James W. Ford

American politician

James W. “Jim” Ford (December 22, 1893June 21, 1957) was an activist, a politician, and the vice presidential candidate for the Communist Party USA in the years 1932, 1936, and 1940. Ford was born in Alabama and later worked as a party organizer for the CPUSA in New York City. He was also the first African American to run on a U. S. presidential ticket (1932) in the 20th century.

In the summer of 1935 Ford was sent by the CPUSA to the 7th World Congress of the Comintern as a delegate, where he was elected an alternate member of ECCI. Although Ford made a public self criticism of his alleged errors, he was demoted from the top echelon of Communist Party leaders. He was not re elected to the National Committee of the party and was supplanted in his de facto role as “America's leading Black Communist” by Benjamin J. Davis. Ford was not targeted by the US Department of Justice in its 1948 prosecution of the top leadership of the CPUSA.

The Negro Industrial Proletariat of America. Moscow: Red International of Labor Unions, 1928. The Negro and the Imperialist War of 1914 1918. New York: International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers of the RILU, 1929. Economic Struggle of Negro Workers: a Trade Union Program of Action. New York: Provisional International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers, 1930. The Negro's Struggle Against Imperialism. New York: Provisional International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers, 1930. Imperialism Destroys the People of Africa. New York: Harlem Section of the Communist Party, n. d. [c. 1931]. The Right to Revolution for the Negro People. New York: Harlem Section of the Communist Party, 1932. The Truth about the African Children: Material for the National Convention of the CPUSA, April 2, 3, 4, 1934. n. c.: n. p., 1934. The Negroes in a Soviet America. With James S. Allen. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1935. Hunger and Terror in Harlem. New York, Harlem Section of the Communist Party, 1935. World Problems of the Negro People: A Refutation of George Padmore. New York: Harlem Section of the Communist Party, n. d. [1930s]. War in Africa: Italian Fascism Prepares to Enslave Ethiopia. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1935. The Causes and the Remedies for the March 19th Outbreak in Harlem: Testimony of James W. Ford, Secretary of the Harlem Section of the Communist Party Prepared for the Mayor's Commission on Conditions in Harlem. New York, n. p [Harlem Section of the Communist Party], 1935. The Negro Liberation Movement and the Farmer Labor Party. New York: Communist Party of the United States of America, 1935. The Communists and the Struggle for Negro Liberation: Their Position on Problems of Africa, of the West Indies, of War, of Ethiopian Independence, of the Struggle for Peace. New York: Harlem Division of the Communist Party 1936. The Negro Masses in the United States. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1937. The Struggle of the Soviet Union for Peace and Socialism: Speech of James W. Ford, Madison Square Garden, November 13, 1937. n. c.: n. p., 1937. The Negro and the Democratic Front. New York: International Publishers, 1938. Anti Semitism and the Struggle for Democracy. With Theodore R. Bassett. New York: The National Council of Jewish Communists, 1939. Win Progress for Harlem. New York: The Harlem Division of the Communist Party, 1939. Earl Browder, Foremost Champion of Negro Rights: Open Letter to the Negro People. New York: New York State Committee, Communist Party, n. d. [1941]. The Negro People and the New World Situation New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1941. The War and the Negro People: The Japanese "Darker Race" Demagogy Exposed. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1942. The Case of Richard Wright: A Disservice to the Negro People. Daily Worker, XXI (Sept. 5, 1944), p. 6. The Meaning of the Bedford Stuyvesant Elections. New York: Communist Party of Bedford Stuyvesant, 1949.

Foster and Ford for Food and Freedom: Acceptance Speeches of William Z. Foster and James W. Ford, Communist Candidates for President and Vice President of the United States of America. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1932. Acceptance Speeches: For President, Earl Browder; For Vice President, James W. Ford: Communist Candidates in the Presidential Elections. With Earl Browder. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1936. Party Building ad Political Leadership. With William Z. Foster, Alex Bittelman, and Charles Krumbein. New York: Workers Library Publishers, n. d. [1937]. Communists in the Struggle for Negro Rights. With Benjamin J. Davis, William L. Patterson, and Earl Browder. New York: New Century Publishers, 1945.

Foster Ford: The Candidates of Working Youth. New York: Young Communist League, n. d. [1932]. Walter T. Howard, We Shall Be Free! : Black Communist Protests in Seven Voices. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2013. Ben Davis Jr., James W. Ford: What He Is and What He Stands For. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1936.