During the heyday of the U.S. & international labor movements in the 1930s & 1940s. Ferdinand Smith, the Jamaican-born co-founder and second-in- command of the National Maritime Union, stands out as one of the most "if not the most" powerful black labor leaders in the United States. Smith's active membership in the Communist Party, however, coupled with his bold labor radicalism & shaky immigration status, brought him under continual surveillance by U.S. authorities, especially during the red Scare in the '50s. Smith was eventually deported to his homeland of Jamaica, where he continued his radical labor & political organizing until his death in 1961. Horne draws on Smith's life to make insightful connections between labor radicalism & the Civil Rights Movement "demonstrating that the gains of the latter were propelled by the former & undermined by anticommunism". More-over, Red Seas uncovers the little-known experiences of black sailors & the contribution to the struggle for labor and civil rights, the history of the Communist Party & its black members, & the significant dimension of Jamaican labor & political radicalism.
produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
please email us if you plan to broadcast this program - knash@igc.org
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