Swarthout’s Reviews > Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression > Status Update

"Nearly all black rank-and-file Party members attended church regularly, and in Montgomery black Communists initiated the ironic (and short-lived) practice of opening their meetings with a prayer."

"“We Shall Not Be Moved” and the ever popular “Give Me That Old Time Religion” were stock musical forms used to create new Party songs. In the latter, the verse was changed to “Give Me That Old Communist Spirit,” and Party members closed out each stanza with “It was good enough for Lenin, and it's good enough for me.”

"Union locals often cloaked their intentions by holding Bible meetings, and some secretaries recorded the minutes by underlining pertinent words or phrases in the Bible."