Why have "Communist" Parties peaked at 50,000, and are at 2,00 today?

[Le Communiste]

Literally in the 1950 census, the United States had 150,000,000, while CPUSA had 50,000 members. While today it has about 2,000ish.

Also in Britain, CPGB-ML has like a few hundred members.

Why isn't ever a decent 1% chunk or something higher?

Edit: delete thread <.< didn't mean to double post

[Geiseric]

Those are both petit bourgeois parties. All current CPs which have been around for about a hundred to 75 years are subservient to capital. They have been since Stalinism reared its ugly purges.

[dsaly1969]

In terms of the CPUSA they have not been a revolutionary Marxist party in a long time, they have accepted the reformist / social democratic line and have become much like the SPUSA (but want to continue benefitting from their historical reputation which is how they attract most of their new members). The CPUSA generally support Democratic party nominees and policy positions as the "lesser of two evils". Generally they do not run any candidates for office either.