As the war in Michigan develops, a rift in the National Committee slowly develops. While the Political Bureau and all political power held by the CPUSA had been consolidated amongst the Troika of Eugene Dennis, John Williamson and Gus Hill, the National Committee still harbors elements of Browderist and Trotskyite sympathies - or at least, that is the rhetoric the Politburo uses as it launches a campaign of marginalization and elimination of all opposition in the National Committee.

This occurs in the backdrop of the impending election of the - still vacant - position of Chairman of the CPUSA. While the late Chairman, William Z. Foster, has been dead for over a year, the election for a new Chairman had been continuously delayed as General Secretary Dennis continue to consolidate power as Interim Chairman. Despite the current conflict in Detroit, any further delays in the election of the next Chairman would highly jeopardize the legitimacy of the party. With the 55-people strong National Committee voting for the next Chairman, the Troika has been hard at work shutting out their opposition. James W. Ford for example, a Browderist ally, was expelled from the National Committee in absentia (he resides in New Aetiopia) due to charges of corruption of funds that was sent to the New Aetiopia Party Chapter. In fact, the number of corruption charges in the first half of 1957 effectively doubled from the previous year, as it becomes a favorite tool of General Secretary Dennis to ensure he could secure the National Committee's allegiances. The BCI (Bureau of Criminal Investigations) was especially key in this process, which by Governor's Executive Orders have formed a specific Anti-Corruption Department which is empowered extrajudicial means to gather information on individuals within the Party. In addition, utilizing his Governorship powers, Dennis would stack the government with appointees that would be loyal to him alone.

The result was that when the time came for the election, it was the staunch hardline and Fosterist ally, the well respected "Rebel Girl" Elizabeth Gurley Flynn who would win the election and be chosen as Chairwoman of the CPUSA, securing Dennis' grip on the party.