CPUSA outs itself as a bourgeois party

[Aspiring Humanist]

The decor inside the national headquarters of the Communist Party USA, or CPUSA, is more Macy's than Marx. Glass walls rise from the floor to form state-of-the-art work spaces, nontoxic linseed oil burnishes the work surfaces, and biodegradable blue carpet is underfoot. Colorful paintings by the renowned artists Boris Taslitzky and Alejandro Romero, depicting the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and working-class struggle, dot the walls of the expansive open-plan office. Inside their transparent cubicles, the 21-strong staff tap away on Apple Macs and sip Starbucks coffee.
http://www.cpusa.org/comrade-commies-coming-/

Does this shit piss anybody else off or what? We all know the CPUSA is an extension of the democratic party, but HOW did they hijack the party in the first place? When the recession is causing rampant unemployment and the working class can't afford to put food on their table, why is this shill of a party spending party dues on overpriced computers and burned coffee?
:cursing:

[CesareBorgia]

I don't care personally. This party hasn't been relevant since 1927

[Rusty Shackleford]

I don't care personally. This party hasn't been relevant since 1927
actually, i think it was relevant up until the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact which caused a huge upset and made people really question the CP.

[ZeroNowhere]

That hardly outs the CPUSA as a bourgeois Party, in actual fact it's pretty trivial what brand of computers they use and where they get their coffee. In any case, they can't 'out' themselves as a bourgeois Party, because they're generally quite explicit when it comes to being such.

[Rusty Shackleford]

rennovating an office is fine. but imagine what they could have done with a million dollars. imagine what any american communist party could do with a spare million.

[GPDP]

rennovating an office is fine. but imagine what they could have done with a million dollars. imagine what any american communist party could do with a spare million.

I would think in this day and age, if a so-called communist party got a hold of a million bucks, it would be a cause for alarm rather than celebration.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I would think in this day and age, if a so-called communist party got a hold of a million bucks, it would be a cause for alarm rather than celebration.


if membership is large enough and fundraising is done correctly, a million dollars would be no problem.

[Tablo]

To have ever been aligned with CPUSA is a disgrace. I'm an anarchist, but if CPUSA would take a fucking legitimately Marxist stance I might halfway consider fucking voting(which I never consider under normal circumstances). CPUSA is such a fucking shit party I would rather vote for the RCP, and I would NEVER fucking vote for them fucking cult fuckers. Seriously, if even one party got their shit together and went straight up working class with their shit I would fucking vote if only for fucking shits and giggles. God damn I hate the American leftist parties.

[Obs]

To have ever been aligned with CPUSA is a disgrace. I'm an anarchist, but if CPUSA would take a fucking legitimately Marxist stance I might halfway consider fucking voting(which I never consider under normal circumstances). CPUSA is such a fucking shit party I would rather vote for the RCP, and I would NEVER fucking vote for them fucking cult fuckers. Seriously, if even one party got their shit together and went straight up working class with their shit I would fucking vote if only for fucking shits and giggles. God damn I hate the American leftist parties.

You seem happy.

[caramelpence]

rennovating an office is fine. but imagine what they could have done with a million dollars. imagine what any american communist party could do with a spare million.

What would or could they do? Make their newspapers more glossy? Print books on why China is socialist like the PSL? I personally don't think the prospects for socialism are determined by how much money so-called communist parties have for the execution of marketing exercises because I don't think the communist project should be seen as something that people are convinced of in the same way that they're won over to buying a commodity. The prospects for socialism are dependent on the state of class struggle and the communist project is implicit in the interests and spontaneous movement of the working class itself. It is not an ideology or something that is external to the working class, even though left-wing parties treat it as such.

I also don't care about socialists buying starbucks or using macs. I'm writing this post from a mac and I buy starbucks from time to time.

[Commissar Rykov]

The CPUSA has long made it known it is nothing more than a party of Social Democrats. I didn't realize this was news.

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

I thought you meant they outed themselves in the way that Elton John outed himself, and people were like 'its cool dude, we knew :)'.

I'd say that the coffee they drink and the computers they use isn't where we judge their politics and class alignments, we judge them by their actions and theory.

[Obs]

What would or could they do? Make their newspapers more glossy? Print books on why China is socialist like the PSL?

They could buy a whole lotta guns, for one.

[Tablo]

You seem happy.
I'm fucking drunk as fucking hell right now so that may be a contrubting factor./ fucking 515 inthe fucking morningd.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 blah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[graymouser]

What's suspicious in the whole thing is that the CPUSA did their big renovation not long before they closed up shop at their paper and then stopped printing it, claiming all the while that this was being done because of a financial crisis within the party. They also reduced their staff levels significantly (according to either the online discussion bulletins or mltoday.com I believe it was something like 34 to 21).

The CP has taken the popular front to the point of a religion. You can't say they are a "bourgeois" party, their program is increasingly social-democratic and they support a bourgeois party in the Democrats but in terms of composition they are still largely drawn from the labor bureaucracy (or at least were for a long period).

Perhaps the most fascinating thing is that the party's membership had declined precipitously from 2005 to 2010, from about 2500 to 500 at the time of the 2010 convention, and yet in 2011 they've announced a growth of 1500 new members all signing up over the Internet. Now any normal party losing 4/5ths of its membership would probably have sacked the leadership, but the CPUSA doesn't even have the will to do that. And now of course there are hundreds of new members, at least on paper. But the party won't be able to do anything with them, and they too will fall away.

[Rusty Shackleford]

What would or could they do? Make their newspapers more glossy? Print books on why China is socialist like the PSL? I personally don't think the prospects for socialism are determined by how much money so-called communist parties have for the execution of marketing exercises because I don't think the communist project should be seen as something that people are convinced of in the same way that they're won over to buying a commodity. The prospects for socialism are dependent on the state of class struggle and the communist project is implicit in the interests and spontaneous movement of the working class itself. It is not an ideology or something that is external to the working class, even though left-wing parties treat it as such.

I also don't care about socialists buying starbucks or using macs. I'm writing this post from a mac and I buy starbucks from time to time.


did i ever say that money was the most important thing?

a million dollars could go a long way in paying for legal defense and supporting struggle. paying for fuel for long trips to meet with people in far away parts, to paying for food for people at demonstrations.

printing posters to put up everywhere. shit like that. yeah each thing individually isnt that much but with a cushion of a million dollars and say a relatively large party, it would make things a bit easier for the organization to operate.


a large part of the failure of the Paris Commune was them not making use of the money at the national bank. thanks to the petit bourgeois elements in the commune.

[ZeroNowhere]

a large part of the failure of the Paris Commune was them not making use of the money at the national bank. thanks to the petit bourgeois elements in the commune.I think that it's less to do with not using it as not seizing it and hence allowing the blokes in Versailles to use it. I don't think that the CPUSA is in an analogous position, because I don't think that anybody feels threatened enough by the CPUSA to bother raising an army against it.

[Rusty Shackleford]

point taken.


i guess what i was gettign at is proper use of party finances and actually having enough to operate is a necessity. and any* extra money can help.


And im not talking about taking out Ben & Jerry's ads in Party publications.

[Cleansing Conspiratorial Revolutionary Flame]

In order to be upset, it would have to be a surprise that the CPUSA is a Bourgeois Party.:lol:

[NoOneIsIllegal]

a large part of the failure of the Paris Commune was them not making use of the money at the national bank. thanks to the petit bourgeois elements in the commune.
I've read several sources that actually referred to (some of) the middle-class elements being the ones pushing the radical reforms rather than the handful of working-class members in the commune who pushed rather moderate proposals. But yes, I've also heard about the national bank not being tapped, but who didn't advocate it i'm unaware.

[KC]

Perhaps the most fascinating thing is that the party's membership had declined precipitously from 2005 to 2010, from about 2500 to 500 at the time of the 2010 convention, and yet in 2011 they've announced a growth of 1500 new members all signing up over the Internet. Now any normal party losing 4/5ths of its membership would probably have sacked the leadership, but the CPUSA doesn't even have the will to do that. And now of course there are hundreds of new members, at least on paper. But the party won't be able to do anything with them, and they too will fall away.

Their membership numbers include people that go to their website and fill out a form, regardless of whether said "member" actually does anything else.

[graymouser]

Their membership numbers include people that go to their website and fill out a form, regardless of whether said "member" actually does anything else.
That's why I made sure to qualify their numbers with "at least on paper." A lot of parties have purely paper membership, the largest left group in the USA, the Democratic Socialists of America, are basically a big paper organization. It's a reflection of age and irrelevance.

But even if the numbers are inflated for publicity, the recruitment is interesting. Of course it's being held up by the leadership as a vindication of their course.