The University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Communist Party of Massachusetts

Communist Party of Massachusetts Collection

1932-1957
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 538

A branch of the Communist Party of the United States of America, the Communist Party of Massachusetts enjoyed strong popularity during the 1930s and 1940s, organizing the textile and other manufacturing industries.

This small collection is comprised of a miscellaneous assemblage of fliers, broadsides, and ephemera issued by the Communist Party of Massachusetts and its affiliates from the mid-1930s through the repression of the McCarthy era. Originating mostly from Boston, the items in the collection center on significant themes in Communist thought, including opposition to Fascism and militarism, labor solidarity against capital, and elections. A small number of items relate to Party-approved cultural productions, including plays and gatherings to celebrate Lenin or the Russian Revolution. Many items are associated with Otis A. Hood, a perpetual candidate for public office on the Communist Party ticket who became a target for McCarthy-era repression in the mid-1950s.

Background on Communist Party of Massachusetts

The Communist Party of the USA, a Marxist-Leninist political organization, was founded in 1919 by the secession of the left wing of the Socialist Party of America. Despite the intense anti-Communist repression of the post-World War I years, the party spread rapidly across the country, partly as an underground movement, drawing strength within the ranks of organized labor, immigrant communities, and from opponents of racial segregation. Although hampered by internal factional disputes, the party grew into an active presence in Massachusetts by the late 1920s, rooted especially in Boston, Cambridge, and industrialized cities from Fall River and New Bedford to Springfield.

The economic dislocations of the Depression years of the 1930s propelled the party to its peak of influence in Massachusetts. The threat of Fascism in Europe galvanized party members to set aside factional disputes in favor of forming a broad popular front with other left organizations to forge coalitions centered on labor, social justice, and civil rights causes. The success they enjoyed, however, was relatively short-lived, curtailed by widespread rejection of the party’s non-interventionist stance after the non-aggression pact between Germany and Soviet Union in August 1939. Although the party recovered somewhat after the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the formation of an American-Soviet alliance, it never again wielded the same influence, particularly after the renewal of severe governmental repression during the Cold War years and the resurgence of internal divisions.

Contents of Collection

This small collection is comprised of a miscellaneous assemblage of fliers, broadsides, and ephemera issued by the Communist Party of Massachusetts and its affiliates from the mid-1930s through the repression of the McCarthy era. Originating mostly from Boston, the items in the collection center on significant themes in Communist thought, including opposition to Fascism and militarism, labor solidarity against capital, and elections. A small number of items relate to Party-approved cultural productions, including plays and gatherings to celebrate Lenin or the Russian Revolution. Many items are associated with Otis A. Hood, a perpetual candidate for public office on the Communist Party ticket who became a target for McCarthy-era repression in the mid-1950s.

Many items in the collection were quickly printed on cheap paper and are in brittle and very fragile condition. They should be handled with great care.

Collection inventory
17th anniversary celebration of Russian revolution, by Communist Party of USA, New England District
1934
Broadside
Box 1: 1
1954 Massachusetts congressional and state elections: the Communist viewpoint
1954
Box 1: 2
American League Against War and Fascism: Extra. World war looms
1934
Broadside
Box 1: 3
Anti-Soviet conspiracy is treason to America! Communist Party of Massachusetts
1942
Flier
Box 1: 4
Bacon, Gaspar G.: Steady work – real wages. Elect Gaspar G. Bacon governor
ca.1932
Broadside
Box 1: 5
City election, Communist Party of Massachusetts
ca.1954
Flier
Box 1: 6
City Organizational Department (Roxbury, Mass.): Organizational letter [re. meeting on Negro liberation class; loyalty oaths]
ca.1949
Box 1: 7
Communist Party, Western Massachusetts Section: Letter to all AFL unions, independent unions, and unions affiliated with the TUUL, Socialist Party branches, and other working class organizations
ca.1934
Box 1: 8
Felshin, Joe: Joe Felshin letter to Frank Collier
1957 May 10
Box 1: 9
Fifteen minute broadcast, Fall River, Mass. [radio script]
1949 Aug. 21
Box 1: 10
Frankfeld, Phil: Not America’s war! Not worth an American life!
ca.1939
Box 1: 11
Hear the truth about Spain, battleground of Democracy
ca.1937
Flier
Box 1: 12
Hood, Otis A.: Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Otis Archer Hood
ca.1954
Box 1: 13
Hood, Otis A.: Facts about the Boston Public Schools, Series 1. Prepared and issued by Research Department, Otis A. Hood Campaign Committee
ca.1949
Box 1: 14
Hood, Otis A.: Freedom of speech cancelled! [transcript of radio broadcast]
ca.1950
Box 1: 15
Hood, Otis A.: School Committee, Boston, electoral ephemera
1939
2 items
Box 1: 16
Hood, Otis A.: School Committee, Boston, electoral ephemera
1949
2 items
Box 1: 17
Hood, Otis A.: State legistlature election, independent candidate, ephemera
1952
3 items
Box 1: 18
Hood, Otis A.: Statement of Otis A. Hood following news of threatened indictment for violation of 1951 anti-Communist law
ca.1954
Box 1: 19
Hood, Otis A.: Vote for victory. Otis A. Hood, Communist candidate for governor
1942
Brochure
Box 1: 20
Industrial Insurance Agents Union, CIO: Insurance agents’ election ordered!
ca.1938
Broadside
Box 1: 21
International Labor Defense: Defend your right to strike!! Police attacks on marine strikers! Mass meeting (Boston, Mass.)
ca.1934
Flier
Box 1: 22
International Labor Defense: Demand their release! Attend the trial! [on trial of workers demonstrating against the Nazi warship Karlsruhe]
1934
Broadside
Box 1: 23
Lenin memorial service, Symphony Hall, Boston, Mass.
ca.1936
Program
Box 1: 24
Luscomb, Florence H.: Blacklisting the Constitution
1955
Box 1: 25
Massachusetts Committee for the Bill or Rights: This is McCarthyism in action [re. persecution of Otis A. Hood]
ca.1954
Box 1: 26
National Student League: No help wanted
ca.1938
Broadside
Box 1: 27
New Culture Leagure: New Culture Leagure presents Mother: Bloody days of Czarism
1935
Playbill
Box 1: 28
New England Mutual Hall and the Charter Room: Lease to Fanny Hartman [for meeting]
1947 Aug. 15
Box 1: 29
New England Organizing Committee: New England opponents of war…
1933
Broadside
Box 1: 30
New Theatre Players: Waiting for Lefty
1935
Playbill
Box 1: 31
Peace is not subversive. Communist Party of Boston
ca.1952
Flier
Box 1: 32
Petititon: Houses up, rents down
ca.1948
Box 1: 33
Saltonstall attacks free elections, by Communist Party of Massachusetts
ca.1940
Broadside
Box 1: 34
Speak out for vistory on March 17th! Communist Party of Boston [opposing pro-Nazi Hamilton Fish]
ca.1942
Box 1: 35
United May Day Committee: All out May Day. Against War! Against Fascism!
1938
Broadside
Box 1: 36
United Shoe and Leather Workers Union: To all members of the United Shoe and Leather Workers Union! Make our union an organization that will fight for the interests of all show and leather workers!
ca.1935
Broadside
Box 1: 37
U.S. Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota speaks on munition makers and war preparation, Committee for U.S. Senator Nye Mass Meeting
1934
Flier
Box 1: 38
What’s happening in the Comintern?… What does it mean for America? [Flier for talk by Jay Lovestone]
ca.1934
Flier
Box 1: 39
Who fights Hitler? Communist Party of Massachusetts
ca.1941
Flier
Box 1: 40
WMEX Radio Station: Broadcast agreements with Communist Party
1948
Box 1: 41
Workers of Boston! Demonstrate against war all out [20th anniversary of First World War]
1934
Broadside
Box 1: 42
Workers School of Boston and the John Reed Club of Boston present a series of lectures: Marxism and Culture
1934
Broadside
Box 1: 43
Workmen’s Education Institute: Good News! Official opening of the reading room and library of the Workmen’s Education Institute
1935
Flier
Box 1: 44
WPA workers and unemployed: what will you do? Private industry won’t hire you, WPA fires you!… Protest meeting
1938
Flier
Box 1: 45

Administrative information

Access

The collection is open for research.

Language:

English

Provenance

Acquired from Eugene Povirk, Feb. 2008 (2008-040).

Processing Information

Processed by I. Eliot Wentworth, May 2017.

Copyright and Use (More informationConnect to publication information)

Cite as: Communist Party of Massachusetts Collection (MS 538). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.

Acquired from Eugene Povirk, 2008

Subjects

Antiwar movements--MassachusettsCommunists--MassachusettsElections--MassachusettsWorld War, 1939-1945

Contributors

Communist Party of Massachusetts

Types of material

BroadsidesFliers