China_Guy:
Curious as to how big and how potent the communist party was in the US in the early 1930’s. I’ve got the impression it was a lot bigger than people of the red scare or texting generation assume, but I could be wrong.
Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle and to a lesser extent The Grapes of Wrath heavily featured communists.
The CP was pretty inconsequential. Somehow, history professors, at least when I was taking history in OK in the 80s and 90s, would think to shock us by saying “The Socialist Party/CP was the largest party in Oklahoma, during the Depression/20s/Dust Bowl/etc…!” Of course, they were incorrect, but, it made them seem smarter, and could always generate a buzz. The SP wasn’t terrible, terrible, but it wasn’t strong enough to do much of anything, and the CP was exponentially smaller than that. So, in answer to your post, one could still say that ‘it *was *a lot bigger than people assume,’ but even that wouldn’t amount to much.
Best wishes,
handsomeharry:
China_Guy:
Curious as to how big and how potent the communist party was in the US in the early 1930’s. I’ve got the impression it was a lot bigger than people of the red scare or texting generation assume, but I could be wrong.
Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle and to a lesser extent The Grapes of Wrath heavily featured communists.
The CP was pretty inconsequential. Somehow, history professors, at least when I was taking history in OK in the 80s and 90s, would think to shock us by saying “The Socialist Party/CP was the largest party in Oklahoma, during the Depression/20s/Dust Bowl/etc…!” Of course, they were incorrect, but, it made them seem smarter, and could always generate a buzz. The SP wasn’t terrible, terrible, but it wasn’t strong enough to do much of anything, and the CP was exponentially smaller than that. So, in answer to your post, one could still say that ‘it *was *a lot bigger than people assume,’ but even that wouldn’t amount to much.
Best wishes,
That would be, of course, “…The SP wasn’t terribly, terribly strong …”
Best wishes,
handsomeharry:
The CP was pretty inconsequential. Somehow, history professors, at least when I was taking history in OK in the 80s and 90s, would think to shock us by saying “The Socialist Party/CP was the largest party in Oklahoma, during the Depression/20s/Dust Bowl/etc…!” Of course, they were incorrect, but, it made them seem smarter, and could always generate a buzz. The SP wasn’t terrible, terrible, but it wasn’t strong enough to do much of anything, and the CP was exponentially smaller than that. So, in answer to your post, one could still say that ‘it *was *a lot bigger than people assume,’ but even that wouldn’t amount to much.
Best wishes,
Foster got about 100,000 votes in 1932, and Norman Thomas (the Socialist Party candidate), about 700,000.