Labor Anticommunism in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, 1920–49

Luff, Jennifer

doi:10.1177/0022009416658701

Labor Anticommunism in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, 1920–49

Luff, Jennifer

Authors

Dr Jennifer Luff jennifer.luff@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Abstract

Why did domestic anticommunism convulse the United States of America during the early Cold War but barely ripple in the United Kingdom? Contemporaries and historians have puzzled over the dramatic difference in domestic politics between the USA and the UK, given the countries’ broad alignment on foreign policy toward Communism and the Soviet Union in that era. This article reflects upon the role played by trade unions in the USA and the UK in the development of each country's culture and politics of anticommunism during the interwar years. Trade unions were key sites of Communist organizing, and also of anticommunism, in both the USA and the UK, but their respective labor movements developed distinctively different political approaches to domestic and international communism. Comparing labor anticommunist politics in the interwar years helps explain sharp divergences in the politics of anticommunism in the USA and the UK during the Cold War.

Citation

Luff, J. (2018). Labor Anticommunism in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, 1920–49. Journal of Contemporary History, 53(1), 109-133. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022009416658701

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	May 24, 2016
Online Publication Date	Dec 8, 2016
Publication Date	Jan 1, 2018
Deposit Date	May 24, 2016
Publicly Available Date	May 25, 2016
Journal	Journal of Contemporary History
Print ISSN	0022-0094
Electronic ISSN	1461-7250
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	53
Issue	1
Pages	109-133
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1177/0022009416658701

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Copyright Statement
Luff, Jennifer (2018). Labor Anticommunism in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, 1920–49. Journal of Contemporary History 53(1): 109-133. Copyright © The Author(s) 2016.