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Article: Communist Party, United States of America
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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COMMUNIST PARTY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
COMMUNIST PARTY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
was formed in 1919 when the left wing of the Socialist Party became convinced that the Bolsheviks in Russia had discovered a swift road to socialism. One left faction attended the Socialist Party's convention in Chicago in hopes of seizing control. When that failed, they walked out and on 31 August founded the Communist Labor Party (CLP), led by John Reed and Benjamin Gitlow. The CLP thundered that it had "only one demand: the establishment of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat," and sent Reed to Russia to win support from the Communist International (Comintern). Another faction met on 1 September, ...