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77-827: Until the 1960s the largest and most influential organization to the left of the Democratic Party within the United States was the Communist Party, USA (CPUSA), which achieved peak influence during the Great Depression and World War II , before declining in the post war years due to a number of factors, including state-repression ( McCarthyism , the Smith Act , the Rosenberg Trial , etc.), as well as internal ideological schisms within

154-611: A Women's Equality Commission, which recognizes the role of women as an asset in moving towards building socialism. Historically significant in American history as an early fighter for African Americans' rights and playing a leading role in protesting the lynchings of African Americans in the South, the Communist Party in its national program today calls racism the "classic divide-and-conquer tactic". From its New York City base,

231-515: A covert apparatus to assist the Soviets with their intelligence activities in the United States and utilized a network of front organizations to shape public opinion. The CPUSA opposed glasnost and perestroika in the Soviet Union. As a result, major funding from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ended in 1991. During the first half of the 20th century, the Communist Party

308-653: A daily newspaper written in Yiddish . For decades, its West Coast newspaper was the People's World and its East Coast newspaper was The Daily World . The two newspapers merged in 1986 into the People's Weekly World . The People's Weekly World has since become an online only publication called People's World . It has since ceased being an official Communist Party publication as the party does not fund its publication. The party's former theoretical journal Political Affairs

385-402: A loose-knit tendency in United States leftist politics, but never coalesced into a single organization. As time went on, the organizations became extremely competitive and increasingly denounced one another. Points of distinction were frequently founded on the attitude taken toward the successors of Mao and international disputes between the Soviet Union and China regarding such developments as

462-517: A minority faction which urged social democrats to exit the now reduced party. The party has since adopted Marxism–Leninism within its program. In 2014, the new draft of the party constitution declared: "We apply the scientific outlook developed by Marx, Engels, Lenin and others in the context of our American history, culture, and traditions." The Communist Party is based in New York City. From 1922 to 1988, it published Morgen Freiheit ,

539-801: A national leader in SDS in the late 1960s, was the main leader of the CP(M-L). The October League came out of the Revolutionary Youth Movement II grouping in the SDS split. During the early 1970s the OL took positions that were at odds with most of the US Left, including opposition to gay liberation and support of the Shah of Iran , whose regime they saw as a bulwark against Soviet social-imperialism . The OL established influence within some of

616-554: A vision of socialism as an extension of American democracy. Seeking to "build socialism in the United States based on the revolutionary traditions and struggles" of American history, the party promotes a conception of "Bill of Rights Socialism" that will "guarantee all the freedoms we have won over centuries of struggle and also extend the Bill of Rights to include freedom from unemployment" as well as freedom "from poverty, from illiteracy, and from discrimination and oppression." Reiterating

693-601: Is now also published exclusively online, but the party still maintains International Publishers as its publishing house. In June 2014, the party held its 30th National Convention in Chicago. The party's 31st National Convention in 2019 celebrated the party's 100th year since its founding. The party announced on April 7, 2021, that it intended to run candidates in elections again, after a hiatus of over thirty years. Steven Estrada, who ran for city council in Long Beach ,

770-653: Is pernicious to working-class people of all backgrounds as any discriminatory practices between demographic sections of the working class constitute an inherently divisive practice responsible for "obstructing the development of working-class consciousness, driving wedges in class unity to divert attention from class exploitation , and creating extra profits for the capitalist class". The Communist Party supports an end to racial profiling . The party supports continued enforcement of civil rights laws as well as affirmative action . August 29th Movement The August 29th Movement (or August Twenty-Ninth Movement , ATM )

847-693: The Angolan Civil War . The Revolutionary Union organized the founding congress of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA in 1975. The October League organized the founding congress of the Communist Party (Marxist–Leninist) in 1977. During this period a few other new communist movement organizations also formed new communist parties . Unlike the majority of NCM groups, the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), which evolved into

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924-562: The Bush Doctrine , rejecting the right of the American government to attack "any country it wants, to conduct war without end until it succeeds everywhere, and even to use 'tactical' nuclear weapons and militarize space. Whoever does not support the U.S. policy is condemned as an opponent. Whenever international organizations, such as the United Nations, do not support U.S. government policies, they are reluctantly tolerated until

1001-619: The First Red Scare , the party was influential in American politics in the first half of the 20th century. It also played a prominent role in the history of the labor movement from the 1920s through the 1940s, playing a key role in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations . The party was unique among labor activist groups of the time in being outspokenly anti-racist and opposed to racial segregation after sponsoring

1078-696: The Great Depression , some Americans were attracted by the visible activism of Communists on behalf of a wide range of social and economic causes, including the rights of African Americans, workers, and the unemployed . The Communist Party played a significant role in the resurgence of organized labor in the 1930s. Others, alarmed by the rise of the Falangists in Spain and the Nazis in Germany, admired

1155-667: The Korean War , the Vietnam War , the First Gulf War and the post- September 11 conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan . The Communist Party does not believe that the threat of terrorism can be resolved through war. The Communist Party Constitution defines the U.S. working class as "multiracial and multinational. It unites men and women, young and old, gay and straight, native-born and immigrant, urban and rural." The party further expands its interpretation to include

1232-1024: The Marxist–Leninist Organizing Committee of San Francisco . They also had a youth group called the Communist Youth Organization. On November 3, 1979, four members of the Communist Workers' Party (CWP) and a male protester were killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party (ANP) during a Death to the Klan march, organized by the CWP. The event had been preceded by inflammatory rhetoric from both sides. The CWP had originally come to Greensboro to support workers' rights activism among mostly black textile industry workers in

1309-603: The Progressive Party under-performed in the 1948 presidential election . The party itself imploded following the public condemnation of Stalin by Nikita Khrushchev in 1956, with membership sinking to a few thousand who were increasingly alienated from the rest of the American Left for their support of the Soviet Union. The CPUSA received significant funding from the Soviet Union and crafted its public positions to match those of Moscow. The CPUSA also used

1386-745: The Works Progress Administration . The transformative changes of the New Deal era combined with the U.S. alliance with the Soviet Union during World War II created an atmosphere in which the CPUSA wielded considerable influence with about 70,000 vetted party members. Under the leadership of Earl Browder , the party was critically supportive of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and branded communism as "20th Century Americanism". Envisioning itself as becoming engrained within

1463-484: The Young Lords . It was the first of several 20th century Black -led organizations to use the "rainbow coalition" concept. As one of its last initiatives, SDS had begun to leave its campus base and organize in working-class neighborhoods. Radical militant groups such as Weather Underground are recognized as participants in the movement. Some former members subsequently developed local organizations that continued

1540-480: The multinational corporations . The state thereby becomes thrust into a proxy role that is essentially inclined to help facilitate "control by one section of the capitalist class over all others and over the whole of society". Accordingly, the Communist Party holds that right-wing policymakers such as the neoconservatives, steering the state away from working-class interests on behalf of a disproportionately powerful capitalist class, have "demonized foreign opponents of

1617-484: The 2001 Constitution laid out certain positions as non-negotiable: [S]truggle for the unity of the working class, against all forms of national oppression, national chauvinism, discrimination and segregation, against all racist ideologies and practices,   ... against all manifestations of male supremacy and discrimination against women,   ... against homophobia and all manifestations of discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people. Among

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1694-621: The Albanian communists. Many of these groups such as the Marxist–Leninist Organizing Committee and Sunrise Collective formed together in a joint statement against the end of Chinese aid to Albania. The U.S. Marxist–Leninist Party, previously the Central Organization of U.S. Marxist-Leninists, would become the primary recognized vanguard party in the United States supported by Albania, although Albanian aid to

1771-509: The American communists was minimal due to fears of CIA infiltration. Other groups such as the Red Dawn Organization and Pacific Collective (Marxist–Leninist) would meet with similarly pro-Albania groups in the 1979 in an attempt to unite and form a single communist party. The New Communist Movement as a whole became smaller in the 1980s. The militant May 19th Communist Organization was dissolved. Some organizations dissolved in

1848-462: The American way of life. Internal and external crises swirled together, to the point when members who did not end up in prison for party activities either tended to disappear quietly from its ranks, or they tended to adopt more moderate political positions which were at odds with the party line . By 1957, membership had dwindled to less than 10,000, of whom some 1,500 were informants for the FBI . The party

1925-573: The Communist Party claimed to have 50,000 to 60,000 members. Its members also included anarchists and other radical leftists . At the time, the older and more moderate Socialist Party of America , suffering from criminal prosecutions for its antiwar stance during World War I, had declined to 40,000 members. The sections of the Communist Party's International Workers Order (IWO) organized for communism around linguistic and ethnic lines, providing mutual aid and tailoring cultural activities to an IWO membership that peaked at 200,000 at its height. During

2002-588: The Communist Party considered Russian security sufficient justification to support the actions. The Comintern and its leader Georgi Dimitrov demanded that Browder change the party's support for Roosevelt. On October 23, the party began attacking Roosevelt. The party changed this policy again after Hitler broke the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact by attacking the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. In August 1940, after NKVD agent Ramón Mercader killed Trotsky with an ice axe , Browder perpetuated Moscow's line that

2079-877: The Communist Party received a communique from Moscow denouncing the Polish government. Between September 14–16, party leaders bickered about the direction to take. On September 17, the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland and occupied the Polish territory assigned to it by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, followed by coordination with German forces in Poland. The Communist Party then turned the focus of its public activities from anti-fascism to advocating peace, opposing military preparations. The party criticized British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French leader Édouard Daladier , but it did not at first attack President Roosevelt, reasoning that this could devastate American Communism, blaming instead Roosevelt's advisors. The party spread

2156-604: The Communist Party's Ben Davis Club and other Communist Party organizations have been involved in local activism in Harlem and other African American and minority communities. The Communist Party was instrumental in the founding of the progressive Black Radical Congress in 1998, as well as the African Blood Brotherhood . Historically significant in Latino working class history as a successful organizer of

2233-652: The Immediate Program, as are opposition to the Iraq War and other military interventions; opposition to free trade treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); nuclear disarmament and a reduced military budget; various civil rights provisions; campaign finance reform including public financing of campaigns; and election law reform, including instant runoff voting . The Communist Party emphasizes

2310-452: The League of Revolutionary Black Workers (LRBW), was formed by factory workers rather than student activists. The AFL–CIO leadership supported the Vietnam War and sought to avoid strikes, but union workers saw through this and independently organized a series of wildcat strikes . Radical Marxist and other African-American auto workers subsequently formed DRUM. From 1968 to 1971 DRUM and

2387-660: The Mexican American working class in the Southwestern United States in the 1930s, the Communist Party regards working-class Latino people as another oppressed group targeted by overt racism as well as systemic discrimination in areas such as education and sees the participation of Latino voters in a general mass movement in both party-based and nonpartisan work as an essential goal for major left-wing progress. The Communist Party holds that racial and ethnic discrimination not only harms minorities, but

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2464-722: The National Question. The ATM published a manifesto, "Fan The Flames: A Revolutionary Position on the Chicano National Question," in 1975. In it, the organization articulated the view that Chicanos living in the Southwestern United States were an oppressed nation due to the annexation of northern Mexico in the Mexican–American War of 1846–48, and had a right to independence. The strategy of ATM, like other NCM formations,

2541-532: The RU officially voted to dissolve and reestablish itself into the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA . The Communist Party (Marxist–Leninist)'s predecessor organization, the October League (Marxist–Leninist), was founded in 1971 by several local groups, many of which had grown out of the radical student organization Students for a Democratic Society when SDS split apart in 1969. Michael Klonsky , who had been

2618-491: The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA now demands full recognition of LGBT rights as a fundamental element of establishing socialism. Communist Party, USA Progressive Era Repression and persecution Anti-war and civil rights movements Contemporary Former parties Former parties Former parties The Communist Party USA , officially the Communist Party of

2695-557: The Soviet Union's early and staunch opposition to fascism . Party membership swelled from 7,500 at the start of the decade to 55,000 by its end. Party members also rallied to the defense of the Spanish Republic during this period after a nationalist military uprising moved to overthrow it, resulting in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The Communist Party of the Soviet Union , along with leftists throughout

2772-886: The U.S. government is able to subordinate or ignore them". Juxtaposing the support from the Republicans and the right-wing of the Democratic Party for the Bush administration -led invasion of Iraq with the many millions of Americans who opposed the invasion of Iraq from its beginning, the Communist Party notes the spirit of opposition towards the war coming from the American public: Thousands of grassroots peace committees [were] organized by ordinary Americans   ... neighborhoods, small towns and universities expressing opposition in countless creative ways. Thousands of actions, vigils, teach-ins and newspaper advertisements were organized. The largest demonstrations were held since

2849-606: The U.S., covertly funded the right-wing-initiated civil war in Nicaragua , and gave weapons to the Saddam Hussein dictatorship in Iraq. They picked small countries to invade, including Panama and Grenada , testing new military equipment and strategy, and breaking down resistance at home and abroad to U.S. military invasion as a policy option". From its ideological framework, the Communist Party understands imperialism as

2926-582: The US labor movement officially opposed the war. In contrast, it took years to build labor opposition to the Vietnam War.   ... For example in Chicago, labor leaders formed Labor United for Peace, Justice and Prosperity. They concluded that mass education of their members was essential to counter false propaganda, and that the fight for the peace, economic security and democratic rights was interrelated. The party has consistently opposed American involvement in

3003-681: The United States of America ( CPUSA ), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revolution . The history of the CPUSA is closely related to the history of the American labor movement and the history of communist parties worldwide. Initially operating underground due to the Palmer Raids , which started during

3080-424: The United States. These organizations addressed problems of sexism and racism , partly by voicing adamant support for self-determination and identity politics , and felt that they were dealing with problems they were of the opinion had not been addressed in the groups of the 1960s. However, different NCM groups came to this similar conclusion via quite different routes. In its early years, NCM organisations formed

3157-655: The Vietnam War. 500,000 marched in New York after the war started. Students at over 500 universities conducted a Day of Action for " Books not Bombs ." Over 150 anti-war resolutions were passed by city councils. Resolutions were passed by thousands of local unions and community organizations. Local and national actions were organized on the Internet, including the "Virtual March on Washington DC"   .... Elected officials were flooded with millions of calls, emails and letters. In an unprecedented development, large sections of

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3234-601: The War after it opened its membership to non-veterans and temporarily gained control when the national office voted to expel non RU chapters and members and voted to integrate into the Revolutionary Union although non Marxist members of the VVAW filed and won a lawsuit prohibiting the RU dominated group from using the VVAW name, logos and materials. Deep animosity still exists between the two organizations. In September 1975

3311-723: The area. The march was a part of that larger effort. The Greensboro city police department had an informant within the KKK and ANP group who notified them that the Klan was prepared for armed violence. The Rainbow Coalition was a multicultural movement founded April 4, 1969 in Chicago , Illinois by Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party , along with William "Preacherman" Fesperman of the Young Patriots Organization and Jose Cha Cha Jimenez founder of

3388-408: The capitalist class or any part of it on any issue with the aim of improving or defending their lives" part of the class struggle. The Communist Party maintains that developments within the foreign policy of the United States —as reflected in the rise of neoconservatives and other groups associated with right-wing politics —have developed in tandem with the interests of large-scale capital such as

3465-440: The continuing Cold War mentality, steadily weakened the party's internal structure and confidence. Party membership in the Communist International and its close adherence to the political positions of the Soviet Union gave most Americans the impression that the party was not only a threatening, subversive domestic entity, but that it was also a foreign agent that espoused an ideology which was fundamentally alien and threatening to

3542-407: The defense for the Scottsboro Boys in 1931. The party reached the apex of its influence in U.S. politics during the Great Depression , playing a prominent role in the political landscape as a militant grassroots network capable of effectively organizing and mobilizing workers and the unemployed in support of cornerstone New Deal programs, principally Social Security , unemployment insurance , and

3619-414: The devolution of socialism in the contemporary Soviet Union. Similar to the New Left's general direction in the late 1960s, these new organizations rejected the post-1956 Communist Party USA as revisionist , or anti-revolutionary, and also rejected Trotskyism and the Socialist Workers Party for its theoretical opposition to Maoism. The groups, formed of ex-students, attempted to establish links with

3696-495: The early 1980s, such as the Communist Party (Marxist–Leninist) . The Revolutionary Communist Party USA remains as an original product of the New Left. The Revolutionary Workers Headquarters and Proletarian Unity League joined forces to form the Freedom Road Socialist Organization in 1985, and various other new communist movement collectives and organizations later merged into FRSO. Subsequently, in 1999, FRSO split into two organizations, both of which until 2019 continued to use

3773-419: The early participants in the NCM were former members of the New Left student organization Students for a Democratic Society . The NCM emerged from numerous distinct movements in the United States during the late 1960s, with historian Max Elbaum, identifying Black Panther Party , Students for a Democratic Society , and the Progressive Labor Party . One of the most prominent groups of the New Communist Movement

3850-415: The employed and unemployed, organized and unorganized, and of all occupations. The Communist Party seeks equal rights for women, equal pay for equal work and the protection of reproductive rights, together with putting an end to sexism. They support the right of abortion and social services to provide access to it, arguing that unplanned pregnancy is prejudiced against poor women. The party's ranks include

3927-431: The established civil rights organizations , including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Southern Conference Educational Fund , which had been under the influence of the Moscow-oriented Communist Party USA . In late 1975 they organized a "National Fight Back Conference," which drew 1,000 participants and was attended by representatives of the August 29th Movement , the Congress of Afrikan People and

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4004-457: The established political structure in the post-war era, the party was dissolved in 1944 to become the 'Communist Political Association.' However, as Cold War hostility ensued, the party was restored but struggled to maintain its influence amidst the prevalence of McCarthyism (also known as the Second Red Scare). Its opposition to the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine failed to gain traction, and its endorsed candidate Henry A. Wallace of

4081-399: The excessive luxuries of the super-rich. Rather than making all wages entirely equal, the Communist Party holds that building socialism would entail "eliminating private wealth from stock speculation, from private ownership of large corporations, from the export of capital and jobs, and from the exploitation of large numbers of workers." Among the primary concerns of the Communist Party are

4158-401: The fight for wages, hours, benefits, working conditions, job security, and jobs. But it also includes an endless variety of other forms for fighting specific battles: resisting speed-up, picketing, contract negotiations, strikes, demonstrations, lobbying for pro-labor legislation, elections, and even general strikes". The Communist Party's national programs considers workers who struggle "against

4235-409: The first Chicano histories, due to disagreement of how ATM saw the books portrayal of the Chicano National Question. In 1978, ATM merged with I Wor Kuen , an Asian-American Communist organization, to form the League of Revolutionary Struggle . This communist party –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a United States political party

4312-431: The idea of property rights in socialist society as it is outlined in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels 's Communist Manifesto (1848), the Communist Party emphasizes: Many myths have been propagated about socialism. Contrary to right-wing claims, socialism would not take away the personal private property of workers, only the private ownership of major industries, financial institutions, and other large corporations, and

4389-416: The killer, who had been dating one of Trotsky's secretaries, was a disillusioned follower. The Communist Party's early labor and organizing successes did not last long. As the decades progressed, the combined effects of McCarthyism (also known as the Second Red Scare) and Nikita Khrushchev 's 1956 " Secret Speech " in which he denounced the previous decades of Joseph Stalin 's rule and the adversities of

4466-434: The leadership of the Soviet Union itself. In 1989, the Soviet Communist Party cut off major funding to the Communist Party USA due to its opposition to glasnost and perestroika . With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the party held its convention and attempted to resolve the issue of whether the party should reject Marxism–Leninism . The majority reasserted the party's now purely Marxist outlook, prompting

4543-430: The league acted as a dual union , with black leadership, within the United Auto Workers . In the late 1970s a group labeled the May 19th Communist Organization was created, going on a bombing campaign. In 1979, after the publishing of Enver Hoxha's Imperialism and the Revolution and other criticisms of Maoism from Albania, some groups renounced Maoism in favour of an "orthodox Marxist–Leninist" line similar to that of

4620-527: The name Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The groups and individuals representing the movement were persistently hostile towards homosexuality and homosexuals, reflecting both the homophobia within the United States, as well as homophobic tendencies within the larger international Marxist–Leninist movement, although gay rights activism was an early component of the New Left. The Revolutionary Union considered homosexuality as "an individual response to male supremacy and male chauvinism." The successor organization,

4697-405: The party. Members were often disillusioned by the party-leadership's official subordination to the USSR ideologically, with the party defending the numerous controversial actions by the Soviet state. This would be a key moment in the Marxist movement in the United States and the world, with numerous ranking party members leaving the organization due to Krushchev's perceived revisionism in pursuing

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4774-450: The pinnacle of capitalist development : the state, working on behalf of the few who wield disproportionate power, assumes the role of proffering "phony rationalizations" for economically driven imperial ambition as a means to promote the sectional economic interests of big business. In opposition to what it considers the ultimate agenda of the conservative wing of American politics, the Communist Party rejects foreign policy proposals such as

4851-413: The points in the party's "Immediate Program" are a $ 15/hour minimum wage for all workers, national universal health care, and opposition to privatization of Social Security . Economic measures such as increased taxes on "the rich and corporations, strong regulation of the financial industry, regulation and public ownership of utilities," and increased federal aid to cities and states are also included in

4928-409: The policy of peaceful coexistence with the Capitalist West, which was perceived as a fundamental departure from the revolutionary socialism and anti-imperialist elements of Marxism–Leninism. The New Communist Movement was influenced by world events of the time, specifically the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the Chinese Cultural Revolution , The French May-Day Uprising, and the Black Power Movement. Many of

5005-435: The poverty level; many suffer homelessness and hunger. Public and private programs to alleviate poverty and hunger do not reach everyone, and are inadequate even for those they do reach. With capitalist globalization, jobs move from place to place as capitalists export factories and even entire industries to other countries in a relentless search for the lowest wages. The Communist Party believes that "class struggle starts with

5082-818: The problems of unemployment , underemployment and job insecurity , which the party considers the natural result of the profit-driven incentives of the capitalist economy: Millions of workers are unemployed, underemployed, or insecure in their jobs, even during economic upswings and periods of 'recovery' from recessions. Most workers experience long years of stagnant and declining real wages, while health and education costs soar. Many workers are forced to work second and third jobs to make ends meet. Most workers now average four different occupations during their lifetime, many involuntarily moved from job to job and career to career. Often, retirement-age workers are forced to continue working just to provide health care for themselves and their families. Millions of people continuously live below

5159-410: The rest of the left-wing in the United States, which saw this supportive role as outdated and even dangerous. At the same time, the party's aging membership demographics distanced it from the New Left in the United States . With the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev and his effort to radically alter the Soviet economic and political system from the mid-1980s, the Communist Party finally became estranged from

5236-428: The slogans " The Yanks Are Not Coming " and "Hands Off," set up a "perpetual peace vigil" across the street from the White House , and announced that Roosevelt was the head of the "war party of the American bourgeoisie." The party was active in the isolationist America First Committee . In October and November, after the Soviets invaded Finland and forced mutual assistance pacts from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ,

5313-463: The trend, and they attempted to find theoretical backing for their work in the writings of Vladimir Lenin , Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin . Maoism was then highly regarded as more actively revolutionary than the brand of communism supported by the post-Stalin Soviet Union ( see New Left: New Left in the United States ). As a result, most NCM organizations referred to their ideology as Marxism–Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought and rejected what they saw as

5390-466: The working class through finding work in factories and heavy industry, but they also tended toward Third-worldism , supporting National Liberation Fronts of various kinds, including the Black Panther Party (then on the decline), the Cuban Revolution , and the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam . The New Communist Movement organizations supported national self-determination for most ethnic groups, especially blacks and those of Latino origin, in

5467-522: The world, raised funds for medical relief while many of its members made their way to Spain with the aid of the party to join the Lincoln Brigade , one of the International Brigades . The Communist Party was adamantly opposed to fascism during the Popular Front period. Although membership in the party rose to about 66,000 by 1939, nearly 20,000 members left the party by 1943. While general secretary Browder at first attacked Germany for its September 1, 1939 invasion of western Poland , on September 11

5544-647: Was a Chicano communist organization that lasted from 1974 to 1978. It formed out of the Labor Committee of La Raza Unida Party in Los Angeles , and other collectives, officially forming at a Unity Conference in May 1974. It was one of several organizations that were part of the New Communist Movement , which were influenced by the thought of Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin 's theories on

5621-532: Was also banned by the Communist Control Act of 1954 , although it was never really enforced and Congress later repealed most provisions of the act, also with some declared unconstitutional via the court system. The party attempted to recover with its opposition to the Vietnam War during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, but its continued uncritical support for an increasingly stultified and militaristic Soviet Union further alienated it from

5698-444: Was influential in various struggles. Historian Ellen Schrecker concludes that decades of recent scholarship offer "a more nuanced portrayal of the party as both a Stalinist sect tied to a vicious regime and the most dynamic organization within the American Left during the 1930s and '40s." It was also the first political party in the United States to be "fully" racially integrated. By August 1919, only months after its founding,

5775-438: Was one of the first candidates to run as an open member of the CPUSA again (although Long Beach local elections are officially non-partisan). Estrada received 8.5% of the vote. According to the constitution of the party adopted at the 30th National Convention in 2014, the Communist Party operates on the principle of democratic centralism , its highest authority being the quadrennial National Convention. Article VI, Section 3 of

5852-667: Was the Bay Area Revolutionary Union (later, shortened to Revolutionary Union), formed by activists led by Bob Avakian which gained most of its membership from the Students for a Democratic Society . Its anti-revisionist line emphasized the Black liberation struggle and the liberation of colonized peoples within and outside the United States. They became active in the Vietnam Veterans Against

5929-565: Was to build a multinational communist party. The August Twenty-Ninth Movement published a newspaper, Revolutionary Cause , and a theoretical journal, The Red Banner . In New Mexico , the ATM chapter entered into the Chicano Communications Center , a media organization founded by Elizabeth "Betita" Martinez . They were responsible for the destruction of an entire edition of her book 450 Years of Chicano History , one of

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