The Red Corner: The Rise and Fall of Communism in Northeastern Montana - Brossura

Mcdonald, Verlaine Stoner

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0975919679 ISBN 13: 9780975919675

Casa editrice: Montana Historical Society, 2010

Riassunto

As towns in northeastern Montana approach their centennials, The Red Corner chronicles the events of the teens and 1920s that left a permanent mark on the region. Sheridan County was the site of an armed robbery of $100,000 from the county treasury, a Young Communist camp, an adolescent’s ?Bolshevik funeral,” and surveillance by FBI agents who pursued some radical leaders even into the 1960s. The book profiles several influential Communists including a colorful newspaper editor who was elected state senator and later national chairman of the Farmer Labor Party, as well as his comrade, the county sheriff, who was allegedly involved in graft, prostitution, and bootlegging. In spite of its notoriety, the farmers’ movement became one of the nation’s most successful rural Communist organizations during the 1920s.

By the beginning of the Depression decade, however, Communism in northeastern Montana was crippled. The Red Corner details this strange reversal of fortune by examining newspaper accounts, FBI reports, and internal Communist Party files, offering insights on how movements arise, sustain themselves, and decline.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull'autore

Verlaine Stoner McDonald is Associate Professor at Berea College in Kentucky. She was born and raised in Sheridan County, Montana.

Estratto. © Ristampato con autorizzazione. Tutti i diritti riservati.

It was a headline that appalled the residents of Sheridan County, Montana.

When the March 4, 1932 issue of the Producers News was published, much of the nation was gripped by dark events unfolding at home and abroad. The infant son of American icon Charles Lindbergh had been kidnapped and was being held for ransom. The military forces of Imperial Japan were ravaging China. Meanwhile, fifteen million Americans were out of work as the nation's economy teetered on the brink of collapse.

Remarkably, it was a local story in their hometown newspaper that inspired outrage among Sheridan County residents. Headlined, “Bolshevik Funeral for Valiant Young Pioneer,” the story was about fourteen-year-old Janis Salisbury, who had died from complications related to appendicitis. Instead of a church, Salisbury's funeral was held in the local Farmer Labor Temple, and it featured speakers from the local branch of the United Farmers League, affiliated with the Communist Party, as well as members of the local Communist youth group. The editor of the Producers News, a member of the Communist Party, wrote a controversial account of the funeral, describing the service in detail.

This editorial decision would have profound consequences for the Communist farm movement in northeastern Montana, which, in the 1920s, had achieved stunning political success. The “reds” had occupied every elected county office and sent a covert Communist state senator to Helena. Local youths could attend camps where they were actively indoctrinated with Communist ideals, and the radicals' newspaper was circulated nationwide. Janis Salisbury's father, Rodney, was on the ballot in an attempt to become the nation's first Communist governor. Sheridan County was, in the estimation of one historian, “one of the most class-conscious areas in the nation.”

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Montana Historical Society
• Data di pubblicazione: 2010
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0975919679
• ISBN 13: 9780975919675
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 232
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile