The Roots of American Communism

Communism in American Life

by Theodore Draper

In this definitive history of the evolution of the Communist Party in America - from its early background through its founding in 1919 to its emergence as a legal entity in the 1920s - Theodore Draper traces the native and foreign strains that comprised the party. He emphasizes its shifting policies and secrets as well as its open activities. He makes clear how the party in its infancy "was transformed from a new expression of American radicalism to the American appendage of a Russian revolutionary power," a fact that Draper develops in his succeeding volume, American Communism and Soviet Russia.

Genres: History, Politics, The United States Of America, American, Nonfiction, Classics, American History

498 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Theodore H. "Ted" Draper was an American historian and political writer. Draper is best known for the 14 books he completed during his life, including work regarded as seminal on the formative period of the American Communist Party, the Cuban Revolution, and the Iran-Contra Affair. Draper was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the 1990 recipient of the Herbert Feis Award for Nonacademically Affiliated Historians from the American Historical Association.

Reviews

[Moises]

James P. Cannon, a founding member of the American Communist Party and subsequently a founding member of American Trotskyism, had this to say about Theodore Draper:

"Draper belonged to that betrayed generation of rebellious college youth who faced graduation in the midst of the economic crisis of the Thirties with the prospect of no place to go.

These student rebels were different from the majority of their generation in that they were social-minded, fully committed and careless of personal consequences. These qualities of youth, which in my book are the best, propelled them toward the Communist Party, behind which they saw the image of the Soviet Union and the Russian Revolution. Mistaking Stalinism for communism, they streamed into the party and made their careers in its service [...]

Draper was one whose youth was consumed in a career as a party journalist. Such an experience could not fail to leave its mark. He writes now, not as a mere observer of the movement but as a wounded participant. For all that, if one is to judge by the scholarly objectivity and scrupulous fairness with which he now records the history of a movement to which he no longer pays allegiance, he came out of the experience with his integrity intact. In that he is exceptional, for the apparatus of Stalinism has been a devourer not only of men but also of character."

[Nathan Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat clumsily written and, given the author's lack of sympathy for the subject, not a useful political text. Nonetheless, is not entirely uncharitable and it covers an impressive amount of ground.

[Nadienne Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story which seems to be as valid today as it was over one hundred years ago. Leftists fighting leftists over whether or not to be pragmatic or revolutionary. Fighting over whether to be a broad party which appeals to all or to drill down to only the most ideologically pure. Fighting over whether to join and/or work with those parties on the liberal "left" or to case them aside because they aren't left enough.

It's a story seemingly as old as the leftist movement.

And, throw in a bit of Russian interference because everyone looked to them for guidance and all they got was dictatorial control.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up from the library for a buck at the same time that I got "In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer: Transcript of Hearing before Personnel Security Board and Texts of Principal Documents and Letters". It was this latter bk that I was most interested in given that I think it's highly interesting that the technical director of the Manhattan Project (the development of nuclear weapons in the US) wd not long after be put under scrutiny for his communist sympathies.

SO, I got "The Roots of American Communism" to read so I cd have some background history before getting into the biz about Oppenheimer - & history in great detail I did get. One of the things that interested me about this bk was that it was written & published during the beginning of the decline of the McCarthy Era. The bk is ostensibly written from an anti-communist perspective &, according to a Wikipedia bio, Draper was a communist turned anti-communist, but Draper's acct is more of a thorough timeline in wch most of the communists are often presented as dedicated, energetic, well-meaning & intelligent people.

While the bk is, indeed, extremely thorough in its history of who was who, where these whos were, what their various names were, & when they did what they did I didn't actually find much in the bk about the actual philosophy, the actual political motivations of the people involved. As such, it sortof reminds me of my mom, a virulent anti-communist who, when I asked her what communism was when I was a kid in the early 1960s, was unable to give me even the simplest definition. She was a typical brainwashed suburbanite - a total victim of propaganda she didn't believe existed.

Draper obviously has a much deeper understanding but either such definitions were outside the purview of the bk or he was treading lightly b/c of McCarthyism or? Whatever the case, the bk is scholarly & cd've arguably been used to make a case that these communists were upstanding citizens trying to better the world. He clearly has an admiration for many of them - esp the self-made intellectuals (a type dear to me).

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good with lots of information and context--reads a lot like john french's beefheart book though in the sense that the author concludes each chapter bitterly reminding the reader what a draining, self-betraying, and damaging experience his own involvement with the subject was. for both those subjects though, you need those stories for a complete picture because it seems to have been pretty common in both groups (magic band & cp)

[Juan Conatz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly informative book of the early American Communist movement. Draper has his biases, and was an anti-Communist liberal Cold Warrior, but his commitment to detail and historical accuracy can't be overlooked.