The second point that Berg makes is that the NAACP and the communist party in the United States were not born bedfellows. The NAACP focused almost exclusively on race even though class and race were linked issues. The main reason why the NAACP did not align itself with the mainstream labor movement was that big labor was besieged by "notorious racism" (78). As a result, the NAACP downplayed class conflict and played up race relations. Alliances with some labor organizations like the CIO helped boost awareness of the link between class and racial oppression. Pre-World War Two NAACP was more socialist in tone than the post-World War Two NAACP. W.E.B. DuBois noted the connection between oppression of African-Americans and the oppression of all workers worldwide. This extension of the Civil Rights agenda did not last long, especially after the Cold War and the red scare demanded a different approach from the NAACP.

Berg's third main argument in "Black Civil Rights and Liberal Anticommunism" is that the Cold War created an ideological rift within the NAACP; this ideological rift damaged the organization's effectiveness even though it prevented the group from being targeted by McCarthyists. The decision to champion the liberal anticommunist cause was a strategic one. NAACP leaders like Walter White saw the potential in wooing centrists like Harry Truman. White and his supporters believed that the NAACP would play its cards better by focusing exclusively on domestic rather than international oppression. W.E.B. DuBois disagreed, noting in Appeal to the World that the federal...

As a delegate to the United Nations, DuBois tried to make racism in America a cause for international concern. DuBois wanted to link domestic with international instances of oppression. DuBois's opponents viewed this approach as dangerous. By critiquing the American government, DuBois was weakening the position of the United States vis-a-vis the Soviet Union. DuBois became marginalized. White succeeded in ousting DuBois from the NAACP and pursing a political alliance with the Truman administration. The Truman administration had expressed sympathy with the NAACP, but that support was only tacit and had not practical merits.
Berg's article reveals a fascinating chapter in the history of both the Civil Rights movement and the Cold War era. Although at times Berg seems biased, the article comes across as being balanced. Berg acknowledges the role that DuBois played in creating a global anti-colonial vision and critiques White's role in diluting some of the NAACP's messages.

However, Berg also notes that DuBois's version of social justice was unfeasibly idealistic given the political situation after the Second World War. The political decision to go mainstream and sacrifice its more left-leaning members meant that the NAACP would slow the progress of Civil Rights. The course was a safe one, even if it silenced the genuinely good ideas espoused by DuBois and other more radical civil rights leaders.