Communist Party: United States

By Wendyann Lewis For more information, see: Communist Party

Goals

The Communist Party in the United States originated in the early 1900's. While the party has never had a large following in the U.S., it has had an impact on the working poor, the unemployed and African Americans. Its involvement with labor unions and the fight for racial equality has had a lasting impact on the lives it touched.

When the Communist Labor Party and Communist Party of America were first formed in 1919, they had only one goal -- the destruction of democracy and the establishment of a communist government in the United States (Earl Hayes, January, 2001). The pursuit of this goal led to a series of raids and state led prosecutions across the country. When Communist Labor Party leader Benjamin Gitlow and Communist Party of America leader Palmer were jailed in New York, the two groups were forced to hold their meetings in secret.

A change in policy led Communist Party members in the United States to rethink some of their political actions. In the 1920's, they followed the belief that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," and aligned themselves with the New Deal and other policies that would help defeat fascism. This role altered several times during the 1930s and 1940s as the party's general policy first supported the Nazi Pact, and then turned against it. This change of heart was a combination of public opinion and encouragement from the International Communist Party.

One goal that never changed for the party was support of the working class. The foundation of several labor unions and connection with the Congress of the Industrial Organization (CIO) helped improve conditions for the working poor and the unemployed.

From its start in the United States, the Communist Party in its many forms was comprised mainly of immigrants, many of whom couldn't speak English. When it was created in 1919, the Communist Party of America boasted 24,000 members. This number decreased after the party was forced to go underground, and as of 2000, there were only about 1,000 members of the Communist Party, United States of America.

Overview of Causes/Effects

One of the main effects of the Communist Party in the United States was its benefit to the lives of African Americans (Kelly and McDuffie, January, 2006). The party was against racism and believed that the plight of African Americans was a symbol of the sufferings of the working class. While this sentiment waned in its early years due to American prejudice, it was reinstituted after pressure from the International Communist Party.

The Communist party also recognized the plight of Southern African Americans, and their suffering was used to show Americans that the group was a separate race and should have self-determination. The foundation of the International Labor Defense Fund (ILDF), a committee that tried to help African Americans through the court system, helped the Communist Party gain the support of African Americans and African American groups, such as the African Blood Brotherhood.

Even when anti-war sentiment and Nazi support became the main platform of the Communist Party, they never abandoned their effort to support African Americans and the fight for equal rights, thereby gaining the loyalty of many African Americans, despite anti-American propaganda.

Key Events and Players

The Communist Party in the United States has gone through several changes in name, policy and support since its inception in 1919. Not long after the formation of the Communist Labor Party and Communist Party of America, A. Mitchell Palmer conducted a series of raids searching for anarchists, causing the arrest of many Communist Party members (Earl Hayes). These raids and the subsequent prosecutions in states across the United States forced the party to hold meetings in secret, and many people left the party due to fear of persecution and deportation.

In 1920, the two party factions formed the United Communist Party, a name which was soon changed to the Communist Party, United States of America (CPUA). This group was eventually able to be more overt in its influence and in 1932 even had a presidential nominee by the name of William Foster. Although Foster only received 1 percent of the vote, he was the first of many future presidential nominees by the Communist Party.

In the late 1930s, the party again came under fire for its ant-American sentiment, and in the 1950s the USSRs condemnation of Stalin?s actions in the 1920s caused confusion and chaos to run through the party. It never truly recovered from this blow, but it continued to help the working class and African Americans through the CIO and ILDF.