
Communists and Community
Activism in Detroit's Labor Movement, 1941-1956
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
Communists and Community seeks to reframe the traditional chronology of the Communist Party in the United States as a means to better understand the change that occurred in community activism in the mid-twentieth century. Ryan Pettengill argues that Popular Front activism continued to flourish throughout the war years and into the postwar period. In Detroit, where there was a critical mass of heavy industry, Communist Party activists mobilized support for civil rights and affordable housing, brought attention to police brutality, sought protection for the foreign-born, and led a movement for world peace.
Communists and Community demonstrates that the Communist Party created a social space where activists became effective advocates for the socioeconomic betterment of a multiracial work force. Pettengill uses Detroit as a case study to examine how communist activists and their sympathizers maintained a community to enhance the quality of life for the city's working class. He investigates the long-term effects of organized labor's decision to force communists out of the unions and abandon community-based activism. Communists and Community recounts how leftists helped workers, people of color, and other under-represented groups became part of the mainstream citizenry in America.
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Information
Table of contents
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. Popular Front Activism and the Communist Cooperative
- 2. World War, a Community Crisis, and the Communist Cooperative
- 3. The Roots of Postwar Anticommunism, 1944–1945
- 4. Community Activism and the Emergence of Postwar Detroit, 1945–1949
- 5. Anticommunism and the Transition of Labor Activism, 1945–1949
- 6. Community Activism in the Age of McCarthy, 1950–1956
- 7. Anticommunism, Local Politics, and the Demise of Community Activism
- Conclusion: Community Activism and the Labor Movement
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index