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Not by words, but by deeds: Communists and African Americans during the Depression era

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Date Issued:
1993
Summary:
Historians misread the impact of Communism on working-class blacks during the Depression by focusing on membership as a measure of success. The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) sought wide influence, not wide membership. During the early 1930s the CPUSA influenced the black proletariat by advocating social equality. This advocacy distinguished the CPUSA from other black ameliorative organizations--like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Urban League--that called for only the economic and political emancipation of African Americans. By the last half of the 1930s the CPUSA, readily embracing the Kremlin's call for a Popular Front against fascism, began to work in coalitions with liberal-bourgeois agencies. This work within these moderate organizations, in addition to a moderation of the black proletariat and a movement left of black ameliorative agencies, eroded CPUSA influence in African America.
Title: Not by words, but by deeds: Communists and African Americans during the Depression era.
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Name(s): Linsin, Christopher Edward.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Goings, Kenneth W., Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1993
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 179 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Historians misread the impact of Communism on working-class blacks during the Depression by focusing on membership as a measure of success. The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) sought wide influence, not wide membership. During the early 1930s the CPUSA influenced the black proletariat by advocating social equality. This advocacy distinguished the CPUSA from other black ameliorative organizations--like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Urban League--that called for only the economic and political emancipation of African Americans. By the last half of the 1930s the CPUSA, readily embracing the Kremlin's call for a Popular Front against fascism, began to work in coalitions with liberal-bourgeois agencies. This work within these moderate organizations, in addition to a moderation of the black proletariat and a movement left of black ameliorative agencies, eroded CPUSA influence in African America.
Identifier: 14890 (digitool), FADT14890 (IID), fau:11675 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1993.
Subject(s): African American communists--United States
Communist parties--United States
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14890
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.