Black freedom struggle and the CP's contributions [sic]

Mike Yates mikey+ at pitt.edu
Thu Aug 13 07:45:55 PDT 1998


Friends,

One of the best books I've read on black workers, unions, and the CP is Roger Horowitz's "'Negro and White, Unite and Fight': A Social History of Industrial Unionism in Meatpacking, 1930-90." (Univ. of Illinois Press). I have reviewed this book along with Earl Ofari Hutchinson's, "Blacks and Reds: Race and Class in Conflict, 1919-1990." (Michigan State Univ. Press). This review will appear in a forthcoming issue of Monthly Review. Two other good books are Michael Brown, et. al. (eds.), "New Studies in the Politics and History of U.S. Communism," (Monthly Review) and Steve Rosswurm (ed.), "The CIO's Left-Led Unions." (Rutgers Univ. Press). These books give interesting, though by no means uniform, accounts of U.S. reds.

Michael Yates

Doug Henwood wrote:


> Andrew Kliman wrote:
>
> >I hope to reply to some other points Doug made soon, but for now,
> >here's a reply to just one.
> >
> >He wrote: "American Communists did many admirable things amidst
> >the many brutalities & idiocies that are all too well known ...."
> >
> >But Doug, it isn't true that their true history and legacy are
> >all that well known.
>
> Andrew, anyone who's drawn more than 3 or 4 breaths in the U.S. over the
> last 60 or 70 years is fully aware of the shortcomings of the CPUSA.
> Foregrounding only the negative side of this complicated institution does
> no one but anti-Communists a favor.
>
> Doug



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