Red Scare or Red Menace?: American Communism and Anticommunism in the Cold War Era (American Ways Series) [Hardcover]

John Earl Haynes (Author)

Book Description

Series: American Ways Series | Publication Date: December 1, 1995

A reappraisal of American communism and anticommunism in the cold war era, focusing on episodes, personalities, and institutions, and based upon fresh evidence that overturns a great deal of received wisdom. Haynes argues convincingly that after the Second World War the American Communist Party was indeed a serious danger to the American body politic....He has begun the necessary reexamination of a squalid era. --Ronald Radosh, Times Literary Supplement. American Ways Series.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to Haynes, manuscript historian at the Library of Congress, the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA)?whose membership purportedly never exceeded 70,000?was a definite threat to American security. Newly opened Russian archives reveal, for instance, that the CPUSA worked directly with Soviet intelligence officer Vasily Zubilin, who supervised the theft of atomic bomb secrets, and that the CPUSA, which was financed by Moscow, also provided recruits for Soviet intelligence agencies engaged in espionage against the U.S. Outlining reasons for the party's decline after its peak in the 1940s, Haynes cites the failure of Henry Wallace's Progressive Party presidential campaign in 1948, Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin and the massive FBI penetration of the CPUSA. Controversially, Haynes concludes that, despite its excesses during the McCarthy era, the anticommunism of the '40s and '50s was not entirely irrational, given the links between the CPUSA and Soviet espionage.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In 1992, historian Haynes (affiliated with the Library of Congress) was granted access to Soviet archival materials on the American Communist party. He argues in this book that the Soviet Union virtually controlled the activities of the party in the United States, and therefore the party posed a serious threat to U.S. internal security. He documents cases of Communist infiltration of the U.S. government and concludes that Alger Hiss was indeed a Soviet spy and that the party had a hand in stealing secret U.S. atom bomb information during World War II. While Haynes concentrates on Communist activity during the 1940s and 1950s, he also examines the origins of American communism and the key events leading up to?and influencing?the Cold War. More important, Haynes documents the major anti-Communist activities of the period?chiefly within Congress and the labor movement. Even though this is not an exhaustive history of American communism, it will provoke a rethinking of recent U.S. history. Recommended for academic libraries.?Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, Pa.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 223 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee (December 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566630908
• ISBN-13: 978-1566630900
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,751,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Earl Haynes is Modern Political Historian in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. He received his Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. from Florida State University in 1966.
Web: johnearlhaynes.org

Dr. Haynes is the author of eleven books:
11. Spies: the Rise and Fall of the KGB in America (coauthors Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev, Yale University Press, 2009)
10. Early Cold War Spies: the Espionage Trials that Shaped American Politics (coauthor H. Klehr, Cambridge University Press, 2006)
9. In Denial: Historians, Communism and Espionage (coauthor H. Klehr, Encounter Books, 2002)
8. Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America (coauthor H. Klehr, Yale University Press, 1999)
7. Calvin Coolidge and the Coolidge Era: Essays on the History of the 1920s (editor, Library of Congress and the University Press of New England, 1998)
6. The Soviet World of American Communism (coauthors H. Klehr and Kyrill Anderson, Yale University Press, 1998)
5. Red Scare or Red Menace? American Communism and Anticommunism in the Cold War Era (Ivan Dee Pub., 1996)
4. The Secret World of American Communism (coauthors H. Klehr and Fridrikh Firsov, Yale University Press, 1995)
3. The American Communist Movement: Storming Heaven Itself (coauthor H. Klehr, Twayne Pub., 1992)
2. Communism and Anti-Communism in the United States: An Annotated Guide to Historical Writings (Garland Pub., 1987, editor and compiler)
1. Dubious Alliance: The Making of Minnesota's DFL Party (University of Minnesota Press, 1984)
He has also authored as of 2009 seventy-four published articles and essays along with a number of web-only essays.

Dr. Haynes is also a member of the editorial boards of the journals American Communist History, The International Newsletter of Communist Studies, and the Jahrbuch für Historische Kommunismusforschung as well as on-line editor of the historical discussion list on American communism, H-HOAC. He was the Library of Congress's historical representative to the Incomka Project (International Committee for the Computerization of the Comintern Archive).

In addition to his historical activities, Dr. Haynes has served as the Assistant Commissioner for Tax Policy in the Revenue Department of the State of Minnesota, director of local aid in the Finance Department of the State of Minnesota, staff aide to two Minnesota governors, one U.S. Senator, and one U.S. Representative from Minnesota and researcher for a caucus of the Minnesota State Senate. He also served in staff positions on the Anderson For Governor Committee (Minnesota) and the Minnesota Humphrey for President Committee

Customer Reviews

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Balanced Than You'd Think, May 28, 2010

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Doctor D "Doctor D" (secaucus, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Red Scare or Red Menace?: American Communism and Anticommunism in the Cold War Era (American Ways Series) (Paperback)

I think that liberals would find this book informative. Haynes gives considerable credit to the post-WW II left and organized labor for preventing communists from establishing any insitutional foothold in American society. Unlike others, who in simplistic fashion, dismiss the American left during the late 1940s to mid 50s as being "soft" on communism, Haynes provides a detailed analysis of the efforts of anti-communist liberals to root out the "popular fronters" which in part were members of the CPUSA. Personally, I'm a conservative but somewhat weary of the wholesale bashing of the entire left by the likes of Hannity, Limbaugh, and the rest. By giving the liberals due credit in the fight against communisim, Haynes elevates and legitimizes anti-communism.

That's just one aspect of this brief but very fruitful work. In line with his other writings, he continues to demonstrate that the threat of communisim was real and severe following World War II and not the product of hysteria. He does, however, separate some fact from fiction. For example, despite the presence of communists in the film industry, Haynes concludes that they were not particularly successful in producing much in the way of meaningful propaganda. He also provides a rather comprehensive discussion of the causes of anti-communism during the early stages of the Cold War and separates fact from fiction.

While discussing communism as a real threat, Haynes does not glorify Joseph McCarthy in the process. As William F. Buckley once noted, McCarthy could be summed up as being the "wrong messenger with the right message." He also takes the G.O.P. to task for making anti-communism a partisan issue but does conclude in the end that they were instrumental in exposing Hiss and the Rosenbergs.

Early in his discussion, Haynes provides a very interesting juxtaposition of how we dealt with the issue of a feared Nazi fifth column in America during the war years with the effort to root out communists in the aftermath. He concludes that many of the same people who cried "witch hunt" during the McCarthy era were extremely tolerant of wholesale civil rights violations of those who were both rightfully and wrongfully accused of being sympathetic to Hitler and Germany.

Although only employing two hundred pages of text, Haynes has provided a very rich, fact-based book that is not only informative but an inviting read. Conservatives will, by inclination, gravitate to this work, but I think that liberals would be well-served to examine it as well.

5.0 out of 5 stars "RED MENACE", October 27, 2011

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oswegodon - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Red Scare or Red Menace?: American Communism and Anticommunism in the Cold War Era (American Ways Series) (Paperback)

If you know any unreconstructed lefties out there who still think Alger Hiss was innocent buy this and send it to them (after you've read it of course).

The Venona Papers, the papers of the Communist Party-USA, and the KGB files, all of which came out in teh late 90's, have made the correction of history for the cold War era a cottage industry for my Haynes and his co-author Harvey Klehr. They have at least five original works, to date, setting the record straight once and for all.

There are still those out there who are in denial.