Card-carrying Communist
"Card-carrying Communist" is a term popularised during the Second Red Scare as a label for members of Communist Party. The term is still considered derogatory when used in its Cold War context.[1]
Contents
History of the phrase
The term "card-carrying" originally had no political connotation, and was used to describe membership in any organisation.[2] During the Second Red Scare, the term was used as a label for members of the Communist Party, and was used in this manner by both the House Un-American Activities Committee investigations and Senator Joseph McCarthy.[3] In the context of politics, the term remains derogatory.[1] After the 1950s, the scope of the word expanded and is used for non-political applications.[3]
Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed there were fifty-seven "card-carrying Communists" working for the United States Department of State,[4] an allegation that was widely reported by American newspapers.[3] This figure was different from the 205 "bad risks" figure, confusing reporters.[5] The "fifty-seven card-carrying Communists" phrase first appears in a radio interview that McCarthy gave in Salt Lake City, and is the phrase that appears in the Congressional Record on the speech he gave at Wheeling.[6] McCarthy made a distinction between "card-carrying Communists" and what he called "fellow travelers." A card-carry Communist was considered a genuine member of the party, while a fellow traveler only sympathised with the ideology.[1]
History of Communist membership cards
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Early in the Cold War, there were Communist party members who kept membership cards, although many also hid their membership.[3]
Because of the advent of digital technology, the contemporary Communist Party USA does not issue membership cards.[3]
Response
Many Protestant and Catholic Christians, as well as political conservatives, worked together to popularize wallet-sized or pocket images of The Head of Christ by Warner Sallman, promoting the idea that "there ought to be 'card-carrying Christians' to counter the effect of 'card-carrying Communists'."[7][8][9] Up until the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, the Head of Christ "had been printed more than 500 million times and had achieved global iconic status."[10]
See also
References
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