Red Chicago

Know about the book -

Red Chicago is written by Randi Storch and published by University of Illinois Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 0252032063 (ISBN 10) and 9780252032066 (ISBN 13).

Red Chicagois a social history of American Communism set within the context of Chicago's neighborhoods, industries, and radical traditions. Using local party records, oral histories, union records, party newspapers, and government documents, Randi Storch fills the gap between Leninist principles and the day-to-day activities of Chicago's rank-and-file Communists.Uncovering rich new evidence from Moscow's former party archive, Storch argues that although the American Communist Party was an international organization stronglyinfluenced by the Soviet Union, at the city level it was a more vibrant and flexible organization responsible to local needs and concerns. Thus, while working for a better welfare system, fairer unions, and racial equality, Chicago 's Communists created a movement that at times departed from international party leaders' intentions. By focusing on the experience of Chicago's Communists, who included a large working-class, African American, and ethnic population, this study re-examines party members' actions as an integral part of the communities in which they lived and the industrieswhere they worked.