• Salaria Kea
    • Orphaned at a young age, studied to be a nurse in Harlem and becomes involved in anti-fascist movements
      • Joins the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) while there
      • Harlem Renaissance blossomed while Kea was there, emphasized Black creativity and political organization
      • CPUSA worked in Harlem against evictions and police brutality
      • Garveyism: pan-African nationalism, supported unity of all African peoples
      • CPUSA opposed Garveyism for proomoting unity between the Black proletariat and bourgeoisie, Garveyism opposed CPUSA for promoting class war between Black people
    • Especially concerned with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, one of the few independent African states
      • Organizes fundraising campaigns, speechs, etc. in support
    • Travels to Spain in order to help the Republican cause against the fascists, only Black woman to do so
    • Kea’s Travels: image
    • Spain is in a state of turmoil
      • The Popular Front (left-wing groups like communistts, socialists, etc) narrowly win elections in Spain
      • Right-wing general Francisco Franco starts a coup against the new government, starts a civil war
        • Government organizes workers to fight for them, Franco controls the military
        • Italy and Germany support Franco, Russia supports the Republican government
        • Republicans have the support of 35,000 foreign volunteers, many of them communist, and becomes a global symbol of fighting against fascism
    • Kea supports the Republican cause and travels to Spain to work on the front lines
  • Communism and Black Radicalism (in the US)
    • The African Blood Brotherhood was a black Marxist party founded by Caribbean and African-American activists, supported communism as a means to fight against racism
      • Participated in the Comintern’s 4th Congress, emphasized the interweaving of communism with anti-racism
      • Criticized the CPUSA for not addressing the racial question because they should attempt to unite black workers for more power
    • Bolshevik revolution provided minorities with cultural freedom, allowed them to have schools in their own language and practice their own traditions
  • CPUSA and the Great Depression
    • CPUSA membership grows during the depression, as the economic crisis seems to confirm capitalism as unviable
      • At that point, there are no economic safety nets like unemployment or Social Security, so many feel the effects of the crisis
    • 1931-1940 unemployment is always above 14%, peaks at 24.5% in 1933
    • Governments take a laissez faire approach and do nothing to let the markets sort themselves out
      • Breeds radicalism because moderate politicians who do nothing don’t get votes
    • Communists create solutions, such as unemployment councils to pressure the government to help and tenant associations to prevent evictions
    • Dual Unionism: The CPUSA separated from traditional trade unions and created its own more militant unions
      • Many US unions were corrupt, racially segregated, and ignored poorer workers
      • Communist unions organize the lowest paid, most exploited workers together which means that workers from racial minority groups often join
      • Extremely effective in California where a variety of migrant and seasonal workers were present
      • In Alabama, the communists organize black sharecroppers to fight against exploitation and debt bondage
    • The CPUSA begins taking the issue of racism more seriously after organizing such unions
      • CPUSA creates movements for Black people such as the Scottsboro boys
    • Believed that racism was key to dividing and weakening the US working class, thus allowing for the exploitation of racial minorities
    • NAACP and CPUSA join forces to further both causes
    • Langston Hughes creates propaganda about the benefits of communism, and many African Americans begin supporting the CPUSA
  • Kea’s Life Applied to Communism as a Whole: Three Worlds
    • Global HorizonThe struggle against fascism in Spain is akin to the struggle against racism in the US; fight against authoritarianism (and capitalism)
      • Victory for fascism in Spain appears to reinforce global racial hierarchies and authoritarian policies
    • International networks of communist movement allow Kea to travel from Harlem to Spain and back again
    • The communist life world leads Kea to marry a Irish man while in Spain