Episode Recording -- "Communism and its Influence for the Civil Rights Movement"

What is communism? - 0:33-2:14

This section will not only dive into the background surrounding communism, but begin

introducing the ideas of communism within the civil rights movement. Communism is a foreign

topic that will be explained with a brief background to insure you have a better understanding

when we get into the civil rights movement.

What are the pros and cons of communism? - 2:14-4:15

Pros and cons of communism, but bet you didn't know there were any pros! Good thing this

section will cover a pro of communism and how it was used throughout history, specifically

within the civil rights movement.

The background of Malcolm: - 4:15-6:00

The background of Malcolm will go over someone whom I think is important to know about

when talking about communism and the civil rights movement. I will be going through a brief

background of Malcolm X, followed up by his connection to not only communism, but the civil

rights movement as well.

How does the NAACP connect to Malcolm and his ideas? - 6:00-6:45

This last section will leave you with the ability to talk about a prominent group during the civil

rights movement, the NAACP. Gathering information from people who may have criticized this

group, or even those in favor, the background of this group is very important in shaping Malcolm

X and the civil rights movement.

Hey everyone, It’s Kennedy and welcome back to my podcast. I am currently a student in Dr.

Maginn’s United States History class, and today I am going to be focusing on two topics that

appear irrelevant to one another. Today's topic is about communism in relation to the Civil

Rights Movement. Although the idea of communism was seen as a threat to mankind, the

ideas under it aided the Civil Rights Movement. Yes this sounds a little bit crazy, but trust me

when I say that Communism did have a big influence on the Civil Rights Movement, whether

good or bad. Today I am going to be focussing on a certain leader, Malcolm X, to better your

understanding of how communism aided the civil rights movement.

0:00-2:14

What is communism?

To start off the podcast you may be wondering, so Kennedy, what really is Communism? Well

let’s go through a broad introduction. Communism as a whole is a theory that really believes in a

classless system. Those who believe in communism are most likely to not think they're in the

wrong as communism was sought to make everyone “equal”

. Communism was defined as a

“dictatorship of the proletariat.

" which means as a whole, it is ruled by one person [“WHAT IS

COMMUNISM?” Current History 27, no. 159 (1954): 265–66]. Communism would become the

most significant new political movement of the twentieth century, and it not only developed over

time, but it adopted more ideas along the way [George Brown Tindall and David E. Shi, America

:A Narrative History, Ninth edition, (New York City, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013),

995]. When I first hear the word communism I think of a certain person who criticized the ideas

of communism when it was first introduced in America. This person Was Joseph McCarthy, a

US senator who you might recall when you hear about “The Red Scare” [Joseph McCarthy,

“Joseph McCarthy on Communism (1950),

” in The American Yawp Reader, eds, Joseph Locke

and Ben Wright, Chapter 25: The Cold War, accessed April 22, 2025]. McCarthy was one of the

people criticizing Communism from a fear that it will spread throughout all of America. He

described communism as a “disease” and mentioned how communism said “The time is now” to

affect those in America [Joseph McCarthy, Speech at the Republican Women's Club of

Wheeling, West Virginia, February 9, 1950, in U.S. Senate Historical Office,

“Communists in

Government Service,

” United States Senate]. McCarthy also reported the number of people

living under communist rule had “increased by 400 percent since 1945” [BRENNAN, MARY C.

“THE COLD WAR WORLD.

” In Wives, Mothers, and the Red Menace: Conservative Women

and the Crusade against Communism, 13–30, University Press of Colorado, 2008] which just

shows how crazy this idea can spread. When relating this to civil rights, some were afraid of

communism spreading through the Civil Rights Movement, as many Black Americans used

these theories to support their protests. I know this is a lot of broad information being thrown at

you, but I promise it will help you in the next topic revolving around the Civil Rights Movement.

2:14-4:15The next topic I have for you guys is based around a question I was asking myself during my

research about communism, what are the pros and cons of communism?

As you can probably gather now, Communism has a very bad reputation in the US, but not

many people realize how useful the Communist theory was for African Americans seeking

equality. The civil rights movement not only took the Communist theory, but adopted and

adapted it to benefit those struggling. This is a Pro of communism as many people, Malcolm X

being one of them, used the communist idea of equality to promote equal rights within America.

Communism is obviously supportive of the whole idea of equality, so when those fighting for civil

rights needed help getting their points across, they turned to communism ideas to aid their

movements.

4:15-6:00

The background of Malcolm

One person I want to bring into this podcast was a leader by the name of Malcolm X. I

wanted to bring him up as a specific person you could refer to if asked about the ties between

communism and civil rights!

Malcolm X is one specific person I want to focus on in this podcast due to him being an

advocate in the civil rights movements, along with ties to communism. You are probably

wondering how in the world he connects to communism so here is a background of him for

those who don't know. Malcolm began his “communism journey” when he started to follow

Elijah Muhammad, leader of the NOI (nation of islam), while he was in jail [Epps, Archie C,

“The Rhetoric of Malcolm X” Harvard Review, no. 3 (1993): 64–75].

*audio clip* [ Black Journals,

Malcolm X: The Painful Truth About Race in America, YouTube video, 31-32, 21 April 2025].

The FBI even opened a file on Malcolm X due to his communist ties, leading to him being a

threat to America. Malcolm X not only put forth his ideas, which were communism, on many

people, he also wanted to approach the situations with a more non-violent approach to grab

attention. He saw the oppression of Black people in America as part of a global system of racial

and economic domination, which aligned with many of the anti-colonial and socialist movements

of the era. Unlike mainstream Civil Rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr, who focused

on integration and nonviolence, Malcolm X advocated for Black self determination, self defense,

and, at times, separation. His emphasis on systemic injustice and his internationalist

perspective brought him closer to revolutionary movements, including those influenced by

communism, especially after his break with the NOI. In his later years, Malcolm increasingly

framed the Black struggle in global terms, drawing parallels between African American

oppression and third-world liberation movements, thereby positioning himself as a bridge

between the Civil Rights Movement and global revolutionary thought.

6:00-6:45

How does the NAACP connect to Malcolm and his ideas?

Diving into an article, Black Power, and the roots of the african american freedom

struggle” we can see how many said: “the Negro must protect himself”

, indicating a lack of effort

put forth into protecting those advocating for their rights, since everyone assumed they were all

communist [Timothy B. Tyson,

"Robert F. Williams,

'Black Power,

' and the Roots of the African

American Freedom Struggle,

" Journal of American History 85, no. 2 (September 1998): 545].The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was investigated

due their communism ties just like Malcolm was later in his life and was “attacked as being a

communist organization.

” [Dr. Andrew Maginn,

“final paper format,

” History 202: History of the

United States II,(class lecture, Sewanee:The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee,

March 25, 2025]. The NAACP not only used their platform to solve equality issues, but they did

so through the idea of communism [ Wilson Record, Race and Radicalism: The NAACP and the

Communist Party in Conflict (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1964), 452-454]. Many

people did not like seeing groups in America be formed surrounding the ideas of communism,

so the group eventually met its downfall [Federal Bureau of Investigation, COINTELPRO: Black

Nationalist – Hate Groups, c. 1967–1971, accessed April 23, 2025]. This group was used to

spread awareness for this inequality, but some members stated that “black people must meet

violence with violence”

, indicating a sense of brutality [Robin D.G. Kelley and Betsy Esch,

"Black

Like Mao: Red China and Black Revolution,

" Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture,

and Society 1, no. 4 (1999): 6–41]. A fun fact, a relatively large proportion of the NAACP

founders were white women which helped get their point across easier as women were

struggling with their own rights [Record, Wilson.

“Negro Intellectual Leadership in the National

Association for the Advancement of Colored People: 1910-1940.

” Phylon 17, no. 4 (1956):

375–89].

6:45-7:10

Conclusion

I hope you found this episode pretty interesting!

I myself would have never guessed the influence that communism had on the Civil Rights

movement, and I'm so happy I got the chance to share this with you all!! Please like and

subscribe to my channel if you want to learn more about our history, thanks for listening!

Closing

2025.8:17

Harcourt, Kennedy, host.Communism and its Influence for the Civil Rights Movement.April 24,Podcast Transcript

0:00-37:66

Hey everyone it's Kennedy and welcome back to my podcast um today we’re gonna be focusing

on two sort of main topics and how they relate to one another, and these topics are communism

and The Civil rights movement. Although the idea of communism were seen as a threat to

mankind, the ideas under it actually aided the civil rights movement. Yes this sounds a little bit

crazy, but trust me when I say that communism did have a big influence on the civil rights

movement. Today I am going to be focusing on a certain leader by the name of Malcolm X, a

certain group called the NAACP, to just better your understanding of how communism ended the

civil rights movement.

37:66-2:22.73

To start us off you're probably wondering, kennedy what is communism? Well let's go through a

broad introduction. Communism as a whole is a theory that really believes in a classless

system. Those who believe in communism are more likely to think theyre not in the wrong as

communism was sought to make everyone equal. Communism was defined as a “dictatorship of

the proletariat” which means as a whole, it is ruled by one person which goes along with the

whole idea of a classless system. Think of a king ruling a kingdom. The king makes all of the

decisions and that sort of is what communism is. Communism would eventually become the

most significant political movement of the twentieth century and it not only developed over time,

but it adopted more ideas along the way. When i first hear the word communism i think of a

certain person who criticised the ideas of communism when it was first introduced in america.

This pearson was no one other than joseph mccarthy. He was a US senator who you might

recall when you hear the phrase “the red scare”

. Mccarthy was one of the people criticizing

communism due to a fear that it would spread throughout all of america. He described

communism as a disease and mentioned how communism said “the time is now” to affect those

in america. This goes along with the whole idea of the disease and whatever whatever…

McCarthy, he saw communism as a domino effect where if one person in America was affected

and turned to communism, he thought that everyone else in America would follow.

2:22.73-2:45.78

Um there are a lot of ways to relate communism to the civil rights movement and a lot of people

were afraid of communism spreading in America because of the civil rights movement because

many black Americans used communist theories to support their protest and ideas… I know this

is a lot of broad information being thrown at you, but I promise it will help you in the next topic

revolving around the civil rights movement.

2:45.78-3:37.28

Before we get into the civil rights movement, you’re probably now asking yourself what are the

pros and cons of communism because I basically just said how it was bad, it would spread, blah

blah blah. But as you can gather now communism has a very bad reputation in the US, but it did

benefit those in the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement not only took the

communist theory but they adapted it to benefit those struggling. This is a pro of communism asmany people, Malcolm X being one of them. Who ill get into it a little bit use the communist idea

of equality to promote equal rights within america. Communism is obviously Supportive of the

whole idea of equality so when those fighting for civil rights needed help getting their points

lacrosse, they turned to communism ideas to aid their movements.

3:37.28-6:17.97

One person I want to bring into this podcast that I mentioned earlier is a leader by the name of

Malcolm X. I wanted to bring him up as a specific person you could refer to if someone asks you

about the ties between communism and civil rights. So what is the background of malcolm x.

Malcolm X is one specific person I want to focus on, due to him being an advocate in the civil

rights movement, along with having ties to communism. You're probably wondering how in the

world he actually connects to communism, if he advocated for civil rights,but here is a little

background of how he began his quote on quote “communism journey” malcolm x when he was

jail started following a leader by the name of elijah muhammad who was a leader of the NOI, for

those of you who don't know that stands for the nation of islam um here is actually a little clip of

him confirming that he followed elijah as some people said that he didn't, um but here is him

saying it himself “should be pointed out at the oscar that I represent the honorable elijah

muhammad” i know that clip wawa probably a little bit stuffy, but that is because elijah said this

at a time where many americans were kinds of like hold up he's communism or he’s communist

for supporting elijah um which did leave to the FBI ended up opening a file on malcolm x due to

his communist ties and this lead to him being known as a threat t o america. Malcolm x not only

put forth his ideas which were communism on many people but he also wanted to approach the

situations in a more non-violent approach to grab attention. He saw the oppression of black

people in America as part of a global system of racial and economic domination which aligned

with many of the anti-colonial and socialist movements of the era. He was pretty different from

someone who everyone should know, martin luther king jr, which um mlk focused on integration

and non-violence and malcolm x advocated for black self determination, self defense, and at

times separation which was not appealing to the fbi as it was a more non-violent approach and

when malcolm said that he wanted to have a non-violent ap- or sorry said that he wanted to

have a violent approach to things, and also supported communism ideas this was very bad look

for people in the civil rights movement.

6:17.97-7:49.85

So how does the NAACP connect to Malcolm and his ideas? Um the NAACP which is the

national association for the advancement of colored people, it was a group that was investigated

due to their communism ties, just like Malcolm was later in his life. This group was attacked as

being a communist organization the NCAAP not only used their platform to solve equality

Issues but they did so through the idea of communism which led to them being investigated.

Many people doid not like seeing groups in America surrounding the ideas of communism so

this is why this group eventually met its downfall. This group was used to spread awareness for

inequality but some members stated that quote “black people must meet violence with violence”

.

End quote, indicating a sense of brutality which was also not a good sign for the group. A fun

fact is that um a relatively large portion of the NCAAP founders were white women which

helped get their point across easier as women were struggling with their own rights but this wasnot a good sign for the group. Since the NAACP had ties to communism when a lot of white

women came out as helping this group many of those people in America thought that this would

lead to a bigger spread of communism as it was affecting white people as well.

7:49.85-8:17

Well i hope you found this episode pretty interesting i myself would have never guessed the

influences that communism had on the civil rights movement and i'm so happy i got the chance

to share this with you all please like a subscribe to my channel if you wanna learn more about

our history thanks for listening and i hope you can pass this information along to everyone else

who's interested cause i think it is a pretty interesting little topic, sooo thanks for listening, bye

guys !