The Communist International and U.S. Communism, 1919–1929

Historical Materialism #82

by Jacob A. Zumoff

The Communist Party of the United States of America was founded amid the wave of international revolutionary struggles inspired by the Russian Revolution, with the express goal of leading US workers in the struggle against capitalism. Despite these intentions, the first years of its existence were plagued by sectarianism, infighting, and an obsession over the need for an underground organization. It was only through the intervention of the Communist International (Comintern) that the party was pushed to “Americanize,” come out from “the underground,” and focus on the struggles for Black liberation. This unique contribution documents the positive contribution of the Comintern in its early revolutionary years and its decline under Stalin.

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Shaun Richman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author uses the Comintern archives to add context and analysis to Draper's classic narratives of the era. For the first few chapters, his book does not seem to have much to add, other than context from biographies of Cannon and Pepper that have been published in the interim. But that's mostly because the Comintern files were fairly scanty until 1924. The back half f the book is a solid contribution to the literature.