A Group of Communist Clergymen
Last week in this space, I published two articles on the faith of Frank Marshall Davis, Barack Obama's mentor, and the subject of my latest book. In one of those articles, I noted Davis's involvement in the World War II-era front-group, the American Peace Mobilization.
Now, I'd like to add a little more on Davis's involvement with this group, and, more broadly, what it reveals about the communist left's longtime exploitation of the Religious Left.
First, a quick recap of who Davis was: literally, a card-carrying member of Communist Party USA -- number 47544. I've studied his columns for Party newspapers in Chicago and Honolulu in the 1940s and 1950s. They unerringly parroted the Soviet line. When Davis wasn't pushing Stalin's position on Yalta, Eastern Europe, the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, and NATO, he was arguing for things like taxpayer-funded "universal healthcare;" redistributing wealth toward "public works projects;" government action against General Motors; and bashing Wall Street, "profits," corporate executives, millionaires, and GOP tax cuts.
Ultimately, by the 1970s, Frank Marshall Davis would have an influence on Obama throughout Obama's adolescence. He was introduced by Obama's leftist grandfather, Stanley Dunham, who (tellingly) saw in Davis a role model and father figure for his grandson.
Not surprisingly, there are many Obama-Davis similarities. Consider:
To his detractors, it was unclear whether Davis was a Christian, even as he occasionally (but infrequently) stepped foot in churches. Davis was skeptical of preachers and their effect on what Obama has referred to as God-and-gun clinging Americans. Davis saw the Catholic Church as an obstacle to his vision for the state. Davis was especially bothered by the anti-communism of the Catholic Church specifically and conservative Protestants generally. To the contrary, Davis argued, the Christian Gospel supported his far-left policies, thinking, and causes. Davis enthusiastically sought the support of the "social justice" Religious Left for various initiatives.
In my book, I give several sordid examples of Davis seeking out liberal Christians. Here, I'll stick with the case of the American Peace Mobilization.
The American Peace Mobilization was, in short, one of the worst communist fronts ever created in the United States. Congress called it "one of the most notorious and blatantly communist fronts ever organized in this country" and "one of the most seditious organizations which ever operated in the United States." The group's objective was to stop the United States from entering the war against Hitler.
Why? Because Hitler had signed a non-aggression pact with Stalin, and American communists, being loyal Soviet patriots who swore themselves to the USSR, saluted Stalin.
In response, many American communists (especially Jewish communists) fled the Party in disgust. Frank Marshall Davis, however, wasn't one of them. He actually joined the Party after the Hitler-Stalin Pact was signed.
In my book on Davis, I publish the declassified Soviet document stating that the American Peace Mobilization "was organised on the initiative of our Party in Chicago in September, 1940 at a national anti-war conference." Who filled the ranks? As the document from the Soviet Comintern states, participants ranged from "progressive labor, youth, farm and Negro movements" to "Progressive Protestant church organisations." The authors of this document, one of whom was the CPUSA liaison to the Comintern, marveled at the Party's success in organizing a "committee of 800 progressive Protestant ministers."
Communists knew how to draw progressive sheep to the slaughter. And they were hardly finished.
Those same organizers generated another major Chicago meeting in November 1940. There, communists employed the race card as their tactic for opposing American entrance into the war. And, alas, that was where Frank Marshall Davis came in.
The event was billed as "Negroes and National Defense." Letterhead still survives today. Among the short list of select endorsers was Frank Marshall Davis. Just under Davis's name was Robert Taylor, a figure with striking contemporary relevance: Taylor was the grandfather of Valerie Jarrett, the single most influential member of President Barack Obama's inner circle.
Overall, the American Peace Mobilization had stunning success recruiting the Religious Left, especially from the Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches. The success was so thorough that the New York Times identified the mobilization as a "group of clergymen."
And for Frank Marshall Davis, Obama's mentor, it would be the first of many times the dedicated communist would call upon religious liberals and amply win their support. The Religious Left's willingness to join Davis -- and to today back the young man he influenced, Barack Obama -- is remarkable.
