Unlikely Communists & Red Teachers (New Outlook Magazine, 1934)

This 1934 article starts out discussing the fact that communism, during the Great Depression, was beginning to appeal to a small number of unlikely Americans of the country club variety; by the fifth page, however, it heats up considerably when the subject turns to the number of communists who are charged with the instruction of American youth:

“Although no accurate statistics on the subject are available, surveys and various reports indicate that there are 150,000 enthusiastic, thinking young Communists in the public schools and state universities of the United States today. Not nearly that many men are enrolled in the American Army. And the figure is a minimum – some estimates place the scholastic communists at 250,000.”

Much of the column space is devoted to the New York City school system, where the mother lode of communist teachers could be found.

Click here to read more about American communists during the Great Depression…

The favorite newspaper among American communists was The Daily Worker – read about it here…

Click here to read about an American woman who grew heartily sick of the socialists who loitered on every street corner during the Great Depression…

Click here to read about the end of the Great Depression…