Os Cangaceiros
3rd March 2011, 01:19
I was reading through this (http://reds.linefeed.org/past.html#SY) recently. Was kind of interesting to read about now-defunct organizations.
Two examples:
The Communist Workers Party
Maoist (http://reds.linefeed.org/vocab.html#MA) group formed by Jerry Tung and others following the break-up of Students for a Democratic Society (http://reds.linefeed.org/past.html#SDS) in 1969. Extremely violent and totalitarian, the CWP hailed Joseph Stalin (http://reds.linefeed.org/bios/stalin.html), Mao Zedong (http://reds.linefeed.org/bios/mao.html), even Cambodian dictator Pol Pot. They despised Trotskyists (http://reds.linefeed.org/vocab.html#TR) (describing them as "counter-revolutionary dogs"), applauding the execution of 14 Trotskyist leaders in Iran. They also fought with other Maoist groups, including the Revolutionary Communist Party (http://reds.linefeed.org/groups.html#RCP). They first came to national attention on November 19, 1979, at Greensboro, North Carolina. In Greensboro, CWPers participated in a shootout with neo-Nazis and KKK members. Two CWP members were killed, and their murderers were acquitted of the crimes (many believe because it took place in the "racist" South). Even more attention was drawn on the CWP in 1980 during the Democratic National Convention. Calling Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter a "fascist" and a "racist", they stormed the convention in Madison Square Gardens, wearing riot gear and clubs. The police were able to stop them, but one managed to get in the building and set off fire crackers. The group, regarded as sectarian and overly violent even by fellow leftists, the CWP never got beyond a membership base of 200. They remained in violently anti-racist activities until 1985, when they renamed themselves the New Democratic Movement and entered the Democratic Party (ironically, a group they were bombing 5 years earlier). It was the feeling of CWP leader Jerry Tung and others that they could get funding for the CWP/NDM if they joined the Democrats. The organization is now moribund. Many of the former CWP members have gone on to lead fairly ordinary lives.
The Provisional Communist Party
Formed in 1970-71 as the "Liberation Army Revolutionary Group Organizations" (LARGO) by Gerry Doeden (1936-1995). Before this time, it appears that Doeden was involved with several SDS (http://reds.linefeed.org/past.html#SDS) splinters, most notably Lyndon LaRouche (http://www.publiceye.org/larouche/)'s National Caucus of Labor Committees (http://www.publiceye.org/larouche/nclc.html) (NCLC) — a leftist cult that would later move to the far right. Using ego-maniacal methods, Doeden managed to lure a few New Lefters into LARGO and "declared war" on the state of California, apparently copy-catting the Symbionese Liberation Army's violent tactics. However, Doeden chickened out on his "war" before it began and escaped to New York, changing his name to "Gino Perente" (apparently to pass off as a Latino revolutionary). Perente's followers formed the National Labor Federation (NATLFED (http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/)). NATLFED created a number of public aid and social organizations — with innocuous names such as the California Homemakers Association, Women's Press Collective, and Eastern Farm Workers Association. All these organizations funneled money and personnel to NATLFED's secret central organization, the Provisional Communist Party (aka Communist Party USA/Provisional and the Order of Lenin). NATLFED and the PCP became known as the "political Moonies" — grabbing ideal and unsuspecting youth and working them through 18-hour shifts and disconnecting them from outside relationships. Perente was apparently a Stalinist (http://reds.linefeed.org/vocab.html#ST), and used a cult of personality (and threats of violence against dissidents) to keep people in line. He kept the naïve members hopeful by claiming a PCP revolution was eminent. Perente said the Provisional Party was the American section of a new Communist International — which also included the Cuban Communist Party, the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Chilean freedom fighters, and Salvadoran FMLN. The PCP seems to have maintained an inner circle of about 200 activists. After Perente's death in 1995, the PCP was taken over by one Margaret Ribar. Then on November 10, 1996, Brooklyn police broke into the headquarters of the PCP (known as "the Cave") at 1107 Carroll Apt 2-H. Numerous weapons and underground tunnels were discovered, and numerous Party members were arrested. Since this incident, it appears that the PCP has been dispersed by law enforcement. The PCP was certainly one of the most bizarre groups in the history of the American left.
Two examples:
The Communist Workers Party
Maoist (http://reds.linefeed.org/vocab.html#MA) group formed by Jerry Tung and others following the break-up of Students for a Democratic Society (http://reds.linefeed.org/past.html#SDS) in 1969. Extremely violent and totalitarian, the CWP hailed Joseph Stalin (http://reds.linefeed.org/bios/stalin.html), Mao Zedong (http://reds.linefeed.org/bios/mao.html), even Cambodian dictator Pol Pot. They despised Trotskyists (http://reds.linefeed.org/vocab.html#TR) (describing them as "counter-revolutionary dogs"), applauding the execution of 14 Trotskyist leaders in Iran. They also fought with other Maoist groups, including the Revolutionary Communist Party (http://reds.linefeed.org/groups.html#RCP). They first came to national attention on November 19, 1979, at Greensboro, North Carolina. In Greensboro, CWPers participated in a shootout with neo-Nazis and KKK members. Two CWP members were killed, and their murderers were acquitted of the crimes (many believe because it took place in the "racist" South). Even more attention was drawn on the CWP in 1980 during the Democratic National Convention. Calling Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter a "fascist" and a "racist", they stormed the convention in Madison Square Gardens, wearing riot gear and clubs. The police were able to stop them, but one managed to get in the building and set off fire crackers. The group, regarded as sectarian and overly violent even by fellow leftists, the CWP never got beyond a membership base of 200. They remained in violently anti-racist activities until 1985, when they renamed themselves the New Democratic Movement and entered the Democratic Party (ironically, a group they were bombing 5 years earlier). It was the feeling of CWP leader Jerry Tung and others that they could get funding for the CWP/NDM if they joined the Democrats. The organization is now moribund. Many of the former CWP members have gone on to lead fairly ordinary lives.
The Provisional Communist Party
Formed in 1970-71 as the "Liberation Army Revolutionary Group Organizations" (LARGO) by Gerry Doeden (1936-1995). Before this time, it appears that Doeden was involved with several SDS (http://reds.linefeed.org/past.html#SDS) splinters, most notably Lyndon LaRouche (http://www.publiceye.org/larouche/)'s National Caucus of Labor Committees (http://www.publiceye.org/larouche/nclc.html) (NCLC) — a leftist cult that would later move to the far right. Using ego-maniacal methods, Doeden managed to lure a few New Lefters into LARGO and "declared war" on the state of California, apparently copy-catting the Symbionese Liberation Army's violent tactics. However, Doeden chickened out on his "war" before it began and escaped to New York, changing his name to "Gino Perente" (apparently to pass off as a Latino revolutionary). Perente's followers formed the National Labor Federation (NATLFED (http://users.rcn.com/xnatlfed/)). NATLFED created a number of public aid and social organizations — with innocuous names such as the California Homemakers Association, Women's Press Collective, and Eastern Farm Workers Association. All these organizations funneled money and personnel to NATLFED's secret central organization, the Provisional Communist Party (aka Communist Party USA/Provisional and the Order of Lenin). NATLFED and the PCP became known as the "political Moonies" — grabbing ideal and unsuspecting youth and working them through 18-hour shifts and disconnecting them from outside relationships. Perente was apparently a Stalinist (http://reds.linefeed.org/vocab.html#ST), and used a cult of personality (and threats of violence against dissidents) to keep people in line. He kept the naïve members hopeful by claiming a PCP revolution was eminent. Perente said the Provisional Party was the American section of a new Communist International — which also included the Cuban Communist Party, the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Chilean freedom fighters, and Salvadoran FMLN. The PCP seems to have maintained an inner circle of about 200 activists. After Perente's death in 1995, the PCP was taken over by one Margaret Ribar. Then on November 10, 1996, Brooklyn police broke into the headquarters of the PCP (known as "the Cave") at 1107 Carroll Apt 2-H. Numerous weapons and underground tunnels were discovered, and numerous Party members were arrested. Since this incident, it appears that the PCP has been dispersed by law enforcement. The PCP was certainly one of the most bizarre groups in the history of the American left.