NationStates Jolt Archive

THERE are comunist in the usa(the capitalists paradise)? and is difficoult to be comunist in usa? there is a comunist party in usa or it is outlwed?

by a italian post-comunist

The communist party is legal in (to my knowledge) every single one of the major liberal democracies...Though, myself included, most communists consider these parties advocates of soviet style dictatorship and don't support them.

(I'm Australian, by the way.)

Yes, there are communists here, and, arguably it is difficult because people here tend to associate communism with the Soviet Union, and that whole "Cold War" thing kinda makes people dislike the Soviets, and hence communism. But most capitalists would probably tell you that the USA is not paradise.

I vaguely remember something about it being illegal to possess or distribute the Communist Manifesto in one state of the US... Texas? Ring any bells with anyone?

There's Communists here, but of many different stripes. There's the old-school Moscow line Communist Party USA, the Trotskyite Socialist Worker's Party, the more authoritarian Trotskyite Worker's World Party, the Maoist, Revolutionary Communist Party, etc.

Difficult in that you'll get arrested or watched by the FBI or somesuch, no. But try explaining your political affiliations to someone else and you'll get a lot of funny stares and possibly a few nasty looks. Here, the idea of the 'free market' is so closely tied to the idea of democracy that people tend to see alternatives to it as advocating either dictatorship or anarchy (in the commonly used, bandits-roaming-the-highways sense, not as in non-authoritarian socialism.)

Remember that freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of association thing in the Constitution? Yea, that would allow communism.

I vaguely remember something about it being illegal to possess or distribute the Communist Manifesto in one state of the US... Texas? Ring any bells with anyone?
At one point, possibly. In fact, in one state, Idaho maybe, they were barring the formation of the communist part for a while. But all this was like 25-50 years ago.

At one point, possibly. In fact, in one state, Idaho maybe, they were barring the formation of the communist part for a while. But all this was like 25-50 years ago.


Hmm. I have a feeling it was still technically illegal to dsitribute communist material even into the 90s - one of those weird things that somehow got onto the statute books and never got off...

Hmm. I have a feeling it was still technically illegal to dsitribute communist material even into the 90s - one of those weird things that somehow got onto the statute books and never got off...
There may have been some libraries and such that refused to purchase it despite there not being an actual law against the distribution, who knows.

Hmm. I have a feeling it was still technically illegal to dsitribute communist material even into the 90s - one of those weird things that somehow got onto the statute books and never got off...

side note: In Oklahoma, there is a law that states every man over the age of 12 is required to carry a loaded shotgun at all times in public... in the event of an Indian raid.

In California, a housewife can be put in jail if she doesnt boil her dust cloth.

There is some city in Southern California that has outlawed communism. They are a "Communism Free Zone". Interesting, no?

There is some city in Southern California that has outlawed communism. They are a "Communism Free Zone". Interesting, no?

Hmm, i'll have to visit while wearing a Che Guevara shirt.

Hah, just kidding, i'd never buy one of them.

There are Communists in America, at least people who call themselves that. Of course, whether or not these actually are communists in the true sense of the term, I don't really think so. I mean I know people who call themselves communists who believe in a free market economy? (Hey, actually, that kind of sounds like the Communist Party of China!)

America is far from a Capitalist paradise...

Progressive tax rates anyone? Very socialist idea.

although it's arguable as to whether I really believe in communism per se or pure communism (aka democracy aka anarchy aka anarcho-syndicalism).

Truth be told, just carrying the little red card in my wallet makes me laugh every time I think of it (to be a "card-carrying communist" is right next to worshiping satan, according to some Amerikans). So, it's a part of my idealistic credentials and I keep it right next to my union card and my ACLU membership card.

I think it's www.cpusa.org. If that doesn't bring it up, just google CP USA.

THERE are comunist in the usa(the capitalists paradise)? and is difficoult to be comunist in usa? there is a comunist party in usa or it is outlwed?

by a italian post-comunist

Well .... I'm a communist and a US citizen, so yeah ... we're here. It is perfectly legal and I wear my Che t-shirt to political rallies all the time.

Since 9/11, though, the FBI is more interested in watching Muslims than Communists, so the heat is off us. (Thank you, Osama!)

THERE are comunist in the usa(the capitalists paradise)?
Yes


and is difficoult to be comunist in usa?
No

there is a comunist party in usa
Yes

or it is outlwed?

No

Well .... I'm a communist and a US citizen, so yeah ... we're here. It is perfectly legal and I wear my Che t-shirt to political rallies all the time.

Eww, a Che T-shirt. I wanted one when I was what...14..., then I grew up and realised how stupid it was to pay $50AUD for a shirt portraying a communist idol that was made in an Indonesian sweatshop. That's an absolutely disgusting display of irony IMHO.

I have to ask how is the membership numbers in the US communist parties? In europe we organise milions how is it in the US? the picture i have got from party members here is that the radical US parties are more or less hopless. they say that they are more or less political sects is there any trouth in this? Or is the radical US parties able to organise people (Especialy the working class but intelectuals are always good to have to from time to time) and grow?

Remember that freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of association thing in the Constitution? Yea, that would allow communism.

Communism is not related to totalitarianism at all, except in that the most well known communist state-- the Soviet Union-- never progressed from the dictatorship of the proletariat. Communism itself is actually entirely for free speech, because ideas, like everything else, should be shared.

Eww, a Che T-shirt. I wanted one when I was what...14..., then I grew up and realised how stupid it was to pay $50AUD for a shirt portraying a communist idol that was made in an Indonesian sweatshop. That's an absolutely disgusting display of irony IMHO.

Ermm ... ok.

My shirt was made in the US and I only paid $15 USD for it.

Well, actually, I have three of them.

Eww, a Che T-shirt. I wanted one when I was what...14..., then I grew up and realised how stupid it was to pay $50AUD for a shirt portraying a communist idol that was made in an Indonesian sweatshop. That's an absolutely disgusting display of irony IMHO.


50 $ ???? in italy che guevara shirt coust 10- 15 € and tere are not made in indonesya but in italy by little society or jailers

THis discussion is much interesting.....
in italy we had the bigger comunist part of occidental world, now there is a lot of post comunist party , and some are like the democratic us part, i am an activist of one of theme, and i think that the socialists model is better than the capitalist, and you? :confused:

"I have to ask how is the membership numbers in the US communist parties? In europe we organise milions how is it in the US? the picture i have got from party members here is that the radical US parties are more or less hopless. they say that they are more or less political sects is there any trouth in this? Or is the radical US parties able to organise people (Especialy the working class but intelectuals are always good to have to from time to time) and grow?"

Basically, radical leftist parties don't tend to do well in American elections, this partly being the result of the fact that for some reason we yanks tend to view alternatives to free market capitalism as abhorrent to democracy. Or we associate socialism with gulags and furry hats. Take your pick.

There's also the fact that our leftist parties bicker too much amongst ourselves.. back in the good old days, the Socialist Party managed to pick up %6 of the presidential vote and a number of legislative seats all over the place, but since the rise of the Soviet Union we've argued, and split, and split again.. alot of the parties you see around now can actually be traced back to the original Socialist Party of Eugene Debs or a splinter group.

The one thing alot of us can do well is organize. Take the protests against the Iraq war.. there were a number of organizations that made them happen initially. One of these was Not in Our Name, part of the Refuse and Resist network, both of which are run by the Revolutionary Communist Party (who are so radical even other socialists think they're off their rocker). ANSWER, another big important one, was put together by the Worker's World party. So currently we US socialists have the power to organize and rally people around progressive causes, maybe even pick up a few local seats, but claiming real electoral power seems far into the distant future..

Oh. We have exactly one socialist in the House of Reps. Burnie Sanders of Vermont (go figure).

Here is the shirt you should wear:

http://www.americanfascistmovement.com/afmstore/shirt1.html

is alredy dead, kill by american idiot like you!

is alredy dead, kill by american idiot like you!

Yes I know, killed by CIA in Bolivia. Very good :)

but mussolini was killed by us! i i am italian remember

Che looks so friggin cool in that picture.

In the US kids can be openly expelled from school for "being communist" though.

I'm an anarcho-communist, which isn't the same thing as Marxism.

Expelled? I went to a private, Catholic school. I defended Marxism all the time in class, and I never got anything for it..

In the US kids can be openly expelled from school for "being communist" though.


I disagree with that. I think schools should be forums of free thought, open to all ideas.

I myself was on the extreme right all through junior high school and high school. I was the most vocal proponent of white racial supremacy and ultranationalism.

I was suspended a good number of times. And I never once picked a fight, used racially offensive language etc. I tried to hand out literature to my friends that asked for it, at lunch time, and the school said "No way!"

I vaguely remember something about it being illegal to possess or distribute the Communist Manifesto in one state of the US... Texas? Ring any bells with anyone?

I wouldnt doubt it...

but I still have a copy I had to buy for my history class in 1998

I'm an anarcho-communist, which isn't the same thing as Marxism.

Gee, Letila! I never knew! Why don't you tell us these things?

Anyway, Tiburtino, back during the Cold War you could expect to be watched by the Feds if you carried the card, but it was never outlawed per se, as far as I know. Communism might as well have been outlawed here, though; nearly everyone hated it. People don't care much anymore, though...

A more personal story: A teacher of mine, who has been teaching for thirty years now, told us that in college, he read some of the CM but, if he were to tell anyone that when he started teaching, he would have been promptly fired... : 0 (This was right around the end of the Vietnam War.) So you could say people who were communist, or believed to be associated with such things, were discriminated against (one of the worst things our government did to us last century).

Ermm ... ok.

My shirt was made in the US and I only paid $15 USD for it.

Well, actually, I have three of them.

Well, I guess the cappies have a monopoly on them over here.

I am English and a active member of the Socialist Party in the UK, in fact I’m the fighting funds co-coordinator for my local branch.

The Socialist Party is officiated to the CWI (Committee for a Workers International) that was founded in England back in 1974. It now has members, supporting groups or fully fledged political parties in over 40-countries.

One of these countries is the US where we have the group known as ‘Socialist Alternative.’

Here is their website: http://www.socialistalternative.org/

Here is the website for the CWI which has links to websites for some of our larger sections: http://www.socialistworld.net/

I spoke to some US comrades last week in Gent in Belgium when I attended the CWI European School.

Unlike the other 2 socialist internationals the USFI and the IMT the CWI has not gone down the path of Ultra-left sectarianism or an abandonment of Marxism and become reformist.

We base ourselves on Trotsky’s concept of the transitional program, that of fighting for and raising reformist demands but at the same time linking it to the need to change society.

Our correct approach has been born out as while socialist and communist parties around the world are in a state of confusion and decline we have continued to make steady gains, both in membership, electoraly and our strengthening position in the Unions.

Basically, radical leftist parties don't tend to do well in American elections, this partly being the result of the fact that for some reason we yanks tend to view alternatives to free market capitalism as abhorrent to democracy. Or we associate socialism with gulags and furry hats. Take your pick.

There's also the fact that our leftist parties bicker too much amongst ourselves.. back in the good old days, the Socialist Party managed to pick up %6 of the presidential vote and a number of legislative seats all over the place, but since the rise of the Soviet Union we've argued, and split, and split again.. alot of the parties you see around now can actually be traced back to the original Socialist Party of Eugene Debs or a splinter group.

The one thing alot of us can do well is organize. Take the protests against the Iraq war.. there were a number of organizations that made them happen initially. One of these was Not in Our Name, part of the Refuse and Resist network, both of which are run by the Revolutionary Communist Party (who are so radical even other socialists think they're off their rocker). ANSWER, another big important one, was put together by the Worker's World party. So currently we US socialists have the power to organize and rally people around progressive causes, maybe even pick up a few local seats, but claiming real electoral power seems far into the distant future..

Oh. We have exactly one socialist in the House of Reps. Burnie Sanders of Vermont (go figure).

Tanx for your ansver.

Organisation of protests seams to be the one thing communist all ower the globe are good at. How is it whit contacts betvine the worker parties and the labour unions in US?

Here we lost moust of our control and people that were active in the unions in the 60s. Moustly because of internal power strugles in the communist party betvine friends of sovjet and dose that dident want to be controled from moscov. And then later on we some how only got students and intelectuals to join our party whitsh made us totaly unrepresented in the unions. Now days we have strated to get active people in the unions again but it´s going slow. Moustly because of the social demoracts (They own the unions now days) that hate us.

Well as for the size of the communist parties in the US, they tend to be small compared to Eurpean communist parties, but a portion of the cause for this attributable to the fragmentation of the parties in the US. A large portion of the cause of the fragmentation might be attributed to the lack of size of the parties, since they have little chance of wielding power there is little incentive to compromise your positions and join a party which almost agrees with you.

As for how diffiuclt it is to be a communist in the US, I don't really know. I cannot imagine the fact of one's being a communist causing any overt discrimination. It is difficult to function as a communist (opposed to "function as a person who is a communist") in the US, though.

THERE are comunist in the usa(the capitalists paradise)?


No, of course there's not... McCarthy dug them all up. Long live Capitalism! Long live McCarthy!

... I'm kidding.

THERE are comunist in the usa(the capitalists paradise)? and is difficoult to be comunist in usa? there is a comunist party in usa or it is outlwed?

by a italian post-comunist

Of course there are communists in the U.S. It's called freedom; Americans are free to believe whatever they want.

Well as for the size of the communist parties in the US, they tend to be small compared to Eurpean communist parties, but a portion of the cause for this attributable to the fragmentation of the parties in the US. A large portion of the cause of the fragmentation might be attributed to the lack of size of the parties, since they have little chance of wielding power there is little incentive to compromise your positions and join a party which almost agrees with you.

As for how diffiuclt it is to be a communist in the US, I don't really know. I cannot imagine the fact of one's being a communist causing any overt discrimination. It is difficult to function as a communist (opposed to "function as a person who is a communist") in the US, though.

I don't know if it's difficult to be a communist in the US either, since I've never been one. But I imagine it could be, since the vast majority of the US population disagrees with communist ideology. They see it as being against their value system. But I agree that there is little to no overt discrimination.

Well as for the size of the communist parties in the US, they tend to be small compared to Eurpean communist parties, but a portion of the cause for this attributable to the fragmentation of the parties in the US. A large portion of the cause of the fragmentation might be attributed to the lack of size of the parties, since they have little chance of wielding power there is little incentive to compromise your positions and join a party which almost agrees with you.

As for how diffiuclt it is to be a communist in the US, I don't really know. I cannot imagine the fact of one's being a communist causing any overt discrimination. It is difficult to function as a communist (opposed to "function as a person who is a communist") in the US, though.

another factor in both the small size and the sectarianism of communist parties in the us is that they are all still doing the 'dictatorship of the chairman' thing. which makes arguments about who gets to be chairman rather frequent and bitter. plus, americans on the whole aren't really into dictatorship - for themselves at least.

and you better believe that being a communist in the us is difficult - you have to spend all your free time trying to sell copies of 'the worker's vanguard' or 'revolutionary worker' on street corners. and you have to go to demos and follow the marching orders and chant the boring long-winded obscure chants chosen for you by your leaders. and all the anarchists keep making fun of you. its a tough life being a marxist-leninist-maoist-trotskyite who believes that we should form a committee to maybe form an exploratory committee to see if we should form a committee to reform the fourth international - but only under the leadership of chairman bob.

and you better believe that being a communist in the us is difficult - you have to spend all your free time trying to sell copies of 'the worker's vanguard' or 'revolutionary worker' on street corners. and you have to go to demos and follow the marching orders and chant the boring long-winded obscure chants chosen for you by your leaders. and all the anarchists keep making fun of you. its a tough life being a marxist-leninist-maoist-trotskyite who believes that we should form a committee to maybe form an exploratory committee to see if we should form a committee to reform the fourth international - but only under the leadership of chairman bob.


Someone's had a few negative runins with the RCP, I see.