CPUSA Chair Sam Webb Interviewed [video]

[Buffalo Souljah]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_Q4MIXGfa4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geEKzPyC0FA&feature=related

I think ultimately, we in America are 40 years behind other countries with similar ideological backgrounds (eg. Europe, Canada, Australia) in that our politics are, by and large, determined by two competing parties. Webb wants to address this by simultaneously supporting the more liberal & progressive of these two parties and vying for his own party's inclusion in the political process of this country. What are your thoughts on the continuing presence of the CPUSA and similar parties in this country? The party platform has certainly changed since the age McCarthyism and the Cold War, so what does this mean for the party's future? Does it have more 'mass apeal' with its current platform of revisionism? How does the Internet affect the ability of these parties to expand their support base? Could we imagine Socialist Facebook groups and Grassroots Twitter blogs and the like prevailing over the mass media? Is this wishful thinking, or a real possibility?

Many people criticize the modern CPUSA for revisionism, but, looking at the bigger issue from all angles, is anything else possible? I mean, look at similar countries where progressive sentiments are entwined in the electorate: Germany, France, Italy, Spain--and what are the apparant advantages of a presence of socialism versus no presence? Arguably, the Green party is a real and legitimate force in Germany, and other examples are abounding (I am thinking of the Mediterranean states here). I am wondering, because it seems to me that revisionism has its benfits as well as its drawbacks. Thoughts? Comments? Insults?;)

[¿Que?]

I'd say for about 90% of Americans (I'm just guessing. I'd love to see a poll, or even better a data set) the CPUSA doesn't even show up on the radar. And when it does, try explaining the whole marxism-leninism thing.

[Wanted Man]

I think ultimately, we in America are 40 years behind other countries with similar ideological backgrounds (eg. Europe, Canada, Australia) in that our politics are, by and large, determined by two competing parties. Webb wants to address this by simultaneously supporting the more liberal & progressive of these two parties and vying for his own party's inclusion in the political process of this country. What are your thoughts on the continuing presence of the CPUSA and similar parties in this country? The party platform has certainly changed since the age McCarthyism and the Cold War, so what does this mean for the party's future? Does it have more 'mass apeal' with its current platform of revisionism? How does the Internet affect the ability of these parties to expand their support base? Could we imagine Socialist Facebook groups and Grassroots Twitter blogs and the like prevailing over the mass media? Is this wishful thinking, or a real possibility?

It is a possibility, but the CPUSA does not appear to have had much success at it so far. So this is a bit of a non-argument until we can see this enlarged support base materialising.


Many people criticize the modern CPUSA for revisionism, but, looking at the bigger issue from all angles, is anything else possible? I mean, look at similar countries where progressive sentiments are entwined in the electorate: Germany, France, Italy, Spain--and what are the apparant advantages of a presence of socialism versus no presence? Arguably, the Green party is a real and legitimate force in Germany, and other examples are abounding (I am thinking of the Mediterranean states here). I am wondering, because it seems to me that revisionism has its benfits as well as its drawbacks. Thoughts? Comments? Insults?;)

Not a good example. In many of those countries, including France and Italy (and in the past also Spain, probably less so now), where the communist party was clearly revisionist and Eurocommunist, their mass support has only declined. In some cases, "left coalitions" and "greens" saw some temporary growth at their expense, but this has also largely fizzled out.

On the contrary, in Greece and Portugal, the communists have not followed the CPUSA's example, nor that of the parties in France and Italy, and they still command significant mass support. I wonder why.

[Jimmie Higgins]

The US CP has been supporting the Democratic Party since WWII and it has actually helped to make the party less relevant. Did the CP after supporting a no-strike pledge in WWII and urging workers to support the Democrats get anything in return for its loyalty to the Democrats? No, the Democratic party turned right around and participated in McCarthyism.

Beyond that, supporting even the liberal wing of the 2 bourgeois parties in the US has been a loosing strategy for the entire left, not just the CP (which also had other problems). The Unions spent millions of dollars supporting Obama and told their membership that they were doing so because Obama's election would mean Card-Check for unions. Did the Democrats peruse this - did they debate it openly? No, they didn't even bring it up for a debate and they said "now is not the right time". But it was the right time for the Democrats and Obama to demand that unions make concessions in order to save the auto-industry and other industries while the administration made no demands on Detroit and gave a trillion dollars to banks!

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Wow, that man is more than revisionist.

So he doesn't embrace either the far left or non-radicals.

Carving out a nice little power niche for himself isn't he. The 'acceptable' voice of Socialism. Oh dear. The CP-USA disavowing teh 'far-left'. What a shambles.

[CartCollector]

The CPUSA is just fodder for the right wing in this country to continue to argue that Democrats are Communists thanks to the CPUSA's stupid tactic of supporting Democrats. Seriously, it benefits neither party: it alienates moderate people from the Democrats because they're supposedly a bunch of evil scary Communists and it alienates actual communists from the CPUSA because they don't want to be associated with 'communists' that give in to a bourgeois party that doesn't care one bit about them. Also, people aren't ignorant enough to believe that Obama is largely different from Bush like the CPUSA pretends. Take a look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxG98hNSDQI
Thanks to this, now everyone in the US thinks that Obama is a communist because he has the backing of the CPUSA's leader. It's like a Republican infiltrated the party and tried to make it look as stupid as possible. Heck, maybe that's what he is.

[RED DAVE]

The CPUSA is just fodder for the right wing in this country to continue to argue that Democrats are Communists thanks to the CPUSA's stupid tactic of supporting Democrats.The CP's tactic is far from stupid. It is the logical conclusion of Stalinism. Truth is that the CP has been in or flirting with the Democratic Party since the mid-1930s, the beginning of the Popular Front and the end of the equally disastrous 3rd Period. People around here who call themselves Stalinists should realize that when the look at the CPUSA they are looking at their pappy.


Seriously, it benefits neither party: it alienates moderate people from the Democrats because they're supposedly a bunch of evil scary Communists and it alienates actual communists from the CPUSA because they don't want to be associated with 'communists' that give in to a bourgeois party that doesn't care one bit about them.The question is, why anyone who calls themselves a communist would even want to piss in the same pot as Sam and his merry crew?


Also, people aren't ignorant enough to believe that Obama is largely different from Bush like the CPUSA pretends. Take a look at this:"People" are still plenty ignorant about this difference and areclinging to it for the sake of their sanity. It is very difficult to grasp that this handsome, intelligent, articulate African American, with a beautiful family, is, in fact a miserable sellout and a mass murderer.
OxG98hNSDQI

Thanks to this, now everyone in the US thinks that Obama is a communist because he has the backing of the CPUSA's leader.Somehow I think that people with this belief had it long before glen Beck took a ride down this particular sewer pipe. The CPUSA, ur-party of US Stalinists, is just a jujube on that shit cake


It's like a Republican infiltrated the party and tried to make it look as stupid as possible. Heck, maybe that's what he is.Obama is a true DINO, but so are all the others. And even if they were "real" Democrats, what would they be? Fucking Democrats!

Stalinists need to mercilessly analyze their history in the US and find out how their family ended up in this neighborhood.

RED DAVE