Just had lunch with my dad, Grampa was a commie...

[never cry wolf]

Over lunch, after I had brought up how the repukes had killed the proposed Senate amendment to take back a small portion of the tax break to the richest 1% in order to pay for this $87B Iraq bill, my right leaning independent Dad told me I sounded just like his dad.

I knew my Grampa was in the 2nd Division in WWI and saw alot of action. I knew my Grampa was a carpenter and cabinetmaker after the war in Chicago and during the depression and the family was often in bread lines and needed government assistance. I knew that my dad's fav president was FDR and his family considered him their lifesaver.

What I didn't know, that I learned just today, was that gramps participated in the Bonus March on Washingon DC in 1932 where the WWI vets were asking for a bonus (2 protesters were shot, many arrested and investigated by the precursor to the FBI.) What I didn't know was that gramps joined the communist party sometime in the 30's and was arrested in Chicago for posting communist campaign posters. What I didn't know was that gramps took my dad to rallies and my dad shook the hand of Earl Browder, Communist party presidential candidate in 1936 and 1940.

I am not much on talking about myself, but I found this all very interesting and couldn't wait to post it here. Gramps was a radical activist, kewl!!

[David__77]

1. Lots of our grandpa's were...

Let's not forget that at its peak the CP had over 100,000 members. They were at the forefront of the workers and unemployed movements and strong in the military during the war against fascism.

I'm proud of my union grandpa!

[never cry wolf]

3. Yeah, I did a little research

I guess the communists got over a million votes for pres in 1932. My Gramps was a big union supporter too.

[Droopy]

2. I wonder about your dad

I wonder how he, growing up with an activist far lefty, turned out to be a right leaning independent? I'm surprised your dad's not a Dem.

[never cry wolf]

7. He was a dem for the most part

but my mom is a staunch repug, still thinks agnew was a hero and listens to rush. i guess after 56 years it has finally gottrn to him. personally, he considerd himself independant, i consider him an ill-informrd repuke.

my mom's dad had a phd in biology and was a corn breeder. went all over the country and world developing new hybrids to suit particular conditions. growing up she never even knew there was a depression.

[commander bunnypants]

4. Nice story

Thanks

DDQM

[BurtWorm]

5. I kinda know how that feels, to find out something you didn't know

about your family. See the ethnicity thread.

My father-in-law was a communist. A great, curmudgeonly teddy bear of a guy, may he rest in peace.

[patdem]

6. That would be so wonderful to learn you came from good stock!

Back then the communist party was the labor party...it meant labor not capital was the driving force in America. And that has proven true till Regan then bush* 43...he wants to take back every labor victory since its inception!!! 8643 as our great poster by that nomenclature delcares!!!

[On the Road]

8. Wow -- What a Great Thing to Learn!

Has it been a family secret? It's amazing how much of family history just dies in a generation or two.

[never cry wolf]

9. No, not a secret...

just never came up before. since I found and joined DU I have become much more vocal in my critisms of the right wing and I guess that I finally now sounded like gramps to my dad and that's why he brought it up.

[prolesunited]

10. Very cool!

At least now you know where you get it from and next time someone calls you a "bleeding heart, commie, pinko liberal," you can proudly exclaim that you come from a long line of them. LOL! I'm sure grampa would be proud of you.

:thumbsup:

[never cry wolf]

11. I am sure he would too

unfoirtunately he died when I was 6 and I never really knew him. A hard life and lifelong problems due to mustard gas in France.

He hand made all of his own tools and most of the family furniture, as he could not afford to buy it. I have the desk he made in the late 20's complete with secret compartment, he didn't trust banks after the crash. For the drawer bottoms he used the backs of old signs. It is my prized possession.

[rasputin1952]

12. I am sure you know this...

but NEVER let that desk go! It is part of your heritage!

I have some of the thijngs my dad and G'dad had, and every time I pick them up, I think of them.

Guess I'm just an old softy at heart. But once your heritage is gone...you can never reclaim it, except in the darker corners of your mrmory.

Glad your G'pa was a Progressive. The CP was quite different back then than what it eventually became. I had a teacher/principal once that I swear was a Nazi party member, right up to WWII; but I can't prove it. That guy was brutal.

Keep the history flowing, aquire what you can from your family, it will bring great comfort in the future.

BTW: my mom is so RW, she won't even carry dimes because FDR is on them! :eyes:

:kick:

[JohnKleeb]

13. You've told me about that teacher and your mom

btw really cool history. My ancestors in Slovenia fought with communists although I am not sure if they were.

[never cry wolf]

15. That desk will go to my son eventually

along with some of the tools he made. My daughter will get the kitchen table he made. When my aunt died out in Oakland about 4 years ago my parents went out to take care of her affairs. They didn't realize my aunt had this stuff and they were just gonna toss it when they cleaned out her apartment. I told em over my dead body and paid to have it all shipped to me.

[THUNDER HANDS]

14. so was my great grandfather

thankfully, for me anyway.

My great grandfather met my great grandmother at a Communist Party rally.

:)

I always thought that was cool.

[never cry wolf]

16. That is very cool...

my commie carpenter's wife was a seamstress and I think a union member but I doubt she was very political, just a sweet old lady.

[ikojo]

17. Kewl! My grandpa was a dedicated FDR style Democrat

He said he was a Cubs fan because they were the underdogs of baseball.

I just wonder what happened to my siblings?


:shrug:

[brainshrub]

18. Historical Perspective

History never frowns on people who work torward protecting the weak from abuses of the powerful.
People who work for the conservatives can't say the same thing.