The Soviet Negro Republic (also known as the Negro Soviet Republic) was a hypothetical future communist republic, proposed by some black communist activists in 1930s America. In 1945, the former leader of the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

told the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

that these proposals were not official party policy. In the 1960s, the far-right

John Birch Society The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, right-wing populist, and ...

linked the burgeoning civil rights movement for

Black Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

to plans for a "Soviet Negro Republic", claiming that the movement was a communist plot.

Origins

The position of

black Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

within the wider communist movement in America had been hotly debated for a while. Many communists favored the formation of an independent Soviet republic for black people as an oppressed ethnic group within the United States, influenced by

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) (commonly known a ...

's formulation of the

Back-to-Africa movement The back-to-Africa movement was a political movement in the 19th and 20th centuries advocating for a return of the descendants of African American slaves to Sub-Saharan Africa in the African continent. The small number of freed slaves who did ...

. This was purportedly the line favored by

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

and orthodox

Leninists Leninism (, ) is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party as the political prelude to the estab ...

within the Soviet Union, but opposed by US party leaders and many black Americans within the communist movement opposed such as an example of

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

-style segregation and white

chauvinism Chauvinism ( ) is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people, who are seen as strong and virtuous, while others are considered weak, unworthy, or inferior. The ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' describes it ...

, and unhelpful in alleviating the position of black people in America at that time. A proposed communist republic within the " Black Belt" of the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

was mentioned by

James W. Ford James W. “Jim” Ford (December 22, 1893June 21, 1957) was an activist, a politician, and the vice-presidential candidate for the Communist Party USA in the years 1932, 1936, and 1940. Ford was born in Alabama and later worked as a party o ...

and James S. Allen in '' The Negroes in a Soviet America'' (1935). Ruled by

black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...

under the principle of

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

, it was hypothesized that the proposed republic might later favor federation with a communist

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The proposal drew criticism for the implication that blacks were not really American, and for the idea that all blacks in America be relocated there. In 1945, former leader of the

Earl Browder Earl Russell Browder (May 20, 1891 – June 27, 1973) was an American politician, spy for the Soviet Union, communist activist and leader of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). Browder was the General Secretary of the CP ...

, told the

that official communist plans for a Soviet Negro Republic were false.

Use by John Birch Society

2020 Census - Majority-Black Counties in the United States

The far-right

continued to claim that the African-American civil rights movement was a communist plot to found a Soviet Negro Republic, with

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

as its president. Posters from the society promoting the claim were seen during the

Barry Goldwater 1964 presidential campaign The 1964 presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater began when United States Senate, United States Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona elected to seek the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party nomination for President of the United Sta ...

, supposedly disturbing

Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Republican Party's nomine ...

, who viewed the signs as

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

. The ''

California Eagle ''The California Eagle'' (1879–1964) was a newspaper in Los Angeles for African Americans. It was founded as ''The Owl'' in 1879 and later renamed ''Eagle'' by John J. Neimore. Charlotta Bass became the owner of the paper after Neimore's death ...

'', an African-American newspaper, claimed that the campaign against King put the Society "out in the open as an active anti-Negro organization ... The Birchers are a little more subtle than the

Klansmen The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian extremist, white supremacist, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction in the devastated South. Various historians hav ...

but they are just as dangerous to our hopes for first class citizenship."

References

{{reflist Anti-communism in the United States Civil rights in the United States Communist Party USA John Birch Society Proposed countries African and Black nationalism in the United States African-American leftism Anti-black racism in the United States Conspiracy theories in the United States Black separatism

Origins

Use by John Birch Society

See also

References