The Encyclopedia of Chicago: Communist Party

Chicago Historical Society ^ | by Randi Storch

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The American Communist Party was born in Chicago in 1919 and headquartered there until 1927, when its headquarters and newspaper, the Daily Worker, moved to New York.

In the 1930s, the Communist Party in Chicago reached its largest audience through organizing the unemployed and protesting evictions and cuts in relief. Black Belt organizers recruited protesters at Washington Park, while Communists in Back of the Yards built alliances with community activists like Roman Catholic bishop Bernard Sheil and Saul Alinsky.

During the Popular Front of the late 1930s, Communism's popularity increased among artists, writers, and intellectuals. By the end of the decade, the party claimed approximately 3,000 members, exercised influence in cultural organizations, and published its own newspaper, the MidWest Daily Record.

In 1956 numbers and influence decreased further as Khrushchev denounced Stalin and the Soviet Union suppressed the Hungarian Revolution. After the 1989 disintegration of the Soviet Union, prominent party members split off and formed the Committees of Correspondence, which had its founding meeting in 1994 in Chicago. A small Chicago Communist Party remained at the close of the twentieth century.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

[elpadre]

I understand that Long Island was a hot bed for Communism during and after WWII.

[Hotlanta Mike]

[DJ Taylor]

I find it interesting that this “Encyclopedia” made no mention of the 1968 Democrat Convention in Chicago when the Communist Party took control of the Democrat Party and has controlled the Democrats ever since.

[KeyLargo]