Much of the plot of Invisible Man revolves around the Communist Party. Many of IM's experiences with the Brotherhood are based on actual events. In the 1930s, the Communist Party started to emerge as a power in Harlem. In Invisible Man, IM comes into contact with the Party. Like IM, a few blacks actually worked for the Party and became influential.
IM is first approached by the Party after he speaks at an eviction. An elderly couple is being thrown from their apartment. All of their earthly possessions are put on the sidewalk; this action disgusts him. A crowd has gathered and threatens to beat the marshal who is in charge of the eviction. IM forces his way to the door stoop and tells the crowd that violence is not the way. The crowd listens, but the speech only prolongs the attack on the marshal. After the beating, IM starts to take the furniture back into the apartment. Some Brothers from the Party come to help, and he finds it strange when they call him brother.
IM soon runs away when the police come. One of the Party members follows him. Later the two meet, and IM is offered a job working for the Party.
The Party often encouraged action against evictions. In the fall of 1930, the Party "organized interracial defense squads to return the furniture of evicted tenants to their apartments" (41). Many residents showed up to help the Party in its efforts. Marshals often intervened in the evictions but were often ignored. In one case, hundreds tried to stop an eviction by twice moving furniture back into the apartment. The crowd also carried banners. By opposing the evictions, the Party hoped to draw members from within the black community.
IM is hired as a spokesman by the Party. He speaks at rallies, but most of his speeches take place on the street corners. His goal is to inform the community of communist ideas. During his first meeting, IM comes into conflict with Ras the Exhorter. Ras believes that the black community should help only itself and that whites only lie and try to use blacks. Ras's men start fighting with the communists, and several people are almost killed.
The party often used blacks as spokesmen in Harlem. It believed blacks' speaking at indoor rallies and street meetings would be accepted and listened to by people of their own race. The Party "tried to make its activities widely known to Harlem's black population" (37). In late June of 1930, a confrontation similar to IM's took place. It involved the Party and members of a rival street meeting group, the Garveyites. In many ways, Ras's character was based on the Garveyites' leader, Marcus Garvey. Both believed in "black power." In the brawl, a communist, Alfred Levy, died. This death is paralleled within the book.
Many of IM's activities within the Party are controlled by a committee. They tell him what to speak on, where to speak, and how to behave. The committee is made up of high ranking Party officials; most of them are white. The committee starts to restrict IM's knowledge of the Party's activities when he organizes a funeral for a slain Party member; however, the dead member has turned traitor right before his death.
The Party was run by a committee that made all of the important decisions. In real life, the Party arranged for Levy's funeral. A few thousand people attended. Afterward, there was a huge funeral procession, similar to the one in the novel.
At the end of the novel, IM internally turns against the Party even more but decides to become a model communist. He obeys every order. IM figures if he cannot oppose them, why not yes them to death. IM also gets involved with Party women. One he sleeps with, but the other one he tries only to solicit information from. IM tries to get information and when the committee restricts him too much, he starts questioning their activities. After escaping the last woman, he walks around the streets. He gets caught in the crossfire between police and rioters. IM's injury is only superficial. Some black people stop to help him, but when he is better, they take him to a tenement house which he helps to burn down. It is the people's only way of making a decision, a decision not to live in a bad place. When he leaves the fire, IM notices many of the store windows are broken and people are in discord.
Many black leaders married white women and "at Party dances and social affairs, black men would often ask white women to dance, leaving black women without partners..." (137). The practice changed, and white men were taught to dance so there would be more male partners available for the women. The Harlem Riot was started with rumors. A black boy was caught shoplifting and was handed over to a policeman. The policeman released the boy through a back door, but a rumor was started that he had been beaten. The rumors escalated to a belief that the boy was near death. The Party decided to play on this situation and made fliers repeating the story and pushing for black and white unity. Party members also spoke and riled up the crowd so much the police came on foot and horseback. The crowd started throwing bottles and rocks at store windows and the police. In the end, one person was dead and a few hundred injured. The riot in the novel is loosely based on the Harlem riot and other riots in the early 1930s in Harlem.
Ralph Ellison based the IM's Party experiences on actual events. In a way, Invisible Man is a loose history of the communist party's activities in Harlem.- Naison, Mark. Communists in Harlem During the Depression. New York: Grove, 1983.
