What unions affiliated with the communist party?

Answer 1

While the term "communist" is very loaded in the United States, and is often used as an insult when political conservatives want to express disapproval of policies they believe are too left-wing, there is little credible evidence of communist influence in the United States today, and there are no labor unions which are affiliated with the Communist Party.

But there was a time when the Communist Party made a serious effort to become involved with unions. A good example is during the Great Depression, when a number of communists organized and took a strong stand for workers' rights; they also fought against racism and spoke out against the excessive control that a small number of conglomerates had on the economy. There is still considerable disagreement among historians about how much actual influence these communists had within the unions, but there definitely were some activists in several of the trade unions who were affiliated with the communist movement and who assumed leadership roles. Similarly, there were accusations in a few conservative newspapers of the 1930s that communists had infiltrated some of the teachers' unions of that time, although again, it is difficult to know to what degree this actually occurred, as opposed to how much of the press coverage was motivated by politics.

The American version of the communist movement tried to present itself as somewhat autonomous, not always in lockstep with the Soviet Union. It appealed to members of the extreme political left, but it also appealed to people who were concerned with improving the conditions and pay of workers, or who wanted to fight for obtaining equal treatment under the law for black people. The leaders of the American Communist Party presented a public image as a group that fought tirelessly for the working class; when they gave radio speeches or were interviewed by the press, they stressed that their focus was on defeating the greedy corporations and securing more rights for workers, whether mine-workers, farmers, or factory-workers.

Historians have found solid evidence that some party members did in fact believe the Soviet Union was a utopia and wanted to bring that system to the USA, and some may indeed have spied on Americans for the Soviets. But not all American communists shared those views. And the communists who became involved in union organizing seemed sincerely motivated by a desire to elevate the workers.

That said, whether their motives were good or whether they were devious, the Communist Party never had a large number of followers, even during the worst years of the Depression. There were people who appreciated their efforts in union organizing or defending workers' rights, but that did not translate to overtly supporting communist policies or voting for communist candidates. A good example is when the party's leader, Earl Browder, ran for president in 1936: he only received about 79,000 votes nationwide, whereas perennial Socialist candidate Norman Thomas received over 187,000; both badly trailed the winner, President Roosevelt, who got nearly 28 million votes. And to this day, while a Communist Party does still exist in the United States, it has little if any influence politically, and few Americans could name its current leaders.