HOC 80 C - 1/21/10
The Communist Party, the Popular
Front, and the CIO
Overview
1924-1928: US Communists joined AF of L unions
1928-1934 (Third Period): Communists left AF of L unions,
organized or joined ostensibly revolutionary unions, under the
umbrella of the CP-created Trade Union Unity League (TUUL)
1935-1939 (Popular Front): TUUL dissolved, 1934. Communists
join mainstream unions, in most cases CIO unions or AF of L
unions soon to enter the CIO.
1936-39: The Spanish Civil War. Communists organize the
International Brigades; in the US, the Lincoln Brigade.
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Overview II
1939: The Molotov-Ribbentrop (Hitler-Stalin) Pact, Aug.
23, and the joint Soviet/German invasion of Poland end the
Popular Front.
1941: June 22 Germany attacks the Soviet Union, which
enters the war. Dec. 7 Japan attacks the US base at Pearl
Harbor. The US enters the war.
1956: 20th Congress of the CPUSSR: Khruschev
acknowledges Stalin’s crimes. Many people leave
Communist parties in the US and elsewhere.
Anti­Communism in the US before McCarthy: 1938: Dies Committee, name later changed to House Un-American
Activities Committee (HUAC). Focus on Communist influence in
CIO unions.
1940: Smith Act
1947: Truman’s Federal Employee Loyalty Program
1947: Taft-Hartley Act: unions with Communist leadership not
allowed to use National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) created by
Wagner Act
1947-50: Eleven Communist-led unions expelled by the CIO.
1950: McCarran Act
The Dies Committee The CP and the CIO:
1. 1935-1937:
An alliance is forged between the anti-Communist leadership of
the CIO and the Communist Party, based on the CIO’s drive to
organize basic industry, and the Popular Front policy of the
Party.
The CP leadership is at first hesitant, concerned that the CIO
represents dual unionism. But Communists are drawn into the
CIO in large numbers, as hired organizers (steel) or as
members/leaders of unions that join the CIO (auto, rubber,
longshore workers, etc.).
2. 1937 and beyond: Building the CIO becomes the highest priority of the CP
Communists and fellow travelers acquire influential positions
in the CIO (Lee Pressman, Len DeCaux, others).
Communists play important role in unions in basic industry
(steel, auto, rubber, electrical) and also in many others: white
collar and professional, fur workers, maritime workers.
By 1938 40% of CIO unions led by Communists or those
close to them, or significantly influenced by them – other than
UAW, mostly smaller unions in the CIO.
1937 and Beyond (II)
Communist Party grows rapidly: by 1938 75,000 members, of
whom 27,000 union members. CP influence in the CIO rests
less on number of CP members than on their role as organizers
and union leaders.
During the same period the Socialist Party declines. The
needle trades unions had been major base for SP; in 1936
many left the SP for Labor’s Non-Partisan League, created by
the CIO, and voted Democratic, not Socialist.
The CP/CIO Alliance
CP members in the CIO, CIO leaders, and, up to a point, the CP, collude
to downplay role of CP in the CIO. CP members and fellow travelers
avoid mentioning their relationship to the CP. CIO leaders avoid
mentioning the presence of Communists in CIO unions.
The CP leadership at first vehemently opposes discrimination against
Communists in the CIO, but as it develops an alliance with the CIO
leadership, protecting that alliance becomes a high priority, and
downplaying the role of Communists, even denouncing Communism,
helps maintain the alliance.
Communists disband factions, or “ractions,” in CIO unions. ILGWU:
1937. 1940 CIO convention unanimously passes resolution denouncing
“policies emanating from totalitarianism, dictatorships and foreign
ideologies such as Nazism, Communism, and Fascism.” Lee Pressman,
CP member, general counsel for CIO, introduces this resolution
The Alliance Wears Thin
1936-7 Communists in UAW align themselves with workers who resist
agreements recommended by Homer Martin, head of union, and John L
Lewis. Martin and Lewis think Communists trying to embarrass them;
Martin tries to drive Communists out of the union. CP leadership
chastises leading Communists in the UAW for their support of workers
who continue striking when the UAW/CIO leaders oppose it.
1938-9 Communists removed from influential positions in a number of
CIO unions. CP does not protest. Meanwhile Dies Committee
investigating role of Communists in the CIO.
1939 UAW convention, the CIO representatives oppose the left caucus’
nominees for UAW president and vice-president, CP ally George Addes
and CP member Wyndham Mortimer. CP delegation led by Earl
Browder, head of CP, order CP members at the convention to support the
CIO’s choice, R.J. Thomas, an ally of Martin.
Communists Driven out of the CIO
1947: Truman’s Federal Employee Loyalty Program sets the
stage
1947: Taft-Hartley: unions with Communists in leadership
barred from using the National Labor Relations Board
1947-50 Eleven Communist-led unions expelled from the
CIO. All subsequently shrivel. Individual Communists,
exposed by HUAC, are driven out of other unions as well.