Communist Seats in U.S. Congress.

[Bostana]

The Communist Party of the United States America has been trying to get seat in the American congress, state congress, etc. However the U.S. government will not let them run.

When will they allow the CPUSA have people run for a seat in a congress?

[Susurrus]

Senator Bernie Sanders is a democratic socialist.

[Column No.4]

Senator Bernie Sanders is a democratic socialist.

And an excellent one at that.

[Bostana]

Senator Bernie Sanders is a democratic socialist.

Will we ever get pure Communists in seats.
However that is advancement.

[Bostana]

Wow Berni sanders won by a land slide too. Check out his stats.


2006 United States Senate election, Vermont
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Bernie Sanders 171,638 65.4 n/a
Republican Richard Tarrant 84,924 32.3 -33.2
Independent Cris Ericson 1,735 0.6 n/a
Green Craig Hill 1,536 0.5 n/a
Independent Peter D. Moss 1,518 0.5 n/a
Liberty Union Peter Diamondstone 801 0.3 -0.2
Write-ins 267 0.1 0
Majority 86,741 33.1
Turnout 262,419
Independent hold Swing
[edit]

[RedMarxist]

typical how the bourgeoisie denies communists-even reformist communists-the right to run for office.

typical how they allow "multiparty" democracy in theory yet in practice its really a two-party democracy. Every 4 years, you either can have a democrat or republican president. figures.

Typical how militant class movements, despite being protected under the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, are brutally suppressed or ignored.

Typical how the "mainstream" media is the only allowed source of mass information. smaller publications are ignored.

Typical how the United States must invade or crack down in sovereign nations to usher in liberal "democracy"

Typical how we are a democracy in theory, yet in practice we are an empire.

typical. all typical.

[thesadmafioso]

Wow Berni sanders won by a land slide too. Check out his stats.


2006 United States Senate election, Vermont
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Bernie Sanders 171,638 65.4 n/a
Republican Richard Tarrant 84,924 32.3 -33.2
Independent Cris Ericson 1,735 0.6 n/a
Green Craig Hill 1,536 0.5 n/a
Independent Peter D. Moss 1,518 0.5 n/a
Liberty Union Peter Diamondstone 801 0.3 -0.2
Write-ins 267 0.1 0
Majority 86,741 33.1
Turnout 262,419
Independent hold Swing
[edit]

Yeah, in Vermont....

That really doesn't say much for the political viability for actual communists running for house seats either, as most electorates are not nearly as left leaning.

Also, Sanders is a social democrat at best, meaning he is quite far from being a communist. Even in a state like Vermont, I'm sure an actual communist would run into a tremendous amount of difficultly participating in the structure of bourgeois democracy.

Though it's honestly a waste of efforts for any communist party to try and focus any actual labour on these sorts of races, as they are designed by there inherent nature to put any third party at a massive disadvantage. And even if some victories could be had, they wouldn't be nearly enough to turn the structures of power against the entrenched elite of the wealthy which they are crafted to serve.

[RED DAVE]

The Communist Party of the United States America has been trying to get seat in the American congress, state congress, etc. However the U.S. government will not let them run.The politics of the CPUSA aside, I don't believe this is true. The CP has the right to run candidates. If you're saying they can't, document this.


When will they allow the CPUSA have people run for a seat in a congress?(1) Who is "they" and why should "they" give the CPUSA any consideration?

(2) Again, i don' think it's true that the CP can't run candidates.

(3) Who gives a shit if they do?

RED DAVE

[eric922]

Any party can run for seats in Congress. There is no law that forbids it. It would likely be unconstitutional for them to not allow any party to run. However, the system is set up in such a way that it is very hard for third parties to win. Even the candidates for the big two are per-selected. Dennis Kucinich, for instance, will never gain the Democratic ticket, because he is too left for the DLC that runs the party.

[Red Commissar]

Smaller groups can't get into congress not because they are communist but because of the two-party system which benefits politicians running under Republican or Democratic banners. It's hard enough for independents to get elected as things stand currently- this is a combination of voter apathy and how political machines dominate elections that many people simply don't remember, forget, or could care less about.

Now there could be a chance that if by some chance they get their seats denied. Victor Berger, SPA politician that got elected from Milwaukee, was denied his seat two times because of violating the espionage act over opposition to WWI. The same goes for SPA five members who were elected to New York's state assembly and later expelled.

As things stand though if someone from our plethora of socialist parties gets a seat, there really won't be a reason to deny them a seat, unless they somehow infringe on laws. The problem would be having to get elected in the first place. More over due to the nature of American politics most people elected in would have to moderate to something more acceptable if they want to participate in Congress.

As things stand though if the CPUSA even gets a seat it'll be meaningless because for the most part they'll just parrot the Democratic line in Congress.

[Bostana]

You guys are not understanding this. Well I guess it is my fault. I did give you guys to much details to my question.

They Meaning the U.S. people

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Why would anyone vote for the CPUSA, assuming they even ran candidates, when they are nothing but lefty cheerleaders for the Democrats? It'd be like going to see an Elvis impersonator instead of seeing Elvis himself.

[Commissar Rykov]

Why would anyone vote for the CPUSA, assuming they even ran candidates, when they are nothing but lefty cheerleaders for the Democrats? It'd be like going to see an Elvis impersonator instead of seeing Elvis himself.
Exactly, the CPUSA is a joke and a rather bad one at that.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

The CPUS sort of had a seat in the US Congress

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vito_Marcantonio

Today the CPUS is not in anyway socialist but an adjunct of the Democratic Party.

[RED DAVE]

Why would anyone vote for the CPUSA, assuming they even ran candidates, when they are nothing but lefty cheerleaders for the Democrats? It'd be like going to see an Elvis impersonator instead of seeing Elvis himself.Naah.

There are plenty of Elvis impersonators who at least put on a good show. The CPUSA doesn't even do that.

RED DAVE

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

And an excellent one at that.

"Bernie Sanders votes with the Democrats 98 percent of the time." - Howard Dean (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7924139)

Sanders has endorsed every Democratic nominee for president of the United States since 1992.

A great hero of the working class!

[Luís Henrique]

Naah.

There are plenty of Elvis impersonators who at least put on a good show. The CPUSA doesn't even do that.

And, of course, the Democratic Party sucks a little bit more than Elvis Presley.

Luís Henrique

[Sam_b]

Will we ever get pure Communists in seats


The Communist Party of the United States America

Haha, brilliant.

[DaringMehring]

1) The CPUSA don't run candidates. The only person I can think of that they ran in the last forever is Rick Nagin for Cleveland City Council. And Nagin thinks the Party should dissolve itself. They don't run any candidates because they are obsessed with the Democrats and have the delusion that it actually matters whether they run candidates and if they did, they'de be "splitting the left."

2) The CP or basically any other Party can run candidates. The capitalists love it when their opponents submit to the bourgeois democracy. Orienting yourself to the bourgeois democracy is the kiss of death for any wanna-be revolutionary socialists.

[Kosakk]

Has there been any real oposition in the US after ww2?

The only difference between a one-party system and a two-party system is that the fractions are organized in a two-party system.

[Susurrus]

Has there been any real oposition in the US after ww2?


Nope.

[Kosakk]

Nope.

So much for pluralism …

[Binh]

CPUSA doesn't run for office, they endorse the Democratic Party's candidates. Hard to get a seat when you don't run.

[RedMarxist]

further proof that Communist revolutionaries in the U.S, however small in number, need to from their own genuine working class party to replace the rotten old CPUSA.

Lenin talks extensively in his many works about agitation and propaganda spread amongst the working classes by the Communist Party, etc. Has CPUSA been doing that the past few decades? nope. They've been selling themselves out to the Democratic Party.

So much for the CPUSA being "Marxist" and "Leninist."

[Kosakk]

further proof that Communist revolutionaries in the U.S, however small in number, need to from their own genuine working class party to replace the rotten old CPUSA.

Lenin talks extensively in his many works about agitation and propaganda spread amongst the working classes by the Communist Party, etc. Has CPUSA been doing that the past few decades? nope. They've been selling themselves out to the Democratic Party.

So much for the CPUSA being "Marxist" and "Leninist."

It's pretty much the same in my country. It consist of pensioners and a few students. Low in numbers.
They also face alot of prejudices.

Not that I care, they (the CP in my country) are still stuck in the 1930's in their approach to the working class

[Dzerzhinsky's Ghost]

I could possibly see the temporary benefit of having comrades in the seats of Congress however this could possibly lead to reformism and the retardation of the revolutionary movement and the stifiling of the revolution as a whole. I think we should all bare in mind and agree that we can not overthrow the capitalists through entryism, participation in bourgeois parliaments or the ballot boxes; there has to be a violent overthrow of the ruling class and the seizure of the means of production in order to accomplish our goals outright. I think at best this would be problematic.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Communists don't run in bourgeois elections to win the seat. The main objective of Communists participating in bourgeois elections is to agitate and raise the profile of Socialism amongst the working class.

[syndicat]

The main objective of Communists participating in bourgeois elections is to agitate and raise the profile of Socialism amongst the working class.

in which case everyone ignores them because they're not a "serious candidate." and what's the message anyway? that we should be looking to saviors to run a state?

[Rusty Shackleford]

Will we ever get pure Communists in seats.


not when its the "CP"USA running.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

in which case everyone ignores them because they're not a "serious candidate." and what's the message anyway? that we should be looking to saviors to run a state?

In a time of increased class struggle, when millions of people are out of work and all the bourgeois options have been tried, you think people will just ignore?

In any case, winning the seat is a secondary goal. It's still a goal, but not the main purpose of running in bourgeois elections. If it becomes the main purpose, then the revolutionary is subordinated to the reformist motive.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Has there been any real oposition in the US after ww2?Official electoral opposition, no. Radical opposition, yes in the late 60s through the 1970s.


The only difference between a one-party system and a two-party system is that the fractions are organized in a two-party system.Ha, yup. It's: "good cop/bad cop". They say different things to you, but they are partners who both want the same thing ultimately. The bad cop bullies you and threatens you unless you screw yourself and your friends - the good cop says he'll help you out if you play along and screw yourself and your friends.

[Philosopher Jay]

There are some laws in some states that make it difficult for small party candidates to get on the ballot. A certain number of people have to sign a petition endorsing the candidacy. This involves organizing a few dozen people to spend their time in front of libraries and supermarkets asking people to sign petitions for a few months. Ordinarily, this is non-problematical for capitalist parties. However, in the United States, workers can be fired for being socialists or communists. Thus those who collect the petitions are often at risk of losing their jobs for this activity.

However, at times of rising socialist popularity, the Communist Party USA and other socialist parties have fielded candidates for many political positions.

The major problem is that the capitalists control vast empires of media. Thus, the average person will be exposed to one hundred to two hundred ads, leaflets or news articles telling them or suggesting to them that they vote for the Republican candidate and fifty or sixty ads, leaflets and articles telling them or suggesting to them to vote for the Democratic candidate. during the election. The average person may be exposed to three or four articles mentioning a socialist candidate and may read an article or two about them.

The results are predictable, the socialist or communist candidates generally end up with less than 1% of the vote. This is than used by capitalists to show the unpopularity of socialism and communism in America.

This is why the building of a dedicated party information infrastructure is critical to any change in the capitalist system.

There is no reason for socialist and communist parties not to cooperate with each other in building this infrastructure. However, the capitalist government does infiltrate socialist and communist parties with agents who sabotage normal efforts at socialist and worker solidarity.





The Communist Party of the United States America has been trying to get seat in the American congress, state congress, etc. However the U.S. government will not let them run.

When will they allow the CPUSA have people run for a seat in a congress?

[Bostana]

Okay. So then which American Communist Party is better.

[Luís Henrique]

Okay. So then which American Communist Party is better.

An actual communist party has to have a solid base in the working class. As far as I can see it, no leftist political party or organisation has anything similar in the United States. And, to be honest, the American working class seems utterly uninterested in the left, or in opposing the rule of the bourgeoisie in any noticeable way.

So that is the problem: to build up an actual anti-capitalist working class movement, that can then be expressed in one or more political parties. I don't think any of the existing leftist organisations in the US is likely to originate such things, though of course some of them are quite worse than others. If pressed, I would say that Solidarity is closest to sanity, but I don't think it has the muscle necessary for the task.

What will happen, I guess, is that the deepening of the crisis will create some more or less spontaneous working class organisation, more or less linked to the already existing reformist/yellow/thuggish unions, and parts of the left will take a ride at that and try to help build it into a more radical movement (while other sectors will of course denounce it as "petty bourgeois", a "democrat outlet" or a "proletarian aristocracy scheme", etc - and still others, like the CPUSA for instance, will denounce it as "dividing the left"). My take is that any organisation likely to oppose a movement like that is a walking corpse. Not meaning that the others are necessarily better, but still.

Luís Henrique

[Bostana]

As in a Supreme Communist Government