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'Bitter with the Past but Sweet with the Dream'
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An engaging, wide-ranging, and groundbreaking reexamination of the relationship between African American writers and the communist movement in the US.
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26 July 2016

Most literary critics take it for granted that mid-century African-American writers considered the Communist movement to be incapable of comprehending and responding to racial oppression. In this groundbreaking study, Cathy Bergin argues that in Native Son, Lonely Crusade, and Invisible Man, Communist organizations were castigated for their refusal to pursue the liberatory potential contained in their own ideals and strategies for change.
Price: $30.00
Pages: 222
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Imprint: Haymarket Books
Series: Historical Materialism
Publication Date:
26 July 2016
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9781608466399
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Communism, Post-Communism & Socialism, Political ideologies and movements, LITERARY CRITICISM / American / African American & Black, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / American / African American & Black Studies, HISTORY / African American & Black, Literature: history and criticism, Ethnic studies / Ethnicity, Social and cultural history
Cathy Bergin (DPhil (2004) is a Senior Lecturer in the Humanities Programme at the University of Brighton.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I: RADICAL ALLIANCES
Chapter One: ‘Towards Soviet America’
1.1 Determinations and determinism: Lenin, Stalin and the Comintern
1.2 Swearing allegiances: Garveyism and Communism
1.3 Trials on trial: Yokine2.1n and Scottsboro
Chapter Two: The Liberator (1929–1935)
2.1 The Liberator: the black bourgeoisie and revolutionary tradition
2.2 The Liberator: interracial solidarity and internationalism
2.3 The Liberator: black cultural politics
Chapter Three: Native Son: Ghetto Nightmares
3.1 ‘Poor Richard Wright’: the black protest novel
3.2 A room of one’s own?: Bigger, rage and consciousness
3.3 ‘Russian folks’: The Communist Party in Native Son
PART II: BETRAYALS AND DEFEAT
Chapter Four: ‘Communism is the Twentieth Century Americanism’
4.1 Popular Front: remaking African American culture
4.2 Peace and war: shifting priorities
Chapter five: Lonely Crusade: Union Dues
5.1 ‘History as nightmare’: The critical reception of Lonely Crusade
5.2 ‘This illusion of manhood’: Lee Gordon, rage and impotence
5.3 ‘Sure, I ‘longs to the Party. But I is a nigger first’: the Communist Party in Lonely Crusade
Chapter six: Invisible Man: Un-American Activities
6.1 ‘Beautiful absurdity’: Ellison, responsibility and identity
6.2 ‘Riding race again’: the Communist Party in Invisible Man
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
PART I: RADICAL ALLIANCES
Chapter One: ‘Towards Soviet America’
1.1 Determinations and determinism: Lenin, Stalin and the Comintern
1.2 Swearing allegiances: Garveyism and Communism
1.3 Trials on trial: Yokine2.1n and Scottsboro
Chapter Two: The Liberator (1929–1935)
2.1 The Liberator: the black bourgeoisie and revolutionary tradition
2.2 The Liberator: interracial solidarity and internationalism
2.3 The Liberator: black cultural politics
Chapter Three: Native Son: Ghetto Nightmares
3.1 ‘Poor Richard Wright’: the black protest novel
3.2 A room of one’s own?: Bigger, rage and consciousness
3.3 ‘Russian folks’: The Communist Party in Native Son
PART II: BETRAYALS AND DEFEAT
Chapter Four: ‘Communism is the Twentieth Century Americanism’
4.1 Popular Front: remaking African American culture
4.2 Peace and war: shifting priorities
Chapter five: Lonely Crusade: Union Dues
5.1 ‘History as nightmare’: The critical reception of Lonely Crusade
5.2 ‘This illusion of manhood’: Lee Gordon, rage and impotence
5.3 ‘Sure, I ‘longs to the Party. But I is a nigger first’: the Communist Party in Lonely Crusade
Chapter six: Invisible Man: Un-American Activities
6.1 ‘Beautiful absurdity’: Ellison, responsibility and identity
6.2 ‘Riding race again’: the Communist Party in Invisible Man
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index