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Communism and Race Relations in the Twentieth Century

In the book Native Son, we are introduced to the hostile climate of America in the year 1940 through the eyes of Bigger Thomas. Throughout the story, we see displays of this hostility in either explicit social forms or in deeper, more systemic structures. However, the main constant is that the climate of America during this time is extremely unaccepting of ________. The expected answer here would be African Americans, but this statement works just as well for communists. Richard Wright makes it extremely clear that both of these groups are extremely hated in the broader American society, and that while their circumstances aren't exactly equal, they are comparable to an extent. However, there exists a dynamic between these two groups. The Communist Party of the United States of America was a supporter of equal rights for African Americans, which is displayed very clearly throughout the entire story. Jan, Mary, and Max are the main examples of this attitude. Throughout the story, we see how the treatment of communists and African Americans mirror each other. When Bigger says that Jan is the one who killed Mary, the reporters look for every bit of evidence that incriminates him and attempt to portray communists as a whole in a negative light. Likewise, we see Bigger instantly accused of rape despite there not being any evidence implying so. 

This is compounded by the fact that many Americans came to view equal rights as communist in nature, and thus became even more reluctant to accept African Americans. Race relations became yet another point of division between the Americans and communists, to the point where the Soviet Union even incorporated it into their anti-American propaganda:

Bigger even utilizes this when he is attempting to frame Jan. He says that Jan forced him to eat with him and Mary, which a reporter responds with: "'Good God!' said one of the men, 'What a story! Don't you see it? These Negroes want to be left alone and these Reds are forcing 'em to live with 'em, see? Every wire in the country'll carry it!'" The matter of equal rights is used against communists, to make them look like the oppressors against black communities. This is shown yet again when the judge asks Jan if he supports equal rights for African Americans, and the room stirred when he said that he did. Throughout the entire court case, the judge combines the anti-communist sentiment and racist viewpoint towards African-Americans to turn essentially everyone against Bigger, Jan, and Max. The court scene perfectly encompasses the struggles of both of these groups in America during this time. In a way, it encompasses the experiences of both open communists and African Americans: an unwinnable battle with all odds stacked against them.

Native Son portrays the inequality facing both African Americans and communists in twentieth-century America through both social lenses - the media - and systemic ones - the judicial system. The story ends in an extremely bitter tone, with Bigger sent off to die and Max continuing to fight against a system that was against him from the beginning. This book was written to send a message, and send a message it did. The fact that it was so controversial was proof of that, and it became a part of the ongoing struggle against institutional injustice in America. We can only hope that his book is never forgotten and remains a reminder of what we worked so hard to change.

Comments

  1. MitchellSeptember 23, 2021 at 3:04 PM

    The fact that Max is both a communist and a Jew is an important aspect to consider when we think about him "speaking for" Bigger in court. He does willingly align himself with very unpopular and hated elements of society, and he receives death threats and anti-Semitic abuse for his efforts. Wright doesn't depict Max as an entirely unproblematic hero-figure, in my view, but there is an element of heroism in his defense of Bigger: none of the more mainstream civil-rights groups or Black religious leaders in Chicago want anything to do with Bigger Thomas, but the CPUSA--as they did with the Scotsboro Boys and many other defendants in this period--go all in on his defense. Bigger doesn't know anything about Communist ideology, but he knows that they are hated by other white people--and as you say, he eagerly uses this information to try to frame Jan. He knows he can easily get the cops after Jan once they suspect a communist is involved, and it's part of his "playing dumb" act to play on their assumptions that he wouldn't be capable of acting alone.

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