Introduction: Returning to the Popular Front

Abstract

During the 1930s, a rudimentary culture of solidarity was emerging among U.S. workers. That culture was fueled by the economic downturn, but misery itself is never enough to provoke transformation. A new vision of community was emerging through the work of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, revolutionary activists and organizers, and the artists, writers, and theorists associated with the Popular Front. In order to confront the new realities given shape by our “Great Recession,” perhaps it makes sense to think once more about that moment of promise, with its failures and its successes.