| Charles Edwin Taylor | |
| State Senate: | Montana |
| District: | Sheridan County |
| Term Start: | January 1, 1923 |
| Term End: | January 5, 1931 |
| Predecessor: | Hans J. Dixon |
| Successor: | Lars Angvick |
| Birth Date: | 27 February 1884 |
| Birth Place: | Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Little Falls, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Resting Place: | Lakewood Cemetery |
| Occupation: | Newspaper Editor, Politician, State Senator for Montana, Farmer Labor Party Candidate for Senate |
| Party: | Communist Farmer–Labor Nonpartisan League Republican |
| Spouse: | Agda |
| Children: | 3 |
Charles Edwin Taylor (February 27, 1884 - April 22, 1967), also known as "Red Flag" Taylor, "Red Flag Charlie" and Charley Taylor, was an American politician, editor, orator, who served as a member of the Montana State Senate from January 1, 1923, to January 5, 1931, and was candidate for United States Senate in the 1930 Election.[1] [2] [3] Taylor started off as an editor of The Producers News which was a popular farmer-labor newspaper in Plentywood.[4] He joined the Communist Party of the United States 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 first communist to be elected during this time (and in the United States as a whole) was Rodney Salisbury, an early follower of Taylor, who served as Sheriff of Sheridan County from 1922 to 1928 due to Taylor's support. Taylor thought Salisbury was "an extremist and kind of a Wobbly type".
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 fund socialist activities,[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.
During his later years as a politician, his advocacy of the Communist Party contributed towards his political decline. When he was first elected to the Farmer-Labor ticket for Montana State Senate[7] [8] most people did not know he was a communist.