Author: Johanningsmeier, Edward P.
Title: Forging American Communism: The Life of William Z. Foster
Description: Princeton, Princeton University Press, (1994). orig.cloth. 24xq16cm, xiv,433 pp. Textual photo illustrations. Some rubbing. Light binding corner bumps. VG. dustwrapper. ¶ Contets: Beginnings; The Syndicalist Leagues; Labor Organizing in "The Jungle"; The Great Steel Strike; Labor Organizer & Communist; The "Free Lance" and the Communist Party; "Phrases Learned in Europe"; The Reluctant Agitator; The Democratic Front; "Browderism"; Unionism, Politics & the Cold War; Final Struggles, Epilogue. ["A major figure in the history of twentieth-century American radicalism, William Z. Foster (1881-1961) fought his way out of the slums of turn-of-the-century Philadelphia to become a professional revolutionary as well as a notorious and feared labor agitator. Drawing on private family papers, FBI files, and recently opened Russian archives, this first full-scale biography traces Foster's early life as a world traveler, railroad worker, seaman, hobo, union activist, and radical journalist, and also probes the origins and implications of his ill-fated career as a top-echelon Communist official and three-time presidential candidate. Even though Foster's long and eventful life ended in Moscow, where he was given a state funeral in Red Square, he was, as portrayed here, a thoroughly American radical. The book not only reveals the circumstances of Foster's poverty-stricken childhood in Philadelphia, but also vividly describes his work and travels in the American West. Also included are fascinating accounts of his early political career as a Socialist, "Wobbly," and anarcho-syndicalist, and of his activities as the architect of giant organizing campaigns by the American Federation of Labor.." - Publisher's description]

Keywords: American Labor History, Revolutionary, Movement Movements, United States, Communist Party, William Z. Foster, Political Biography, Communism, Radical Politics