This article is about the American communist agricultural expert, not to be confused with the Canadian socialist politician Lemuel Harris

Lemuel Harris

Lemuel Harris was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the Manitoba legislature from 1959 to 1969, representing the social democratic CCF and its successor, the NDP....

.

Lement Upham "Lem" Harris (March 1, 1904 - 21 September 2002) was a member of the American Communist Party.

Biography

Lement U. Harris, known to his friends as "Lem," was the son of John Francis Harris (c. 1875-1941), the founder of the Wall Street

Wall Street

Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...

 brokerage firm

Brokerage firm

A brokerage firm, or simply brokerage or broker in context, is a financial institution that facilitates the buying and selling of financial derivatives between a buyer and a seller...

 of Harris, Winthrop, and Company. He graduated from Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1926.

Harris went to work on a farm in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 for three years. He was invited to Russia by Harold Ware

Harold Ware

Harold Maskell "Hal" Ware was an American Marxist regarded as one of the Communist Party's top experts on agriculture....

, one of the American Communist Party's leading agricultural experts. He returned to the United States convinced that the Soviet system was superior to the West. Once back in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 he conducted a nine month survey of life in rural agricultural America. They published their results in The American Farmer. Harris then joined the Communist Party, and remained a member until his death on 21 September 2002.

Lem Harris' papers reside at the University of Iowa

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

 in Iowa City.

External links

• "Papers of Lement Harris Manuscript Register," University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.