Far too often, scholars have mystified the history of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Historians influenced by Cold War anticommunism saw the CPUSA as a totalitarian import that was alien to American political life. In other words, it was the connection to the Soviet Union, not any social struggles that defined the CPUSA. Revisionist historians inspired by the New Left resisted this interpretation and highlighted the role of CPUSA militants in struggles fighting racism, unemployment, and for social justice. The revisionists told the history of the CPUSA as one of indigenous radicalism where the connection to the Soviet Union and communist ideology was downgraded. While there is a great deal to learn about the Communist Party from these two schools, in practice they act as mirror images of each other, producing a distorted and one-sided portrait of history.
To understand the history of the CPUSA, it is necessary to take seriously the commitment by militants to the ideals of communism, labor activism, and antiracism which is situated in a complex national and international context. Among the works that truly undertake this endeavor is Joshua Morris’ Many Worlds of American Communism. His account is written with a balance of objectivity and sympathy, telling the story of the CPUSA from its origins in 1919 through its early growing pains, and the height of its influence in the 1930s and 40s through its decline after 1956. Many Worlds manages to guide the reader through labor struggles, factional fighting, civil rights activism, and political repression. At times, both serious and funny, Morris’ work is an impressive work of scholarship that synthesizes party documents, memoirs, and a vast array of secondary sources to give a big picture history of the Communist Party.
At the center of Morris’ approach is examining the role of communists as involved in multiple worlds of engagement as political activists, labor organizers, community organizers,
— source counterpunch.org | Doug Enaa Greene | Aug 4, 2023