McKay joined the Industrial Workers of the World in autumn 1919 while working in a factory—following his time working as a dining-car waiter on the railways.[8] McKay believed that the Communists in the US had other things on their agenda, which did not include African Americans. Furthermore, he thought that they were using the Negro race to fight their battles. During his visit to the Soviet Union he addressed the Third International in a speech titled "Report on the Negro Question" and argued that America was not fully accepting of the Negro Communists.[32] After this speech, he was asked by the Communist Party in Russia to explore this idea more in the form of a book. He wrote Negry v Amerike in 1923. Originally in Russian, and it was not translated into English until 1979. McKay's political and social views were made clear through his literary works. In his 1929 work, Banjo: a Story Without a Plot, McKay included poignant commentary on the Western prioritization of business over racial justice through the character Ray.[33]
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