Intellectual History of American Marxism during the mid to late Cold War in the U.S.

hey guys NL here and I'm homesick uh and while I've been homesick and presidential election 2024 has been going on a lot of topics that I was interested in academically during my time as a doctoral student have come to National prominence so I guess I might have been a little ahead of my time on some things despite the fact that um my professors told me I'm what I'm talking about isn't very interesting um you know I had one big paper on professional wrestling and it was kind of like I don't care on their part and then I had a dissertation proposal on American Marxism and they were like I don't care um and I think Trump uh being a WWE Hall of Famer and Camala Harris being erroneously tagged as a Marxist uh you know showed that I think some of my intellectual interests for some uh relevance uh so this is my dissertation proposal um it was on American Marxist uh intellectual history uh from the mid to late Cold War period so I was looking at what American marxists thought from the 1960s through the 1980s and I was morea interested in traditional Marxist worldview which was less about uh existentialism of the new left and more about the intellectual tradition of SC social scientific um you Marxism Marxist Marxism isn't really a science but it like to pretend it was a science so um these are people coming from the Traditions ranging from Rosa Luxembourg to Lenin to Stalin to ma to just a whole range of uh people who were more traditional marxists and how did their World Views develop as socialist uh as a socialist world was facing crises in Latin America the Soviet Union and uh Asia so how are they how was their worldview impacted by what was going on around the world uh did they have crises and have their worldview collapse did their worldviews adapt did they double down and stick to their beliefs I was interested in what these people thought because as someone who lived in Johnson City at the time that was a it was an abandoned factory town in the Southern Tier of Upstate New York I saw you know the hollowed out shell of capitalism and you could really see a lot of what Marx uh was talking about in terms of you know how capitalism uh worked until it didn't work um and so I was really interested in what people who considered themselves marxists in the mid to late 20th century had to say what their intellectual history was and I think intellectual history is important because I think the history of ideas is fascinating and beautiful uh the people at Bingington were more interested in Social history uh where uh actors in the past that the academics they sympathized with Ed their will to power to affect change over time by challenging white male capitalist patriarchy that was their litus test for what was historically significant and I guess at the time I didn't realize it until it was too late and I had sunk a bunch of time in various dissertation uh Ventures but anyway here's my proposal I got to meet n Chomsky as a result of it so do Meet Your Heroes sometimes it works out I hope you enjoy this paper uh and until next time guys my name is no you take care and I'll see you in the very near future bye-bye Dr Wendy wall independent study proposal for prospectus topic American Marxist thought action and responses to the crisis of Cold War AOS socialist States the term communism like most political terms carries addiction definition which describes its aims and ideals however coexisting with the ideal concept is a geopolitical definition in which said concept becomes defined by the actions of governments which justify State interests under an ideological Banner the aim of this project is to examine how American marxists intellectuals political parties and their Rank and file during the mid to late Cold War period 1968 to 1991 responded to the crisis faced internationally by governments and foreign political movements which Define them elves as Marxist namely Vietnam China the Soviet Union and Latin American countries such as Nicaragua the framing of this project is designed to Encompass periods during the Cold War when radical socialist States and movements were facing major crises due either to foreign Invasion such as the Vietnam War or self-imposed social economic and humanitarian failures American marxists and by extension much of the radical left often dealt with three major issues in terms of their political and intellectual DCT these were the debate over a vision of socialism with relation to the major established Communist governments such as the Soviet Union or People's Republic of China a critique of US policy and strategies concerning how to advance their visions of an American socialist society on the path to Communism in terms of identifying a historical problem this project seeks to discover the significance of traditional Marxism ranging from the on negative fourth socialist International worldview as well as maoism during the mid to late Cold War in the United States in a recent interview I conducted with Noam chsky he recounted his visit to North Vietnam in 1970 during a bombing halt after giving a lecture at the Polytechnic Institute he was taken by government officials to a movie commemorating The Death of hoochi minimum as foreign dignitaries approached to pay tribute to the North Vietnamese leader chomsky's translator tapped him on the shoulder and pointed out that the man approaching the podium was the head of the American peace movement Chomsky was amused when he recognized the man was gusal the head of the Communist part USA cpusa the novelty of this anecdote stems from the reality that few in the US would have identified gusal as the head of the American peace movement however this story begs the question what were gusal and the cpusa Communist Party USA doing during this period in order to be identified with this noteworthy Accolade during the mid to late Cold War period the Communist parties in Western European countries such as Italy and France garnered attention and electoral significance in regions of both countries historic Ians have studied the role the cpusa played in the early 20th century as well as the new left's activism throughout the 1960s and70s however the thought activism and alliances forged by the traditional marxists in the United States throughout the mid to late Cold War remains academically neglected despite the fact that at both Elite and Grassroots levels there were debates over the influence strategies and significance of traditional Marxist worldviews in the United States throughout that time period how did traditional Marxism Define itself strategize and interact with a sympathetic spectrum of voices with similar political concerns such as the new left and Progressive religious groups concerned with Latin American political autonomy what goals did traditional Marxism have for the United States how did current events in foreign socialist countries affect traditional Marxist ideological determination these are the questions that this project aims to answer for prospective Source space of this project I aim to utilize personal papers Publications and academic writings and conduct oral history where possible with the intellectuals of Cold War era traditional Marxism in addition I plan to examine archival data of American radical traditional Marxist parties such as the cpusa Socialist Workers Party and maist groups such as the progressive labor party and revolutionary Communist Party furthermore radical newspapers speeches and published writings can also be a source for the shifting world view and propagandistic methodologies of the traditional marxists during the mid to late Cold War in the United States where possible oral history can be conducted with Rank and file members of American radical political parties as well as with those sympathetic to traditional Marxist radical political aims during the Cold War I plan to examine responses of American traditional marxists to crises in Vietnam mainland China and Latin America in doing so I will see the continuity and changes in the thought and action of traditional Marxism through the 1960s to 1980s the Vietnam War Bears special significance for the United States during the cold war in the seemingly stable postor War II period a platform for descent against the American way was now open for radical voices including those of traditional Marxism because of this war while the new left was a phenomenon noted for its numbers plurality of voices and diversity of agendas traditional marxists provided a disciplined political structure and analytical platform that was able to be understood within the context of traditional politics television programs such as William F Buckley's Firing Line hosted traditional Mar IST voices such as Noam Chomsky and Fred hallad US presidential candidate of the Socialist Workers Party their voices provided a critique of conventional American foreign and domestic policies while traditional Marxism often meant Bolshevik as noted by Noam chsky ideologies of old school pre- leninist Marxism in some cases predated bism for example chomsky's libertarian socialist world view predated the new Left movements of the 1960s and had roots in the political thought of late 19th and early 20th century Europe it is within the context of the Vietnam war that traditional Marxist voices such as Noam Chomsky and the leaders of American Bolshevik political parties were able to gain a public platform and interact with the new left in criticizing both American foreign policy and the mainstream vision for United States Society the Soviet Union had long presented a traditional political brand for traditional Marxism however some previously old school Marxist activists who had begun to see the shortcomings in the Soviet political model but still found Merit in the ethics of Marxist political Theory were enthusiastic to embrace other models of Marxist political experiments maist China presented such an alternative Marxism leninism often remained a core tenant of maist thought the anti-authority currents within maist ideology which embraced Marxism leninism while questioning the legitimacy of those in power appealed to members of traditional Marxist ideology during a time when the anti-authoritarian currents of the new left were part of the political and social environment of the mid- Cold War in his 1972 debate against Noam chsky French intellectual and social theorist Michelle falal highlighted the significance of ma Eden's thought both within Europe in the United States maist youth movements merged the traditional Marxism leninism of much of the traditional Marxism with the anti-authoritarianism of the new Left ma China also provided an alternative to the increasingly moderate policies of Cruz chev's Soviet Union to intellectuals in the west who identified with the violent radicalism of stalinism historians and political activists such as Eugene genev embraced maist ideology as an ideological and political model in order to bring about his vision of a communist future Mau ISM provided an organizational model for radical student protesters for example in addition to the progressive labor party in which Eugene geneves participated radical student activists in the San Francisco Bay Area students for a Democratic Society SDS used both maist ideology and organizational structure as a means to advance their political agenda student Bob avakian chairman of the Revolutionary Communist party not only promulgated Orthodox maoism and advocated for radical organizations like the Black Panthers but he also became the center of a maist cult of personality while ma Zang became famous for his little red book in which he inscribed his thought and teachings babakan became noted by his followers for his little silver book entitled the bullets which encapsulated avakian's thought and teachings the cultural revolution in maist China was a radical socialist experiment that appealed to some traditional marxists as well as the new left because of this the cultural revolution Bears historical significance within the mid to late Cold War period of the United States furthermore the cultural revolution and maist ideology provided not only a forum for debate within traditional Marxism but also presented itself as an alternative revolutionary model to the third world in which the United States was very much engaged throughout the Cold War and Beyond some intellectuals as well as radical college students such as revolutionary Communist Party chairman Bob avakian View the maest Revolutionary model seen throughout the cultural revolution in China as a proper form of revolutionary political action for third world countries therefore the politics of maist ideology was not isolated in mainland China but rather impacted thought and action in places such as North and Central America during the late 20th century maist revolutionary groups in Latin America such as Peru shining path were hotly debated amongst American marxists throughout the 1980s for example in an interview I conducted with ggp Peterson a Latin American history professor and artist for the trotskyite freedom Socialist Party newspaper she recalled her then husband a Chilean Marxist being approached by members of Seattle's maest Affiliated revolutionary Communist party to praise shining path as a praiseworthy revolutionary organization however Peterson's husband a staunch supporter of both the Nicaraguan sandinistas and Fidel Castro Cuba refused to endorse shining path due to their excessively violent nature much to the shagrin of the maoists who approached him American Cold War policy leading up to the Vietnam War was overed in its message of militant anti-communism in the form of military involvement in order to contain the perceived communist threat in Asia nevertheless after the political tumult of the 1960s and70s American policy in places like Latin America took on a covert character radical intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky emphasized how the Reagan administration had been driven underground by societal pressure notably from the left in terms of its policy in Latin America throughout the 19 1980s according to Chomsky this was a result of the organizational sophistication of American radicalism throughout the 1980s thus underscoring the importance of the left on American public opinion at this time in fact while many viewed the 1980s as a decade of consensus intellectuals and activists Who challenged American policy in Latin America viewed the decade as being more radical than the 1960s if this is true it would indicate that rather than becoming weaker in the 1980s the American radical left had instead momentum and Reagan administration policies came under harsher scrutiny than the Johnson administration's policies in Vietnam intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky spoke frequently on the crisis occurring in El Salvador and Nicaragua radical political parties like the Revolutionary Communist Party dogmatically emphasized the need for violent revolution in Latin American countries including El Salvador and Peru instead for some social democratic-- minded radicals of traditional Marxism Latin American Socialist represented a more complex and potentially Humane model for international socialism than the Soviet Union a sympathetic spectrum of voices that existed within Church groups in the United States advocated Latin American political autonomy in the 1980s within mass culture US policy in Latin America was lambasted in films such as Oliver Stone Salvador and ultimately the Reagan Administration was tried for criminal conspiracies such as Iran Contra clearly activism in the 1980s a supposed decade of consensus impacted mass culture as well as politics therefore as historians we must understand how the development of traditional Marxism in the 1960s and 1970s affected the organized radical atmosphere of the 1980s because this project will analyze the intellectual and political responses of the traditional marxists to crises occurring in socialist countries it is necessary to define the ideological parameters of this project for the old school Marxist worldview when defining traditional Marxism in this project it is in reference to socialist political thought that stems from the radical political traditions of 19th and early 20th century Europe this form of thinking is often materialistic and idealistic and identifies itself as social scientific often the radical thought of traditional Marxism viewed history as moving teleologically and progressively to a socialistic stage in which Justice would be achieved on a social political and Industrial Level via the hegemonic ascendancy of the working class while Chomsky described his political views as anti-bolshevik he nevertheless stated that his views merged with the 19th century political traditions of anarchos syndicalism and left-wing Marxism chomsky's political maturation occurred in his teenage years while discussing politics in New York with Spanish amig Grace coming to the United States after their experience fighting for libertarian socialism in the Spanish Civil War in the 1960s members of the new Left sought to differentiate themselves from traditional marxists their radical predecessors while old school Marxism referred to social scientific political ideology as well well as traditional Bolshevik political parties the new Left sought to Define its radicalism more through a spirit of diffus existential Rebellion this has been expounded upon by Scholars such as Douglas Rosenau in his monograph the politics of authenticity when referring to socialist countries I am referring to countries during the Cold War in which socialism was an articulated constitutional legality or was actively being sought via Revolution by a large segment of its population for the purposes of this project Vietnam the People's Republic of China the Soviet Union and various Latin American countries throughout the 1980s will be examined for the component of this project examining American Marxist intelligencia the focus will be on individuals such as but in no way limited to linguist Noam Chomsky and historian Eugene geneves Chomsky is particularly interesting due to his political thought and public Persona which straddled the old and new left in a 1969 episode of firing line entitled Vietnam and the intellectuals William F Buckley referred to Chomsky as one of a half dozen Heroes of the new Left dot however despite chomsky's criticism of traditional Marxist political parties his sympathy towards the Viet Kong and his radical condemnations of American foreign policy chomsky's political philosophy was very much that of a pre leninist socialist as opposed to a cohort of new left leader Herbert maruse when writing about the Soviet Union Chomsky was consistently critical of bism in the Soviet state Chomsky spoke enthusiastically of anaro syndicalism as a proper model for a revolutionary post capitalist order furthermore he readily exalted Russian Anarchist miky bakunin Karl Marx's rival within the first communist International when discussing the politics and history of marxist leninist movements however Chomsky also identified with the anti-authoritarian leftwing of Marxism specifically with Marxist thinkers Rosa Luxenberg and Anon panako according to Chomsky the concept of libertarian socialism exists within the political Spectrum ranging from anarchos syndicalism to left Wing Marxism Chomsky used his libertarian socialist worldview as an analytical tool to condemn the Vietnam War as an immoral and destructive continuation of the Truman Doctrine when interviewed by William F Buckley Chomsky was asked to defend socialism to a check referencing the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia Buckley's implication was that socialist revolutions around the world were part and parcel of Soviet imperialism Chomsky responded that stalinist and Soviet imperialism in Eastern Europe was real and brutal however the Cas of Soviet military imposition of international socialism was at best responsible for 10% of international socialist movements Chomsky was quick to argue that revolutionary socialist movements in Greece Latin America and Vietnam were indigenous movements that existed independent of Soviet military imperialism in 1971 Chomsky traveled to Holland where in a televised debate he grappled with radical French intellectual Superstar Michelle falal on topics that included Linguistics power and morality as well as revolutionary strategy for the proletariat records now show that chomsky's anti-war activism merited as being under surveillance by the CIA throughout the 1980s chsky became a principled opponent of the Reagan Administration s Wars in Latin America here chamski advocated in favor of Liberation theology notably in El Salvador and Sandinista economic policy in Nicaragua furthermore as the Soviet Union faced political instability and economic malays Chomsky argued that the decline of the US Sr was not a blow against socialism but rather the collapse of a state institution that was erroneously celebrated as socialist by Soviet and American political propagandists the Soviet Union had implemented the term socialist to exploit the moral Prestige of socialism to cover its crimes on the other hand the United States had used socialist to associate the Rival ideology of socialism with the poor example of the Bolshevik State another notable Marxist intellectual who will be analyzed for the purpose of this project is historian Eugene geneves geneves an abrasive yet passionately minded Italian American stalinist was expelled from the cpusa in 1948 for his criticism of party sectarianism geneves became known for his academic work on the antibellum south most notably for his acclaimed 1972 monograph Ro Jordan R the world the slaves made geneves employed the analytical methods of martyred Italian Communist party leader Antonio gramy particularly gry's dialectical cultural hegemony Theory Geneva solist sympathies and the historiographical precedent set by 19th and early 20th century Southern apologists George fitzu and UB Philips allowed geneves to portray the perspective of the antibellum master class empathetically however jev's Marxism caused him to advocate in favor of the slave class which he argued subversively utilized the language of the master class in order to carve out a meaningful existence that reflected their own culture ideals and interests in the midst of the Cru Chev era of Soviet leadership which saw denunciation of Stalin by Soviet political leaders the sinos Soviet split and increasing rap Rosman with the United States and the West genava sympathies gravitated towards the People's Republic of China and ultimately to the maest progressive labor party in 1965 as the Vietnam War began to rage geneves was teaching at ruer University however he gained notoriety for his radical politics rather than his scholarship went at a 1965 teach in Genevie stated I do not fear or regret the impending Kong victory in Vietnam I welcome it dot this statement garnered the attention of the Republican New Jersey gubernatorial candidate who campaigned under the slogan let's get the Reds out of ruter dot however greater attention was heaped on geneves when President Richard Nixon entered the fry stating academic freedom stops when a scholar Advocates victory for the enemy dot Genevie stated in 1995 that he had the honor of being the only college professor who sick Richard Nixon personally campaigned to get fired Dot geneves went on to state in retrospect that he had had no delusions about the Vietnamese Communists fighting for democracy or hoian being analogous to Thomas Jefferson he had viewed the Vietnam War being fought on the grounds of national unification socialism and the balance of power in Asia he had thought that any prevence of democracy was hogwash geneves recounted I said plainly that The Winning Side would impose a harsh dictatorship and that the only question was who would do whom dot despite his authoritarian enthusiasm for Mao geneves would for some years remain a committed Marxist who essentially saw the Soviet Union as the quintessentially legitimizing force of socialism after the collapse of the Soviet Empire though Geneva's Marxism steadily eroded throughout the early 1990s he ultimately became a culturally conservative critic of the academic and political left in his 1996 monograph the southern tradition the achievement and limitations of an American conservatism jev's perspective on the importance of the USSR to socialism was demon strated as he related the death of the American Confederacy to the collapse of the Soviet Union the fall of the Confederacy drowned the hopes of Southern conservatives for the construction of a viable non-c capitalist social order much as the disintegration of the Soviet Union comma all pretences and Wishful Thinking aside has drowned the hopes of socialists unlike chomsky's more independent perspective Geneva's radical socialism hinged on the success or failure of the Soviet experiment in addition to probing American Marxist intellectuals this project will also examine the thought and action of American Marxist political parties such as but not limited to the Communist Party USA cpusa and Socialist Workers Party swp my aim is to analyze party Doctrine leadership strategy and where possible consider how party lines were interpreted by the rank and file sources that will be utilized for these purposes will include interviews and writings of party leaders and party documents as well as archival research a particularly important a of this component of the project will be to see not only how Marxist political party leaders articulated their ideological platforms but also how the political and social realities of their time affected their methods of advancing their goals at least partially in order not to be left behind traditional Marxist political parties such as the swp and cpusa saw the need to co-op the radical movements of the new left which focused on race and gender in their party Platforms in the Socialist Workers Party 1972 publication a revolutionary strategy for the' 70s Socialist Workers Party member Joseph Hansen writes concerning the party's efforts to link itself with black power Puerto Rican Chico Native American and women's Liberation movements he States once again our movement if it is to link up successfully has no choice but to begin at the level of the movement itself and not at a level it has not reached because of the uneven development of the class struggle these movements came into being and became engaged in actions in advance of the radicalization of the industrial workers thus they represented anticipatory movements but they have an influence of their own on the process that will led to the eventual radicalization of the major contingents of the working class and these movements will ultimately converge with them and increase their striking power dot the Socialist Workers Party put forth an interracial presidential ticket in 1968 running Trot Skye journalist Fred hallad and workingclass black militant Paul boutell in two March 1971 reports given at the 24th National Convention of the Socialist Workers Party the need for the s WP to link with Cho black and women's Liberation movements was is also articulated by this party in addition to the cpusa the desire to incorporate racial and gender radicalism of the new left was not limited to the Socialist Workers Party in a 1966 report given at a meeting of national communist leadership cpusa head Gus Hall addressing economic decline in urban centers stated we must dramatically rais the question of black community and workingclass power as the solution to crisis in these cities Dot in his report to the 22nd National Convention of the Communist Party USA on August 23rd 1979 General SE of the Communist Party USA Hall stated the need of the cpusa to engage the issues of afroamerican Liberation Cho Mexican amican Liberation Puerto Rican Liberation Native American Liberation women's equality and America's youth hall went on to discuss the cpusa's need to address the radical leanings of many American youths Hall explains our youth are being squeezed by high unemployment and runaway inflation they are the post Vietnam generations and therefore there is a higher Anti-Imperialist Consciousness the objective situation has never been more primed and ready for the development of an all youth front that will in a broad consensus way be anti-corporate anti-racist for jobs in world peace for an opportunity to make a decent start in life this potential is reflected in the continuing growth and influence of the party and in the young workers Liberation League dot as a result of this concern during his 1980 and 84 presidential bid Hall chose well-known Black Panther and feminist Angela Davis as his running mate both the swp and cpusa were confronted with the unflattering humanitarian crisis of international socialist governments of the mid to late Cold War in a 1968 episode of firing line spw vice presidential candidate Paul boutel an admirer of Castro was asked if he led the political assassinations conducted by the Cuban government boutel responded that the Cuban Revolution was a PO Revolution and what was occurring in Cuba was not political assassination but rather criminals being convicted of their crimes in a manner similar to the Newburg Trails Buckley continued questioning the spw presidential candidate Fred hallad on Cuban policy asking his opinion on Castro's not having to face electoral competition in Cuba's leninist political system Hallstead responded with a standard line used by Western communist parties namely that Cuba's political Affairs were problematic in his opinion but were Theirs to deal with while the United States would nevertheless remain a multi- party system under s swp governance during the 1984 presidential campaign cpusa presidential candidate Gus Hall appeared on Late Night PBS talk show late night America with Dennis hly on the program hly confronted Hall with questions which cast the Soviet Union and by extension the Eastern block countries as economically deficient with populations harassed by secret police in addition hly presented the Soviet war in Afghanistan as an unjust war of aggression to the first charge of economic malaise Hall admitted that while the Soviet Union had not matched us living standards Soviet living standards were Rising he touted Soviet social welfare as more inclusive and secure than its us counterpart furthermore the Soviet state could boast both higher production of Steel and sale of technological patents around the globe than the US in terms of personal freedom Hall's response mirrored that of halls in principle saying that the Communist States of Eastern Europe were not perfect nonetheless he believed the criticisms of Life under Soviet style communism to be exaggerated furthermore the political and legal culture of Eastern Europe should not reflect on the cpusa's political program for the US which promised the continuation of the US cultural traditions of multi-party politics and individual freedom in response to the Soviet Afghan war Hall found himself ironically mirroring the rhetoric of Vietnam War supporters like Buckley in that the ussr's presence in Afghanistan while unfortunate was invited by the legitimate Afghan government however Hall did admit that the Soviet military presence was not purely altruistic in order to understand the opinion of the American Marxist Rank and file During the period discussed in this project more archival research needs to be conducted however an examination of the historiography of American Marxism provides valuable information concerning the multi-directional Dynamics of these movements historians have written sporadically on the topic of American Marxism often concentrating on the early to mid 20th century much of which has focused on the history of the Soviet linked cpusa these monographs range from viewing American communism as a totalitarian duping by Moscow to apologia written by American Communists to ultimately viewing American communism as a unique and multi faceted language of descent of various groups during the early 20th century historian Theodore Draper work on the cpusa established a view of American Communists as either totalitarian functionaries or naive dupes of Soviet political interests his 1957 monograph the roots of American communism argues that socialistic inclined thinkers attraction to Marxism leninism ultimately and snared them in a web of indoctrination and subordination to the leadership of the Soviet Union for Draper cpusa members were primarily dupes of Soviet manipulation stemming from the authoritarian nature of marxist leninist ideology to the extent that the cpusa functioned as an instrument of democratic Grassroots sentiment it was due to moscow's managerial oversight according to Draper as opposed to the nature of communist ideological and political structure existing at the other end of the political and historiographical spectrum is communist apologia William Z Foster's 1952 monograph history of the Communist Party of the United States is a thorough history of the cpusa with multiple references to early American Marxism in essence Foster creates a sweeping Narrative of mass-based socialist sentiment in the United States beginning with the American Revolution and culminating in the cpusa being battered by McCarthy persecu but dutifully leading America to its communist Destiny Foster tone and content are overtly stalinist in describing the early political dynamics of Soviet Russia which would serve as an inspiration for the cpusa Foster rights trotskyism which Lenin had long fought had become a malignant pest in the Soviet Union the Soviet people wanted none of trotsky's destructive program the brilliant Stalin proved in theory that it was possible to build socialism in one country and that the Communist Party s policies were leading precisely to that goal another method of historical and political apologia utilized in histories of the cpusa and S swp is to compile party reports speeches and essays Etc around a topic or set of topics often these Works include flattering introductions to the legacies and goals of said parties such Works include strategy for the 70s documents of the Socialist Workers Party 1972 the founding of the Socialist Workers Party minutes and resolutions 1938-39 1982 and Gus Hall's compilations such as Basics 1980 and workingclass USA 1987 throughout the 199s and 2000s the histories written on American Marxism as it pertained to traditional Marxism were spars studies were largely confined to looking at how cpusa members at the Grassroots level uniquely interpreted stalinist ideology and the party line throughout the 1920s and 30s such Works include Robin DG Kelly's study of the Alabama branch of the cpusa in the 19 1930s hammer and hoe 1990 in addition Randy storch's red Chicago 2007 focuses on popular front strategies utilized by the cpusa in late 1920s Chicago the historiography of the new Left followed similar Trends to studies of traditional Marxism seeing early works either damning or praising the movement however as the 1990s progressed less politically motivated analysis arose as an example of this later Trend Douglas rossow's politics of authenticity 19 1998 examines how the Texas new left's political radicalism stemmed from a dissatisfaction with liberal consumerism the influence of Christian idealism and ultimately the embracing of existentialist philosophy despite the general historiographical neglect of traditional Marxism historians Aaron Jay Leonard and Connor a Gallagher were able to write an insightful monograph on maoism in the United States entitled heavy radicals the FBI secret war on America's maist the Revolutionary Union revolutionary Communist Party 196 8 to 1980 Leonard and Gallagher examined the origins of the Revolutionary Union and revolutionary Communist Party their doctrines political strategies political schisms and their infiltration by the FBI the authors argue that despite lacking a large electoral base the Revolutionary Union and revolutionary communist Pary activism politics and strategies alarmed the FBI in addition the sdss radical Legacy continued well into the 1980s via maist political parties intellect ual Histories on American Marxism during the mid to late Cold War period are limited Dutch American studies scholar adrianus arnoldis Maria Vander Linden's monograph a revolt against liberalism American radical historians 1959 to 1976 discusses the motivations political agendas scholarship and World Views of Cold War era radical historians Vander lindon's study does not focus solely on American Marxism however Eugene jev's work scholarly debates and worldview are mentioned in this text if one must assess the value of writing on Cold War American Marxist thought and action one can look to the principles of historiographical philosophy and the actions of State leaders regardless of a historian's focus the history of ideas is in end of itself valuable this has been understood by honored historians of colonial America such as Perry Miller who examined the Puritan mind as well as Gordon Wood who studied the political rhetoric of the founding fathers furthermore social historians have long emphasized the importance of finding and understanding the perspectives of those considered insignificant or overlooked by their historiographical predecessors while the American Marxism of the old school held less resonance with the plurality of Americans during the Cold War as opposed to during the Great Depression there were nevertheless individuals and political institutions within the United States that took the ideas of Marxism seriously both as a philosophical worldview and as a political program to improve the United States on moral and political levels furthermore the existence of marxist thinkers in the United States drew the ey of the lower and upper echelons of the US government in the form of arrests surveillance and political condemnations it is my hope that the issues discussed in this proposal can be expanded upon in order to build a meaningful prospectus and dissertation project the intermingling of American Marxist intellectual history and international socialist crisis has the potential to shed light on the historiographically neglected topic of Cold War American Marxism an area of interest to those seeking to understand a provocative spectrum of radicalism in the American mind bibliography aacan Bob bullets from the right