Communist Front? The Civil Rights Congress, 1946-1956 provides an essential analysis of one of the most important but understudied organizations of the twentieth century. This pivotal formation tirelessly advocated for the rights of Blacks, Communists, and other oppressed and marginalized groups; brought national attention to some of the most egregious frame-ups and miscarriages of justice, from Rosa Lee Ingram to Willie McGee; and helped to internationalize the struggle for Black liberation with the We Charge Genocide petition. It is no wonder, then, that as the Cold War heated up and anticommunist repression reached a fever pitch, the CRC came under constant government surveillance and attack that ultimately led to its untimely demise in 1956.

Gerald Horne holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He has published more than 30 books including The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the USA (NYU Press, 2014) and Black Revolutionary: William Patterson and the Globalization of the African American Freedom Struggle (University of Illinois Press, 2013).