Memories of the Red Decade - Book Report/Review Example

Anticommunism on American PartiesVernon Pedersen authors the essay Memories of the Red Decade: HUAC Investigations in Maryland which was included in the book American Labor and the Cold War: Grassroots Politics and Postwar Political Culture that was edited by Robert Cherny, William Issel, and Kiernan Walsh Taylor. Vernon Pedersen is an American and the Head of the Department of International Studies in the American University of Sharjah. He is also the author of The Communist Party in Maryland, 1957-1957.

After the end of the Second World War, certain parties were still influenced by communist ideologies. The context of the book is about how communism was still perpetuated by the Maryland party which resulted to an investigation being conducted by the House Un-American Activities (HUAC) investigation’s into the Communist Party in Maryland1. By 1944, the Communist Party had attained the peak of its influence in Maryland. The author argues that anticommunism is a mix of responsible as well as extremist elements within a movement2.

Purposely, the title Memories of the Red Decade as cited by Warren describes the period in American history from the 1930s that was characterized by widespread infatuation with communism with specific focus to Stalinism3. There was a very close relationship between American parties and the Soviet Union thus the need to conduct investigations. After the Second World War, Americans emerged with a renewed sense of confidence. Most of them did not agree with the communist views of the Soviet Union and its allies.

The emergence of the Cold War offered political authority to the anticommunist political forces that targeted where communists were influential. Kennan notes that anticommunists rejected the idea of historical materialism that was the core concept in Marxism4. The American values were intolerable to the principles of communism thus the need to eliminate the radicals. On one hand, the HUAC investigations revealed that the good courses of eliminating the communists as well as having little negative effects to the intended targets.

Pedersen is of the opinion that anticommunism prevented the workers from being exploited. On the other hand, the anticommunism ideologies in the HUAC investigations resulted in the crushing of the Maryland Communist party. HUAC particularly targeted Maryland Communist Party on five different occasions including 1940, 1944, 1951, and 1954, in addition to 19575. HUAC attempted to reduce the communist influence of the movement. Pedersen asserts HUAC staged spectacular hearings that also revealed the misguided idealism of the party, thus justifying anticommunism.

The book portrays anticommunism with elements ranging from principled, responsible, and conspiracy-obsessed extremists. The members of the Maryland party were surveyed with informers being planted in the Maryland. As a result, the spread of communism was curtailed. Witnesses in the investigations were publicly threatened and some had their homes vandalized. Another extreme measure was the passing of the anticommunist Ober Law was aimed at reducing subversive influences in the schools, parties, and employment sector.

The author affirms that those who found guilty by this state investigative committee lost their jobs and blacklisted. Those who were found guilty of promoting communist ideologies were even jailed which is also extreme. Summarily, the article points out the manner in which communist ideologies were curtailed by the anticommunists through aggressive measures including state sponsored investigations. As a result, he article portrays anticommunism as a complex and pluralistic movement that affected on the leftist causes of the Communist Party of Maryland.

The author affirms that HUAC’s assaults against the Maryland Communist Party had discernable effect on the Maryland party. Anticommunism enjoyed widespread support both from the general public as well as the government.The intended audiences for the book are students, scholars, and the general reading public. The major argument of the book is the two sides of anticommunism in the history of labor years after the World War II. The author assumes that the cold war was fought in various regions and industries and in distinct ways thus expressing the contrasting views about anticommunism.

I am of the view that the authors make persuasive arguments. During this period, there were various labor anticommunists with numerous concerns about Stalin. Purposely, anticommunism proved to be more conflict-ridden. , In the same way, anticommunism played a crucial role in the American labor movement during the cold war. The arguments are based on the period between 1940s and early 1960s. The author tries to improve our understanding of Communist principles and American values.The article’s view of the contemporary scene is based on subsequent events; anticommunism during the Cold War as well as the constraints placed on the Communist parties.

The book affirms that the HUAC was formed so as investigate subversive and disloyalty. The pattern of anti-communist investigations included vague and sweeping accusations against persons and pressure on witnesses to reveal former acquaintances while those who refused to answer were cited for contempt of Congress. The authors’ point of view is repudiated due to his failure to evaluate anticommunism as a form of labor false consciousness. To that effect, Marx affirms that as a result of the social form of labor under capitalism that makes people incapable of viewing the manner in which they can actively develop a system that disfigures them.

The repudiatation is further galvanized by the study of Ellen Schrecker6. Shcrecker argues that anticommunism led to serious setbacks to labor. However, this was not the case in Maryland as asserted by Pedersen. BibliographyKennan, George, Dealing with the Communist World, New York: Harper & Row, 1998.Nack, David. "American Labor and the Cold War, Grassroots Politics and Postwar Culture." Labor Studies Journal 30.4 (2006): 108-109.Pedersen, Vernon, Memories of the Red Decade: HUAC Investigations in Maryland, edited by Robert, Cherny, William Issel, and Kiernan Walsh Taylor, American Labor and the Cold War: Grassroots Politics and Postwar Political Culture, New Brunswick, N.

J: Rutgers University Press, 2004. pp.177-189.Warren, Frank. Liberals and Communism: The Red Decade Revisited, New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.