The All-America Anti-Imperialist League (also known as Anti-Imperialist League of the Americas, Spanish: ''Liga Antiimperialista de las Americas'' (''LADLA'')) was an international mass organization of Communist International established in 1925 to organize against

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

commercial expansion and military intervention in Central America, South America, and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. The organization was terminated in 1933 and replaced by a new Communist Party-sponsored group, the American League Against War and Fascism.

History

Background

In the early 1920s, many Communist Parties affiliated with the Communist International (Comintern) maintained "Anti-Imperialist Departments" dedicated to building broad coalitions in opposition to the economic and military intervention of capitalist powers in the affairs of smaller

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...

nations. In the Western hemisphere this took the form of organizing against the expansion of American commercial influence in the developing nations of

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and South America as well as the

basin, including especially Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Nicaragua.Shipman, ''It Had to Be Revolution,'' pg. 154. In the United States itself, the Anti-Imperialist Department of the well-funded Workers (Communist) Party of America was Charles Shipman (1895-1989), a draft-resisting American expatriate to Mexico who as "Jesús Ramírez" had been a delegate representing that country at the

2nd World Congress of the Comintern The 2nd World Congress of the Communist International was a gathering of approximately 220 voting and non-voting representatives of Communist and revolutionary socialist political parties from around the world, held in Petrograd and Moscow from J ...

. In addition to Latin American concerns, Shipman's department had also propagandized against American commercial and military involvement in other parts of the globe, including particularly the Philippines and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Establishment

In April 1925 Shipman was dispatched to Mexico as the representative of the Workers Party to the 3rd Congress of the Communist Party of Mexico. It was at this time that a new international organization was launched, the All-America Anti-Imperialist League — an organization which would eventually include national sections throughout Latin America.Shipman, ''It Had to Be Revolution,'' pg. 155. The term "All-America" in the organizational moniker was not intended to relate specifically to the United States, but rather to the fact that the organization included sections from throughout the Americas. Although itself an international group, the All-American Anti-Imperialist League was in turn attached to another Comintern-sponsored international organization, the League Against Imperialism.

J. B. Matthews Joseph Brown "Doc" Matthews Sr. (1894–1966), best known as J. B. Matthews, was an American linguist, educator, writer, and political activist. A committed pacifist, he became a self-described " fellow traveler" of the Communist Party USA i ...

(ed.), "All-America Anti-Imperialist League," in Special Committee on Un-American Activities, ''Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States: Appendix — Part IX: Communist Front Organizations with Special Reference to the National Citizens Political Action Committee.'' First Section, Second Section, and Third Section. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1944; pp. 310-311. This federation included other similar regional organizations to the All-American Anti-Imperialist League, groups engaged in parallel activity in other parts of the world.

Development

In the United States Charles Shipman was named as Secretary of the American Section of the All-American Anti-Imperialist League and given the task of formally organizing units of the new group. Speakers were sent to trade union locals in an effort to stir up interest but the effort was largely futile, with these representatives generally denied admission.Shipman, ''It Had to Be Revolution,'' pg. 157. The cause was more successfully promoted in the labor press, however, with the Communist-controlled Federated Press news service providing substantial coverage of the organizing effort. The organizing effort benefited from a sizable donation by wealthy Chicago liberal William H. Holly, and a number of prominent public figures allowed their names to be used on the group's letterhead to bolster fundraising, including

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

executive

William Pickens William Pickens (15 January 1881 – 6 April 1954) was an American orator, educator, journalist, and essayist. He wrote multiple articles and speeches, and penned two autobiographies, first ''The Heir of Slaves'' in 1911 and second ''Bursting Bond ...

, civil liberties activist Roger Baldwin, literary critic Lewis Gannett, and public intellectuals

Robert Morss Lovett Robert Morss Lovett (December 25, 1870 – February 8, 1956) was an American academic, writer, editor, political activist, and government official. Background Lovett was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard University i ...

and Arthur Garfield Hays. These friendly non-communist figures were joined in the public spotlight by a number of well-known public figures who maintained Workers Party membership, including writer Scott Nearing and trade union official

William Z. Foster William Zebulon Foster (February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a Political radicalism, radical American labor organizer and Communism, Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party US ...

. In later years the All-America Anti-Imperialist League was known simply as the "Anti-Imperialist League." The organization maintained its headquarters in a single room located at 32 Union Square, New York City, part of a suite occupied by the Communist-sponsored literary magazine, '' The New Masses.'' Membership in the American Section of the league was through payment of annual dues of $1 — although donations of $10 from those with the means to pay were actively solicited.

Kellogg Statement

On January 13, 1927, Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg garnered front page headlines across America when he presented an extensive statement to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States Senate."Mexico is Base for Communist Plot Against United States, Kellogg Tells Senate Foreign Affairs Committee," ''Reading ATimes,'' vol. 68, no. 274, whole no. 21,342 (Jan. 13, 1927), pp. 1, 10. Kellogg depicted the All-American Anti-Imperialist League as the bulwark of Soviet revolutionism in the Western Hemisphere. Kellogg told the assembled Senators: "The Bolshevik leaders have very definite ideas with respect to the role which Mexico and Latin America are to play in their general program of world revolution. Thus, Latin America and Mexico are conceived as a base for activities against the United States." He pointedly noted the Mexican focus of operations of the All-American Anti-Imperialist League, publishing center of the international organization.

1927 Brussels Congress

In February 1927, Secretary of the American Section Charles Shipman other national leaders of the Anti-Imperialist League were made a delegate to an international convention in Brussels sponsored by the Communist International, called the Congress Against Colonial Oppression and Imperialism.Shipman, ''It Had to Be Revolution,'' pp. 162-163.

Termination

In 1933 the All-America Anti-Imperialist League was formally terminated and a new organization launched in its stead, the American League Against War and Fascism. The new organization focused instead on the developing political situation in Europe, attempting to build a Popular Front in opposition to

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

Germany and Italy.

Footnotes

External links

All American Anti Imperialist League FBI file
on the Internet Archive