Crouch was a worker, secretary, and newspaper editor. In April 1924, he joined the U.S. Army. While stationed in Hawaii, he formed a Hawaiian Communist League (1924-1927) with 75 other soldiers and supported a local strike on a sugar plantation. On February 17, 1925, the military arrested the group and singled out Crouch as their leader. After discharging the others, they sentenced him to 40 years of hard labor.
