Description
Book SynopsisThis detailed investigation of Communists and their Party in the hard coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania, known as the Anthracite, draws on sources such as the central archives of the Communist Party of the United States to examine the origins, growth, and decline of the relatively small but active Marxist-Leninist organization that operated there during the first half of the 20th century. Anthracite. Just mentioning the name of the hard coal region of Pennsylvania conjures up classic images of labor violence and class conflict: Molly Maguires, Lattimer and the 1902 national coal strike. Yet this legendary tradition of labor and class discord has prompted no historian to chronicle the complete story of the region''s largest and most active radical group in the 20th century: American Communists. They are forgotten radicals. Chronicling the story of these forgotten radicals allows us to examine American Communism in an important area of the highly industrialized state of Pennsyl
Trade ReviewExhaustively mining archival, newspaper, and secondary sources as well as over a dozen interviews, Howard has written a solid....study surely destined to be the last word on his subject.Summing Up: RECOMMENDED. Graduate students and faculty. -- R.J. Goldstein, Oakland University * CHOICE *
Howard investigates the "Anthracite Reds," who operated in the home ground of the Molly Maguires and the Lattimer massacre. He shows how conditions were ripe for members of the Communist Parts there to attempt to organize resistance to the overwhelming power of the mine owners, sustain unemployed miners in the Depression, support labor unions, and lead opposition to local fascist organizations before World War II. He also shows how the Cold War made it nearly impossible for a miner to declare himself a communist and remain in the anthracite. * Books News, Inc., (Www.Booknews.Com) *
Howard carefully tells the story of how the indigenous leaders and members of the anthracite party struggled to build their organization from 1919. Howard's narrative does not support either the traditional view of the party's subservience to the Cominternnor revisionist views of the part as a genuine form of American radicalism. Instead, Howard documents the rather stormy history of party line changes, as well as local issues championed by the largely immigrant workers who led the party in the anthracite region....As such,Forgotten Radicals makes a significant contribution to the literature on local Communist Party history and gives much to historians of the anthracite region, historians of the Communist Party, and labor historians in general. -- Samuel W. White, Assistant Professor, Labor Education Program, University of Missouri
Table of ContentsChapter 1 List of Tables Chapter 2 Preface Chapter 3 Acknowledgments Chapter 4 Anthracite Reds Chapter 5 Communists and Miners, 1922-1926 Chapter 6 Eve of the Third Period Chapter 7 National Textile Workers Union Chapter 8 The National Miners Union Chapter 9 Communists Organize the Unemployed, 1930-1932 Chapter 10 Giving Voice to the Miners' Discontent Chapter 11 Communists and the Unemployed, 1933-1934 Chapter 12 Toward the Popular Front Chapter 13 The Popular Front Chapter 14 The Workers Alliance and the CIO Chapter 15 Antifascism and the Democratic Front Chapter 16 World War II Chapter 17 Cold War Meltdown Chapter 18 Notes Chapter 19 Bibliography Chapter 20 About the Author Chapter 21 Index
