I get that CPUSA has some bad reputation. This clip is a part of a call-in show. It features 4-5 calls from American hogs and the CPUSA guy responds to their questions. I think that this interview was interesting at least. I will post more information in a comment.
video link
https://www.c-span.org/video/?536104-4/joe-sims-communist-party-usa-campaign-2024=
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Before accepting any callers, the show host asks the CPUSA Co-Chair if CPUSA endorses any candidate for president. He says that the CPUSA has never endorsed candidates from other political parties for president. So CPUSA is not endorsing Biden.
The first caller identifies politically as an independent. She starts by saying that she’s never heard of the Communist Party of USA and she’s afraid of communism. She asks why the communists want to take away her guns and then she says that we need to build a dome over America to protect America from climate change caused by China.
CPUSA Co-chair responds by saying that CPUSA doesn’t want to take away your guns. He says that the US should stop shipping guns all around the world. He says that gang-related gun violence is related to the drug crisis which needs to be addressed. Then he says CPUSA is not a party of big government, that it is a party of helping working class people. He says “we don’t need filthy rich people telling us how the country should be run”. He says that corporations control the US media. He says that China wants a clean environment for their children.
The second caller identifies as a Republican. She says that her father was a dentist in Chicago and that she believes that communism would have prevent her father from inventing the “gold inlay” by imposing regulations on him.
CPUSA Co-chair responds by saying that the narrative that communists want to stifle innovation is a lie. Then he turns it around and says that McCarthyism restricted the rights of communist Americans. He says that if we look at history, it is the Americans who oppressed Communists and not that Communists have oppressed Americans.
The third caller identifies as an independent. He asks how CPUSA is funded. He implies that CPUSA is funded by the “Communist party of Russia”.
CPUSA Co-chair responds by saying that CPUSA doesn’t receive funding by foreign government or foreign corporation unlike other candidates of other American political parties. I think he may be referencing AIPAC. He says that CPUSA is funded by donations from working class people.
Those responses are all pretty much what I hear when I say I’m a communist or even just a socialist.
You’re a communist huh? Well how come you ain’t supporting a giant dome over america??
I sometimes get told I’m more evil than a Nazi
Watching it rn!
Just saw that you posted the video in the title. Thanks!
CPUSA Co-chair responds by saying that CPUSA doesn’t receive funding by foreign government or foreign corporation unlike other candidates of other American political parties.
Capitalists OWNED with FACTS and LOGIC!
Holy shit these callers.
my dad organized with the communists at the YMCA but under communism he wouldn’t have had that freedom that capitalism affords him
are you funded by the communist party of Russia?
the only way to solve global warming is by putting a giant dome over the USA. I
C-span does this same call-in show every morning, 7 days a week. The callers behave like this pretty much every day.
I don’t watch it every day but it’s a guilty pleasure. Hearing the unhinged beliefs of many Americans is sometimes entertaining.
Frankly, when you go to protests as a socialist or communist, you get all sorts of unhinged questions LMAO
It’s one of the purest call-in shows out there.
I used to watch it all the time. Closest thing left to unhinged public tv
Putting a giant Simpsons dome over the USA is probably a net good though tbh
Yes but you might come down with a case of Spaceballs constantly trying to replace their air.
You really shouldn’t bother replacing our air
the only way to solve global warming is by putting a giant dome over the USA
what freedom exactly is that?And it’s CSPAN, so you’re not getting the truly unhinged reactionaries out there
Yeah…
I’m used to it lol
Lesser evilism “the struggle continues” liberal enabler CPUSA?.
We don’t endorse but…
even a centrist Biden presidency could prevent further setbacks for civil rights, women’s reproductive rights, immigrant rights, and labor rights provided there is mass pressure from below. …if it does come down to Biden vs. Trump, who would be more likely to forgive student debt, expand healthcare, protect immigrant families, and take actions to mitigate the climate crisis? Who are we more likely to convince to shift their decisions in a more progressive direction? Who would our Cuban, Venezuelan, and Nicaraguan comrades prefer to see in the White House, considering the U.S. imperialist blockade loosened up during the Obama administration? Our short-term tactics and strategy are not limited to voting for the “lesser of two evils,”
Therr were other parties ballot and they throw out DNC propaganda. How’s it been going since then CPUSA? How’s that imigration, climate crisis, and foriegn policy been on this “lesser evil”?
give the Republicans what they want on the border and immigration without addressing our foriegn policy.Deeply unserious Fascist enablers.
Shit like this tuns me off.
Ok lets watch it.
“On one side you have a fascist in Trump and the MAGA movement. On the other a progressive coalition”
There it is! Can’t even call out Biden in the same vien as Trump enabling fascists under this capture “coalition”.
Who would our Cuban, Venezuelan, and Nicaraguan comrades prefer to see in the White House, considering the U.S. imperialist blockade loosened up during the Obama administration? Our short-term tactics and strategy are not limited to voting for the “lesser of two evils,”
They would prefer Americans grow a backbone and not chain themselves to the oppression of the third world. That we would separate ourselves from our state’s power and build working class movements divorced from these ghouls. Also Joe just tried to coup Diaz
Oh they are not limited to but still they do.
The people (i.e Ukraine) need to determine heir own destiny. (And when they did reject the US instigated Maidan coup and were subsequently bombed and terrorized for a decade the Russians were to just sit by and do nothing while their borderlands and went into chaos? They warned and tried peace for a decade to manage it but the west kept fueling conflict in
) Cold War poisioned 
Russia needs to stop? How about we need to stop fueling proxy wars? Why does he phrase it like this?
Old bastards move out of the way instead of standing in the way.
Russia needs to stop? How about we need to stop fueling proxy wars? Why does he phrase it like this?
In the next sentence after he says Ukraine, he says that NATO needs to stop expanding. So it would seem to me that he is placing blame on NATO.
Placing the blame on NATO? Who funds it? Who runs it? Who is supplying weapons? Who has been sending politicians to the fascists over there for decades propping them up? Who instigated and orchestrated the Maiden Coup? Who has been pushing NATO expansion?
Blaming NATO kind of muddies our oversized involvement. It didn’t pop off until Biden was president and Biden directly has a corruptive and oversized personal role with the shitfuckery over there with Hunter.
Do you not know what code switching is? Do you not realize that people change their language when communicating with certain people to seem more appealing?
I don’t really care about this guy. I don’t really think much about CPUSA but I’m smart enough to realize that this guy was speaking in a way that was meant to appeal to the average American. In my opinion, he was a bit too kind when he spoke about American progressives and yeah, I’ll admit that he did sound a little “both sides”-ish.
Why didn’t he go on tv and say “Death to the United SSnaKKKeSS of AmeriKKKa”? Probably because he was trying to convince normal working class people to join his political party and not appeal to some weirdos on the internet that speak in esoteric emojis which reference twitter memes and podcasts.
The fact that he was willing to go on American TV and say that NATO expansion influenced the Ukraine conflict is more than pretty much any American Politician would do.
The way that you communicate in this thread is weird and smug and only other weirdos on hexbear and twitter understand what you are saying. Try reading your comments that you posted in this thread to a normal person in real life, judge their reaction. You have to communicate to people in ways that they understand.
I’m just tired of
bullshit that I’ve witnessed for too long. It took an uppity transgender that I thought was a bit much to ask “why”. Then I investigated and then it clicked. It’s a perspective thing.Soft language is what gets people to dismiss things as “oh well” and the shit continues. It’s like can kicking. Not the right place. Not the right time.
All this soft coddling is what makes them “safe for empire” and why they are able to go on American television in the first place. I saw this as a
opportunity to lay into the crimes of the empire. You can do it very matter-of-factly as well.I’m a bit harsh and I can come off real cold and uncaring sometimes. These comments are not directed to the users personally, but Joe Sims and the CPUSA. I know you all are members and comrades. I just wish the leaders were more actual revolutionaries than these defeated old …lumps. it’s ok to bite at the Democrats. They aren’t our friends.
Your priorities are all wrong. You see a video of a guy trying to promote communism to the American public which shows American people responding in irrational ways and your response is to lie about things that he said so that you get points on an internet forum. You are either incredibly foolish or malicious. You are malignant. You are selfish and you only behave like this to serve your own ego. Placing your own ego in front of communist organizing attempts is the most liberal thing that anyone could do.
I did not post the video because I thought it had all the right answers. I posted the video because it shows how regular Americans respond to a guy who is simply saying that communism is good.
Where is your criticism for the college professor who wrote into the show and said that the Bolshevik Revolution damaged the American left and also said that Bolshevism continues to hold back the American Left? The CPUSA responds to the college professor not by criticizing the USSR or Bolshevism. The CPUSA guy corrects the professor and says something quite similar to what often Parenti tells us. The CPUSA guy said that the Bolshevik revolution was not perfect, no past revolution is perfect, and no revolution is going to be perfect. He says that the Soviet working class people tried their best to govern and produce, that American Socialists should learn from the past Socialist Revolutions and not make the same mistakes.
CPUSA did not go on C-Span to have all of the right answers. He did not go into the specific geo-politics of the Russia-Ukraine conflict because frankly most people don’t know or care. Memorizing every battle in the Ukraine conflict is weird fixation that you have. Going on TV and spouting off intricate details of the conflict is not winning anyone over. Saying simple statements like “I care about the Ukraine people but NATO expansion needs to stop” is something that catches the attention of normal people and normal people will understand. He mentions Ukraine in a segment of the video where he is talking about fears that people are facing currently. He mentions Climate Change, the genocide in Gaza, and the Ukraine war which the US is funding. He’s saying these things as a way to connect with the viewer.
If you believe that you are too good to simplify your beliefs to appeal to normal people, then you have already failed. This isn’t debate club. You don’t get any real points for spouting off intricate details. You have to sometimes speak in simple terms which get people on your side. You share the intricate details with people who are already on your side. It is not easy to put your ego aside and speak in terms that common people understand. It is not easy to get Americans to support communism after a century of redscare propaganda. If you think you are going to debate people into supporting communism by knowing every detail about the history of Ukraine, then you have already failed.
I don’t believe that the CPUSA guy was promoting the Democrats in this video. He said that the CPUSA doesn’t endorse any candidate. At 24:30 in the video he also explicitly says that Republican believe Biden is a socialist and that Joe Biden is not a socialist or on the side of working people.
Also you posted in the thread 11 times? Did you know that every time you post in a thread that it boosts the thread in the algorithm. Notice how Pluto posted in the thread a bunch of times even though he didn’t need to. That’s because Pluto is seemingly smart and knows that posting in a thread a bunch of times gets it on the front page. Pluto is interested in promoting CPUSA. If you think that CPUSA is so bad and don’t want people to see it, but you bumped the thread 11 times. Either you are foolish and don’t know how the algorithm works or you just keep bumping the thread because you want people to give your redditor points for debating in the comment section.
Stop lying on the internet for useless points to feed your own ego. The CPUSA or Joe Sims are not reading what you wrote in this thread. Try going outside and talking to normal people about communism.
You think I give a shit about algorithims or points or popularity? It isn’t about me. I’m not the co leader of a national party.
It’s about how the CPUSA looks from the outside from someone that want change. You aren’t going to get that by residual fallout from failed campaigns alone. I would like the CPUSA be in a coalition with the Greens and PSL and have some of that common bite, but all I’m seeing is a safe for Empire afraid of their own shadow husk. Have some confidence in what you’re selling FFS. It comes across as
“We have to be pragmatic sweetie”. Maybe I’m expecting a bit more 
a little more spice.You memebers of the CPUSA are reading it - in my hopes of you all maybe to tell leadership to do better. I think your leaders ought to give the American people a bit more credit than being sheepish and apologetic about your own subjects. It’s insulting to the public who has been toyed with enough by the other parties for too long. Especially with this Russiagate BS whipping up a 3rd Red Scare -which no one seems to talk about.
Red Scares are largely around competing resources more so than ideologies at their root. That’s something people need to understand on all sides of this. Oil. Rare earths. Rich person’s pissing match which we all pay for with inflation and attacks on civil liberties. You all understand this. It is just a matter of connecting the two and extrapolaiting that with our historic involvement in the area going back to meddling in the Russian Civil War. Probably beyond the scope a bit, but that’s what’s fueling the current bruhaha. That and fascist nostolgia for getting back at the Ruskies for spoiling their genocidal freakshow.
The Maidan coup was very significant and the crux of what is happening today. It is not the intrigate details of every battle. It is a significant chapter. Joe mentioned Russia’s involvement in Ukraine - he’s opened himself up to that two minute cliffs notes on the situation at a minimum. He could point to the CIA’s own public release in our backing of fascists in
for decades. It isn’t crazy to point out publicly released information of our own activities. It gives the common person a point of reference. They can google these things if they want further information.One could just say Russia pull out…Putin bad blah blah. Ok Rachel Maddow. /s
And then what? What would NATO and
do to the territories? Let them choose their own way? Like they did in rejecting Maidan in 2014 and were subjected to lynching and ethnic cleansing and a decade long bombing campaign by thier own so called country and the entire western reserve armory with MADE IN THE USA bombs?The appologizing for the Soviets was … disappointing. It feeds into that “evil Stalin” propagada the west shoves down everyones throat. Ok lessons learned on some things not everything perfect but thats with everything. What next “Stalin’s Holocaust”? /s I’m being cynical here. But you see why someone can roll their eyes at that?
The preventing a “truly American” revolution I rolled my eyes on too. Maybe because I see the end goal as something common and not specific to a certain nation. This Yadda yadda with American charecteristics. /s or not - at 22:25 Joe says “we need to create a model that’s based on the United States and not on any other country”. Ugggggh.
In name only is what it is going to be.
As for the Pluto stuff I will not entertain
. Pluto does what Pluto does. They’re another CPUSA memeber. If I wanted the CPUSA to poof I wouldn’t waste my time, patience, and sanity responding to you all. I’d laugh and move on. I post because I care. But like many things, I learn that the more I care, the more trouble it seems to bring me.Your priorities are all wrong. You see a video of a guy trying to promote communism to the American public which shows American people responding in irrational ways and your response is to lie about things that he said so that you get points on an internet forum
The only ones I see lying in here the CPUSA defenders who spout blatant falsehoods like “we don’t play less evilism” and “leadership doesn’t play lesser evilism” and “Joe Sims is revolutionary and not reformist”. Like just stop lying.
Do you not know what code switching is?
The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.
You only muddy the name of communism by being a weasel two-faced reformist who speaks out of both sides of their mouth. Have principles
Saying that you oppose NATO expansion is not a betrayal of communist principles. It is not concealing your views or aims by speaking in simpler terms so that normal people understand you. You don’t have to smug and esoteric to express a communist view point.
The very book that you quoted in your post is a simplification of Marx’s other writings. The communist manifesto is an introduction to communism for the masses. Would you go on TV and start with talking about coats and yards of linen? You would only talk about the coats and yards of linen who already have an some understanding of Marxism.
I’m not affiliated with CPUSA. I think it is fine to have criticisms of CPUSA. I didn’t reply to other people in the thread who criticized CPUSA. I even posted in the main post that I have heard CPUSA has a bad reputation.
What I don’t like is people who take things out of context, exaggerate, or otherwise lie to mislead people. I did not get the impression from the video that the CPUSA guy was blaming Russia for the Ukraine War.
Keep defending a Zionist pro-DNC tailist organization.
We can dunk on the 2A USA Dome women all we want, but honestly, she seemed very genuine to me. She’s obviously riddled with right wing induced anxieties, but when she said, “If you’re gonna say we’re taking all the guns, sure I’d give mine up, but…” it surprised me a little. She sounds like the kind of person who, if her fears could be dispelled, would be open to changes and reforms around the 2A. The only thing keeping her in this mindset is this fantasy that she’ll get shot by some gangbanger. There is no way to know what percentage of the population she represents, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
Her comments on the “US Dome” were clearly one of defeatist sarcasm because again, her position was rooted in this fear that China is doing nothing and will never do anything. Obviously, WE know that’s not the case, but she clearly has no one casting a light on that shadow for her. She doesn’t think we should literally build a dome, she is using this extreme example of “the only thing we can do” to solve the issue because it’s clear that she also believes “no one else is doing, or going to do, anything about climate change”.
There was no climate denial on her part, there was no “from my gold dead hands” rhetoric on guns. Just pure fear and defeatism.
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honestly the actual rising up is usually done by a minority. even then knowing the truth and being a good person can count as a way of rising up. sometimes you don’t need to be a full time activist.
people just need to not be actively misinformed. we tend to focus on the overt shitty fascists but most people just want to find a solution for their problems and are tired of being lied to. most people tend to be actually good people, the few shitty ones are the ones ruining it all for the rest of us.
It’s just the bar is that low.
Damn, I wonder how they got that organized, that’s kind of neat in a reaching out to the terminally TV glued types.
It’s quite a good way of outreach.
We need to talk to people on the street more than on the Internet, tbh.
I love the CPUSA and I’m within the organization.
Do tell me about it sometime.
You might wanna delete this in risk of
just saying
I’m aware.
My own District Organizer (he’s in his 80s) was harassed by FBI agents well into the 1990s and 2000s, at least.
Also, it’s quite well-known by this point that I’m in the CPUSA. I’ve said this multiple, multiple times on Hexbear.
Many PSL and CPUSA and FRSO members announce their respective organizations online, especially on Twitter.
Yeah I know part of being a member of PSL is also being open with being a member like online and stuff? I think so anyway, I’m not a member and it’s just one of those things I’ve heard
It is and it isn’t. When you are in the work place, or for some other strategic/tactical/safety reasons, some members may not disclose their membership in some situations. But in general, when PSL organizers are organizing in the community or with other groups/community members we don’t typically hide our membership. In general, there is a feeling that the time is right to openly show who we are and what we stand for, to present ourselves in a forthright way to the people, and to encourage the masses of people to be unafraid of organizing and participating in politics, particularly revolutionary politics and anything that would expand their understanding of democratic participation beyond bourgeois politics/voting.
I agree.
It’s the same with CPUSA and FRSO, at least.
We want to be more open.
CPUSA still tends to err on the side of caution and not reveal certain names or memberships of certain people.
Even then… It’s been tending toward openness. In Pennsylvania, we were featured in several news outlets over our confrontation and protesting of the Moms for Liberty action in, I believe, Philadelphia.
Okay, I didn’t know you weren’t a member, but all the PSL members I’ve seen on Hexbear and Twitter are quite open about it. Especially Reddit.
Can’t see the reply whenever I click it.
LesbianLiberty [she/her] •
Yeah I know part of being a member of PSL is also being open with being a member like online and stuff? I think so anyway, I’m not a member and it’s just one of those things I’ve heard
I blocked her a while back because I felt like we were getting into too many fights and arguments.
Yes, she’s apart of PSL.
Edit: If it’s a reply to me, then I’ll unblock her, ig
So much for the tolerant leftTrust me, I’m the intolerant left, if anything. Also, hi.
Wait that’s what is happening if a reply keeps loading? I always thought that was a glitch
https://www.cpusa.org/party_voices/the-youth-vote-and-the-socialist-moment
Do they regret playing lesser evilism?
We do not play lesser evilism.
Then why do thier leaders parrot it? Just saying the leaders seem all to willing to look the other way on Democrats when they should be considered equal threats. Perhaps there is a disconnect between membersship and leaders which makes the organization appear bad.
Our leaders do not parrot this line.
The membership ultimately elects the Nat’l Committee. We have several new Nat’l members soon enough from various districts, including Justine Medina.
I think that many members lived through Reagan and don’t want another repeat of that, but I think that we definitely consider the Democrats a threat, just going by my own District Organizer (D.O.) alone, who is in Nat’l.
I literally got into a fight with leadership over the lesser evilism at my districts convention. CPUSA absolutely parrots this line. It’s the reason I have quit the party and am looking elsewhere. Tune into good morning revolution like, ever. It’s clear as day, and its been the case for as long as I’ve been alive. There are articles from the 2000s on the party website where they were spouting the lesser evil narrative even back then.
I’m not gonna just sit back and watch you spout the same bullshit line that “the party is improving, the libs are just the old guard”. Joe Sims is deeply revisionist, deeply reformist, yet is practically WORSHIPED by some members. That isn’t going to change anytime soon.
They do not. The 2000s was ages ago, as far as the org is concerned. And I watch Good Morning, Revolution every day.
Joe Sims is to the left of John Bachtell and brought the organization to new heights. I hope he’s voted in for another term.
Link broken
Edit: won’t play with certain VPNs. God he’s so fucking old. Could we get a leader who isn’t over 60?
Jesus christ he refers to the Biden administration as a “progressive coalition”. So genocide and corporate capitalism. Go fuck yourself, Joe Sims.
Oh, really? I’m in the CPUSA. Tell me about it. @dead@hexbear.net
I posted the video because I liked what the guy had to say and also I think American hogs are silly. The juxtaposition between the anti-communist american hogs and the calm talking CPUSA guy is a funny.
I have seen a lot of posts on hexbear and other places which say that CPUSA is run by feds. I don’t have a strong opinion about it myself.
They’re probably definitely not actually run by feds (as far as anyone knows, COINTELPRO types are genuinely very hard to sus out by design). They have some institutional failings, however, if someone’s in it they’re like by default probably better on things than most Americans. I’ve been in CPUSA in the past and work with PSL now and in my experience PSL is better, however this may be an entirely local thing for me. You should investigate both and try and work with whatever you have locally; I have my disagreements with CPUSA’s strategies but I don’t want to be excessively divisive.
Oh, I thought you were in PSL?
I guess you just work with them.
Yes, some weaknesses in the CPUSA, I’ve noticed, over the years.
Being a member requires more time than I’ve put in, to my local PSL branch I’m just somebody helping out. I still need to take educational classes and oral tests to show I have the knowledge necessary to be a functioning party member.
Good, and good luck.
We are not feds, trust me. We get harassed by feds.
Thanks for giving us a chance. I’m glad you stumbled upon this.
Yeah, the reputation of CPUSA being full of feds is also a reflection of the extent to which the US state has repressed the organization. There are things I disagree with about the CPUSA’s politics and strategy, but state repression isn’t something that CPUSA members chose and it is unfair to most of its members. Sadly, I do think that it has still had a very real negative effect on the party and the way it has developed and who has remained. It is sad because it is a reflection of the tremendous impact the party once had.
Well, I think we’re getting back into the swing of things, but trust me when I say: many CPUSA members, especially older members, don’t reveal their membership specifically because of previous harassment, especially during the Cold War, but even during the 1990s and 2000s.
I remember hearing of one district that didn’t use the Internet till, say, 2011 or something; they just met in the woods or some place that was obscure, some rural place.
I think such things have ham-strung us, if anything, hence why some of the politics seems “conservative” compared to, say, perhaps PSL or FRSO.
I respect Nat’l Committee and what they’ve been through and they are very talented; hell, I love their books especially and their scholarship.
But it often seems like the right-wing conspiracy theory “that Communist Party members are literally behind the scenes guiding things rather than being open about what they do” … because, in some ways, they are. Like, local civil rights and trans rights and labor union heads are Communist Party members, they just don’t say so.
Also, I just saw in the video that Maurice Isserman was quoted. He’s a pretty anti-communist historian and, unfortunately, I’ve seen even leftists quoting him, at least at times. Well, perhaps they were liberals, not leftists, but you get what I mean.
Oh, it’s already posted. Hold on.
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