"I am not now, nor have I ever been..." by: Slick Riddles, February 10, 2006

These words are from loyalty oaths that were required of government employees in the late 40s and 50s. They are a potent symbol of anti-communism, a political ideology that allows ANY idea one doesn't like to be tarred as a subversive and un-American idea.
This ideology has crippled and continues to cripple political discourse in this country. It also marginalizes any left alternatives to the status quo. Both major parties engage in it, but it has generally benefited the Republicans.
A little background:
Although I have seen evidence of striking workers in the 1870s being denounced as "communists," the preferred bogeyman until 1917 was the bomb-throwing anarchist. Anybody who went on strike or advocated for the working class was likely to be denounced as an anarchist.
The IWW, founded in 1905 was under attack by 1912. Debs' Socialist Party was also under attack. But anti-communism proper doesn't arrive until 1917. Under Wilson's administration anti-communism is part of a series of repressive measures to quell dissent and working class activism. In 1918 11,500 people were arrested for criticizing the government or the war. Debs was jailed, the IWW as an organization was indicted, and everything German was repressed. There were also the famous Palmer Raids and the first "red scare."
Wilson also struck the first blow in the Cold War by intervening (he loved to intervene: Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic) in the Soviet Civil War on the side of the counter-revolutionaries.
It is important to note the purpose of anti-communism at this early date. It it used to criminalize dissent and to destroy workers' organizations.
For most of the 20s the Communist Party US (founded in 1919)is underground and a decent economy gives the impression of quiescent workers. But with the arrival of the Depression in 1929, that changes rapidly.
The CPUSA begins to engage in activity on a number of fronts; organizing the unemployed, unevicting people, organizing black and white sharecroppers into unions, defending the Scottsboro boys. They are also opposing fascism in Europe as part of a united front strategy coming from Moscow.
This united front strategy called on Communists to unite with any democratic forces that were opposed to fascism. It was thus possible for reds to be allies of the New Deal and I suspect that many voted for and supported the Democrats.
That was until August of 1939 when Stalin, shutout by England and France, signed a non-agression pact with Hitler. The "line" changed a 180 degrees, many reds left the party and people observing this (many sympathizers)were astounded. Then when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June, 1941 everything switched back. But this left the Communists in position to fully support WWII. Which they did by enlisting, selling war bonds, etc. Did some go into the State Department? I don't know but it would make sense. Some Communists had the language abilities, the penchant for politics and the analytical skills that would be needed.
Another area where Communists had a role to play was in helping to organize the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). The CIO was perhaps the most important feature of the New Deal and it wasn't even a government program. But in the Wagner Act the right to organize had been made explicit and legal. John L.Lewis,the head of the CIO, who had no use for Communism as an ideology, nevertheless didn't mind using young, dedicated, well-trained activists no matter what ideology was driving them.
This is the situation going into WWII. The CPUSA is practically mainstream and is hardly revolutionary. The US is allied with the Soviet Union and Stalin is portrayed as a kindly uncle in photo essays in Life magazine. Oh, and the Republicans have been out of power since 1932.
The post-war Cold War has many causes which I am not going into. But I do want to break down the international and the domestic implications of the Cold War. In foreign policy, the Cold War, with its "containment" policy, its germ theory of Communism, dominoes, Truman Doctines, etc. was merely a rationale for the US to dominate as much of the world as possible both militarily and economically. It also called forth the National Security State, an entire apparatus of secret government agenies, NSA, NSC, CIA. The Cold War also allowed continued, monumental spending on the military. You wouldn't want to slide back into the depression now would you?
Domestically, the anti-communism, connected to the Cold War tried to, and came close to suceeding, in making thought a crime. People lost their jobs in government, not because of anything they did but rather their political ideas. Hollywood blacklists, the same thing.Many of these people were not even communists but had "associated" with reds years ago. Witchhunt indeed. The purpose of this? To eradicate the left-wing in American politics.
One of the saddest aspects of this to me is the way Communists and former Communists were driven out of the unions they risked their lives to build. Drive out the Commies and who's left to run these workers' organizations? Organized crime figures and moderates who routinely get their asses kicked.
THe Republicans have used this anti-communism to the greatest effect although Democrats jump on the bandwagon more often than not. When China became communist,1949, the repubs had a campaign that asked "who lost China?" Implying that traitors in the government had helped Mao somehow.There were regular implications that Democrats were "soft on Communism." Sound familiar? This has driven a number of US presidents to get involved in wars.
The whole McCarthy period was aimed at removing any left thinkers from government but also at "subversives" wherever they were. Your kids' teacher, the young Priest at the parish, your neighbor. This worked for most of the 50s and people just thought about TV dinners or whatever (rock n' roll was clearly subversive).
When the 60s with the civil rights movement and opposition to the war arrived they indicated that anti-communism doesn't always work. But all through the 60s there were attempts to stifle dissent by talking anti-communism. MLK was called a communist, Mark Rudd, Huey Newton, and Abbie Hoffman were called communists. I was called a communist.
When the Democrats nominated McGovern, somebody probably called them communists. Now what do you do if you're a politician and you are accused of being a commie or "soft on communism?" You can deny it, you can laugh at it, or you can try and show how anti-communist you are by moving to the right. I think the last is how most pols go.
I could bring this up to date and show how anti-communism is now anti-Islamo-fascism but I trust you all get the point. Which is, the reason the left (however you define it) is so weak in this country is because whenever you raise an idea that is outside the staus quo to the left there is an entire arsenal of anti-communism aimed at you. And large parts of the population have been programmed to respond negatively to that charge. I was told recently by someone that we (Americans) don't use the term working class because it is a communist term. And this poor guy is working at a Taco Bell!!
As I wrote in a comment recently the result of this anti-communism is that all sorts of ideas that are not communist can't get a hearing. Minimum wages, strong unions, healthcare, secular education, taxing corporations or just a graduated income tax and many others. They are all seen by some as subversive and "other."
I don't know what the solution is but I was led to write this because anti-communism was a part of the John Gibson flap. Ms. O'Connor used the word socialist and some folks just flipped out