During the Great Depression, tensions grew when Roosevelt's New Deal reforms could not satisfy all, especially when quick fixes were not substantially felt. This led many people to seek other political routes in attempt to combat the effects of the Depression. One of these ideas relatively new to America was the Communist Party of the United States of America.
This faction, founded in 1919, established a firm platform in opposition to Roosevelt's New Deal. They were anti-capitalism and laissez-faire economy, thought programs like the NRA were fascist organizations, and believed the only way to remedy the effects of the Great Depression was by reconstruction of the entire American society.
In the midst of the Depression, the party gained a substantial amount of followers, nominating William Z. Foster in the Election of 1932. Foster and his African-American running partner, James Ford, gained 102,000 votes, the largest number of votes to date.
Reading about this in Chapter 8 of Freedom From Fear led me to thinking: where is the CPUSA today?
After doing some research on their party website, I learned that their policies have not changed much since the 30s. Both platforms claim to be anti-monopolistic and anti-capitalist, revere the original founders, Marx and Lenin, and are opposed to many of the presidential policies concurrent with each respective time period.
In my opinion, I believe the party reached the height of its support, as demonstrated by its highest polling rate in 1932 because of the unique times. The Great Depression pushed people to the edge and led to a "rumble of discontent." The individual sought any solution that he or she believed would ease their plight. Therefore, the idea of communism in America, despite past red scares, seemed desirable. However, Roosevelt's New Deal and capitalism prevailed, leaving the CPUSA to fall in presidential votes every election thereafter. The economy improved, and people once again trusted the existing government and societal structure, leading to abandonment of the CPUSA. Today, the party exists, but with much less support than it once had. America has gone through the Second World War and the Cold War since the Great Depression, leaving most present-day voting Americans engrained with the idea that communism is completely undesirable.
What do you think about the evolution of the CPUSA?
Sources:
Freedom From Fear "Chapter 8: The Rumble of Discontent"
http://www.politics1.com/parties.htm
http://www.cpusa.org/party-program/#2a
Great post! I researched more into how people reacted to CPUSA and saw that there were two huge red scares. The first occurred directly after the Russian Revolution and the second was after WWII. Although labor leaders and intelligentsia were attracted to communism, the majority of the American population was very anti-communist and anti-socialist. In 1920 several states actually passed "criminal syndicalism" laws which outlawed any violence in effort to secure social change. This limited free speech as well. Another act similar to this was passed in 1940.
ReplyDeleteI'll follow up with a short analysis of communism/socialism in the modern world. I think that there is a really negative 'stigma' (if you want to call it that) attached to communism and socialism in the United States, sometimes too extreme in my opinion. Therefore the communist party, although it does exist, is one of the least successful political parties in the country. Growing up in Europe for a large portion of my life, I lived under a socialist-esque government. It's really not anything like Soviet Russia. The negative view of socialism/communist comes largely from things like the Cold War show Americans that "-isms are bad". Communism is quite extreme yes, but more moderate government structures like socialism are really not, although they are perceived to be by many Americans.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post Addie! With Stalin's rise to power in Russia enforcing communist ideals, it makes sense that some of those ideals trickle into the United States. The CPUSA is still a working party today. While most of their beliefs line up with traditional socialist ideology, their stands on political issues today are fascinating. It would make sense that the CPUSA would support the Democrats over Republicans since the Democrat party is normally supported by workers. In an article on their website, they note that some "positive" victories in the 2014 elections were the election or re-election of Democrat governors. However, the party is more against the Republicans rather than with the Democrats. They say, "the extreme racist and corporate Republican strategy has been to obstruct and make government dysfunctional". While we all may be busy wrapping up projects and studying for finals, I suggest you read this article if you have the time detailing the CPUSA in today's elections.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cpusa.org/2014-elections-keep-our-eyes-on-the-prize/
What do I think of the CPUSA? I think it sucks, to be quite honest. In response to Lauren's points of the CPUSA complaining about America's democratic government, it made the U.S. into the world superpower it is today. America keeps it real with our capitalist economy, promoting competition and thriving businesses. Stalin, however, was not keeping it real with his "communist government". Communist government in quotes because a communist government is a contradictory in it of itself. I find it funny they think the Republicans are "extreme" and "racist." What do they know about politics? They think communism is possible XD These are the kind of people who have never read "Animal Farm"
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would love to see a Tea Party and CPUSA 1v1 battle. Having both extreme sides of the political spectrum at each other's throats might manage to make moderate politicians look like the enlightened ones.
ReplyDeleteYou have no idea what kind of image just passed through my head after reading your idea
DeleteNice post Addie. It's interesting to see what political parties get what support in different time periods.Different historical events can trigger massive party switches from one party to another, or completely leaving a party. Wikipedia has a cool graph that shows who voted for who for every American president, and it's very interesting:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elections_by_popular_vote_margin
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ReplyDeleteInteresting post! It got me wondering as to why it still exists but the Black Panther Party was considered a major threat to national security and was discredited and dissolved. If the majority of people in America were anti-communist and anti-socialist throughout history, why was one terminated but not the other?
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