C'mon, You Reds: The U.S. Communist Party's Workers' Soccer Association, 1927–35

From 1927 to 1935, the United States Communist Party established the Labor Sport Union, a coalition of worker athletic clubs, primarily located in the urban Northeast and Midwest. One of their successful sporting accomplishments was the Workers' Soccer Association (WSA), which organized leagues in New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. This communist soccer league played two seasons per year and competed for city, regional, and national championships. This paper recounts the history of the WSA and explains an overlooked aspect of U.S. soccer that intersected political ideology, labor, and athletics.