History of the Communist Party USA the retiring head of the party, William Z. Foster, published a book entitled "Toward Soviet America", which laid out the Communist Party's plans for revolution and the building of a new socialist society based on the model of Soviet Russia. In that same year, Earl Browder became General Secretary of the Communist Party. At first, Browder moved the party closer to Soviet interests and helped to develop its secret apparatus or underground network. He also assisted in the recruitment of espionage sources and agents for the Soviet NKVD. Browder's own younger sister Margerite was an NKVD operative in Europe until
Special Council of the NKVD was abolished in September 1953, shortly after the death of Joseph Stalin. Special Council of the NKVD Special Council of the USSR NKVD (Особое Совещание при НКВД СССР, ОСО) was created by the same decree of Sovnarkom of July 10, 1934 that introduced the NKVD itself. By the decree, the Special Council was endowed with the rights to apply punishments "by administrative means," i.e., without trial. In other words, the term "by administrative means" actually refers to extrajudicial punishment. The following types of punishment were put at the disposal of the Special Council by this decree: banishment (высылка) (from the