“Race Hatred on Trial”
In 1931, after party member August Yokinen was alleged to have made racist remarks to several black party members, the Communist Party U.S.A. held a party trial, attended by more than 2,000 people, to investigate and take action against this.

The trial was published by the CPUSA in order to communicate, both to members and non-members (especially black Americans) that racism and white chauvinism were anathema and antithetical to the Communist Party, and were not accepted among its ranks.

Yokinen was found guilty and expelled from the Communist Party for one year, and was told he could eventually be readmitted only if he actively participated in the Party’s anti-racist activities.

Unfortunately, as the Associated Press also published the story of the trial, the immigration authorities detained Yokinen (an immigrant from Finland) for deportation on the grounds of holding membership in an organization advocating the violent overthrow of the US government.

The Communist Party appealed the deportation order through their legal arm, the International Labor Defense. The case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, however the outcome of this is unclear and unknown.

Ultimately this served as an important moment in the Communist Party’s history, as it cemented for all to see the anti-racist and anti-chauvinist stance, and the willingness to purge the ranks of such evils.

The pages of this pamphlet were found in the collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2010.55.65

Interesting note: the art in this pamphlet was by Ryan Walker, who unfortunately died of pneumonia only a year later in 1932 in Moscow.