{"product_id":"black-liberation-red-scare-ben-davis-and-the-communist-party-9780717808915","title":"Black Liberation \/ Red Scare: Ben Davis and the Communist Party","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlack Liberation\/Red Scare is a study of an African American Communist leader, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBen Davis, Jr. (1904-64). Though it examines the numerous grassroots campaigns \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethat he was involved in, it is first and foremost a study of the man and secondarily a \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003estudy of the Communist party from the 1930s to the 1960s. By examining the public \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003elife of an important party leader, Gerald Horne uniquely approaches the story of how \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand why the party rose and fell.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBen Davis, Jr., was the son of a prominent Atlanta publisher and businessman who \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewas also the top African American leader of the Republican party until the onset of \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe Great Depression. Davis was trained for the black elite at Morehouse, Amherst, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand Harvard Law School. After graduating from Harvard, he joined the Communist \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eparty, where he remained as one of its most visible leaders for thirty years. In 1943, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eafter being endorsed by his predecessor, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., he was elected to \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe New York City Council from Harlem and subsequently reelected by a larger \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emargin in 1945. Davis received support from such community figures as NAACP \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eleader Roy Wilkins, boxer Joe Louis, and musician Duke Ellington. While on the \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecouncil Davis fought for rent control and progressive taxation and struggled against \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etransit fare hikes and police brutality.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith the onset of the Red Scare and the Cold War, Davis-like the Communist party itself\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewas marginalized. The Cold War made it difficult for the U.S. to compete with Moscow for\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe hearts and minds of African Americans while they were subjected to third-class\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecitizenship at home. Yet in return for civil rights concessions, African American organizations\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esuch as the NAACP were forced to distance themselves from figures such as Ben Davis. In\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1949 he was ousted unceremoniously (and perhaps illegally from the City Council. He was\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eput on trial, jailed in 1951, and not released until 1956, when the civil rights movement was\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003egathering momentum. His friendship with the King family, based upon family ties in Atlanta, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewas the ostensible cause for the FBI surveillance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCOINTEL-PRO, the counterintelligence program of the FBI, which was aimed initially at\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe CPUSA, made sure to keep a close eye on Davis as well. But when the civil rights\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emovement reached full strength in the 1960s Davis's controversial appearances at college\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecampuses helped to set the stage for a new era of activism at universities.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDavis died in 1964. According to Horne, the time has now come when he, along with \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehis good friend Paul Robeson and W. E. B. DuBois, should be regarded as a premier leader \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eof African- Americans and the U.S. Left during the twentieth century\u003cstrong\u003e.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"International Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50930161910034,"sku":"9780717808915","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bf190ff0-a8a9-424c-ae35-13751eb2be47.jpg?v=1739065771","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/black-liberation-red-scare-ben-davis-and-the-communist-party-9780717808915","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}