Red Chicago: American Communism at Its Grassroots, 1928-35 Contributor(s): Storch, Randi (Author) |
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ISBN: 0252076389 ISBN-13: 9780252076381 Publisher: University of Illinois Press OUR PRICE: $27.72 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: December 2008 Annotation: Realities of the street-level American Communist experience during the worst years of the Depression |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - History | United States - State & Local - Midwest(ia,il,in,ks,mi,mn,mo,nd,ne,oh,sd,wi - Political Science | Political Ideologies - Communism, Post-communism & Socialism - History | United States - 20th Century |
Dewey: 331.886 |
Series: Working Class in American History (Paperback) |
Physical Information: 1.1" H x 6" W x 9.1" (1.20 lbs) 320 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - 20th Century - Chronological Period - 1930's - Chronological Period - 1920's - Geographic Orientation - Illinois - Cultural Region - Midwest - Cultural Region - Upper Midwest - Locality - Chicago, Illinois |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Red Chicago is a social history of American Communism set within the context of Chicago's neighborhoods, industries, and radical traditions. Using local party records, oral histories, union records, party newspapers, and government documents, Randi Storch fills the gap between Leninist principles and the day-to-day activities of Chicago's rank-and-file Communists. Uncovering rich new evidence from Moscow's former party archive, Storch argues that although the American Communist Party was an international organization strongly influenced by the Soviet Union, at the city level it was a more vibrant and flexible organization responsible to local needs and concerns. Thus, while working for a better welfare system, fairer unions, and racial equality, Chicago's Communists created a movement that at times departed from international party leaders' intentions. By focusing on the experience of Chicago's Communists, who included a large working-class, African American, and ethnic population, this study reexamines party members' actions as an integral part of the communities and industries in which they lived and worked. |