Communists and black freedom movements in South Africa and The US: 1919–1950

Abstract

This article compares the interactions of the communist parties of South Africa and the United States with the black working class of each country until 1950. It discusses, in particular detail, the influence of internationalist currents of radical syndicalism on the course and destiny of each party. The analysis also focuses on how each communist movement adjusted its tactics in response to indigenous patterns of black migration, white working‐class racism, black radicals' negotiation of recurring tensions between class, nationalist and reformist influences, and the ways in which communist labour activists in each country were limited or empowered by the changing ideological influences of the Communist International. South African and American communists endured periods of sectarian political rigidity and isolation but, ultimately, communist activists' pragmatic and flexible interpretations of working‐class dynamics in each country were more important in shaping each party's relationship with blacks than Leninist ideology or the requirements of Soviet or Cold War politics.