In the South race pervaded virtually every aspect of Communist activity. The result was a remarkably resilient movement forged in a racist world that had little tolerance for radicals. Kelley shows that the cultural identities of these people from Alabama’s farms, factories, mines, kitchens, and city streets shaped the development of the Party. It was composed largely of poor blacks, most of whom were semi-literate and devoutly religious, but it also attracted a handful of whites, including unemployed industrial workers, iconoclastic youth, and renegade liberals. The Alabama Communist Party was built from scratch by working people who had no Euro-American radical political tradition. Sensitive to the complexities of gender, race, culture and class without compromising the political narrative, Robin Kelley illustrates one of the most unique and least understood radical movements in American history. Hammer and Hoe documents the efforts of the Alabama Communist Party and its allies to secure racial, economic, and political reforms. Kelley about the Communist Party USA’s efforts organizing in Alabama during The Great Depression.īetween 19, the Communist Party organized and led a radical, militantly antiracist movement in Alabama - the center of Party activity in the Depression South.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |