Historical/Biographical Note
Sam Adams Darcy (1905-), born Samuel Dardeck in the Ukraine of Jewish background was a leading official of the CPUSA for some twenty years (1925-44), and also held a number of important positions in the Communist International. Darcy was an effective organizer, talented public speaker and a prolific and vivid writer with a flair for dramatization. From 1925-27 he was head of the Party's youth organization, the Young Workers League. Along with William Z. Foster, his friend and ally in intra-party struggle against CP head Earl Browder, he organized in New York City in March 1930 the first mass unemployed demonstration.
From 1931-36 Darcy headed the second largest Party district, California, where he personally participated in the organizing of agricultural workers and the related successful struggle against California's criminal syndicalism law. As head of the California Party organization, he also played a leading role in the longshore and San Francisco general strike of 1934. That year Darcy was the Party's gubernatorial candidate, after unsuccessfully arguing within the party's central committee for a united front with Upton Sinclair's EPIC (End Poverty in California) movement.
Darcy's visibility in California was a factor in his becoming one of several Party leaders who faced legal action after the Russo-German treaty of 1939 placed the CPUSA in sharp opposition to American foreign policy. In September 1940 Darcy was indicted on charges of perjury for allegedly having incorrectly stated his name and birthplace in registering to vote in California in 1934, and spent six weeks in jail, until September 1941.
From 1939-44 Darcy led the Party's fourth largest district, Eastern Pennsylvania, and was heavily involved in electoral work, notably the Party's campaign to defeat the 1943 Democratic nominee for mayor of Philadelphia, William C. Bullitt. Darcy's continuing interest in educational work was reflected in his role as leader of the New York Workers School in 1930, CP National Education Director (1938), and in numerous lectures given at Party run workers schools in New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Darcy also maintained friendships and correspondence with a number of important non-communist progressives, including author Lincoln Steffens, songwriter Yip Harburg and Otto Nathan, executor of the estate of Albert Einstein.
In 1927-28 and again in 1935-38 Darcy worked in Moscow for the Communist International, serving during his second trip as head of its Anglo-American secretariat, after attending the 7th congress of the CI as a delegate from the US. On both occasions Darcy met with Stalin.
In early 1944 Darcy and Foster stood alone among the Party leadership in opposition to Browder's estimation of the prospects for post-war American-Soviet harmony. While Foster retreated in the face of overwhelming opposition, Darcy resigned his party offices in protest and shortly thereafter was expelled from the CPUSA by the vote of a commission which his friend Foster was required to chair. Although politically vindicated a year later when Browder was removed from the Party leadership, Darcy did not rejoin the party. Among the factors for this were his belief that the repudiation of Browder's policies was incomplete, and a request by the new leader, Eugene Dennis, to examine a manuscript Darcy had been working on since his expulsion. Darcy for a time maintained some contacts with other "left-wing" expellees, such as William Dunne and Charles Keith. He later became a successful furniture merchant and became active in the Democratic party.
Chonology
1917: Joins Young Peoples Socialist League (YPSL)
1921: Joins Workers Party (later Communist Party), December, 1921
1925-27: Head, Young Workers League (later Young Communist League); on CPUSA Politburo as YWL representative
1926: Marries Emma Blechschmidt
1927-28: On exec. committee, Young Communist International; Moscow, chair International Childrens Committee (YCI); travels to China and Philippines
1929-30: New York City; briefly editor of the Daily Worker, head NY Workers school
1930: Head; International Labor Defense
1931-36: Head; California district, CPUSA (also included Nevada and Arizona)
1935-38: Moscow; 7th congress Communist International, head, Anglo-American Secretariat
1938: CPUSA National Edcuation Director; Central Committee representative for Minnesota-Wisconsin-Dakotas district
1938-39: Demoted form full Central Committee member to alternate
1929-44: Eastern Pennsylvania district head
1944: Expelled from CPUSA
1945: Declines to rejoin CPUSA
Sources:
''Agricultural strikes,'' Party Organizer, Aug-Sep (1933), 82-83.
''The big stick in Latin America - its size and cost,'' Workers Monthly, March (1926), 215-218.
The Battle for Production (New York, Workers Library Publishers, 1942), 47 pp.
The Challenge of Youth; Why Every Young Worker Should Join the Young Workers Communist League (Chicago, Ill., Young Workers Communist League of America, 1926), 52 p.
''The elections in Philadelphia,'' The Communist, December (1943), 1121-1132.
An Eye_Witness at the Wreckers' Trial (New York : Workers Library Publishers, 1937), 63 p.
''The Great West Coast Maritime Strike,'' The Communist, 13:7 (1934), 664-686.
Introduction to Politics. Part 1, A Critique of American Capitalism, assisted by Ernest Pendrell. (Philadelphia, Pa. : Philadelphia Workers School and School of Social Science, 1940), 174, [1] leaves.
''Join the army-,'' Workers Monthly, May (1926), 315-318.
''Native daughter-Communist Party founder and leader,'' Communist, Oct (1942), 849-856. Anita Whitney.
''The San Francisco Bay Area General Strike,'' The Communist, 13:10 (1934), 985-1004.
Late Afternoon for the Nation_State; A Study of the Origins, Growth, Present Position and Possible Future of the Nation_State as a Form of Social Organization (New York, Cromwell Books, 1972), 408 p.
''What's Happening in the U.S.S.R? (New York, Workers Library Publishers, 1937), 15 pp.
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Scope and Content Note
The Papers contain correspondence, writings (unpublished and published), CPUSA internal documents, clippings, ephemera, and an oral history transcript. Best documented are Darcy's educational, electoral and labor activity, and intra-Party relationships and struggles. The principal correspondents, in addition to William F. Dunne and William Z. Foster are: Israel Amter, Roger Baldwin, Max Bedacht, Cedric Belfrage, Earl Browder, Eugene Dennis, Leo Gallagher, Yip Harburg, Roy Hudson, Robert Minor, Tom Mooney, Otto Nathan, Scott Nearing, Mike Quinn, Nat Ross, William Schneiderman, Jack Stachel, Lincoln Steffens, Peter Steffens, and Ella Winter (widow of Lincoln Steffens). Series descriptions follow.
Series l. Communist Party material, 1937-1946, contains reports and speeches by Darcy to state and national CPUSA meetings. Subjects best documented are Party education and Pennsylvania electoral politics. Also contains various memos, reports, resolutions and ephemeral publications of state and national Party organizations.
Series 2. Expulsion from CPUSA. 1944-1945, contains excerpts from Darcy's criticism of Earl Browder at Politburo meeting, February 8, 1944, and correspondence relating to Darcy's expulsion and possible readmission.
Series 3. Correspondence. 1929-1985. Especially rich documentation is to be found in Darcy's correspondence with the national Party leadership (subseries A), and with William Z. Foster (see subseries B). This series is divided into six subseries. They are: A. National Office. 1930-1943; B. Individual correspondents. 1929-1983; C. Darcy jail correspondence with defense organizations, 1941; D. CPUSA years (alphabetical). 1931-1944; E. CPUSA years (chronological- names not known). 1929-1945; F. Post-CPUSA years (alphabetical). 1950-1985.
Series 4. Political Activities. 1924-1958 (arranged chronologically). Contains numerous articles, lectures and speeches by Darcy, files on various events, subjects and activities, and memorabilia. Among Darcy's extensive interests those best documented by his writings are military strategy, non-Party leftist tendencies, and in addition, his trade union, electoral and educational activities, which are well documented by the series taken as a whole.
Series 5. Trials. 1932-1941. Contains Darcy's notes on his defense, jail notes, defense committee materials, testimony, and clippings pertaining to Darcy's criminal syndicalism and perjury trials, and to a 1932 criminal syndicalism trial at which Darcy appeared as a defense witness.
Series 6. Biographical and other manuscripts. 1945?-1971. Contains "The Storm Must Be Ridden" (unpublished book-length political-autobiographical typescript, incomplete, c1945); oral history interview transcripts and notes, 1969-71; "Tales of Three Worlds" (unpublished book-length political-autobiographical typescript, c1960-63); a play and poetry; miscellaneous post-1945 notes.
Series 7. Additional Correspondence. Principally with students, professors, and others researching the history of American communism and related topics. Principal and/or prominent correspondents include Jim Barrett (re William Z. Foster) and Harry Stein (re Lincoln Steffens).
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Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
The William Francis Dunne Papers, TAM 145
The Cedric Belfrage Papers, TAM 143
The Sam Adams Darcy Photograph Collection (Nonprint 35)
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There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.
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Access Restrictions
Open for research without restrictions.
Use Restrictions
There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2630
Fax: (212) 995-4225
E-mail: gail.malmgreen@nyu.edu
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Administrative Information
Provenance
Gift of Sam Darcy, 1985.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known);The Sam Adams Darcy Papers; Tamiment 124; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
Container List
[The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.]
Return to the Top of Page| Series II. Expulsion from CPUSA. 1944-1945. |
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| Box | Folder | Title | Date |
| 1 | 9 | SAD at 2/8/44 Politburo meeting | 1944 |
| 1 | 10 | Expulsion | 1944-1945 |
| 1 | 11 | Readmission | 1945 |
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