Communist Party USA

The Communist Party USA is a U.S. political party founded in 1919 that has organized for communist political change through elections, labor activism, and political education.

Russian Revolution: The 1917 revolutions that overthrew the Russian monarchy and brought the Bolsheviks to power. The Bolshevik victory inspired U.S. radicals who formed the party.
Trade union: An organization formed by workers to represent their shared interests in employment. The party built influence by organizing workers and supporting union struggles.
William Z. Foster: A U.S. labor organizer and Communist Party leader who led the party for much of the mid-twentieth century. Foster connected the party's leadership to union organizing and industrial labor.
Smith Act: A 1940 U.S. federal law that criminalized advocating the violent overthrow of the government. Prosecutions under the act targeted CPUSA leaders and tested limits on political speech.
Social democracy: A political tradition seeking social equality through democratic institutions and gradual reform. It generally pursues reform within capitalism rather than the CPUSA's communist transformation.
Socialist Party of America: A U.S. socialist political party founded in 1901 and dissolved in 1972. Factional conflict inside this party helped produce the CPUSA's founding.
Popular Front: A political strategy that unites communist and noncommunist groups against fascism or another shared threat. The party used this strategy to broaden alliances during the 1930s.
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: A U.S. labor organizer and civil liberties activist who became a prominent CPUSA leader. Flynn brought decades of labor activism into the party's leadership.
McCarthyism: A period of U.S. anti-communist investigations and public accusations, especially during the early 1950s. Anti-communist campaigns intensified pressure on party members and institutions.
Democratic socialism: A political tradition seeking socialism through democratic participation and political freedoms. Its democratic route to socialism differs from the CPUSA's Marxist-Leninist heritage.

Linked from 12 pages