 Nyorai kupfuurira kweiyi ndima - Pakati pema1930, Burnham akabatanidzwa nekuratidzira kwakapararira kweHarlem kupokana nekupinda kweItaly muEthiopia muna 1935, uye nokusaruramisira kuri kuitwa kuvana vechiduku veScottsboro Boys, vakatongerwa rufu pamhosva yenhema yokubata chibharo vakadzi vaviri vachena. Munguva iyi, akabatana neYoung Communist League neCommunist Party, USA CPUSA. CPUSA yakanga yava kuzivikanwa zvikuru nokuda kwokupikisa rusaruraganda uye kuparadzaniswa kwemarudzi, zvikurukuru pashure pokuronga kwayo kudzivirira kwepamutemo kweScottsboro Boys. Burnham akanga ane kuzvipira kwendangariro kwakaenzana neMarxism neLeninism zvechiKomonisiti. Akanga achikurudzirwa zvikuru naMahatma Gandhi, W. E. B. Du Bois, uye kurwisana kwenyika dzose nehurumende dzehurumende, somuenzaniso, muna 1944 vakaratidza kuumbwa kwebato rezvematongerwe enyika revatema re Kusava nechisimba uye Kusashanda pamwe. Muna 1939, Burnham akabatana neSouthern Negro Youth Congress SNYC, achiva munyori wayo musangano muna 1941. 