Anthracite Reds Vol. 2

Anthracite Reds, Vol. 2, is a documentary history of Communists in the Pennsylvania hard coal fields during the Great Depression decade, the “heyday of American Communism.” During the 20th century about one million Americans passed through the Communist Party of the United States [CPUSA]. In the first half of the century in the Pennsylvania anthracite, hundreds of men and women, mostly Eastern and Southern European immigrants who lived and worked in the region, also joined the CPUSA. Many books have been written about American communism in diverse regional settings; yet, no author has penned a volume that deals with these American radicals in one of 20th century America’s major industrial centers, the anthracite fields of northeastern Pennsylvania.