Communism Through My Eyes: My Father Robert Trujillo, 1903-1986

Description

Communism Through My Eyes: My Father Robert Trujillo, 1903-1986 is the fascinating story of an iconic but little-known figure in Colorado’s political and social history. Robert Trujillo became a communist in 1936 during the hardships of the Great Depression. Later he became the Chairman of the Communist Party in Colorado. He remained a communist for 50 years. As his youngest daughter, Mary Lou shares with us her childhood memories, as well as the historical facts, about her beloved father.

She speaks to us from the perspective of a wide-eyed little girl sitting on the steps in her house looking down into her living room at the dozens of people who frequently gathered there. They came to feast on her mother’s tamales and listen to her father make rousing speeches about justice and equal rights for the common people; rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution regardless of race, religion, gender or socio-economic status.

A communist who believed deeply in the rights of the common man, Trujillo never proposed overthrowing the government by violence. He was a staunch proponent of peaceful change through legislation. He roused people through dialogue, petitions, letters, peaceful demonstrations, and sit ins. He was a follower of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. Trujillo was known by Colorado’s legislators, policy makers, and the media as a brilliant, generous, peaceful man with a big heart.