Even though communism was rejected by Americans during the 19th century, during the Great Depression the Communist Party in America reached its height (it had 85000 members in 1942). This was mostly due to the poor and working class struggling to get by in the periods of rapid industrialization and economic depression. The increase in unemployment, low wages, and bad working conditions ultimately made many workers furious at the government’s lack of a response and made them turn to more radical ideas, such as communism. The Communist Party of America was founded in 1919 and was inspired by Russia’s October Revolution just two years prior that put the Bolsheviks (Communists) in charge of the Russian government. It started in the Pacific Northwest and slowly made its way to much of America as the party gained traction as a result of the social crisis.
This radical, socialist party was not a new thing, even in America. Other radical groups had already existed, such as the Socialist Party and the International Workers of the World, and the Communist Party mostly gained members from these groups during the 1930’s and 1940’s. These groups also advocated for more benefits for the working class and called for a workers’ revolution in order to fix society’s problems.
During the Great Depression, the Communist Party was able to play an influential role as numerous people followed its beliefs. One way it helped accomplish this was by publishing works in order to spread information and beliefs. An example of this was the Voice of Action, a Seattle-based newspaper that published Communist Party ideas. Also, the changes occurring in American politics helped foster some of the radical ideas of communism. With New Deal liberalism sweeping through the nation during Roosevelt’s presidency, many people became communist sympathizers who believed in some of the ideas but just never became an official member of the party.
However, the Communist Party couldn’t sustain its peak forever. With the Cold War starting right after World War II, anti-Soviet and anti-communist ideas were strong among the American public. This lead to attacks on the Communist Party of America which ultimately diminished its power and influence on the American people. The Communist Party still exists today but with fewer members (only about 5000) and an insignificant influence on American politics.
Sources:
http://depts.washington.edu/depress/communism_radicalism.shtml
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Communist-Party-of-the-United-States-of-America
https://www.britannica.com/topic/communism/Marxian-communism
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/the-communist-party-in-the-30s-the-depression-and-the-great-upsurge/
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ReplyDeleteI thought your blog was really well written and addressed the key points in Communism vs America. While there was competition between American economic policies and communism during the great depression, I believe that there is a lot of parallelism between the two in terms of reform, most notably, the New Deal. When FDR implemented the New Deal, his first actions and attempts were categorized into what was known as The Hundred Days. During this time period, he passed a series of acts and policies in hopes of rekindling the economic fire of America. However this idea of rapid economic improvement in a short amount of time was not foreign to communists during the time. From 1928-1932, the USSR created its first Five Year Plan, hoping that a series of improvement plans to be partaken in by every citizen will eventually turn the Union into a massive industrial and economic powerhouse. Regardless of the respective successes of these two time periods, both sides are seen making an attempt at a similar goal.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://uwaterloo.ca/library/special-collections-archives/first-five-year-plan
I really liked that you clarified that communism was not a new idea in America and addressed the popularity of it. After the World War II, America and Russia were clashing in a war called the Cold War. It was during that time that America became very concerned with communism, many called it the red scare. International events like the USSR successfully detonating a nuclear bomb, Mao Zedong taking control of china, and the Korean war all contributed to the red scare. Also during that time, the politics of America became more conservative due to the rise of communism around the world.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/red-scare
I liked the data and statistics about the communist party in America. Communism is an ideology that grows in strength when times are hard. People are drawn to it because it sounds like a nice ideology. Equal pay for everyone and handing your ability to dictate what you do and how much you are payed to your government. This would be especially appealing if you were working in a factory or had terrible living conditions, or just generally felt like you lacked the ability to control your life because of your lack of status or just what you were or weren't born into. However in reality it ends up failing or resulting in terrible living conditions because of the lack of incentives for work. I think its interesting how the communist party was inspired from the ideas of the Bolshevik revolution. I had no idea that people were so inspired by the Russian revolution in America.
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