Mar 01, 2012 - Sale 2271

Sale 2271 - Lot 289

Unsold
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
SIGNED BY ROBESON, DU BOIS & DUNGEE (COMMUNIST PARTY.) ROBESON, PAUL, W.E.B. DU BOIS AND ROSCOE DUNGEE. "Dear Friend. . . Original Typed Letter Signed by all three of the above, attached to a petition addressed to the President and the Congress of the United States. Together three 4to pages; rust stain at the top corner. March 22, 1947
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the original letter drafted by paul robeson, w.e.b. du bois and roscoe dungee. "We invite you to join us in sending the enclosed 'Petition to the President and Congress of the United States. "Please indicate your willingness to do so by signing and mailing the enclosed reply card IMMEDIATELY." Attached to this letter is a mimeographed copy of the petition:
"We the undersigned Negro Americans, respectfully urge you to repudiate decisively the fascist-like proposal of Labor Secretary Lewis B. Schwellenbach to illegalize [sic] the Communist Party." Apparently this petition, together with push-back from defenders of the second Amendment, worked to forestall the banning of the CPUSA. The Communist Party in the United States of America, founded in 1919 was not outlawed until the peak of the McCarthy era, when under the Communist Control Act of 1954, it was officially "illegalized."