American Commie speaks

[austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net]

How often do you hear a real old USA Commie speak about what 
it was like to be within the party decades ago? To me its like finding an old 
Edison recording cylinder in a forgotten attic. This guy Cord from 
another list was around during the golden Commie age of the thirties.       
Here is a piece of one of his missives in response to the dissing the 
Commies by the crazy left wing of the Greens. -- Roger

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Even with all the problems, failings & crimes that inevitably occur 
in a widely successful poltical movement, the Communists established 
the only actual alternative for the working class that's ever existed 
in the modern era. Why do you so want to denigrate that historic 
achievement? The Soviet Union was the center of a powerful 
international alliance of workers' parties that created better 
conditions and liberated more people in a few short decades than any 
other force before or since. 
The world was generally a better place to live while Soviet power 
ruled large parts of the globe. The US was a better country, too. 
Workers in the US will probably never again achieve the gains they 
did during the Popular Front days and after WW2. This golden age for 
the US working class was possible because of the existence of Soviet 
socialism, which put pressure on Capital by way of its shining 
example. 
It's interesting to me that the greatest expansion of civil rights & 
liberties in our country's history was achieved during the Cold War. 
But, since the dissolution of Soviet power, we've seen these gains be 
eroded with stunning swiftness. Gus Hall predicted all this, by the 
way, in 1991. Of course, he was mocked for this at the time by the 
CoC faction. And where are they now, I wonder? I don't hear anyone 
admitting that Gus was correct, now that his predictions have been 
confirmed. What ever became of those dreamy illusions that the 
factionalists put forth about how wonderful everything would be with 
the demise of those bad old "Stalinists" in Moscow?
Don't waste your breath, man, on bashing the Communist Party USA. 
While you & your fellows are trying to tell the working class that it 
doesn't really matter if Bu$h gets re-elected, the CPUSA is working 
to bolster working families' unity & strength by promoting class 
solidarity and Union power. What more would you expect from a CP 
working deep within the belly of the beast?
And yes, I can think of many Communist intellectuals: Aptheker, 
Jackson, DuBois, Parenti, Eisenhower, Bonosky, Azad, Perlo and others 
come to mind. Of course, the CP doesn't emphasize intellectualism, as 
such. Working class leaders, like Gus Hall, who knew how to run a 
strike, were of more value to the movement. Still, Gus Hall was a 
brilliant analyst of current affairs and wrote dozens of books and 
pamphlets that are marvels of political/philosophical clarity and 
concision. You may never have read anything by him, though, being too 
busy reading the gloomy Chomsky or the hapless Hawkins, I suppose.
In any event, we'd better get back to dealing with our current 
powerlessness in this the New World Order. Sure beats Socialism, 
doesn't it now? 
Peace& Love, -Cord