Darcy, Samuel, 1905-

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Darcy was a Communist Party activist.

From the description of Oral history interviews with Samuel Adams Darcy, 1970 September 18 and 1971 March 23. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 31484957

Samuel Adams Darcy was born as Samuel Dardeck in 1905 in the Ukraine of Jewish-socialist background was a leading official of the CPUSA from 1925-44 and also headed the Communist International's Anglo-American Secretariat (1935-38). He was head of the Young Workers League (1925-27), led the Party's California district from 1931-36, and the Eastern Pennsylvania district from 1939-44. He was active in Party education work as head of the Workers School (c1930), and as National Education Director (1938). A friend of William Z. Foster and like him a long-time opponent of Party head Earl Browder, he was expelled in 1944. He became a successful furniture merchant and Democratic party activist.

From the description of Papers, 1924-1985 (bulk 1930-1945). (New York University). WorldCat record id: 478373358

Sam Adams Darcy (1905-2005), born Samuel Dardeck in the Ukraine of Jewish background was a leading official of the CPUSA for some twenty years (1925-44), and also held a number of important positions in the Communist International. Darcy was an effective organizer, talented public speaker and a prolific and vivid writer with a flair for dramatization. From 1925-27 he was head of the Party's youth organization, the Young Workers League. Along with William Z. Foster, his friend and ally in intra-party struggle against CP head Earl Browder, he organized in New York City in March 1930 the first mass unemployed demonstration.

From 1931-36 Darcy headed the second largest Party district, California, where he personally participated in the organizing of agricultural workers and the related successful struggle against California's criminal syndicalism law. As head of the California Party organization, he also played a leading role in the longshore and San Francisco general strike of 1934. That year Darcy was the Party's gubernatorial candidate, after unsuccessfully arguing within the party's central committee for a united front with Upton Sinclair's EPIC (End Poverty in California) movement.

Darcy's visibility in California was a factor in his becoming one of several Party leaders who faced legal action after the Russo-German treaty of 1939 placed the CPUSA in sharp opposition to American foreign policy. In September 1940 Darcy was indicted on charges of perjury for allegedly having incorrectly stated his name and birthplace in registering to vote in California in 1934, and spent six weeks in jail, until September 1941.

From 1939-44 Darcy led the Party's fourth largest district, Eastern Pennsylvania, and was heavily involved in electoral work, notably the Party's campaign to defeat the 1943 Democratic nominee for mayor of Philadelphia, William C. Bullitt. Darcy's continuing interest in educational work was reflected in his role as leader of the New York Workers School in 1930, CP National Education Director (1938), and in numerous lectures given at Party run workers schools in New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Darcy also maintained friendships and correspondence with a number of important non-communist progressives, including author Lincoln Steffens, songwriter Yip Harburg and Otto Nathan, executor of the estate of Albert Einstein.

In 1927-28 and again in 1935-38 Darcy worked in Moscow for the Communist International, serving during his second trip as head of its Anglo-American secretariat, after attending the 7th congress of the CI as a delegate from the US. On both occasions Darcy met with Stalin.

In early 1944 Darcy and Foster stood alone among the Party leadership in opposition to Browder's estimation of the prospects for post-war American-Soviet harmony. While Foster retreated in the face of overwhelming opposition, Darcy resigned his party offices in protest and shortly thereafter was expelled from the CPUSA by the vote of a commission which his friend Foster was required to chair. Although politically vindicated a year later when Browder was removed from the Party leadership, Darcy did not rejoin the party. Among the factors for this were his belief that the repudiation of Browder's policies was incomplete, and a request by the new leader, Eugene Dennis, to examine a manuscript Darcy had been working on since his expulsion. Darcy for a time maintained some contacts with other "left-wing" expellees, such as William Dunne and Charles Keith. He later became a successful furniture merchant and became active in the Democratic party.

Chonology

1917: Joins Young Peoples Socialist League (YPSL) 1921: Joins Workers Party (later Communist Party), December, 1921 1925-27: Head, Young Workers League (later Young Communist League); on CPUSA Politburo as YWL representative 1926: Marries Emma Blechschmidt 1927-28: On exec. committee, Young Communist International; Moscow, chair International Childrens Committee (YCI); travels to China and Philippines 1929-30: New York City; briefly editor of the Daily Worker, head NY Workers school 1930: Head; International Labor Defense 1931-36: Head; California district, CPUSA (also included Nevada and Arizona) 1935-38: Moscow; 7th congress Communist International, head, Anglo-American Secretariat 1938: CPUSA National Edcuation Director; Central Committee representative for Minnesota-Wisconsin-Dakotas district 1938-39: Demoted form full Central Committee member to alternate 1929-44: Eastern Pennsylvania district head 1944: Expelled from CPUSA 1945: Declines to rejoin CPUSA

Sources:

''Agricultural strikes,'' Party Organizer, Aug-Sep (1933), 82-83. ''The big stick in Latin America - its size and cost,'' Workers Monthly, March (1926), 215-218. The Battle for Production (New York, Workers Library Publishers, 1942), 47 pp. The Challenge of Youth; Why Every Young Worker Should Join the Young Workers Communist League (Chicago, Ill., Young Workers Communist League of America, 1926), 52 p. ''The elections in Philadelphia,'' The Communist, December (1943), 1121-1132. An Eye_Witness at the Wreckers' Trial (New York : Workers Library Publishers, 1937), 63 p. ''The Great West Coast Maritime Strike,'' The Communist, 13:7 (1934), 664-686. Introduction to Politics. Part 1, A Critique of American Capitalism, assisted by Ernest Pendrell. (Philadelphia, Pa. : Philadelphia Workers School and School of Social Science, 1940), 174, [1] leaves. ''Join the army-,'' Workers Monthly, May (1926), 315-318. ''Native daughter-Communist Party founder and leader,'' Communist, Oct (1942), 849-856. Anita Whitney. ''The San Francisco Bay Area General Strike,'' The Communist, 13:10 (1934), 985-1004. Late Afternoon for the Nation_State; A Study of the Origins, Growth, Present Position and Possible Future of the Nation_State as a Form of Social Organization (New York, Cromwell Books, 1972), 408 p. ''What's Happening in the U.S.S.R? (New York, Workers Library Publishers, 1937), 15 pp.

From the guide to the Samuel Adams Darcy Papers, Bulk, 1930-1945, 1924-1985, bulk 1930-1945, (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Isserman, Maurice. Which side were you on? : the American Communist Party during the Second World War : interview transcripts and summaries, 1977-1978. Churchill County Museum
creatorOf Guide to the Sam Adams Darcy Papers, 1924-1985 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Guide to the Labor Research Association Records, 1914-2009 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
creatorOf Darcy, Samuel, 1905-. Sam Darcy. Oral History, November, 19. 1975, 1975. Cornell University Library
referencedIn Draper, Theodore, 1912-2006. Theodore Draper research files, 1919-1970. Emory University. Special Collections and Archives
referencedIn Guide to the William Francis Dunne Papers, 1914-1951 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Guide to the Oral History of the American Left Collection, 1940-2011 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Guide to the William Francis Dunne Papers, 1914-1951 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Guide to the Labor Research Association Records, 1914-2009 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
creatorOf Darcy, Samuel, 1905-. Correspondence with Theodore Dreiser, 1932. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn Dunne, William F. Papers, 1914-1951. Churchill County Museum
referencedIn Earl Browder Papers, 1879-1990 Syracuse University. Library. Special Collections Research Center
creatorOf Darcy, Samuel, 1905-. Oral history interviews with Samuel Adams Darcy, 1970 September 18 and 1971 March 23. Pennsylvania State University Libraries
creatorOf Guide to the Tamiment Library Poster and Broadside Collection, 1904-1991 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Guide to the Labor Research Association Records, 1914-2009 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Guide to the Daniel Bell Research Files on U.S. Communism, Socialism, and the Labor Movement, 1886-1980 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Dunne, William F. Papers, 1914-1981 (bulk 1918-1946). Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives
Dunne, William F. Papers, 1914-1981 (bulk 1918-1946). Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives
creatorOf Guide to the Sam Adams Darcy Papers, 1924-1985 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Amter, I. (Israel), b. 1881. person
associatedWith Baldwin, Roger N. (Roger Nash), 1884-1981. person
associatedWith Bedacht, Max, 1883-1972. person
associatedWith Belfrage, Cedric, 1904- person
associatedWith Bell, Daniel, 1919- person
associatedWith Browder, Earl, 1891-1973. person
associatedWith Communist Party of the United States of America corporateBody
associatedWith Communist Party of the United States of America (Calif.) corporateBody
associatedWith Communist Party of the United States of America (Pa.) corporateBody
associatedWith Communist Party of the United States of America (Penn.). corporateBody
associatedWith Dennis, Eugene, 1905- person
associatedWith Draper, Theodore, 1912-2006. person
correspondedWith Dunne, William F. person
associatedWith Dunne, William F. person
associatedWith Dunne, William Francis, 1887-1953 person
associatedWith Filippelli, Ronald L., person
associatedWith Foster William Z., 1881-1961. person
associatedWith Gallagher, Leo. person
associatedWith Harburg, E. Y. (Edgar Yipsel), 1898-1981. person
associatedWith Hudson, Roy. person
associatedWith Isserman, Maurice. person
associatedWith Labor Research Association (U.S.) corporateBody
associatedWith Lovestone, Jay. person
associatedWith Minor, Robert, 1884-1952. person
associatedWith Mooney, Thomas J., 1882-1942. person
associatedWith Nathan, Otto, 1893-1987. person
associatedWith Nearing, Scott, 1883-1983. person
associatedWith Quinn, Mike. person
associatedWith Ross, Nat, 1904- person
associatedWith Schneiderman, William. person
associatedWith Stachel, Jack. person
associatedWith Steffens, Lincoln, 1866-1936. person
associatedWith Steffens, Peter. person
associatedWith Tamiment Library. corporateBody
associatedWith Winter, Ella, 1898-1980. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
United States
Moscow (Russia)
United States
Subject
Communism and mass media
Communist leadership
Communist part work
Communists
Communists
Communists
Labor unions and communism
Labor unions and communism
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1905

Death 2005-11-08

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