Radical projects in Texas stretch back far as Utopian Socialist communes which sprung up with the wave of Forty-Eighters who fled Germany after the 1848 revolutions faded. La Raza Unida in the 1970s kept the flame alive for left-electoral movements in Texas, while Fort Hood witnessed major protests against the Vietnam War and movements for racial justice within the military. This paper seeks to examine the time period between the two when the Socialists became a real electoral force in Texas in part thanks to railroads to the height of the Communist Party’s influence during the Pecan Shellers’ Strike organized by Emma Tenayuca.
Marvin Dies, the first chair of the committee that became HUAC, represented East Texas and a number of witnesses the committee called came from a desire to settle political scores in Texas. Many pieces of legislation that defined the Second Red Scare had their origins in Texas based on fears of leftists organizing sectors like the oil industry in addition to racist anti-Black and anti-Latino rationales.
A map will be provided that shows major locations within Texas and provides descriptions of events that occurred at each location and the role within the history of left movements in Texas. The poster will display excerpts from the Temple Daily Telegram pertaining to particular events of radical history in Texas including Eugene Debs’ 1915 visit as well as Czech versions of Socialist Party newspapers printed in Texas for immigrant populations. Additionally, the poster will display the party platform for the Communist Party of Texas from 1938 and 1940 to provide a visual depiction of the changes the party underwent in the leadup to World War II.