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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jbe who wrote (34339)	4/11/1999 12:51:00 AM
From: nihil	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

I object. American Communists were powerful in the American labor movement, gaining control of many huge unions -- UAW, UE, MM&SW, ILWU, MC&S, and others. People like the Reuthers had to struggle to gain democratic control of the unions, and where they failed, to expel these unions from the CIO. In Hawaii, Jack Hall (a overturned-conviction Smith Act violator) head of ILWU Local 148 was for many years the most powerful person in the State. These were not teaparty Communists like the Hollywood crowd) but skilled revolutionaries, who shot back and used clubs where necessary. I knew and respected some of them personally. For the most part, they were seduced from Communism to trade unionism and were leaders in antidiscrimination and ending racism and supporting human rights. We had better remember that for organized resistance to racism many of the significant white people in the 30's were communists. It was common for an integrationist to be accused of communism because the only people most racists knew who opposed segregation were admitted communists. Personally, I didn't find them lovable. Very hard to work with on common goals. The liberal goals were not the communists' goals. They wanted revolution. We wanted freedom and equality. We won. I think we would have won sooner if anticommunists had kicked only communists fairly. Many liberals didn't go far and fast enough. Too many sympathized with the mistreated communists. Some liberals romanticized resistance and ended up in jail. I am convinced most white Americans were opposed to equal rights until the 60's. full house: fours over three beats threes over fours!