Also, communists had recognized the error of their ways by proclaiming that the communist program for "self-determination" of the Negro in the "Black Belt" area of the South had been discarded. The new policy was to seek complete economic, political, and social equality for the Negro with all other American citizens. In a May 1961 issue, the communist newspaper, "The Worker," stated, "Communists will do their utmost to strengthen and unite the Negro movement and bring to it the backing of the working people."
Martin Luther King, Jr., and his organization were made to order to achieve these objectives. King and his group were demonstrating and conducting voter-registration campaigns to align the Negro movement solidly behind King.
The Peace Issue Appears
This activity continued with much fanfare until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Congress. This was the most far-reaching civil rights act passed since the Reconstruction era. Now it was no longer newsworthy to demonstrate for Negro rights. The passage of this Act was one factor that took King off the front pages of the daily newspapers.
The second factor that had a bearing on King's lack of publicity and change of policy was the Gulf of Tonkin incident on August 2, 1964. Because of this, the United States took a more active role in the Vietnam War. The CPUSA then started to demand through its propaganda machine that the escalation of the war in Vietnam be stopped. The activities in Vietnam were now more important news than the Negro freedom movement.
The CPUSA also realized that even though the peace issue was of primary importance, a secondary issue not to be forgotten was the freedom movement. Abandoning its previous efforts to form a Negro-labor coalition, the CPUSA now started touting a Negro-peace coalition that would form a massive movement to force the United States Government to change its foreign and domestic policies.
