Communist Front?: The Civil Rights Congress, 1946-1956

by Gerald Horne

Communist Front? The Civil Rights Congress, 1946-1956 provides an essential analysis of one of the most important but understudied organizations of the twentieth century. This pivotal formation tirelessly advocated for the rights of Blacks, Communists, and other oppressed and marginalized groups; brought national attention to some of the most egregious frame-ups and miscarriages of justice, from Rosa Lee Ingram to Willie McGee; and helped to internationalize the struggle for Black liberation with the We Charge Genocide petition. It is no wonder, then, that as the Cold War heated up and anticommunist repression reached a fever pitch, the CRC came under constant government surveillance and attack that ultimately led to its untimely demise in 1956.

Genres: History

454 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 1988

About the author

Dr. Gerald Horne is an eminent historian who is Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. An author of more than thirty books and one hundred scholarly articles and reviews, his research has addressed issues of racism in a variety of relations involving labor, politics, civil rights, international relations, war and the film industry.

Reviews

[Andrew Basta · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a quite well researched book about the Civil Rights Congress which remains quite absent organization in terms of the history of the Communist Party and the left as well as the analysis of precursors to the civil rights movement. Horne does a wonderful job covering the minutiae of organization and organizing at the individual and local level while also able to show the intensity and stakes of the project. Sadly, the book suffers from its poor format and repetitiveness. The book begins organized chronologically then moves to a regional organization without a real shift in content so Horne tends to tell the same examples and stories twice. I ended up just skimming the last few chapters. Ultimately, a quite informative book that I'd recommend reading the first 2/3 of.

[Jacob Woocher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had to upgrade this to five stars upon re-reading. Gerald Horne's work in producing this book and providing so much detail on an organization that deserves to be one of the most celebrated in this country's history is heroic. There is so little written about communist lawyering, if there is such a thing. This is the book to read for radical lawyers. Much better than the overwhelmingly liberal scholarship on 'movement lawyering' and such.

***

Both of the following can be true: Gerald Horne is a brilliant and once-in-a-generation historian, and sometimes he needs an editor to pare down his writing. The first half of this book is great. Communists fought harder against Jim Crow and for racial equality than anyone else. And certainly nobody teaches you in law school or elsewhere that communists basically invented / perfected movement lawyering. The second half of the book was a bit of a slog with way too many details lol.