Reference Center for Marxist Studies

The Reference Center for Marxist Studies was the library for the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). Holdings include nearly every pamphlet published by the CPUSA as well as those published by European and Latin American parties. Within the collection's broad scope are such subjects as Communist Party activities in the 1910s and 1920s, the Spanish Civil War, labor, peace, civil rights movements, and the struggle against McCarthyism.

The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) was founded in 1919 by members of the left wing of the Socialist Party USA. The CPUSA played an important role in the labor movement, particularly in the building of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, in struggles for civil rights for African Americans, while its cultural initiatives attracted a number of prominent artists and intellectuals, and its struggles to attain and maintain its legality were an important chapter in the history of U.S. civil liberties.

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