California Red: A Life in the American Communist Party

by Dorothy Ray Healey, Maurice Isserman

Dorothy Ray Healey joined the Communist party at age fourteen, in 1928, and was leader of the Los Angeles district--the second largest in the country--for over twenty years. As a strike leader, opponent of McCarthyism, Vietnam war protestor, candidate for public office, and mentor to Angela Davis, she won fame as "a tough lady red," one of the few women to rise to Communist party leadership.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Politics, Cultural, Biography Memoir, The United States Of America

263 pages, Paperback

First published July 12, 1990

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This year, the candidacy of Bernie Sanders has me thinking about democratic socialism and the role of elections in radical change. Specifically, should anti-imperialists try to work with the Democratic Party or within a third party such as the Green Party?

Dorothy Healey spent 40 years in the Communist Party, then in New American Movement and Democratic Socialists of America. Overwhelmingly, she has been a person who has tried to work within the Democratic Party.

This is an interesting book, which I am glad I read. She seems to have been an excellent organizer, a passionate and compassionate radical devoted to socialism. I would be the last to criticize her for staying in the Communist Party too long.

Ultimately, Healey does not have a strategy for revolutionary change in the US. I don't begrudge her for that, I haven't seen a compelling strategy. However, I do think her strategy of working within the Democratic Party has been tried, and found not to work.

[Ilene Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone interested in the history of the Americian Left in the 20th century MUST read this extremely informative and entertaining book. I got to know this amazing woman when I was a student at UCLA in the mid 1960s. As I read the book I can still hear Dorothy's voice. It's as if she's talking directly to each member of her audience. That's how she always waas. A dedicated Communist who was always refreshingly critical of the Party and the movement in general, she captures the essence of an entire century of struggle. She was a true revolutionary who never forgot that she was a human being first. Read this book

[Jacob Woocher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Legend.

[Pete Dolack · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most interesting memoir, and one that should be read by anyone interested in the Left movements of the 20th century in the United States. Dorothy Healey tells what it was like to organize in often deeply hostile conditions, with local elites, often assisted by local newspapers' vituperation, all too willing to use violence, sometimes deadly violence, to stop organizing. ANd then face political trials under heavy government repression.

Much of the book can be taken as a series of lessons on how to organize in difficult circumstances, but the book is far more than that — the author had a reputation as an inspiring speaker and that shines through as most of the material is based on a series of oral interviews. The co-author's contribution of frequently adding quotes from fellow activists and family members, augmented by quotations from a bitterly hostile press, was a gamble that paid off. These additions add to the story.

Also interesting is how Dorothy Healey evolved as a thinker. Not that she never was a serious thinker, but as the decades went by she slowly moved from an uncritical acceptance of pronouncements handed down to strongly questioning the Communist Party USA's rigid dogma. Criticism of the party's hard line on the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia would lead to her final break after 45 years, but she had been critical of the party's dogmatism for years prior.

People like party leader Gus Hall had long stopped thinking; instead they were content with being the most zealous defender of whatever line came from Moscow no matter how vulgar and outside reality. The refusal to act independently, to reduce Marxism to a set of formulae and an unyielding sectarianism compounded the harsh government repression aimed at the party. People still capable of thinking found it too difficult to remain in the party, and Healey was one of many who left.

She never became an anti-communist or gave up her principles. She remained active after leaving the party and ends the book on an optimistic note that resonates with us today:

"And while the revolution is certainly not coming around the corner, I think there will come a time in the not so distant future when the "S-word"—socialism—will again be discussed and debated and attract a new generation around its banners."

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave up reading this in 2019 but it was actually a re-read for me: I read this in grad school circa 2007. I remember liking it back then but I could not get into it this time around. A bit dense and hard to get into with much enthusiasm, but Dorothy’s personality does come through strong enough to give it an extra star.

[James Foreman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this read and I would certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the American left in the 20th century. Despite it's age, there are a number of relevant lessons worth learning for anyone working to organize on the left within this book.

[sdw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the life story of the “Queen of Red” – Dorothy Healey. I found it humorous, realistic, and inspiring. You don’t have to agree with all of Dorothy Healey’s political perspectives to appreciate and enjoy her textured analysis of the 20th Century American Left.

Healey was a red diaper baby who joined the Communist Party at age 14 in 1928. By World War II she as one of the foremost communist organizers in California, and she spent significant time organizing agricultural strikes (how I justify reading this as dissertation work). She was tried under the Smith Act and rose in the ranks of the American CP. She was devastated by what she learned during the de-Stalinization crisis and battled for her vision within the party for the next two decades.

Maurice Isserman put together this story of Healey’s life, largely by editing a series of oral histories. Interspersed are blocks of text from newspapers and FBI files and quotes from friends. These provide a greater context for Healey’s story and demonstrate the variety of perspectives on a single event. I learned a lot about the left from reading this book.

I thought Healey’s repeated discussions of informants and snitching would be really applicable to the current green scare. And I loved what she had to say about Jonathan Jackson’s case. [Remember how Angela Davis got arrested because someone starting shooting in a courthouse with a gun she owned. That was him…]

“When I talked about the events in San Rafael at public meetings, I would always compare what Jonathon did to the actions of the McNamara brothers in 1910. J.B. and J.J. McNamara were AFL organizers who dynamited the Los Angeles Times building in the midst of a bitter labor dispute. The blast killed twenty-one people, and the McNamaras were the subject of near universal condemnation, from employers as well as many of their fellow unionists. But Eugene Debs had come to their defense, even though he was appalled by the bombing. Debs argued that it was the violence and repression unleashed by the ruling class in the “open shop” drive in Los Angeles that had driven the McNamaras to their desperate act. I thought that Communists could do no less for Jonathon Jackson than Debs had done for the McNamaras; we had to make it clear that we didn’t think that was the way to go, but we should not disassociate ourselves from the motives that had led him into the courtroom that day in 1970” (217).

Oh! And Healey’s son Richard went to Reed in the 1960s. Here’s what he has to say:

“Reed was one of the earliest schools to have a hippie influence, and already by 1960 there were beards and sandals. I became active immediately in the demonstrations supporting the British antibomb marches, all-night vigils for peace. I remember arguing that men had to shave, women had to wear dresses, their hair had to be up, we had to look respectable to appeal to a broad constituency. The photographers from the local paper, The Oregonian, would always run pictures of a demonstrator with a beard, with a caption like “Fuzzy face, fuzzy mind.” What I called my “mass approach in clothing” was something that came out of the Old Left. Even during the height of the sixties I was never a cultural eccentric. It was too deeply ingrained in me, you want to look like other people, don’t do things that make your politics harder to get across. Finally about ’65 we managed to get a march in which everybody looked impeccable, and the Oregonian ran an editorial saying that these Reed College kids spend so much time worrying about their clothes that they obviously aren’t serious about their politics. – Richard Healy” (187).

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

While interesting as recollection of events; it is limited as a memoir by its almost complete lack of reflection.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fearless view of her life as a Communist Party member and her decision to leave the party in the 60's.