Part Two of this article addresses American communist groups who organize outside of the Democratic Party, unlike their Democrat Party-friendly counterparts, who were discussed in Part One.
Broadly speaking, there are two categories of hard-left organizations in America: those who organize within the Democrat Party and those who do not. Those who generally stay away from the Democratic Party encompass dedicated ideologues who are more likely to engage in street violence and—like their Democrat-friendly counterparts — work with foreign communist regimes and groups.
While hardened communists represent a small fraction of the population, they have a surprisingly powerful impact but receive little scrutiny from the establishment media. The Revolutionary Communist Party’s flag-burning activities, for example, resulted in a Supreme Court decision that continues to reverberate.
The Revolutionary Communist Party’s front group, Refuse Fascism, placed a full-page ad in the New York Times that was signed by former Weather Underground terrorist, communist, and former President Barack Obama’s friend Bill Ayers; professor of theology and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member Cornel West; and militant anti-Israel activist Marc Lamont Hill, to name a few.
The hardcore Marxist Workers World Party was behind the headline-grabbing push to demolish confederate-era statues. The Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack! fought to keep terrorist murderer Rasmea Odeh in the United States.
Communists of all stripes descended upon Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown; they were behind the Standing Rock standoff over the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota; they flooded to the border to support the Honduras Caravan at the end of 2018; they descended upon Charlottesville in August 2017 to protest the so-called “Unite the Right” white supremacist rally; and they were behind numerous violent anti-Trump protests in 2016 and 2017.
Communists agitate their way into headlines on a regular basis; yet many Americans believe communists somehow evaporated when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down in 1989.
This two-part series offers a birds-eye view of the U.S.-based organizations, and hopefully plants the seed for readers to understand that these subversive organizations exist, and they seek to hurt America.
Socialist Party USA (SPUSA)
In the early 20th century, the Socialist Party USA (SPUSA) was the largest Marxist group on the U.S. left with 100,000 members boasting numerous elected officials, mainly in the Midwest. The SPUSA lost many members to the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in the 1920s, and much of the remaining remnant to the Democratic Socialists Organizing Committee in the 1970s.
Today’s SPUSA overlaps with the Green Party in some areas, with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) in Memphis, Tennessee, and with Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) nationally.
In Memphis, the SPUSA controls the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center and does interact with some local Democrats such as Congressmember Steve Cohen (D-TN).
The SPUSA is probably under a thousand members in total, but has a presence in almost every state.
The party is extremely militant, and is effective in some areas on local issues, but is ultimately a fringe player on the U.S. left.
Socialist Workers Party (SWP)
In the 1970s, the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) was a leading force in the anti-Vietnam War movement. Its newspaper The Militant was widely read on the U.S. left. The SWP began as a pro-Leon Trotsky split from the CPUSA in the 1920s, and for many years was the country’s second-largest communist party. Currently, the SWP is a shadow of its former self.
The SWP abandoned Trotskyism in the 1980s, and now orientates its international activities around Cuba and the old Soviet front the World Federation of Democratic Youth. The SWP has tiny sister groups in Canada, Iceland, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia.
In the United States, the SWP is now little more than a Marxist cult. Their tactic is to recruit bright young college students then put them to work for decades in meat-packing plants in Iowa or Nebraska to connect with the “working class.” This talent-wasting exercise has been applied since the 1970s with minimal results.
But they keep trying.
The once-dynamic SWP retains maybe 500 members nationwide.
Read the full story from NoisyRoom.net
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