The article focuses on history of Communist Party USA which playing historically documented roles in labor, peace, civil rights, education, housing, and other progressive movements the Party weathered the storms of Soviet and socialist crises. It mentions how problems in socialist countries impacted debates in the Party about all manner of subjects, including internal democracy and African–American oppression. It also mentions racism for centrality of African–American.
The Communist Party USA's reputation for being in the forefront of the fight against African American oppression was forged in the 1930s as the result of the adoption of the Communist International's position that African Americans were an oppressed nationality. According to Marxist-Leninist doctrine, this entitled African Americans to the right to self-determination in that area of the country where they were a majority (the Black Belt South) and equal social and political rights throughout the country. The organizational internalization of this position was accomplished through numerous articles in the Party's press, which were used as educational tools for the membership. The most sustained organizing work in the South occurred in Alabama with the organizing of the Share Croppers Union (SCU). A study of the Party and the SCU in Alabama during the 1930s helps demonstrate the significance of the self-determination position and its importance in shaping the work of the Party among African Americans.
"In a 1931 article in the Daily Worker, NAACP leader Walter White proclaimed that African American women who joined the ranks of the Communist Party (CP) were "ignorant and uncouth victims who were being led to the slaughter by dangerously bold radicals." (abstract unavailable)
