Marxism In Invisible Man

Throughout the novel Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison portrays the Brotherhood of Men in a way similar to the American Communist Party. Although the author never explicitly connects the two, the similar views and actions that both groups shared are blatant. America, throughout the ages, has always despised Communism and Communistic beliefs; however, during the 20s to around the 90s, there was a deeper hatred for Communism and a fear that lingered in most Americans’ hearts. Communism is a political theory that was derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. The majority of Americans strongly disagreed with

When Ellison arrived in New York in 1936, he met a lot of important people that helped shape him, like author Richard Wright. Wright played a role in the communist party and Ellison followed suit in a discrete way compared to his colleague. Despite the fact that Ellison worked for the Communist party, by writing papers and articles for their publications, he became disenchanted with the party after the Communists goals shifted focus from African Americans to Marxism. Later in a letter that Ellison wrote in August 18, 1945 to Wright, he composed "If they want to play ball with the bourgeoisie they needn 't think they can get away with it. ... Maybe we can 't smash the atom, but we can, with a few well chosen, well written words, smash all that crummy filth to hell.” (Wikipedia). Given the time period of this letter and the time line of when the American Communist Party’s objectives change, it corresponds to when Ellison wrote the Invisible Man, which was his way to get back at the