Explore a primary source concerning William Z. Foster - Essay Example

urely relevant to the knowledge base on Foster’s life and work, but it must also be realize that the author is somewhat biased, as he appears to be sympathetic to the communist movement in the United States and does not wish to see it end. What this means is that when reading this book, the reader must be aware that it is more political science than history, which takes away from the book’s historical significance. While Barrett is a well known historian, this book shows that he is prone to allowing his own opinions to creep into his historical facts and should be remember whenever reading one of his texts.

Barrett begins this book by telling about Foster’s early days earning his living in the slums, while believing that there must be a better manner of doing this. Barrett then follows Foster as he begins organizing unions in order to improve the position of the working class in society. As time moves on, Foster helped to form the American Federation of Labor and, later on, the Trade Union Educational League, which was a much more radical organization. These radical ideas caused Foster to turn to socialism and eventually communism, which is how he became a such a high ranking official in the Communist Party of the United States.

In telling the story of Foster’s life, Barrett is able to show the reader the ideological basis for communism’s existence in the United States, as he tells of how “Foster, Earl Browder, and Jack Johnstone played crucial roles in organizing basic industry in the United States and later building the Communist Party” (Barrett 69). People like Foster believed that it could be used as a method of equalizing society and, therefore, allowing for the poor to be on par with the rest of society.

Foster did not believe that communism had to be oppressive, but rather could be used as a tool for making society a better place to live and Barrett is sympathetic to this cause. The relevance of this text is somewhat in question, however, as