Raymond Robins

Raymond Robins (17 September 1873 – 26 September 1954) was an American economist and writer. He was an advocate of organized labor and diplomatic relations between the United States and Russia under the Bolsheviks.

Biography He was born on 17 September 1873 in Staten Island, New York.

After financial troubles, his father left Robins and his siblings in the care of his mother and left to do mining in Colorado. When his mother went into a mental asylum, his upbringing was left to relatives. He was educated privately. In the early 1890s, he worked as a coal miner in Tennessee and Colorado.

In 1909, Robins attended a Labor Day parade in St. Louis, Missouri, after which he was interviewed by reporter and writer Marguerite Martyn. He told her that "there are groups and groups of suffrage advocates, but when the women wage-earners become organized, you will see results from the cry of 'Votes for Women.'"

Robins served also as social service expert for the Men and Religion Forward Movement, in 1911–12, and made a world tour in its interests in 1913. He was leader of the National Christian Social Evangelistic campaign in 1915.

He became identified with the Progressive Party and served as chairman of the State Central Committee. In 1914, he was candidate for United States Senator from Illinois for that party, and was temporary and permanent chairman of the Progressive National Convention in 1916.

During World War I, he was engaged in Y.M.C.A. work and Red Cross work in France. In 1917, he headed the expedition for the American Red Cross to Russia, and worked unsuccessfully at establishing diplomatic relations between the United States and Russia, but some years later, in 1933, did manage to persuade Franklin Roosevelt to exchange ambassadors.