| This is a history of Communist activity in Memphis from 1930 to 1957 with special attention to their contributions to the broader struggle for better working conditions for organized labor and for civil rights for African Americans in the city. In the 1930s, Communists succeeded in building some support among workers unemployed as a result of the Great Depression and by the early 1940s had extended their influence to workers on the Mississippi River. The greatest success of the Memphis Communists was their role in building the CIO's United Cannery, Agricultural Production and Allied Workers of American (UCAPAWA-CIO) Local 19, whose leaders were democratically elected and through which the Communists educated a strong core of African American leaders and encouraged them to take an active role not only in the growing struggle for civil rights but also in the political process as a whole. By doing so, the Communists created a force that took an active role in handing long time Memphis political leader, Edward H. Crump his first major setback in many years by ensuring the defeat of his candidate for Congress, John Mitchell, and helping elect a long time Crump opponent, Estes Kefauver.;As a result, by 1948, the Memphis Communists had established a potentially strong presence that could propel them to further accomplishments had they maintained their earlier alliances. But, as a result of the growing viciousness of the postwar Red Scare, former allies began to abandon them and, by the early 1950s, they had been expelled from the Memphis CIO and harassed by the US Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee which investigated Communist control of Local 19. Nevertheless, the Memphis Communists attempted to make a comeback under the leadership of William "Red" Davis, Al Greenberg and Davis's brother in law, Lawrence McGurty and through strong support for civil rights causes made some progress. However, the arrest of their Communist Party supervisor, Junius Scales, in Memphis in November 1954 was the blow that destroyed any hope of future progress. As a result of Scales's arrest, the leaders of the Communist Party USA placed the Memphis and Tennessee Communists under isolation until the security situation could be studied and fixed. But before this could be done, another hearing of the US Senate's Subcommittee for Internal Security was held in Memphis in 1957 and McGurty, Greenberg, and other Memphis Communists were subpoenaed to testify. This time, as a result of negative publicity, none of the Memphis Communists were able to find and maintain jobs necessary to feed their families and, by the end of the 1950s, all had left or had fallen into obscurity. Although future attempts would be made to establish a Communist presence in Memphis, none of the earlier members were in a position to take part. Still, in many ways, the Memphis Communists constructed a more active alternative to the mainstream civil rights movement which dominated in later years. One may wonder what the result would have been if the more radical Communist alternative had predominated. |
