100 Years of American Communism
The Communist Party USA, which turned 100 this year, has left behind a complicated legacy, filled with great victories and terrible blunders.
This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of the Communist Party USA.
This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party USA (CP). The party became, from at least the early 1930s until the 1950s, the preeminent left group in the country, and one with no significant rivals.
It was during this period that Communists led the fight for racial equality, and were the most important organizers of rapidly expanding industrial unions. Long demonized by the Right and challenged by those to its left, it’s vital that we understand the roots of American Communism and the legacy it left behind.
Homegrown Radicalism
The Communist Party was formed in 1919 when the right-wing leadership of the Socialist Party (SP) refused to allow the overwhelming left-wing majority to take control of the organization. The main issues dividing the two tendencies were the left-wing’s support for the October Revolution in Russia and the consistency of its opposition to World War I, especially after the United States entered the war.
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