History 603/628/630: Readings in the History of Communism and Anticommunism in America

https://www.albany.edu/history/h603f2005

COURSE INTRODUCTION:

This course will explore the evolution of American communism and those who opposed it. We�ll look at the various tendencies and movements that make up American communism, examining the relationship of communism to the state, to various social and political movements, and to American cultural life. Readings include local and regional studies, as well as broader thematic/topical explorations.

Grades will be based on 1) class participation, 2) a written book review and two oral reports (the first, a presentation on a required text; the second, a short historiographical overview of literature related to an assigned weekly reading); and 3) a lengthy (20+ pages) final historiographical paper on any topic related to the history of American communism and anticommunism.

Academic Dishonesty. The following statement of policy is required by the University at Albany: "It is assumed that your intellectual labor is your own. If there is any evidence of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, the minimum penalty will be an automatic failing grade for that piece of work. Plagiarism is taking (which includes purchasing) the words and ideas of another and passing them off as one's own work. If another person's work is quoted directly in a formal paper, this must be indicated with quotation marks and a citation. Paraphrased or borrowed ideas are to be identified by proper citations."

Required Books:

1. Daniel Aaron, Writers on the Left: Episodes in American Literary
Communism.
2. John E. Haynes, Red Scare or Red Menace? American Communism and Anticommunism in the Cold War Era.
3 . Dorothy Ray Healey and Maurice Isserman, California Red: A Life in the Communist Party.
4 . Cyndy Hendershot, Anti-Communism and Popular Culture in Mid-Century America.
5 . Maurice Isserman, The American Communist Party During the Second World War.
6 . Paul Mishler, Raising Reds: The Young Pioneers, Radical Summer Camps, and Communist Political Culture in the United States.
7 . Mark Naison, Communists in Harlem During the Great Depression.
8. Vernon L. Pedersen, The Communist Party in Maryland, 1919-57.
9. Ellen Schrecker, Many are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America.
10. Kate Weigand, Red Feminism: American Communism and the Making of Women's Liberation.
11. Alan M. Wald, The New York Intellectuals: The Rise and Decline of the Anti-Stalinist Left From the 1930s to the 1980s.
12. Jeff Woods, Black Struggle Red Scare: Segregation and Anti-Communism in the South, 1948-1968.
13. Misc. articles available on line and on electronic reserve.

Bibliography:

American Communism and Anticommunism: A Historian�s Bibliography and Guide to the Literature, Compiled and edited by John Earl Haynes (2005). On-line source. This is an excellent and comprehensive guide to the existing literature on American Communism and Anticommunism. Use it to compile readings for your final historiographical essay.

CLASS SCHEDULE

Tuesday, January 25: Introduction/Overview

Tuesday, February 1:

Required Reading:
1) Vernon L. Pedersen, The Communist Party in Maryland, 1919-57.
2) John Earl Haynes, "An Essay on Historical Writing on Domestic Communism and Anti-Communism." (2000) <http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page67.html>.
3) Theodore H. Draper, "American Communism Revisited," New York Review of Books 32:8 (May 9, 1985), Electronic Reserve. Recommended: part 2 of this article, titled: "The Popular Front Revisited," also on Electronic Reserve.
4) Michael E. Brown, "The History of the History of American Communism," in Michael E. Brown, et. al., New Studies in The Politics and Culture of U.S. Communism (Monthly Review Press, 1993): 14-44. Electronic Reserve.

Recommended Reading: Theodore Draper, The Roots of American Communism.

Tuesday, February 8:

Required Reading: Dorothy Ray Healey and Maurice Isserman, California Red: A Life in the Communist Party.

Tuesday, February 15:

Required Reading: 1) Kate Weigand, Red Feminism: American Communism and the Making of Women's Liberation.
2) Daniel Horowitz, "Rethinking Betty Friedan and The Feminine Mystique: Labor Union Radicalism and Feminism in Cold War America," American Quarterly 48:1 (March 1996): 1-42. Available through SUNYA University Library on-line journal access.
3) Gerald Zahavi, "Passionate Commitments: Race, Sex, and Communism at Schenectady General Electric, 1932-1954." The Journal of American History, 83 (Sept. 1996): 514-48. Available through SUNYA University Library on-line journal access.

Recommended Listening:

"Betty Friedan and the Making of The Feminine Mystique." Smith College professor Daniel Horowitz is interviewed forTalking History by Lisa Kannenberg of the College of St. Rose, about his recent book, Betty Friedan and the Making of The Feminine Mystique. Kannenberg and Horowitz explore the personal, political, and intellectual origins of Betty Friedan's feminist ideas. Friedan is the author of The Feminist Mystique, the 1963 book that explored the roots of the discontent of housewives�"the problem that has no name"�and in the process helped launch modern feminism. The Feminine Mystique, along with the organization Friedan co-founded, the National Organization for Women (NOW), radically changed every sphere of modern American public and private life�from politics, to family dynamics, to daycare. Horowitz challenges the notion that feminism emerged in the 1960s without any connection to prior organized attempts to improve women's political, social, and economic status. Contrary to the concept of a "sharp historical break between 1960s feminism and what went on before," Horowitz asserts that Friedan and other feminists, "were quite aware of women's issues and women's movements in the period before the 1960s." His book argues that part of modern feminism's origins are to be found in left-wing labor union culture and activism in the 1940s and 1950s. Daniel Horowitz is Sylvia Dlugasch Bauman Professor of American Studies and director of the American studies program at Smith College.
Recorded and edited by Gerald Zahavi at the University at Albany studios of Talking History. Aired December 9, 1999.

Real Media:
(Part 1) Daniel Horowitz on Betty Friedan [16 Kbps]
(Part 1) Daniel Horowitz on Betty Friedan [40 Kbps]
(Part 2) Daniel Horowitz on Betty Friedan [16 Kbps]
(Part 2) Daniel Horowitz on Betty Friedan [40 Kbps]

Tuesday, February 22: NO CLASS

Tuesday, March 1:

Required Reading: 1) Paul Mishler, Raising Reds: The Young Pioneers, Radical Summer Camps, and Communist Political Culture in the United States. 2) "Who's Going to Dance With Somebody Who Calls You a Mainstreeter": Communism, Culture, and Community in Sheridan County, Montana, 1918-1934" The Great Plains Quarterly, 16 (Fall/Winter 1996): 251-286. Electronic Reserve.

Tuesday, March 8:

Required Reading: Mark Naison, Communists in Harlem During the Great Depression.

Recommended Reading: Mark Solomon, The Cry Was Unity: Communists and African Americans, 1917-36 (Univ Pr. of Mississippi, 1998).

Recommended Listening:

1) Interview with Mark Naison
Part 1: Real Media | MP3 / Part 2: Real Media | MP3
Mark Naison is Professor of African and African-American Studies and Director of the Urban Studies Program at Fordham University. He is the author of White Boy: A Memoir (Temple University Press, 2002), Communists in Harlem During the Depression (University of Illinois Press, 1983), co-author of The Tenant Movement in New York City, 1940-1984 (Rutgers University Press, 1986), and the author of several articles on African-American culture and contemporary urban issues, including "Outlaw Culture in Black Culture" (Reconstruction, Fall 1994). Naison's study of Buffalo's African-American community appeared in the Urban League's anthology, African-Americans and the Rise of Buffalo's Post-Industrial City (1990) and he was one of the historians asked to contribute his story to Historians and Race: Autobiography and the Writing of History (1996). He is now working on a major study of the history of African-Americans in the Bronx, in collaboration with the Bronx Historical Society. For much of his life, race has been a major concern for Naison both academically and personally. In this interview conducted by Gerald Zahavi, which was first broadcast on Talking History, Naison reviews his life and career as a specialist in African American history -- and his participation in some of the most significant social and political movements in recent American history: the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-War Movement, SDS, and the Weathermen. This interview was originally conducted for the Journal for MultiMedia History and will appear in the next issue of that on-line journal.

2) Talk by Mark Solomon, author of The Cry Was Unity : Communists and African Americans, 1917-36. Broadcast on February 18, 1999 on Talking History. In this recorded talk, historian Mark Solomon speaks about his book, what led him to write it, and about the evolving relationship between the CPUSA and African Americans in the inter-war years. Taped at the Deerfield Progressive Forum, Deerfield Beach, Florida. Produced at the Talking History studio at the University at Albany ~ SUNY by Gerald Zahavi. 58:48 minutes.
Real Media: 16 Kbps | 40 Kbps | 80 Kbps.

Tuesday, March 15:

Required Reading: Maurice Isserman, The American Communist Party During the Second World War.

Tuesday, March 22: NO CLASS

Tuesday, March 29:

Required Reading: Daniel Aaron, Writers on the Left: Episodes in American Literary Communism.

Tuesday, April 5:

Required Reading: Alan M. Wald, The New York Intellectuals: The Rise and Decline of the Anti-Stalinist Left From the 1930s to the 1980s.

Tuesday, April 12:

Required Reading: Ellen Schrecker, Many are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America.

Tuesday, April 19:

Required Reading: 1) John E. Haynes, Red Scare or Red Menace? American Communism and Anticommunism in the Cold War Era. 2) On-line essay by John Earl Haynes, Reflections on Ellen Schrecker and Maurice Isserman's essay, "The Right's Cold War Revision." <http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page47.html>

Tuesday, April 26:

Required Reading: Cyndy Hendershot, Anti-Communism and Popular Culture in Mid-Century America.

Tuesday, May 3:

Required Reading: Jeff Woods, Black Struggle Red Scare: Segregation and Anti-Communism in the South, 1948-1968.