LSAT 108, Section 4, RC Passage 3, Robin D. G. Kelley

RC Passage 3 Explanation

PASSAGE TEXT: Robin D. G. Kelley's book Hammer and Hoe explores the history of communism …

Paragraph Summaries

1. Kelley’s book examines why African-American workers in Alabama joined and used the Communist Party, focusing less on whether communist ideas were correct and more on how the party helped organize workers and interact with their culture.
2. Most scholarship which defended the 1930’s and 40’s Communist Party (the Popular Front Era) focussed on how the Party attempted to work within democracy. Kelley however focusses on how the Popular Front was not that great for African-American organizing.
3. Kelley argues that the earlier Third Period of communism was more effective for organizing African-American workers. Although its extreme language was not always taken literally, its message of a better future and its fight against racial violence made the party seem like a powerful ally.
4. African-American participation declined during the Popular Front because the party became less focused on fighting racism and local Black issues in an effort to appeal to moderates. This made it seem less useful as a tool for racial and economic struggles.
5. Kelley does not blame the decline solely on the Popular Front. Other factors, including internal party conflicts and major changes in agriculture caused by economic and government forces, also weakened African-American communism.

Analysis

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