| Abstract: |
The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is a Marxist-Leninist
political organization that was founded in Chicago in 1919. The CPUSA played a pivotal
role in many significant political and social movements of the 20th century. Its Party
platform focused largely on working class issues such as fair wages and unemployment,
civil rights for racial and ethnic minorities, civil liberties for politically persecuted
communities, economic justice for the poor, the unemployed and for immigrants, and
international peace efforts. The Party's work left an indelible mark in the arena
of progressive politics and made it an influential force in the labor movement, particularly
from the 1920s to the 1940s. Its varied political, social, and cultural initiatives
attracted the support of a number of prominent artists, intellectuals, and activists,
including Woody Guthrie, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Angela Davis.
Though the CPUSA's strength and size declined sharply following World War II and the
advent of the Cold War and McCarthyism, it remains committed to socialism, peace,
economic and social justice, and civil rights and liberties. The records of the Communist
Party, USA provide vivid documentation of the organization's trajectory from its birth
in 1919 to the early 2000s. The collection includes a diverse mix of correspondence,
convention and conference materials, essays and manuscripts, internal discussion documents,
reports, speech transcripts, research files, printed ephemera, clippings, legal documents,
photographs, posters, audio tapes, films, videos, and a wealth of personal papers.
Though materials from as early as 1892 can be found in the collection, the bulk of
the records were created between 1950 and 1990. A more comprehensive record of the
CPUSA's early 20th century activity can be found in the Files of the Communist Party of the USA in the Comintern Archives, 1919-1943 (Microfilm R-7548).
|
| Quantity: |
480.5 Linear Feet in 420 record cartons, 38 oversize flat boxes, 1 large custom box, 3 shoe boxes, 3
artifact boxes, 6 CD boxes, 4 manuscript boxes, 1 half manuscript box, 15 oversize
folders, 23 flat file folders, and 2 oversize rolls.
|
