17,394
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 34:
Line 34: − + + Line 49:
Line 50: − + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Communist Party of the United States of America (view source)
Revision as of 21:57, June 5, 2009
, 21:57, June 5, 2009no edit summary
[[Louis Budenz]] started as a Communist and ended a leading an anti-Communist, beginning with his involvement in the Toledo, Ohio, Electric Auto-Lite strike of 1934. Although the intensity of Budenz's later opposition to communism during the McCarthy era made his former involvement in the CPUSA difficult to understand, his entry into the Party was the logical result of his involvement in the Auto-Lite strike. Intrigued by the idea of an "Americanized" socialism, Budenz's desire to assimilate leftism and nationalism spurred him to join the American Workers' Party (AWP) and, later, the Communist Party. Fervently patriotic, Budenz's interest in the CPUSA was based on the group's adoption of an approach that focused on the American experience. When the CPUSA realigned itself with Russia in 1945, Budenz left the organization. Following his departure, Budenz acted as an informant in the Red Scare, assisting the government in the condemnation of many of his former Communist sympathizers.<Ref> Roger Chapman, "Louis Francis Budenz's Journey from the Electric Auto-Lite Strike to the Communist Party and Beyond," ''Northwest Ohio Quarterly'' 2001 73(3-4): 118-141. 0029-3407 </ref>
[[Louis Budenz]] started as a Communist and ended a leading an anti-Communist, beginning with his involvement in the Toledo, Ohio, Electric Auto-Lite strike of 1934. Although the intensity of Budenz's later opposition to communism during the McCarthy era made his former involvement in the CPUSA difficult to understand, his entry into the Party was the logical result of his involvement in the Auto-Lite strike. Intrigued by the idea of an "Americanized" socialism, Budenz's desire to assimilate leftism and nationalism spurred him to join the American Workers' Party (AWP) and, later, the Communist Party. Fervently patriotic, Budenz's interest in the CPUSA was based on the group's adoption of an approach that focused on the American experience. When the CPUSA realigned itself with Russia in 1945, Budenz left the organization. Following his departure, Budenz acted as an informant in the Red Scare, assisting the government in the condemnation of many of his former Communist sympathizers.<Ref> Roger Chapman, "Louis Francis Budenz's Journey from the Electric Auto-Lite Strike to the Communist Party and Beyond," ''Northwest Ohio Quarterly'' 2001 73(3-4): 118-141. 0029-3407 </ref>
==Unions==
Coal miners in the United States and indeed in most countries were the nost radical of all workers and their support was critical for Communism. The brief history of the National Miners Union (NMU) during 1928-31 sheds light on the role of the CPUSA in the Pennsylvania anthracite [[coal mining]] industry and on the polarized views of the CPUSA as either a functionary of Soviet and Communist International (Comintern) policy, or as a progressive response to regional and local interests. The NMU provided a militant alternative to the American Federation of Labor ([[AFL]]) and United Mine Workers of America ([[UMW]]), but failed to meet the CPUSA goal of defeating the AFL and UMW and taking control of the union movement. Although theoretically supporting revolutionary goals, NMU activists rejected them as impossible and impractical and focused on immediate issues such as working conditions, wages, benefits, and social reform. The NMU's failure to take control of strikes, the rise of labor violence, internal dissension, police harassment, press hostility, and nationwide anti-Communist attitudes contributed to the demise of the red union.<ref> Walter T. Howard, "The National Miners Union: Communists and Miners in the Pennsylvania Anthracite, 1928-1931." ''Pennsylvania Magazine Of History And Biography'' 2001 125(1-2): 91-124. 0031-4587 </ref>
==Secret apparatus==
==Secret apparatus==
==Popular Front==
==Popular Front==
:''Main article: [[Popular Front]]''
:''Main article: [[Popular Front]]''
The CPUSA was adamantly opposed to fascism during the Popular Front period. In fact, the Popular Front was motivated by a fear of fascism, and the possible threat to the Soviet Union that [[Nazi Germany]] posed. Although membership in the CPUSA rose to about 75,000 [http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/sova.html] by 1938, nearly a third of its members left the party after the signing of the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]] [[nonaggression pact|Nonaggression Pact]] of 1939 pact with [[Hitler]]. A committed core remained in the ranks. The CPUSA even went so far as to accuse [[Winston Churchill]] and [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] of provoking aggression against Hitler. The CPUSA went so far as to denounce the [[Polish]] government as fascist after the German and Soviet invasion.
The CPUSA was adamantly opposed to fascism during the Popular Front period. In fact, the Popular Front was motivated by a fear of fascism, and the possible threat to the Soviet Union that [[Nazi Germany]] posed.
The CPUSA strongly supported the left-wing "Republican" side in the [[Spanish Civil War]] in the late 1930s, and encouraged its young people to enlist in the "Abraham Lincoln Brigade" to go and fight there. About 800 did so.
===Ethncs and intellectuals ===
The CPUSA drew a large fraction of its members from certain ethnic groups, such as Finns, Jews and Italians.
In 1928 the 6th Congress of the Comintern in Moscow resolved that the black population of the American South was a subject nation, thus capable of engendering a "national revolutionary movement," and ordered the CPUSA to give high priority to mobilizing blacks. The party made the 1931 Scottsboro lynching case its favoprite publicity issue, making the maltreatment of African Americans a matter of international concern for the first time, and locked it into the American radical-liberal political agenda. After 1928 the Party strongly supported civil rights for blacks, weeded out racism among its white members and tried to enlist a large black membership. It enlisted only a small black membership, which tried to take over the [[Civil Rights Movement]]. Only one major figure in the Civil Rights Movement was a Communist, Stanley Levison, who was a top advisor to [[Martin Luther King]].
The Party had a small but influential following among intellectuals and artists, especially in New York City. in the 1930's and early 1940's. There arose a bitter the conflict between anti-Soviet liberals and anti-Stalinist Marxists on one side, and pro-Soviet "progressives," a group that sympathized with the CPUSA in the People's Front during 1935-39. The anti-Soviet faction, led in part by philosopher [[John Dewey]], had a solid grasp of Stalinism allowing the liberals, the anti-Stalinist Marxists, and the ex-Marxists like [[James Burnham]] to join forces, thus providing the intellectual foundation for postwar liberal anticommunism.<ref> See Judy Kutulas, ''The Long War: The Intellectual People's Front and Anti-Stalinism'' (1995)</ref>
===Supporting Hitler===
Although membership in the CPUSA rose to about 75,000 [http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/sova.html] by 1938, nearly a third of its members left the party after the signing of the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]] [[nonaggression pact|Nonaggression Pact]] of 1939 pact with [[Hitler]]. A committed core remained in the ranks.
In 1939-41 the CPUSA attacked enemies of Hitler, even accusing [[Winston Churchill]] and [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] of provoking aggression against Hitler. The CPUSA went so far as to denounce the [[Polish]] government as fascist after the German and Soviet invasion.
[[Benjamin Gitlow]], a Communist who later broke with the Party, wrote in 1940: "Stalin's hopes, through the activities of the American Communist Party, to create a public opinion in tbe United States that would favor a war ...Stalin is perfectly willing to let Americans die in defense of the Soviet Union even if they are not members
[[Benjamin Gitlow]], a Communist who later broke with the Party, wrote in 1940: "Stalin's hopes, through the activities of the American Communist Party, to create a public opinion in tbe United States that would favor a war ...Stalin is perfectly willing to let Americans die in defense of the Soviet Union even if they are not members