COMMUNIST PARTY USA

COMMUNIST PARTY USA

Known officially as the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), the Communist party was formed in the United States in 1919, two years after the Russian Revolution had overthrown the monarchy and established the Soviet Union. Many American Communists had been members of the SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA, but that party’s socialist leadership opposed the Russian
revolution and expelled those members who supported it. The Communists were even more left-wing than the Socialists and attracted a number of radicals and anarchists as well as Communists. By August 1919, only months after
its founding, the Communist party had 60,000
members, while the Socialist party had only
40,000.
The administration of President WOODROW
WILSON, fearful that American radicals might
attempt to overthrow the U.S. government,
began making mass arrests in the fall of 1919.
Ultimately, 10,000 suspected subversives were
arrested in what became known as the Palmer
Raids (after U.S. Attorney General A. MITCHELL
PALMER), with 249 deported to Russia. The
Palmer Raids ended in May 1920, and the American
Communists began to gain strength. In
1924, the party founded a newspaper, The Daily
Worker, which, at its peak, had a circulation of
35,000. That same year, the party nominated
labor activist William Z. Foster as its first candidate
for U.S. president. Foster received 35,361
votes.
The death of VLADIMIR LENIN and the rise
of JOSEPH STALIN caused dissent among the
party in the United States, with some supporting
Stalin and others supporting the views of Leon
Trotsky. A number of Trotskyists formed the
Communist League of America, and by 1920 the
American Communist party had only 7,000
members. By then, the party was concentrating
on helping to build LABOR UNIONS and improving
workers’ rights. They lobbied for higher
wages, a national retirement program, and
unemployment insurance.With so many Americans
affected by the Great Depression, the
Communist message sounded a note of hope to
unemployed workers, and Foster received
102,991 votes in the 1932 presidential election.
Still, many people were more comfortable with
the less radical Socialist party, whose candidate,
Norman Thomas, received 884,781 votes.
The Spanish Civil War created a renewed
interest in the Communist party, with many of
its members opposing the government of Francisco
Franco. Many American Communists
went to Spain to fight against Franco’s forces.
Once again, there was a mounting fear of COMMUNISM
in the United States. The Communist
candidate for president in 1940, Earl Browder,
was forbidden to travel within the United States
and had to conduct his entire campaign through
written statements and recorded speeches.
During WORLD WAR II, the party had 75,000
members, and 15,000 registered Communists
fought against Axis forces in Europe and Asia.
The alliance with the Soviets did not survive
beyond the war’s end in 1945, and a wave of anti-communism swept the United States.
Although the Communist party in the United
States was arguably less radical than it had been
in its early days (in 1948, the party endorsed the
PROGRESSIVE PARTY candidate, former Vice
President Henry A. Wallace, for President), the
COLD WAR created a spirit of considerable distrust.
In 1948, a dozen leaders of the party were
arrested for violating the Alien Registration Act,
which made it illegal to advocate or assist in trying
to overthrow the government.
The House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC) investigated individuals who
were thought to have Communist ties, and Senator
JOSEPH R. MCCARTHY (R-Wis.) claimed that
Communists had infiltrated the federal government.
Although many of these accused Communists
had either never been party members or
else had been involved briefly in the 1930s when
the party was more active in organizing labor,
invariably their lives were shattered. Membership
in the Communist party dropped to about
10,000 by 1957, even though it was never illegal
to be a member.
During the 1960s, the Communist party
became involved in the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
and also the antiwar movement. Gus Hall,
longtime general secretary of the party, ran for
President in 1968 (the party had not run its own
candidate since 1940) and received only 1,075
votes.He ran in subsequent years and in 1976 he
received 58,992 votes. In 1988, instead of
running,Hall pledged his support to JESSE JACKSON,
who was seeking the Democratic nomination
for president.
In the new millennium, the CPUSA maintains
its commitment to the same political ideas
that drove the Russian Revolution, but it
embraces a more peaceful approach to creating
change and social justice. Among the ideas it
actively supports are socialized medicine,
improved SOCIAL SECURITY benefits, stronger
legislation to protect the environment, and full
funding for education. The party also seeks
greater cooperation with other political groups,
believing that the best way to effect change is
through the strength of broad-based coalitions.

FURTHER READINGS
Communist Party, USA. Available online at (accessed November 20, 2003).
Foster, William Z., 1952. History of the Communist Party of
the United States of America. New York: International
Publishers.
Jaffe, Philip J., 1975. The Rise and Fall of American Communism.
New York: Horizon Press.
Klehr, Harvey, 1984.The Heyday of American Communism:
The Depression Decade. New York: Basic Books.

CROSS-REFERENCES
Independent Parties; Socialist Party of the United States of
America.