position as Vice President of the U.S. Service and Shipping Corporation, a CPUSA and

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

front organization for Soviet espionage activities, Joseph Katz selected Elson to replace Bentley.

Earl Browder Earl Russell Browder (May 20, 1891 – June 27, 1973) was an American politician, spy for the Soviet Union, communist activist and leader of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). Browder was the General Secretary of the CP ...

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the CPUSA, helped Elson acquire interest in the firm by selling his stock to her. In late November 1945, Elson met with Bentley and they discussed the difficulties both were having meeting with their Russian contacts. Bentley defected within days after this meeting.

References

Sources

*
FBI Silvermaster file
Year of birth missing Possibly living people Members of the Communist Party USA American spies for the Soviet Union World War II spies for the Soviet Union {{Espionage-bio-stub