Yes, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) actively tried to influence and infiltrate the NAACP, especially in the 1930s, notably during the Scottsboro Boys case, but the NAACP leadership largely resisted, viewing it as a threat to their mainstream, integrationist goals, and purged suspected Communists, particularly during the Red Scare. While there was some fleeting collaboration (like the CPUSA defending the Scottsboro Boys when the NAACP was slow), the organizations remained rivals, with the NAACP seeing Communism as alien and the Party criticizing the NAACP as "reformist" and "bourgeois".
Communist Efforts to Infiltrate & Influence:
Early Opportunities: The CPUSA found traction in the 1930s by organizing Black workers and tackling issues like the Scottsboro case, attracting members when the NAACP seemed less active on radical fronts.
Ideological Appeal: Communists offered a direct, class-based critique of racism, contrasting with the NAACP's focus on legal and integrationist approaches, and some Communist factions even pushed for Black "self-determination," a notion the NAACP largely rejected.
NAACP's Resistance & Anti-Communism:
Ideological Divide: NAACP leaders saw Communism as a dangerous, foreign ideology that threatened American democracy and their own integrationist vision.
Anti-Infiltration Policies: The NAACP passed resolutions in the 1950s to actively fight Communist infiltration, instructing boards to expel units under such control.
Purges & Blacklisting: During the McCarthy era, the NAACP purged suspected Communists and even cooperated with J. Edgar Hoover's FBI to root out Red influence, fearing association would destroy the movement.
"Red-Baiting": The NAACP used anti-communism to distance itself and to highlight Soviet propaganda, arguing racial injustice harmed U.S. national security.
Key Conflict: The Scottsboro Case:
The defense of the Scottsboro Boys (1931-1932) highlighted this tension; the Communist-led International Labor Defense (ILD) fiercely defended the boys, competing with the NAACP for influence, though the NAACP leadership was wary of the ILD's tactics and goals.
In essence, communism attempted to ally with, control, and even supplant the NAACP, but the NAACP consistently fought to maintain its independence and pushed back against Communist efforts throughout the mid-20th century.
