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From 1937 until the 1940s, the CP of Maryland ran a communist bookstore called the Free State Bookshop. Alexander Munsell and his wife Louise Ellen Munsell ran the bookstore adjacent to the Communist Party headquarters in [[downtown Baltimore]]. The Free State Bookshop and another communist bookstore, the Frederick Douglass Bookshop, were monitored by FBI agents and informants. The Frederick Douglass Bookshop was described by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] as a “Communist Party literature distribution point in the Negro section of [West] Baltimore.” For a decade these two communist bookstores served as central meeting places for the Baltimore's Communist Party, hosting meetings for party officials and new members.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/08/communist-party-cpusa-bookstore-fbi |title=The Forgotten World of Communist Bookstores |publisher=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin Magazine]] |accessdate=2019-04-22}}</ref>
From 1937 until the 1940s, the CP of Maryland ran a communist bookstore called the Free State Bookshop. Alexander Munsell and his wife Louise Ellen Munsell ran the bookstore adjacent to the Communist Party headquarters in [[downtown Baltimore]]. The Free State Bookshop and another communist bookstore, the Frederick Douglass Bookshop, were monitored by FBI agents and informants. The Frederick Douglass Bookshop was described by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] as a “Communist Party literature distribution point in the Negro section of [West] Baltimore.” For a decade these two communist bookstores served as central meeting places for the Baltimore's Communist Party, hosting meetings for party officials and new members.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/08/communist-party-cpusa-bookstore-fbi |title=The Forgotten World of Communist Bookstores |publisher=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin Magazine]] |accessdate=2019-04-22}}</ref>


During his time at the [[Baltimore School for the Arts]] in the late 1980s, the rapper [[Tupac Shakur]] was affiliated with the Baltimore branch of the Young Communist League USA. The Baltimore Young Communist League is now also known as the ''Tupac Shakur Club'' in his honor.<ref>{{cite newspaper|first=Jordan|last=Farrar|url=http://www.peoplesworld.org/baltimore-students-protest-cuts|title=Baltimore students protest cuts|newspaper=[[People's World]]|publisher=Long View Publishing Co.|location=Chicago, Illinois|date=May 13, 2011|accessdate=May 10, 2019|dead-url=no|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818155101/http://www.peoplesworld.org/baltimore-students-protest-cuts |archive-date=August 18, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Alexander|last=Billet|url=http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/49132|title='And Still I See No Changes': Tupac's legacy 15 years on|website=greenleft.org|date=May 10, 2019|accessdate=April 27, 2012|dead-url=no|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120526020345/http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/49132 |archivedate=May 26, 2012}}</ref> He began dating the daughter of the director of the Communist Party of Maryland.<ref>{{harv|Bastfield|2002|pp=67–68}}</ref>
During his time at the [[Baltimore School for the Arts]] in the late 1980s, the rapper [[Tupac Shakur]] was affiliated with the Baltimore branch of the Young Communist League USA. The Baltimore Young Communist League is now also known as the ''Tupac Shakur Club'' in his honor.<ref>{{cite newspaper|first=Jordan|last=Farrar|url=http://www.peoplesworld.org/baltimore-students-protest-cuts|title=Baltimore students protest cuts|newspaper=[[People's World]]|publisher=Long View Publishing Co.|location=Chicago, Illinois|date=May 13, 2011|accessdate=May 10, 2019|dead-url=no|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818155101/http://www.peoplesworld.org/baltimore-students-protest-cuts |archive-date=August 18, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Alexander|last=Billet|url=http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/49132|title='And Still I See No Changes': Tupac's legacy 15 years on|website=greenleft.org|date=May 10, 2019|accessdate=April 27, 2012|dead-url=no|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120526020345/http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/49132 |archivedate=May 26, 2012}}</ref> He began dating the daughter of the director of the Communist Party of Maryland.

{{cite book |last=Bastfield |first=Darrin Keith Bastfield |date=2002 |title=Back in the Day: My Life and Times with Tupac Shakur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wna2MAiFpgEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Back+in+the+Day:+My+Life+and+Times+with+Tupac+Shakur&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjwg_bD-ZHiAhUrvFkKHf-_D6UQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q&f=false |location=Cambridge, Mass. : Da Capo ; London |publisher=Kluwer Law International |page= |isbn=0306812959 |author-link= }}


==Organizing==
==Organizing==

Revision as of 21:57, 10 May 2019

Communist Party of Maryland
Founded1919
HeadquartersP.O. BOX : 39463 Baltimore, MD 21212
IdeologyCommunism

Marxism

Trade unionism
Political positionLeft
National affiliationCommunist Party USA

The Communist Party of Maryland is the regional party of the Communist Party USA in the state of Maryland. Maryland's Communist Party was founded in 1919, the same year as the national party was founded, and is still in operation with its headquarters in Downtown Baltimore.

History

Gubernatorial candidates
Candidate Year Number
Samuel Parker 1930 855 (0.17%)
Bernard Ades 1934 776 (0.15%)
Samuel Gordon 1938 616 (0.11%)

During the 1920s, Lithuanian Hall in the Hollins Market neighborhood was used as a venue for speeches by prominent members of the Communist Party USA, such as William Z. Foster and Juliet Stuart Poyntz. On October 13, 1929, a Jewish branch of the CPUSA hosted a speech by Sol Hurwitz, the editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, and the speech was interrupted by a mob of anti-Communists until the police arrived to disperse them.[1]

In 1934, the lawyer Bernard Ades ran for Governor of Maryland on the Communist Party ticket and received less than 8,000 votes.[2] Despite the support of the African American community, he lost by a significant margin.[3]

From 1937 until the 1940s, the CP of Maryland ran a communist bookstore called the Free State Bookshop. Alexander Munsell and his wife Louise Ellen Munsell ran the bookstore adjacent to the Communist Party headquarters in downtown Baltimore. The Free State Bookshop and another communist bookstore, the Frederick Douglass Bookshop, were monitored by FBI agents and informants. The Frederick Douglass Bookshop was described by the FBI as a “Communist Party literature distribution point in the Negro section of [West] Baltimore.” For a decade these two communist bookstores served as central meeting places for the Baltimore's Communist Party, hosting meetings for party officials and new members.[4]

During his time at the Baltimore School for the Arts in the late 1980s, the rapper Tupac Shakur was affiliated with the Baltimore branch of the Young Communist League USA. The Baltimore Young Communist League is now also known as the Tupac Shakur Club in his honor.[5][6] He began dating the daughter of the director of the Communist Party of Maryland.

Bastfield, Darrin Keith Bastfield (2002). Back in the Day: My Life and Times with Tupac Shakur. Cambridge, Mass. : Da Capo ; London: Kluwer Law International. ISBN 0306812959.

Organizing

The Communist Party of Maryland maintains the Baltimore Young Communist League (Tupac Shakur Club), the local Baltimore affiliate of the Young Communist League USA.

Members

  • Bernard Ades, a lawyer who fought for the rights of African Americans and ran for Governor of Maryland on the Communist Party ticket.
  • Albert Blumberg, a philosopher and political activist who was an official of the Communist Party for several years before joining the Democratic Party as a district leader.
  • Maurice Braverman, a civil rights lawyer and Party lawyer who was convicted in 1952 under the Smith Act, served 28 of 36 months, then immediately faced disbarment, against which he fought in the 1970s and won reinstatement in Maryland (1974) and federal courts (1975).
  • Harold Buchman, an attorney who was also a member of Progressive Citizens of America (founded by former vice president Henry A. Wallace) who was blacklisted by Hollywood and served as the state director of the Maryland Progressive Party.
  • Tupac Shakur, a rapper, writer, and actor who is considered by many to be one of the greatest rappers of all time.

See also

References

  1. ^ Vernon L. Pedersen The Communist Party in Maryland, 1919-1957 (2001) p 45
  2. ^ "Bernard Ades Promises Something". The Afro American. 13 October 1934. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  3. ^ "Bernard Ades to Speak at Forum" (November 24, 1934). Baltimore Afro-American. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  4. ^ "The Forgotten World of Communist Bookstores". Jacobin Magazine. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
  5. ^ Farrar, Jordan (May 13, 2011). "Baltimore students protest cuts". People's World. Chicago, Illinois: Long View Publishing Co. Archived from the original on August 18, 2012. Retrieved May 10, 2019. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Billet, Alexander (May 10, 2019). "'And Still I See No Changes': Tupac's legacy 15 years on". greenleft.org. Archived from the original on May 26, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

Bibliography

  • Committee to Defeat the Smith Act. The Baltimore Smith Act Case: A Constitutional Crossroad, Baltimore, [1952?]
  • Meyers, George A. An Indictment of the Baltimore City Jail, Communist Party of Maryland and Washington, D.C., [195-?]
  • Pedersen, Vernon L. The Communist Party in Maryland, 1919-57, University of Illinois Press, 2001.
  • Skotnes, Adnor. A New Deal for All?: Race and Class Struggles in Depression-era Baltimore, Duke University Press, 2013.
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