Communist Rhetoric and Feminist Voices in Cold War America

This book explores how women within the male-dominated Communist Party in the United States built a home for feminist ideology and practice during the early Cold War. It explores how, in articles and petitions, women carefully crafted voices that spoke to the party’s concerns while challenging its theoretical and practical limitations..

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This book tells the story of a group of women affiliated with the United States Communist Party (CPUSA) who used a variety of rhetorical resources to build credibility and transform the party into a vibrant dwelling place for feminist discourse and activism during a conservative period. It evidences Communist women’s significant and creative resistance to Cold War society and its visions of appropriate, “normal” womanhood alongside their pleas for class and race consciousness in a country that took for granted the white, middle-class aspirations of citizens. Drawing on Marxist theory, transnational coalitions, and Cold War culture, Communist women’s rhetorical strategies were incredibly powerful, and this book provides insight into how they catalyzed changes in a rigid political movement by establishing a platform for their radical ideals.