# Communist Party USA

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Communist_Party_USA
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Communist_Party_USA.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_USA
> Source revision: 1357140526
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

American political party

This article is about the Communist Party USA. For similarly named groups, see [Communist Party USA (disambiguation)](/source/Communist_Party_USA_(disambiguation)).

Communist Party of the United States of America Presidium National Convention[1] Co-chairs Joe Sims Rossana Cambron Founder C. E. Ruthenberg[2] Alfred Wagenknecht Founded September 1, 1919; 106 years ago (1919-09-01) Merger of Communist Party of America Communist Labor Party of America United Toilers of America Workers Party of America Split from Socialist Party of America Preceded by Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party Headquarters 235 W 23rd St, New York, New York 10011 Newspaper People's World[3] Youth wing Young Communist League[note 1] Membership (2026) 20,000 [4][5] Ideology Communism (US)[6] Marxism–Leninism[7] Bill of Rights socialism[6][8] Political position Far-left[9] International affiliation IMCWP (since 1998) Comintern (until 1943) Colors Red Slogan "People and Planet Before Profits" Members in elected offices 6[10][11][12][13][14] Party flag Website www.cpusa.org Politics of the United States Political parties Elections

Part of a series on Communist parties Africa Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Egypt Eswatini Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Libya Madagascar Namibia Morocco Réunion Senegal South Africa EFF SACP South Sudan Sudan Togo Tunisia Americas Argentina PCA PCCE PCRA Bolivia Brazil PCdoB PCB PCR Canada CPC CPC-ML Chile PCCh PC(AP) Colombia PCC PC de C (M–L) Cuba Dominican Republic Ecuador PCE PCMLE Mexico PC PPS PPSM PCMML Panama MLN-29 PPP Paraguay Peru PCP PCP-SL PC-ER MPCP PCdelP–PR Uruguay United States ACP CPUSA FRSO FSP PSL PLP RCPUSA RCA SEP SL/US WWP WSPUS Venezuela Asia Bahrain Bangladesh CPB SPB WPB RWPB Bhutan Burma China India CPI CPI(M) CPI(ML)L RSP AIFB Iran CPI Tudeh Toufan Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Nepal CPN (UML) NCP NWPP North Korea Pakistan Palestine Philippines CPP PKP-1930 Sri Lanka CPSL JVP FLSP Syria SCP (Bakdash) SCP (Unified) Tajikistan Vietnam Former parties Cambodia KPRP CPK Indonesia Korea Malaya and Singapore CPM CPM/ML CPM/RF Saudi Arabia Sarawak Taiwan Thailand Europe Albania Armenia Austria KPÖ PdA Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium KP PC Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria KPB SKB Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark DKP KP APK Estonia Finland France PCF PCOF PRCF PCRF Georgia Germany KPD DKP MLPD Greece ΚΚΕ ΚΟΕ Anasintaxi Hungary Munkáspárt Munkáspárt 2006 Ireland CPI WPI Italy PC PRC Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal PCP PCTP Romania Russia KR CPRF PDP RCWP-CPSU Serbia Slovakia Spain PCE FO CC PCPE PCE (M–L) PCTE Sweden KP SKP Switzerland Communist Party PdA Turkey DHKP/C EMEP HTKP KDH/L KKP TKP MKP MLKP TDKP TKEP TKEP/L TKIP TKP/ML Ukraine KPU SKU United Kingdom CPB CPB-ML CPGB-ML CPGB-PCC CPS NCPB RCG RCP RCPB-ML YCL Former parties Albania Czechoslovakia East Germany Italy Netherlands Poland Romania San Marino Soviet Union Turkey United Kingdom West Germany Yugoslavia Oceania Australia CPA CPA(ML) Socialist Alliance Socialist Alternative Victorian Socialists New Zealand CL OMU SPA Former parties Australia Communist Alliance CPA DSP RSP Victorian Socialist Party New Zealand CPNZ SUP International organizations IMCWP Comintern Cominform INITIATIVE ICS ILPS ICP FI Trotskyist internationals ICMLPO [fr] Related topics Central committee Communism history Criticism of rule Democratic centralism Organic centralism General Secretary List of communist parties Politburo Secretariat Communism portal v t e

The **Communist Party USA** **(CPUSA**), officially the **Communist Party of the United States of America**, is a [communist party](/source/Communist_party) in the [United States](/source/United_States). It was established in 1919 in the wake of the [Russian Revolution](/source/Russian_Revolution), emerging from the [left wing](/source/Left_Wing_Section_of_the_Socialist_Party) of the [Socialist Party of America](/source/Socialist_Party_of_America) (SPA). The CPUSA sought to establish [socialism in the United States](/source/Socialism_in_the_United_States) via the principles of [Marxism–Leninism](/source/Marxism%E2%80%93Leninism), aligning itself with the [Communist International](/source/Communist_International) (Comintern), which was controlled by the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union). It was considered to be the most important [left-wing organization in the United States](/source/Left-wing_politics_in_the_United_States) through the mid-twentieth century.[15]

The CPUSA's early years were marked by factional struggles and clandestine activities. The U.S. government viewed the party as a subversive threat, leading to mass arrests and deportations in the [Palmer Raids](/source/Palmer_Raids) of 1919–1920. Despite this, the CPUSA expanded its influence, particularly among industrial workers, immigrants, and [African Americans](/source/African_Americans). In the 1920s, the party remained a small but militant force. During the [Great Depression](/source/Great_Depression) in the 1930s, the CPUSA grew in prominence under the leadership of [William Z. Foster](/source/William_Z._Foster) and later [Earl Browder](/source/Earl_Browder) as it played a key role in [labor organizing](/source/Trade_union) and [anti-fascist](/source/Anti-fascism) movements. The party's involvement in [strikes](/source/Strikes_in_the_United_States_in_the_1930s) helped establish it as a formidable force within the [American labor movement](/source/Labor_history_of_the_United_States), particularly through the [Congress of Industrial Organizations](/source/Congress_of_Industrial_Organizations) (CIO). In the mid-1930s, the CPUSA followed the Comintern's "[popular front](/source/Popular_front)" line, which emphasized alliances with progressives and liberals. The party softened its revolutionary rhetoric, and supported President [Franklin D. Roosevelt](/source/Franklin_D._Roosevelt)'s [New Deal](/source/New_Deal) policies. This shift allowed the CPUSA to gain broader acceptance, and its membership surged, reaching an estimated 70,000 members by the late 1930s. On the outbreak of [World War II](/source/World_War_II) in 1939, the CPUSA initially opposed U.S. involvement, but reversed its stance after [Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941](/source/Operation_Barbarossa), fervently supporting the war effort. The Popular Front era of CPUSA lasted until 1945, when Earl Browder was ousted from the party and replaced by William Z. Foster.

As the [CPUSA's role in Soviet Espionage activities](/source/Soviet_espionage_in_the_United_States) became more widely known, the Party suffered dramatically at onset of the [Cold War](/source/Cold_War). The [Second Red Scare](/source/McCarthyism) saw the party prosecuted under the [Smith Act](/source/Smith_Act), which criminalized advocacy of violent revolution and led to [high-profile trials of its leaders](/source/Smith_Act_trials_of_Communist_Party_leaders). This decimated the CPUSA, reducing its membership to under 10,000 by the mid-1950s. The [Khrushchev Thaw](/source/Khrushchev_Thaw) and revelations of [Joseph Stalin](/source/Joseph_Stalin)'s crimes also led to internal divisions, with many members leaving the party in disillusionment. The CPUSA struggled to maintain relevance during the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. While it supported [civil rights](/source/Civil_rights_movement), labor activism, and [anti-Vietnam War](/source/Opposition_to_United_States_involvement_in_the_Vietnam_War) efforts, it faced competition from [New Left](/source/New_Left) organizations, which rejected the party's rigid adherence to Soviet communism. The [Sino-Soviet split](/source/Sino-Soviet_split) further fractured the communist movement, with some former CPUSA members defecting to [Maoist](/source/Maoism) or [Trotskyist](/source/Trotskyism) groups. Under the leadership of [Gus Hall](/source/Gus_Hall) (1959–2000), the CPUSA remained loyal to the Soviet Union even as other communist parties distanced themselves from Moscow's policies, which marginalized it within the [American left](/source/American_left). The [collapse of the Soviet Union](/source/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union) in 1991 dealt a devastating blow to the party, leading to financial difficulties and a further decline in membership.

In the 21st century, the CPUSA has focused on [labor rights](/source/Labor_rights), [racial justice](/source/Anti-racism), [environmental activism](/source/Environmental_movement), opposition to [corporate capitalism](/source/Corporate_capitalism), and continues to engage in leftist activism. The CPUSA publishes the newspaper *[People's World](/source/People's_World)*, and as of May of 2026, is in the process of re-establishing its theoretical journal, [*Political Affairs*](/source/Political_Affairs_(magazine)).[16]

## Modern membership

In 2011, CPUSA claimed 2,000 members.[17] In 2017 and 2018, CPUSA claimed 5,000 members.[18][19] In 2019, former Party member Daniel Rosenberg claimed that "nearly half" of new joiners since 2000 had "paid no dues" and merely signed up for the mailing list.[20]: 54 In 2023, CPUSA claimed 15,000 members.[21] In 2026, CPUSA claimed 20,000 members.[22]

## History

Main article: [History of the Communist Party USA](/source/History_of_the_Communist_Party_USA)

The founding convention of the Communist Party of America in [Chicago, Illinois](/source/Chicago%2C_Illinois), September 1–7, 1919

During the first half of the 20th century, the Communist Party was influential in various struggles. Historian [Ellen Schrecker](/source/Ellen_Schrecker) concludes that decades of recent scholarship[note 2] offer "a more nuanced portrayal of the party as both a [Stalinist](/source/Stalinism) sect tied to a vicious regime and the most dynamic organization within the [American Left](/source/American_Left) during the 1930s and '40s."[23] It was also the first political party in the United States to be racially integrated.[24]

Charter for a local unit of the CPA, dated October 24, 1919

By August 1919, only months after its founding, the Communist Party claimed to have 50,000 to 60,000 members. Its members also included [anarchists](/source/Anarchism) and other [radical leftists](/source/Far-left_politics). At the time, the older and more moderate [Socialist Party of America](/source/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](/source/International_Workers_Order) (IWO) organized for communism around linguistic and ethnic lines, providing [mutual aid](/source/Benefit_society) and tailoring cultural activities to an IWO membership that peaked at 200,000 at its height.[25]

During the [Great Depression](/source/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](/source/Unemployed_Councils).[26] The Communist Party played a significant role in the resurgence of organized labor in the 1930s.[27] Others, alarmed by the rise of the [Falangists](/source/Falange_Espa%C3%B1ola_de_las_JONS) in Spain and the [Nazis](/source/Nazi_Party) in Germany, admired the Soviet Union's early and staunch opposition to [fascism](/source/Fascism). Party membership swelled from 7,500 at the start of the decade to 55,000 by its end.[28]

Party members also rallied to the defense of the [Spanish Republic](/source/Second_Spanish_Republic) during this period after a nationalist military uprising moved to overthrow it, resulting in the [Spanish Civil War](/source/Spanish_Civil_War) (1936–1939).[29] The [Communist Party of the Soviet Union](/source/Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union), along with [leftists](/source/Left-wing_politics) throughout 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](/source/XV_International_Brigade), one of the [International Brigades](/source/International_Brigades).[30][29]

The [Washington Commonwealth Federation](/source/Washington_Commonwealth_Federation) newspaper after the signing of the [Molotov-Ribbentrop pact](/source/Molotov-Ribbentrop_pact)

The Communist Party was adamantly opposed to fascism during the [Popular Front](/source/Popular_front) period. Although membership in the party rose to about 66,000 by 1939,[31][29] nearly 20,000 members left the party by 1943.[29] While general secretary [Browder](/source/Earl_Browder) at first attacked Germany for its September 1, 1939 [invasion of western Poland](/source/Invasion_of_Poland), on September 11 the Communist Party received a communique from Moscow denouncing the Polish government.[32] Between September 14–16, party leaders bickered about the direction to take.[32]

[New York City Councilmen](/source/New_York_City_Council) [Peter V. Cacchione](/source/Peter_V._Cacchione) and [Benjamin J. Davis Jr.](/source/Benjamin_J._Davis_Jr.), two of the only elected officials of the Communist Party, served during and after [World War II](/source/World_War_II)

On September 17, the [Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland and occupied the Polish territory assigned to it](/source/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland) by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, followed by coordination with German forces in Poland.[33][34] 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](/source/Neville_Chamberlain) and French leader [Édouard Daladier](/source/%C3%89douard_Daladier), but it did not at first attack President Roosevelt, reasoning that this could devastate American Communism, blaming instead Roosevelt's advisors.[35] The party spread the slogans "[The Yanks Are Not Coming](/source/The_Yanks_Are_Not_Coming)" and "Hands Off," set up a "perpetual peace vigil" across the street from the [White House](/source/White_House), and announced that Roosevelt was the head of the "war party of the American bourgeoisie."[36] The party was active in the [isolationist](/source/United_States_non-interventionism) [America First Committee](/source/America_First_Committee).[37] In October and November, after the [Soviets invaded Finland](/source/Winter_War) and [forced mutual assistance pacts from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania](/source/Occupation_of_the_Baltic_states), the Communist Party considered Russian security sufficient justification to support the actions.[38] The [Comintern](/source/Comintern) and its leader [Georgi Dimitrov](/source/Georgi_Dimitrov) demanded that Browder change the party's support for Roosevelt.[38] On October 23, the party began attacking Roosevelt.[36] The party changed this policy again after Hitler broke the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact by [attacking the Soviet Union](/source/Operation_Barbarossa) on June 22, 1941.

In August 1940, after NKVD agent [Ramón Mercader](/source/Ram%C3%B3n_Mercader) killed Trotsky with an [ice axe](/source/Ice_axe), Browder perpetuated Moscow's line that the killer, who had been dating one of Trotsky's secretaries, was a disillusioned follower.[39]

The National Committee of the Communist Party in 1948, most of whom had been [arrested earlier that year](/source/Smith_Act_trials_of_Communist_Party_leaders) under the [Smith Act](/source/Smith_Act)

The Communist Party's early labor and organizing successes did not last long. As the decades progressed, the combined effects of [McCarthyism](/source/McCarthyism) (also known as the Second Red Scare) and [Nikita Khrushchev](/source/Nikita_Khrushchev)'s 1956 "[Secret Speech](/source/On_the_Cult_of_Personality_and_Its_Consequences)" in which he denounced the previous decades of [Joseph Stalin](/source/Joseph_Stalin)'s rule and the adversities of the continuing [Cold War](/source/Cold_War) mentality, steadily weakened the party's internal structure and confidence. Party membership in the [Communist International](/source/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 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](/source/Party_line_(politics)). By 1957, membership had dwindled to less than 10,000, of whom some 1,500 were informants for the [FBI](/source/FBI).[40] The party was also banned by the [Communist Control Act of 1954](/source/Communist_Control_Act_of_1954), although it was never really enforced and Congress later[*[when?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Dates_and_numbers#Chronological_items)*] repealed most provisions of the act, also with some declared unconstitutional via the court system.[41]

The Communist Party's logo c. 1970s

The party attempted to recover with its opposition to the [Vietnam War](/source/Vietnam_War) during the [civil rights movement](/source/Civil_rights_movement) in the 1960s, but its continued uncritical support for an increasingly stultified and militaristic Soviet Union further alienated it from 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](/source/New_Left#United_States).[42]

With the rise of [Mikhail Gorbachev](/source/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 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](/source/Glasnost)* and *[perestroika](/source/Perestroika)*. With the [dissolution of the Soviet Union](/source/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](/source/Marxism%E2%80%93Leninism). The majority reasserted the party's now purely [Marxist](/source/Marxism) outlook, prompting [a minority faction](/source/Committees_of_Correspondence_for_Democracy_and_Socialism) which urged [social democrats](/source/Social_democracy) to exit the now reduced party. The party has since adopted Marxism–Leninism within its program.[43] In 2014, the new draft of the party constitution declared: "We apply the [scientific outlook](/source/Scientific_socialism) developed by Marx, Engels, Lenin and others in the context of our American history, culture, and traditions."[44]

Communists march in front of the *[Freiheit](/source/Morgen_Freiheit)* and *[Daily Worker](/source/Daily_Worker)* buildings in [New York City](/source/New_York_City) during a [May Day](/source/May_Day) demonstration c. 1930s

The Communist Party is based in New York City. From 1922 to 1988, it published *[Morgen Freiheit](/source/Morgen_Freiheit)*, a daily newspaper written in [Yiddish](/source/Yiddish).[45][46] For decades, its West Coast newspaper was the *[People's World](/source/People's_World)* and its East Coast newspaper was *[The Daily World](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Daily_World_(communist_newspaper)&action=edit&redlink=1)*.[47] 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.[48] The party's former theoretical journal *[Political Affairs](/source/Political_Affairs_(magazine))* is now also published exclusively online, but the party still maintains [International Publishers](/source/International_Publishers) as its publishing house.

The 30th National Convention was held in Chicago in 2014.

In June 2014, the party held its [30th National Convention](/source/30th_National_Convention_of_the_Communist_Party_USA) in Chicago.[49] On April 7, 2021, the party announced that it intended to run candidates in elections again, after a hiatus of over thirty years.[50] Steven Estrada, who ran for city council in [Long Beach](/source/Long_Beach%2C_California), 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).[51] Estrada received 8.5% of the vote.[52] In 2025 the party increased its electoral activity, fielding candidates for city council in [Ithaca](/source/Ithaca%2C_New_York) and [Northampton](/source/Northampton%2C_Massachusetts), with both candidates advancing from the primary.[53] That November, their candidate in Ithaca, Hannah Shvets,[11] was elected with 64% of the vote.[54] Additionally, Communist Party member Daniel Carson[12] was elected to the [Bangor](/source/Bangor%2C_Maine) city council, coming in second place out of nine candidates (the top three were elected)[55] in a non-partisan election.[10][56]

In July 2024, dissenting members of the CPUSA formed their own party, the [American Communist Party](/source/American_Communist_Party_(2024)), citing the CPUSA's support for the [Democratic Party](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)) and alleged abandonment of [Marxism–Leninism](/source/Marxism%E2%80%93Leninism), with online political commentators [Haz Al-Din](/source/Haz_Al-Din) as its founding chairman and [Jackson Hinkle](/source/Jackson_Hinkle) as a founding Plenary Committee member.[57][58] The party, Al-Din, and Hinkle have drawn criticism for populist tactics such as [MAGA Communism](/source/MAGA_Communism).[59]

In May of 2026, Co-Chair Joe Sims announced on social media[16] that the CPUSA would be re-establishing its theoretical journal [Political Affairs](/source/Political_Affairs_(magazine)). However, no timeline on an official relaunch date has yet to be announced.

## Beliefs

Part of a series on Socialism in the United States Ideologies African African-American Agrarian Anarchism Individualist Bill of Rights Browderism Christian De Leonism Democratic Ecological Feminist Libertarian Maoism Marxism–Leninism Maoist Owenism Sewer Social democracy Shachtmanism Syndicalism Trotskyism History Utopian socialism United Order Bishop Hill Commune Brook Farm Icarians Looking Backward New Harmony Oneida Community Progressive Era 1877 St. Louis general strike Christian socialism in Utah 1912 Lawrence textile strike Catholic Worker Movement Green Corn Rebellion Labor unionization Haymarket affair Women's suffrage Red Scare American Defense Society American Protective League Communist Party USA and African Americans Communist Party USA in the labor movement 1919–1937 1937–1957 Espionage Act of 1917 First Red Scare John Birch Society McCarthyism Seattle General Strike Smith Act Smith Act trials Anti-war and civil rights movements Black power movement COINTELPRO "I Have a Dream" March on Washington Jonestown New Left Poor People's Campaign New Communist movement Contemporary 1999 Seattle WTO protests 2008 financial crisis Occupy Wall Street Contemporary progressivism Gaza war protests at universities Activists Allen Alston Avakian Balagoon Berkman Berrigan Bond Clark Dennis Dixon Ehrenreich Ervin Flynn Goldman Goodman Grace Guthrie Hammett Hampton Hay Haywood (Bill) Haywood (Harry) Hill Hoffman Jackson Jones Kahn Keller King Knudsen Labadie London (Jack) Lovestone Marcy McNeill Mitchell Morello Newton Ochs Parsons (Albert) Parsons (Lucy) Reed (John) Robbins Rocha Rustin Sacco and Vanzetti Seale Seeger Shakur Siddique Walker Commentators Ameringer Al-Din Bruenig (Elizabeth) Bruenig (Matt) Cockburn Featherstone Ford (Glen) Harrington Hedges Hinkle Kochinski Macdonald Magdoff Moore Most Piker Sinclair Stone Turner Intellectuals Albert Andrews Avrich Bellamy (Edward) Bellamy (Francis) Bookchin Braverman Brisbane Butler Cabet Cannon Cantor Carmichael Chomsky Cleaver Davis (Angela) Davis (Mike) Dean Dreiser Du Bois Fearing Feinberg Foster Fraser Gilmore Graeber Greene Hahnel Heywood (Angela) Heywood (Ezra) Jameson Kelley Lum Mills Noyes Parenti Piven Reed (Adolph) Ripley Robinson (Cedric) Rocker Roediger Sandburg Schweickart Shachtman Smith Sweezy West Wolff Wood Wright Zinn Politicians Abern Berger Conyers Cozzini Debs De Leon De la Cruz Dellums Ford (James) Foster Gitlow Hall Hillquit Hoan Hoopes Johns Lee London (Meyer) Mamdani Marcantonio Maurer McLevy Ocasio-Cortez Panken Pason Randolph Ruthenberg Sanders Sawant Seidel Stedman Stein Thomas Thompson Vladeck Wilson Zeidler Parties Active American Communist Party Black Riders Liberation Party Communist Party USA Freedom Party of New York Freedom Socialist Party Green Mountain Peace and Justice Party Green Party of the United States Legal Marijuana Now Party New Afrikan Black Panther Party Party for Socialism and Liberation Peace and Freedom Party Progressive Dane Progressive Labor Party Revolutionary Black Panther Party Revolutionary Communist Party, USA Socialist Action Socialist Alternative South Carolina Workers Party Socialist Equality Party Socialist Labor Party of America Socialist Party USA Socialist Workers Party Spartacist League/U.S. Working Families Party Workers World Party Working Class Party World Socialist Party of the United States Defunct American Labor Party American Workers Party Black Panther Party Citizens Party Communist League of America Communist League of Struggle Communist Workers' Party Farmer–Labor Party Human Rights Party Independent Socialist League International Socialists Justice Party Labor Party of the United States Labor Party New Party Nonpartisan League Patriot Party People's Party Proletarian Party of America Raza Unida Party Red Guard Party Revolutionary Socialist League Social Democracy of America Social Democratic Federation Social Democratic Party of America Socialist Party of America White Panther Party Workers Party of the United States Organizations Active Antifa Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism Democratic Socialists of America Freedom Road Socialist Organization Industrial Workers of the World Platypus Affiliated Society Redneck Revolt Social Democrats, USA Socialist Rifle Association Solidarity Spark Defunct American Union of Associationists Black Socialists in America Democratic Socialist Federation Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee International Socialist Organization International Workingmen's Association Maoist Internationalist Movement Rainbow Coalition Red Guards New American Movement Revolutionary Youth Movement SDS Weather Underground Young Lords Young Patriots Organization Media Newspapers Appeal to Reason The Black Panther Current Affairs Daily Worker Dissent International Socialist Review The Militant Monthly Review New Masses The New Nation People's World Websites AlterNet Double Down News World Socialist Web Site Marxists Internet Archive The Grayzone ZNetwork Podcasts Chapo Trap House Literature Looking Backward (1888) Voluntary Socialism (1896) The Jungle (1906) Why Socialism? (1949) The Other America (1962) Monopoly Capital (1966) Revolutionary Suicide (1973) A People's History of the United States (1980) Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat (1983) Related topics American Left Alternative media (U.S. political left) Intercommunalism Labor history Labor laws Labor unions Left-conservatism Millennial socialism Minimum wage Progressivism in the United States Socialism portal United States portal v t e

### Constitution program

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](/source/Democratic_centralism),[60] its highest authority being the quadrennial National Convention. Article VI, Section 3 of the 2001 Constitution laid out certain positions as non-negotiable:[61]

[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 the points in the party's "Immediate Program" are a $15/hour [minimum wage](/source/Minimum_wage) for all workers, national universal health care, and opposition to [privatization](/source/Privatization) of [Social Security](/source/Social_Security_(United_States)). 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 the Immediate Program, as are opposition to the [Iraq War](/source/Iraq_War) and other military interventions; opposition to [free trade](/source/Free_trade) treaties such as the [North American Free Trade Agreement](/source/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement) (NAFTA); [nuclear disarmament](/source/Nuclear_disarmament) and a reduced military budget; various [civil rights](/source/Civil_rights) provisions; [campaign finance reform](/source/Campaign_finance_reform_in_the_United_States) including public financing of campaigns; and [election law](/source/Election_law) reform, including [instant runoff voting](/source/Instant-runoff_voting).[62]

### Bill of rights socialism

Main article: [Bill of Rights socialism](/source/Bill_of_Rights_socialism)

The Communist Party emphasizes 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](/source/United_States_Bill_of_Rights) to include freedom from unemployment" as well as freedom "from poverty, from illiteracy, and from discrimination and oppression."[63]

Reiterating the idea of property rights in socialist society as it is outlined in [Karl Marx](/source/Karl_Marx) and [Friedrich Engels](/source/Friedrich_Engels)'s *[Communist Manifesto](/source/The_Communist_Manifesto)* (1848),[64] 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 the excessive luxuries of the super-rich.[63]

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."[63]

### Living standards

Among the primary concerns of the Communist Party are the problems of [unemployment](/source/Unemployment), [underemployment](/source/Underemployment) and [job insecurity](/source/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 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.[63]

The Communist Party believes that "class struggle starts with 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".[63] The Communist Party's national programs considers workers who struggle "against 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.[63]

### Imperialism and war

The Communist Party maintains that developments within the [foreign policy of the United States](/source/Foreign_policy_of_the_United_States)—as reflected in the rise of [neoconservatives](/source/Neoconservatism) and other groups associated with [right-wing politics](/source/Right-wing_politics)—have developed in tandem with the interests of large-scale capital such as the [multinational corporations](/source/Multinational_corporation). 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".[63]

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 the U.S., covertly funded the [right-wing-initiated civil war in Nicaragua](/source/Nicaraguan_Revolution), and gave weapons to the [Saddam Hussein](/source/Saddam_Hussein) dictatorship in Iraq. They picked small countries to invade, including [Panama](/source/United_States_invasion_of_Panama) and [Grenada](/source/U.S._invasion_of_Grenada), testing new military equipment and strategy, and breaking down resistance at home and abroad to U.S. military invasion as a policy option".[63]

From its ideological framework, the Communist Party understands [imperialism as the pinnacle of capitalist development](/source/Imperialism%2C_the_Highest_Stage_of_Capitalism): 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.[63]

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 the [Bush Doctrine](/source/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 the U.S. government is able to subordinate or ignore them".[63]

Juxtaposing the support from the [Republicans](/source/Republican_Party_(United_States)) and the right wing of the [Democratic Party](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)) for the [Bush administration](/source/Presidency_of_George_W._Bush)-led [invasion of Iraq](/source/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 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](/source/Student_Peace_Action_Network#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 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.[65]

The party has consistently opposed American involvement in the [Korean War](/source/Korean_War), the [Vietnam War](/source/Vietnam_War), the [First Gulf War](/source/Gulf_War) and the post-[September 11](/source/September_11_attacks) conflicts in both [Iraq](/source/Iraq_War) and [Afghanistan](/source/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%93present)). The Communist Party does not believe that the threat of terrorism can be resolved through war.[66]

### Women and minorities

A 1932 Communist Party campaign poster featuring [William Z. Foster](/source/William_Z._Foster) and [James W. Ford](/source/James_W._Ford) as candidates for president and vice president, alongside the promise of [self-determination](/source/Self-determination) for the [Black Belt](/source/Black_Belt_in_the_American_South)

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 the employed and unemployed, organized and unorganized, and of all occupations.[60]

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.[67] They support the right of abortion and social services to provide access to it, arguing that unplanned pregnancy is prejudiced against poor women.[68] The party's ranks include a Women's Equality Commission, which recognizes the role of women as an asset in moving towards building socialism.[69]

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".[note 3][70] From its New York City base, the Communist Party's Ben Davis Club and other Communist Party organizations have been involved in local activism in [Harlem](/source/Harlem) and other African American and minority communities.[71] The Communist Party was instrumental in the founding of the [progressive](/source/Progressivism) [Black Radical Congress](/source/Black_Radical_Congress) in 1998, as well as the [African Blood Brotherhood](/source/African_Blood_Brotherhood).[72]

Historically significant in [Latino](/source/Hispanic_and_Latino_Americans) working class history as a successful organizer of 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.[73]

The Communist Party holds that racial and ethnic discrimination not only harms minorities, but 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](/source/Marxism#Exploitation), and creating extra profits for the capitalist class".[74][note 4]

The Communist Party supports an end to [racial profiling](/source/Racial_profiling).[62] The party supports continued enforcement of [civil rights](/source/Civil_rights) laws as well as [affirmative action](/source/Affirmative_action).[62]

## Geography

The Communist Party garnered support in particular communities, developing a unique geography. Instead of a broad nationwide support, support for the party was concentrated in different communities at different times, depending on the organizing strategy at that moment.

Before [World War II](/source/World_War_II), the Communist Party had relatively stable support in [New York City](/source/New_York_City), [Chicago](/source/Chicago) and [St. Louis County, Minnesota](/source/St._Louis_County%2C_Minnesota). However, at times the party also had strongholds in more rural counties such as [Sheridan County, Montana](/source/Sheridan_County%2C_Montana) (22% in [1932](/source/1932_United_States_presidential_election)), [Iron County, Wisconsin](/source/Iron_County%2C_Wisconsin) (4% in 1932), or [Ontonagon County, Michigan](/source/Ontonagon_County%2C_Michigan) (5% in [1934](/source/1934_Michigan_gubernatorial_election)).[75] Even in the [South](/source/Southern_United_States) at the height of [Jim Crow](/source/Jim_Crow_laws), the Communist Party had a significant presence in [Alabama](/source/Alabama). Despite the [disenfranchisement](/source/Disenfranchisement_after_the_Reconstruction_Era) of [African Americans](/source/African_Americans), the party gained 8% of the votes in rural [Elmore County](/source/Elmore_County%2C_Alabama). This was mostly due to the successful biracial organizing of [sharecroppers](/source/Sharecropping) through the [Sharecroppers' Union](/source/Sharecroppers'_Union).[75][76]

Unlike open mass organizations like the [Socialist Party](/source/Socialist_Party_of_America) or the [NAACP](/source/NAACP), the Communist Party was a disciplined organization that demanded strenuous commitments and frequently expelled members. Membership levels remained below 20,000 until 1933 and then surged upward in the late 1930s, reaching 66,000 in 1939 and reaching its peak membership of over 75,000 in 1947.[77]

The party fielded candidates in presidential and many state and local elections not expecting to win, but expecting loyalists to vote the party ticket. The party mounted symbolic yet energetic campaigns during each presidential election from 1924 through 1940 and many gubernatorial and congressional races from 1922 to 1944.

The party also attracted a significant Jewish membership which began to solidify by the 1930s.[78] Significant portions of the CPUSA at its founding in 1919 were not Jewish,[79] though this began to rise with the split of the Jewish Federation within the Socialist Party in 1921, which attracted numbers of Jews to join.[79] By the 1920s, 15% of the CPUSA's membership were American Jews.[78] Around 50% of the party was from the Finnish language federation in 1925, with Yugoslavs and Bulgarians making up a quarter and English speakers being only 10%.[79]

At the [Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact](/source/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact), the party had reached a percentage of 40% Jewish membership, however the party's stance on the issue of Nazi Germany caused a collapse after the party signaled its support for the USSR's foreign policy, losing around 15-40% of its 50,000 membership.[79] Support for Zionism after the war garned back a segment of Jewish support.[80] At the 1948 Presidential election, 30% of Henry Wallace's vote came from Jews and with 10% of all Jews in total voting for him compared with 2% from non-Jews.[81]

Around 1/3rd of the Central Committee of the CPUSA were Jewish throughout its history from 1921 up to 2004.[82][79]

The Communist Party organized the country into districts that did not coincide with state lines, initially dividing it into 15 districts identified with a headquarters city with an additional "Agricultural District". Several reorganizations in the 1930s expanded the number of districts.[83]

The Party has always been headquartered in New York and that city accounted for a significant portion of national membership, usually at least one-third, sometimes approaching half of the total. In 1930, 3,084 out of 6,822 members lived in District 1 (New York state). In 1939, 25,327 out of 66,000 total membership were New Yorkers; and 25,000 out of 54,000 in 1949. District 8, headquartered in Chicago usually accounted for about 10% of members in the 1920s and early 1930s, but then was overtaken by District 13 (California) starting in the late 1930s.[84]

## Relations with other groups

### United States labor movement

Main articles: [Communists in the United States labor movement (1919–1937)](/source/Communists_in_the_United_States_Labor_Movement_(1919%E2%80%9337)) and [Communists in the United States labor movement (1937–1950)](/source/Communists_in_the_United_States_Labor_Movement_(1937%E2%80%9350))

[May Day](/source/May_Day) parade with banners and flags, New York

The Communist Party has sought to play an active role in the labor movement since its origins as part of its effort to build a mass movement of American workers to bring about their own liberation through socialist revolution.

### Soviet funding and espionage

From 1959 until 1989, when [Gus Hall](/source/Gus_Hall) condemned the initiatives taken by [Mikhail Gorbachev](/source/Mikhail_Gorbachev) in the Soviet Union, the Communist Party received a substantial subsidy from the Soviets. There is at least one receipt signed by Gus Hall in the KGB archives.[85][86] Starting with $75,000 in 1959, this was increased gradually to $3 million in 1987. This substantial amount reflected the party's loyalty to the Moscow [line](/source/Political_line), in contrast to the [Italian](/source/Italian_Communist_Party) and later [Spanish](/source/Communist_Party_of_Spain) and [British](/source/Communist_Party_of_Great_Britain) Communist parties, whose [Eurocommunism](/source/Eurocommunism) deviated from the orthodox line in the late 1970s. Releases from the Soviet archives show that all national Communist parties that conformed to the Soviet line were funded in the same fashion. From the Communist point of view, this international funding arose from the internationalist nature of communism itself as fraternal assistance was considered the duty of communists in any one country to give aid to their allies in other countries. From the anti-Communist point of view, this funding represented an unwarranted interference by one country in the affairs of another. The cutoff of funds in 1989 resulted in a financial crisis, which forced the party to cut back publication in 1990 of the party newspaper, the *People's Daily World*, to weekly publication, the *[People's Weekly World](/source/People's_World)* ([see references below](#References)).

Somewhat more controversial than mere funding is the alleged involvement of Communist members in espionage for the Soviet Union. [Whittaker Chambers](/source/Whittaker_Chambers) alleged that Sandor Goldberger—also known as Josef Peters, who commonly wrote under the name [J. Peters](/source/J._Peters)—headed the Communist Party's underground secret apparatus from 1932 to 1938 and pioneered its role as an auxiliary to Soviet intelligence activities.[87] Bernard Schuster, Organizational Secretary of the New York District of the Communist Party, is claimed to have been the operational recruiter and conduit for members of the party into the ranks of the secret apparatus, or "Group A line".

Stalin publicly disbanded the [Comintern](/source/Comintern) in 1943. A Moscow NKVD message to all stations on September 12, 1943, detailed instructions for handling intelligence sources within the Communist Party after the disestablishment of the Comintern.

There are a number of decrypted World War II Soviet messages between NKVD offices in the United States and Moscow, also known as the [Venona cables](/source/Venona_cables). The Venona cables and other published sources appear to confirm that [Julius Rosenberg](/source/Julius_Rosenberg) was responsible for espionage. [Theodore Hall](/source/Theodore_Hall), a Harvard-trained [physicist](/source/Physicist) who did not join the party until 1952, began passing information on the atomic bomb to the Soviets soon after he was hired at [Los Alamos](/source/Los_Alamos_National_Laboratory) at age 19. Hall, who was known as Mlad by his KGB handlers, escaped prosecution. Hall's wife, aware of his espionage, claims that their NKVD handler had advised them to plead innocent, as the Rosenbergs did, if formally charged.[88]

It was the belief of opponents of the Communist Party such as [J. Edgar Hoover](/source/J._Edgar_Hoover), longtime director of the FBI; and [Joseph McCarthy](/source/Joseph_McCarthy), for whom [McCarthyism](/source/McCarthyism) is named; and other [anti-Communists](/source/Anti-communism) that the Communist Party constituted an active [conspiracy](/source/Conspiracy_(political)), was secretive, loyal to a foreign power and whose members assisted Soviet intelligence in the clandestine [infiltration](/source/Espionage) of American government. This is the traditionalist view of some in the field of [Communist studies](/source/Soviet_and_Communist_studies) such as [Harvey Klehr](/source/Harvey_Klehr) and [John Earl Haynes](/source/John_Earl_Haynes), since supported by several memoirs of ex-Soviet KGB officers and information obtained from the [Venona project](/source/Venona_project) and Soviet archives.[89][90][91]

At one time, this view was shared by the majority of the [Congress](/source/United_States_Congress). In the "Findings and declarations of fact" section of the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. Chap. 23 Sub. IV Sec. 841), it stated:

[T]he Communist Party, although purportedly a political party, is in fact an instrumentality of a conspiracy to overthrow the Government of the United States. It constitutes an authoritarian dictatorship within a republic ... the policies and programs of the Communist Party are secretly prescribed for it by the foreign leaders ... to carry into action slavishly the assignments given. ... [T]he Communist Party acknowledges no constitutional or statutory limitations. ... The peril inherent in its operation arises [from] its dedication to the proposition that the present constitutional Government of the United States ultimately must be brought to ruin by any available means, including resort to force and violence ... its role as the agency of a hostile foreign power renders its existence a clear present and continuing danger.[92]

In 1993, experts from the Library of Congress traveled to Moscow to copy previously secret archives of the party records, sent to the Soviet Union for safekeeping by party organizers. The records provided an irrefutable link between Soviet intelligence and information obtained by the Communist Party and its contacts in the United States government from the 1920s through the 1940s. Some documents revealed that the Communist Party was actively involved in secretly recruiting party members from African American groups and rural farm workers. Other party records contained further evidence that Soviet sympathizers had indeed infiltrated the State Department, beginning in the 1930s. Included in Communist Party archival records were confidential letters from two American ambassadors in Europe to Roosevelt and a senior State Department official. Thanks to an official in the Department of State sympathetic to the party, the confidential correspondence, concerning political and economic matters in Europe, ended up in the hands of Soviet intelligence.[89][93][94]

#### Counterintelligence

In 1952, Jack and [Morris Childs](/source/Morris_Childs), together codenamed SOLO, became FBI informants. As high-ranking officials in the party, they informed on the CPUSA for the rest of the Cold War, monitoring the Soviet funding.[95][96] They also traveled to Moscow and Beijing to meet USSR and PRC leadership.[97] Jack and Morris Childs both received the [Presidential Medal of Freedom](/source/Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom) in 1987 for their intelligence work. Morris's son stated, "The CIA could not believe the information the FBI had because the Communist Party of the USA had links directly into the Kremlin."[98]

According to intelligence analyst Darren E. Tromblay, the SOLO operation, and the Ad Hoc Committee, were part of "developing geopolitical awareness" by the FBI about factors such as the [Sino-Soviet split](/source/Sino-Soviet_split).[99] The Ad Hoc Committee was a group within CPUSA that circulated a pro-Maoist bulletin in the voice of a "dedicated but rebellious comrade." Allegedly an operation, it caused a schism within the CPUSA.[100]

### Criminal prosecutions

Further information: [Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders](/source/Smith_Act_trials_of_Communist_Party_leaders)

[Robert G. Thompson](/source/Robert_G._Thompson) and [Benjamin J. Davis](/source/Benjamin_J._Davis_Jr.) leaving the [Foley Square Courthouse](/source/Foley_Square_Courthouse) during the [Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders](/source/Smith_Act_trials_of_Communist_Party_leaders), 1949

When the Communist Party was formed in 1919, the United States government was engaged in prosecution of socialists who had opposed World War I and military service. This prosecution was continued in 1919 and January 1920 in the [Palmer Raids](/source/Palmer_Raids) as part of the [First Red Scare](/source/First_Red_Scare). Rank and file foreign-born members of the Communist Party were targeted and as many as possible were arrested and deported while leaders were prosecuted and, in some cases, sentenced to prison terms. In the late 1930s, with the authorization of President [Franklin D. Roosevelt](/source/Franklin_D._Roosevelt), the FBI began investigating both domestic Nazis and Communists. In 1940, Congress passed the [Smith Act](/source/Smith_Act), which made it illegal to advocate, abet, or teach the desirability of overthrowing the government.

In 1949, the federal government put [Eugene Dennis](/source/Eugene_Dennis), William Z. Foster and ten other Communist Party leaders on trial for advocating the violent overthrow of the government. Because the prosecution could not show that any of the defendants had openly called for violence or been involved in accumulating weapons for a proposed revolution, it relied on the testimony of former members of the party that the defendants had privately advocated the overthrow of the government and on quotations from the work of Marx, Lenin and other revolutionary figures of the past.[101] During the course of the trial, the judge held several of the defendants and all of their counsel in contempt of court. All of the remaining eleven defendants were found guilty, and the [Supreme Court](/source/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States) upheld the constitutionality of their convictions by a 6–2 vote in *[Dennis v. United States](/source/Dennis_v._United_States)*, [341](/source/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_cases%2C_volume_341) [U.S.](/source/United_States_Reports) [494](https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/341/494/) (1951). The government then proceeded with the prosecutions of more than 140 members of the party.[102]

Panicked by these arrests and fearing that the party was dangerously compromised by informants, Dennis and other party leaders decided to go underground and to disband many affiliated groups. The move heightened the political isolation of the leadership while making it nearly impossible for the party to function. The widespread support of action against communists and their associates began to abate after Senator [Joseph McCarthy](/source/Joseph_McCarthy) overreached himself in the [Army–McCarthy hearings](/source/Army%E2%80%93McCarthy_hearings), producing a backlash. The end of the [Korean War](/source/Korean_War) in 1953 also led to a lessening of anxieties about subversion. The Supreme Court brought a halt to the Smith Act prosecutions in 1957 in its decision in *[Yates v. United States](/source/Yates_v._United_States)*, [354](/source/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_cases%2C_volume_354) [U.S.](/source/United_States_Reports) [298](https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/354/298/) (1957), which required that the government prove that the defendant had actually taken concrete steps toward the forcible overthrow of the government, rather than merely advocating it in theory.

### African Americans

Main article: [Communist Party USA and African Americans](/source/Communist_Party_USA_and_African_Americans)

1976 presidential campaign poster

The Communist Party played a role in defending the rights of African Americans during its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s. The [Alabama Chapter of the Communist Party USA](/source/Alabama_Chapter_of_the_Communist_Party_USA) helped organize the unemployed Black workers, the Alabama [Sharecroppers' Union](/source/Sharecroppers'_Union) and numerous anti-lynching campaigns. Further, the Alabama chapter organized young activists that would later go on to be prominent members in the civil rights movement, such as Rosa Parks.[76] Throughout its history several of the party's leaders and political thinkers have been African Americans. [James Ford](/source/James_W._Ford), [Charlene Mitchell](/source/Charlene_Mitchell), [Angela Davis](/source/Angela_Davis) and [Jarvis Tyner](/source/Jarvis_Tyner), the current executive vice chair of the party, all ran as presidential or vice presidential candidates on the party ticket. Others like [Benjamin J. Davis](/source/Benjamin_J._Davis), [William L. Patterson](/source/William_L._Patterson), [Harry Haywood](/source/Harry_Haywood), James Jackson, [Henry Winston](/source/Henry_Winston), [Claude Lightfoot](/source/Claude_Lightfoot), [Alphaeus Hunton](/source/Alphaeus_Hunton), [Doxey Wilkerson](/source/Doxey_Alphonso_Wilkerson), [Claudia Jones](/source/Claudia_Jones), and John Pittman contributed in important ways to the party's approaches to major issues from human and civil rights, peace, women's equality, the national question, working class unity, socialist thought, cultural struggle, and more. African American thinkers, artists and writers such as [Claude McKay](/source/Claude_McKay), [Richard Wright](/source/Richard_Wright_(author)), [Ann Petry](/source/Ann_Petry), [W. E. B. Du Bois](/source/W._E._B._Du_Bois), [Shirley Graham Du Bois](/source/Shirley_Graham_Du_Bois), [Lloyd Brown](/source/Lloyd_L._Brown), [Charles White](/source/Charles_Wilbert_White), [Elizabeth Catlett](/source/Elizabeth_Catlett), [Paul Robeson](/source/Paul_Robeson), [Gwendolyn Brooks](/source/Gwendolyn_Brooks), and others were one-time members or supporters of the party, and the Communist Party also had a close alliance with Harlem Congressman [Adam Clayton Powell Jr.](/source/Adam_Clayton_Powell_Jr.)[103]

### Gay rights movement

[Harry Hay](/source/Harry_Hay) developed his political views as an active member of the Communist Party. Hay founded in the early 1950s the [Mattachine Society](/source/Mattachine_Society), America's second [gay rights](/source/Gay_rights) organization. However, gay rights were not seen as something the party should associate with organizationally.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] Many party members saw [homosexuality](/source/Homosexuality) as something [done by those with fascist tendencies](/source/Communism_and_LGBT_rights#Association_of_fascism_with_homosexuality_by_communists) (following the lead of the Soviet Union in criminalizing the practice for that reason). Hay, along with all other homosexual members, were expelled from the party as an ideological risk, with leadership considering them "vulnerable to blackmail from the FBI."[104] In 2004, more than a decade after the [fall of the Soviet Union](/source/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union) and after [Russia had legalized male homosexual relations](/source/LGBTQ_rights_in_Russia), the editors of *[Political Affairs](/source/Political_Affairs_Magazine)* published articles detailing their [self-criticism](/source/Self-criticism_(Marxism%E2%80%93Leninism)) of the party's early views of gay and lesbian rights and praised Hay's work.[105]

The Communist Party endorsed [LGBT rights](/source/LGBT_rights_in_the_United_States) in a 2005 statement.[106] The party affirmed the resolution with a statement a year later in honor of [gay pride](/source/Gay_pride) month in June 2006.[107]

### United States peace movement

The Communist Party opposed the United States involvement in the early stages of [World War II](/source/World_War_II) (until June 22, 1941, the date of the [German invasion of the Soviet Union](/source/German_invasion_of_the_Soviet_Union)), the [Korean War](/source/Korean_War), the [Vietnam War](/source/Vietnam_War), the [invasion of Grenada](/source/United_States_invasion_of_Grenada), and American support for [anti-Communist](/source/Anti-communism) military dictatorships and movements in Central America. Meanwhile, some in the [peace movement](/source/Peace_movement) and the [New Left](/source/New_Left) rejected the Communist Party for what it saw as the party's bureaucratic rigidity and for its close association with the Soviet Union.

The Communist Party was consistently opposed to the United States' 2003–2011 war in Iraq.[108] [United for Peace and Justice](/source/United_for_Peace_and_Justice) (UFPJ) includes the New York branch of the Communist Party as a member group, with Communist Judith LeBlanc serving as the co-chair of UFPJ from 2007 to 2009.[109]

## Election results

Main articles: [List of Communist Party USA election results](/source/List_of_Communist_Party_USA_election_results) and [List of Communist Party USA members who have held office in the United States](/source/List_of_Communist_Party_USA_members_who_have_held_office_in_the_United_States)

### Presidential tickets

Communist Party USA candidates for president and vice president Year President Vice president Votes Percent Name Further info 1924 William Z. Foster Benjamin Gitlow 38,669 0.1% Workers Party of America (convention) 1928 William Z. Foster Benjamin Gitlow 48,551 0.1% Workers (Communist) Party of America (convention) 1932 William Z. Foster James W. Ford 103,307 0.3% Communist Party USA (convention) 1936 Earl Browder James W. Ford 79,315 0.2% 1940 Earl Browder James W. Ford 48,557 0.1% 1948 No candidate; endorsed Henry Wallace No candidate; endorsed Glen H. Taylor N/A 1952 No candidate; endorsed Vincent Hallinan No candidate; endorsed Charlotta Bass 1968 Charlene Mitchell Michael Zagarell 1,077 <0.1% 1972 Gus Hall Jarvis Tyner 25,597 <0.1% 1976 Gus Hall Jarvis Tyner 58,709 0.1% 1980 Gus Hall Angela Davis 44,933 0.1% 1984 Gus Hall Angela Davis 36,386 <0.1%

### Best results in major races

Office Percent District Year Candidate President 1.5% Florida 1928 William Z. Foster 0.8% Montana 1932 Earl Browder 0.6% New York 1936 U.S. Senate 3.6% California 1940 Anita Whitney 3.3% Virginia 1936 Donald Burke 2.8% Virginia 1940 Alice Burke U.S. House 13.6% New York District 14 1940 Earl Browder 8.1% Massachusetts District 8 1984 Laura Ross 7.3% California District 5 1942 Walter Raymond Lambert

## Party leaders

Party leaders of the Communist Party USA Name Period Title Charles Ruthenberg[110] 1919–1927 Executive Secretary of old CPA (1919–1920); Executive Secretary of WPA/W(C)P (May 1922 – 1927) Alfred Wagenknecht 1919–1921 Executive Secretary of CLP (1919–1920); of UCP (1920–1921) Charles Dirba 1920–1921 Executive Secretary of old CPA (1920–1921); of unified CPA (May 30, 1921 – July 27, 1921) Louis Shapiro 1920 Executive Secretary of old CPA L.E. Katterfeld 1921 Executive Secretary of unified CPA William Weinstone 1921–1922 Executive Secretary of unified CPA Jay Lovestone 1922; 1927–1929 Executive Secretary of unified CPA (February 22, 1922 – August 22, 1922); of W(C)P/CPUSA (1927–1929) James P. Cannon[111] 1921–1922 National Chairman of WPA Caleb Harrison 1921–1922 Executive Secretary of WPA Abram Jakira 1922–1923 Executive Secretary of unified CPA William Z. Foster[112] 1929–1945; 1945–1957 Party Chairman; General Secretary Earl Browder 1932–1945 General Secretary Eugene Dennis 1945–1961; 1957–1959 Party Chairman; General Secretary Gus Hall 1959–2000 General Secretary Elizabeth Gurley Flynn 1961-1964 Party Chairperson Henry Winston 1966-1986 Party Chairman Sam Webb 2000–2014 Chairman John Bachtell 2014–2019 Chairman Rossana Cambron 2019–present Co-chair Joe Sims 2019–present Co-chair

## Notable CPUSA members

Well-known organizers and other members of the party Name Years active Title Notes Peter Cacchione 1932–1947 Party Leader; New York City Councilman Served as a member of the New York City Council from Brooklyn At-Large from 1942 to 1947, making him the first Communist to hold any elected office in the state of New York.[113] Angela Davis 1969–1991 Member, California Communist Party A supporter of the Communist Party until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 following the revolutions of 1989, which ended communism in most countries worldwide. Davis then created the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, a former reformist faction within the Communist Party, which is now independent and promotes democratic socialism. Benjamin J. Davis Jr. 1933–1964 Party Leader; New York City Councilman Served as a member of the New York City Council from Manhattan At-Large from 1944 to 1949, making him the second and last Communist to hold any elected office in the state of New York.[114] Richard Durham 1940s Member Creator and writer of the Destination Freedom radio series in Chicago. Durham was a CPUSA member while writing for New Masses, the Chicago Defender, the Chicago Star, and the Illinois Standard newspapers.[115][116][117] Si Gerson 1928–2004 Party Leader; Confidential Examiner to the Borough President of Manhattan Served as Confidential Examiner to the Borough President of Manhattan from 1938 to 1940, making him the first Communist to hold any appointed office in New York City.[118] He was later an editor for the Daily Worker.[119] Dorothy Ray Healey 1920s–1973 Member, California Communist Party An early supporter of the Communist Party, she became disillusioned with the leadership of Gus Hall and furthermore was against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Healey criticized CPUSA orthodoxy after the crimes of Stalin were exposed by Nikita Khrushchev. She eventually left the party and joined the New America Movement, an organization promoting new-left activism. Tupac Shakur ? Member, Baltimore Young Communist League[120][121] Known for his career as a rapper and actor, Tupac Shakur was at one time a member of the Young Communist League in Baltimore. He found the platform of the party appealing, having grown up in poverty. Shakur also dated the daughter of the director of the local Communist Party.[121] Charles E. Taylor ? Member, Montana Communist Party; State Senator Started a left-wing newspaper called "Producers News" in Sheridan County, Montana after being sent there by the Nonpartisan League of North Dakota. The newspaper slandered members of the community, sparking a libel case and newspaper war.[122][123] Emma Tenayuca 1936–1939(?) Party Organizer Emma Tenayuca (December 21, 1916 – July 23, 1999), also known as Emma Beatrice Tenayuca, was an American labor leader, union organizer and educator. She is best known for her work organizing Mexican workers in Texas during the 1930s, particularly for leading the 1938 San Antonio pecan shellers strike.

## See also

- CPUSA history: - [List of Communist Party USA election results](/source/List_of_Communist_Party_USA_election_results) - [List of Communist Party USA members who have held office in the United States](/source/List_of_Communist_Party_USA_members_who_have_held_office_in_the_United_States) - [National conventions of the Communist Party USA](/source/National_conventions_of_the_Communist_Party_USA) - Press of the Communist Party USA (annotated list of titles): [English-language](/source/English-language_press_of_the_Communist_Party_USA) and [Non-English](/source/Non-English_press_of_the_Communist_Party_USA) - [Communist Party USA and African Americans](/source/Communist_Party_USA_and_African_Americans) - Communist Party USA and the American labor movement: [1919–1937](/source/Communist_Party_USA_and_American_labor_movement_(1919%E2%80%931937)) and [1937–1950](/source/Communist_Party_USA_and_American_labor_movement_(1937%E2%80%931950))

- CPUSA-associated organizations: - [Young Communist League USA](/source/Young_Communist_League_USA) - [International Publishers](/source/International_Publishers) - [Language federation](/source/Language_federation) - [W.E.B. Du Bois Clubs of America](/source/W.E.B._Du_Bois_Clubs_of_America)

- Later communist organizations: - [Progressive Labor Party (United States)](/source/Progressive_Labor_Party_(United_States)) - [Revolutionary Communist Party, USA](/source/Revolutionary_Communist_Party%2C_USA) - [Socialist Workers Party (United States)](/source/Socialist_Workers_Party_(United_States))

- [History of Soviet espionage in the United States](/source/Soviet_espionage_in_the_United_States)

- *[Jencks v. United States](/source/Jencks_v._United_States)*

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** The party voted to dissolve its youth wing in 2015 and voted to re-establish it in 2019. [*Final Resolutions for the 31st National Convention*](https://www.cpusa.org/article/final-resolutions-for-the-31st-national-convention/). June 10, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** She mentions James Barrett, Maurice Isserman, Robin D. G. Kelley, Randi Storch and Kate Weigand.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-72)** See also [The Communist Party and African-Americans](/source/The_Communist_Party_and_African-Americans) and the article on the [Scottsboro Boys](/source/Scottsboro_Boys) for the Communist Party's work in promoting minority rights and involvement in the historically significant case of the Scottsboro Boys in the 1930s.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-78)** See also Executive Vice Chair [Jarvis Tyner](/source/Jarvis_Tyner)'s ideological essay ["The National Question"](https://www.cpusa.org/the-national-question/). *CPUSA Online*. August 1, 2003. Retrieved April 7, 2009.

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["CPUSA Organizational Chart"](https://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-organizational-chart/). *Communist Party USA*. March 26, 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [*The Soviet World of American Communism*](https://books.google.com/books?id=u-o5jqehzvcC&dq=communist+party+usa+founder+charles+ruthenberg&pg=PR24). Yale University Press. 2008. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-300-13800-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-300-13800-9).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["People's World"](https://lccn.loc.gov/sn82016135). *Library of Congress*. [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [09168021](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/09168021). Retrieved January 21, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Watson, Samuel E. (2024). ["Communist Party of U.S."](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/political-science/communist-party-us) *[EBSCOhost](/source/EBSCOhost)*. EBSCO Information Services. Retrieved May 24, 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Sims, Joe (February 9, 2026). ["After the Minneapolis general strike"](https://cpusa.org/article/after-the-minneapolis-general-strike/). *Communist Party USA*. Communist Party USA. Retrieved May 24, 2026.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-2025CPUSAConstitution_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-2025CPUSAConstitution_7-1) USA, Communist Party (July 25, 2025). ["CPUSA Constitution"](https://www.cpusa.org/party_info/cpusa-constitution/). *Communist Party USA*. Retrieved August 2, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2025CPUSAProgram_8-0)** ["CPUSA Party Program"](https://cpusa.org/party_info/cpusa-party-program/). *CPUSA.org*. Communist Party USA. July 24, 2025. Retrieved September 9, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Bill of Rights Socialism"](https://www.cpusa.org/party_info/socialism-in-the-usa/). *CPUSA Online*. May 1, 2016. Retrieved October 30, 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Pierard, Richard (1998). "American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists, & Others. By John George and Laird Wilcox. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Press, 1996. 443 pp. $18.95". *Journal of Church and State*. **40** (4). Oxford Journals: 912–913. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/jcs/40.4.912](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fjcs%2F40.4.912).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-atkins_11-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-atkins_11-1) Atkins, C.J. ["Communist Party members run for office, strengthening communities and building coalitions"](https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/communist-party-members-run-for-office-strengthening-communities-and-building-coalitions/). *People's World*. Longview Publishing Inc. Retrieved November 6, 2025.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-first_12-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-first_12-1) ["First of the City and Last of the State: Benjamin Nichols and Ithaca's Flirtations with Socialism"](https://submissions@cosmonautmag.com/2025/06/first-of-the-city-and-last-of-the-state/). *Cosmonaut*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20251001051503/https://submissions@cosmonautmag.com/2025/06/first-of-the-city-and-last-of-the-state/) from the original on October 1, 2025. Retrieved November 5, 2025.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-rupertus_13-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-rupertus_13-1) Rupertus, Annie (October 1, 2025). ["City Council candidate wants Bangor to invest in housing and public services"](https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/10/01/bangor/daniel-carson-bangor-city-council-candidate-joam40zk0w/). *bangordailynews.com*. Bangor: [Bangor Daily News](/source/Bangor_Daily_News). Retrieved November 20, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Philadelphia_City_Commission_14-0)** ["Unofficial 2026 Primary Election Results"](https://philadelphiaresults.azurewebsites.us/ResultsSW.aspx?type=WEC&Area=46&map=CTY). Philadelphia. May 25, 2026. Retrieved May 26, 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** ["Christopher Semok (Columbia Falls City Council At-large, Montana, candidate 2025)"](https://ballotpedia.org/Christopher_Semok_(Columbia_Falls_City_Council_At-large,_Montana,_candidate_2025)). *Ballotpedia*. Ballotpedia. Retrieved January 18, 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Anderson-Herr_16-0)** Anderson, Gary L.; Herr, Kathryn G., eds. (2007). "Communist Party USA". *Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice*. Vol. 3. [Chichester](/source/Chichester%2C_West_Sussex), [West Sussex](/source/West_Sussex): [Wiley-Blackwell](/source/Wiley-Blackwell). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.4135/9781412956215.n198](https://doi.org/10.4135%2F9781412956215.n198). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781412956215](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781412956215). Undoubtedly, from its origins in 1919 until the latter part of the 1950s, the **Communist Party USA** (**CPUSA**) was the most important [left-wing organization in the United States](/source/Left-wing_politics_in_the_United_States). Reaching 85,000 members at its peak in 1942, just as [America entered World War II](/source/Consequences_of_the_attack_on_Pearl_Harbor), and with party supporters expanding the organization's strength an additional tenfold, the CPUSA enthusiastically rallied for backing the [Soviet-American war effort](/source/European_theatre_of_World_War_II) against the [Nazis](/source/Nazi_Germany). In addition, through their tireless roles as [industrial union](/source/Industrial_unionism) [organizers](/source/Labor_movement_in_the_United_States) during the mid-to late 1930s, Communist Party members had already become a major force in several important [Congress of Industrial Organizations](/source/Congress_of_Industrial_Organizations) (CIO) [unions](/source/Labor_unions_in_the_United_States) by the early 1940s. In [New York City](/source/New_York_City), a stronghold of party support where Communists actively engaged in housing struggles, CPUSA candidates were elected to the [city council](/source/New_York_City_Council) during its zenith.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:3_17-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:3_17-1) ["Instagram"](https://www.instagram.com/p/DX4XVUyMhre/). *www.instagram.com*. Retrieved May 4, 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Berger, Joseph (May 22, 2011). ["Workers of the World, Please See Our Web Site"](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/nyregion/leftist-parties-in-new-york-have-new-appeal.html). *[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times)*. All three have greatly shrunk from their heydays. The Socialist Party has about 1,000 members nationally. The Communists claim 2,000. The Democratic Socialists, which for many years included luminaries like Michael Harrington and Irving Howe, have about 6,000.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Gómez, Sergio (April 19, 2017). ["Communist Party membership numbers climbing in the Trump era"](https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/communist-party-membership-numbers-climbing-in-the-trump-era/). *[People's World](/source/People's_World)*. Communist Party USA. Of the country's 300 million inhabitants, the organization currently has some 5,000 members nationwide.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Lifang (April 15, 2018). ["Interview: U.S. Communist Party leader says Marxism "vibrant, philosophical" outlook"](http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-04/15/c_137112760.htm). [Xinhua News Agency](/source/Xinhua_News_Agency). Founded in 1919, the CPUSA has some 5,000 members spread across the country. The party has been active in a range of political and social movements from the labor workers' rights to the environmental protection and peace issues, according to Bachtell.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** Rosenberg, Daniel (April 22, 2019). ["From Crisis to Split: The Communist Party USA, 1989–1991"](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14743892.2019.1599627). *American Communist History*. **18** (1–2): 1–55. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/14743892.2019.1599627](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F14743892.2019.1599627). The CPUSA rented out most of the floors in its Manhattan headquarters to private companies, drawing valued income. Party clubs assumed increasingly virtual form. Facebook, Twitter, and website outreach seemingly bore fruit, producing online adherents. The Party carefully charted "likes" and "shares." Nearly half the online joiners paid no dues. Most "likes" came from outside the United States.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-AP2023_22-0)** Santana, Rebecca; Swenson, Ali (June 28, 2023). ["Trump wants to keep 'communists' and 'Marxists' out of the US. Here's what the law says"](https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-immigration-marxists-communists-ban-2024-d9a377149926457d1b8b182293d9c86e). *[AP News](/source/AP_News)*. Communist Party USA has about 15,000 people on its membership list, said party co-chair Joe Sims. The list is "pruned regularly," he said, but some of that group may not be active members.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** Sims, Joe (February 9, 2026). ["After the Minneapolis general strike"](https://cpusa.org/article/after-the-minneapolis-general-strike/). *Communist Party USA*. Retrieved May 31, 2026. That said, we have to confront the fact that the CP's growth, while steady, is not in keeping with the possibilities of the moment. It seems that we've hit a plateau but haven't managed to move beyond it. We have to think about why. Consider that since Trump was first elected we've recruited 20,000 members.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** Ellen Schrecker, "Soviet Espionage in America: An Oft-Told tale", *Reviews in American History*, Volume 38, Number 2, June 2010 p. 359. Schrecker goes on to explore why the Left dared to spy.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** Rose, Steve (January 24, 2016). ["Racial harmony in a Marxist utopia: how the Soviet Union capitalised on US discrimination"](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2016/jan/24/racial-harmony-in-a-marxist-utopia-how-the-soviet-union-capitalised-on-us-discrimination-in-pictures). *The Guardian*. Retrieved March 25, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-heyday_27-0)** [Klehr, Harvey](/source/Harvey_Klehr) (1984). [*The Heyday of American Communism: The Depression Decade*](https://archive.org/details/heydayofamerican00kleh). Basic Books. pp. [3](https://archive.org/details/heydayofamerican00kleh/page/3)–5 (number of members). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0465029457](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0465029457).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-28)** [Frances Fox Piven](/source/Frances_Fox_Piven) and [Richard Cloward](/source/Richard_Cloward), *[Poor People's Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail](/source/Poor_People's_Movements%3A_Why_They_Succeed%2C_How_They_Fail)*, (New York:[Vintage Books](/source/Vintage_Books), 1978), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0394726979](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0394726979), [pp. 52–58](https://books.google.com/books?id=qI9mzBuTvjUC&pg=PA53)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-29)** [Hedges, Chris](/source/Chris_Hedges) (2018). *America: The Farewell Tour*. [Simon & Schuster](/source/Simon_%26_Schuster). p. 109. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1501152672](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1501152672). The breakdown of capitalism saw a short-lived revival of organized labor during the 1930s, often led by the Communist Party.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-30)** ["Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History"](https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/fifties/essays/anti-communism-1950s). *gilderlehrman.org*. August 15, 2012.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Crain-2016_31-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Crain-2016_31-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Crain-2016_31-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Crain-2016_31-3) Crain, Caleb (April 11, 2016). ["The American Soldiers of the Spanish Civil War"](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/18/the-americans-soldiers-of-the-spanish-civil-war). *The New Yorker*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0028-792X](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0028-792X). Retrieved November 27, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-32)** ["Soviet Union and the Spanish Civil War"](https://spartacus-educational.com/SPrussia.htm). *Spartacus Educational*. Retrieved November 27, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-33)** [Soviet and American Communist Parties](https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/sova.html) in [Revelations from the Russian Archives](https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/), Library of Congress, January 4, 1996. Retrieved August 29, 2006.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ryan162_34-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ryan162_34-1) Ryan JG (1997). [*Earl Browder: the failure of American communism*](http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/39933). University of Alabama Press. p. 162. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-585-28017-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-585-28017-2).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-stalinswars43_35-0)** Roberts, Geoffrey (2006). *Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953*. Yale University Press. p. 44. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-300-11204-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-300-11204-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-sanford_36-0)** [Sanford, George](/source/George_Sanford_(scholar)) (2005). *Katyn and the Soviet Massacre of 1940: Truth, Justice And Memory*. London, New York: [Routledge](/source/Routledge). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-415-33873-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-415-33873-5).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-ryan164_37-0)** Ryan JG (1997). [*Earl Browder: the failure of American communism*](http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/39933). University of Alabama Press. pp. 164–165. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-585-28017-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-585-28017-2).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ryan168_38-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ryan168_38-1) Ryan JG (1997). [*Earl Browder: the failure of American communism*](http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/39933). University of Alabama Press. p. 168. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-585-28017-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-585-28017-2).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-39)** Selig Adler (1957). *The isolationist impulse: its twentieth-century reaction*. pp. 269–270, 274.[ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780837178226](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780837178226)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ryan166_40-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ryan166_40-1) Ryan JG (1997). [*Earl Browder: the failure of American communism*](http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/39933). University of Alabama Press. p. 166. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-585-28017-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-585-28017-2).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-ryan189_41-0)** Ryan JG (1997). [*Earl Browder: the failure of American communism*](http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/39933). University of Alabama Press. p. 189. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-585-28017-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-585-28017-2).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-42)** Gentry, Kurt, *J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets*. W. W. Norton & Company 1991. P. 442. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0393024040](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0393024040).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-43)** Click, Kane Madison. ["Communist Control Act of 1954"](https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1071/communist-control-act-of-1954). *www.mtsu.edu*. Retrieved November 27, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-44)** Naison, Mark. ["The Communist Party USA and Radical Organizations, 1953–1960"](https://www.lexisnexis.com/documents/academic/upa_cis/10834_CPUSAFBIDDELib.pdf) (PDF).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-ReferenceA_45-0)** [*Constitution of the Communist Party of the United States of America*](https://web.archive.org/web/20140121151252/http://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-constitution/). Communist Party of the United States of America. 2001. Archived from [the original](http://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-constitution/) on January 21, 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-46)** ["New CPUSA Constitution (final draft)](https://www.cpusa.org/draft-new-constitution/)."

1. **[^](#cite_ref-47)** Klehr, Harvey; Haynes, John Earl; Gurvitz, David (February 15, 2017). ["Two Worlds of a Soviet Spy – The Astonishing Life Story of Joseph Katz"](https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-two-worlds-of-a-soviet-spy/). *Commentary Magazine*. Commentary, Inc. Retrieved June 4, 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Henry02_48-0)** Henry Felix Srebrnik, *Dreams of Nationhood: American Jewish Communists and the Soviet Birobidzhan Project, 1924–1951.* Brighton, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2010; p. 2.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-49)** [*Yates v. United States*](https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0354_0298_ZD.html), 354 U.S. 298 (1957)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-50)** ["About People's World"](https://peoplesworld.org/about-the-peoples-world/). *People's World*. August 25, 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-51)** ["Opening of the Communist Party's 30th national convention"](https://peoplesworld.org/opening-of-the-communist-party-s-30th-national-convention/). *People's World*. June 13, 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-52)** ["It's time to run candidates: A call for discussion and action"](https://www.cpusa.org/article/its-time-to-run-candidates-a-call-for-discussion-and-action/). April 9, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-53)** ["Steven Estrada for District One"](https://web.archive.org/web/20210426133315/https://www.stevenestrada.org/). *Steven Estrada for District One*. Archived from [the original](https://www.stevenestrada.org/) on April 26, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-54)** ["Steven Estrada – Ballotpedia"](https://ballotpedia.org/Steven_Estrada). Retrieved October 21, 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-55)** CPUSA Political Action Commission (July 26, 2025). ["Communist candidates: Bringing our "plus" to the political arena"](https://cpusa.org/article/communist-candidates-bringing-our-plus-to-the-political-arena/). *Communist Party USA*. Retrieved September 19, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-56)** Corbo, Eamon (November 5, 2025). ["Results for Ithaca's 2025 general election"](https://theithacan.org/64119/news/results-for-ithacas-2025-general-election/). *theithacan.org*. Ithaca: The Ithacan. Retrieved November 20, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-57)** ["Daniel A. Carson (City Councilor Bangor Maine, Maine, candidate 2025)"](https://ballotpedia.org/Daniel_A._Carson_(City_Councilor_Bangor_Maine,_Maine,_candidate_2025)). *ballotpedia.org*. [Ballotpedia](/source/Ballotpedia). Retrieved November 20, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-58)** ["City of Bangor - Official Results - November 4, 2025"](https://www.bangormaine.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4499/Clerk-Election-Results-2025-PDF). *bangormaine.gov*. City of Bangor. Retrieved November 20, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-59)** Steinberg, Julia. ["The MAGA Communists Launched a Party"](https://www.thefp.com/p/american-communist-party-maga). *www.thefp.com*. Retrieved March 13, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-60)** ["American Communist Party"](https://web.archive.org/web/20250224093819/https://acp.us/declaration). *acp.us*. Archived from [the original](https://acp.us/declaration) on February 24, 2025. Retrieved March 13, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-HinkleRide_61-0)** Myers, Steven Lee; Hsu, Tiffany (April 11, 2024). ["Riding Rage Over Israel to Online Prominence"](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/11/business/media/jackson-hinkle-israel-gaza-misinformation.html). *The New York Times*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0362-4331](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved March 13, 2025.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-2014constitution_62-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-2014constitution_62-1) ["CPUSA Constitution"](http://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-constitution/). Amended July 8, 2001, at the 27th National Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Retrieved November 11, 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2001constitution_63-0)** ["CPUSA Constitution"](http://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-constitution/). *Communist Party USA*. September 20, 2001. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20111117135345/http://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-constitution/) from the original on November 17, 2011. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Immediate_Program_64-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Immediate_Program_64-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Immediate_Program_64-2) ["Communist Party Immediate Program for the Crisis"](https://www.cpusa.org/article/static/511/#question29). [Archived](http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090708121226/http://www.cpusa.org/article/static/511/#question29) July 8, 2009, at the Portuguese Web Archive. Retrieved August 29, 2006.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-28th_Party_Program_65-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-28th_Party_Program_65-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-28th_Party_Program_65-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-28th_Party_Program_65-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-28th_Party_Program_65-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-28th_Party_Program_65-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-28th_Party_Program_65-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-28th_Party_Program_65-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-28th_Party_Program_65-8) [***j***](#cite_ref-28th_Party_Program_65-9) ["Program of the Communist Party"](https://www.cpusa.org/party-program/).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-66)** See Karl Marx, *The Communist Manifesto*, Chapter 2.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-67)** Bachtell, John. "The Movements Against War and Capitalist Globalization". *CPUSA Online*. July 17, 2003. Retrieved April 15, 2009. ["CPUSA Online – the movements against war and capitalist globalization"](http://www.cpusa.org/article/articleview/565/0/). Retrieved April 15, 2009.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-68)** ["War Will Not End Terrorism"](https://www.cpusa.org/war-will-not-end-terrorism/). *CPUSA Online*. October 8, 2001. Retrieved April 6, 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-69)** Myles, Dee. ["Remarks on the Fight for Women's Equality"](https://www.cpusa.org/remarks-on-the-fight-for-women-s-equality). Speech given at the 27th National Convention of the CPUSA. *Communist Party USA*. *CPUSA Online*. July 7, 2001. Retrieved April 7, 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-70)** Kern, Michelle (June 27, 2016). ["What is the CPUSA's position on abortion rights?"](https://www.cpusa.org/interact_cpusa/what-is-the-cpusas-position-on-abortion/). *Cpusa.org*. Retrieved August 22, 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-71)** Trowbdrige, Carolyn. ["Communist Party Salutes Women"](https://www.cpusa.org/communist-party-salutes-women/). *CPUSA Online*. March 8, 2009. Retrieved April 7, 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-73)** Section 3d: ["The Working Class, Class Struggle, Democratic Struggle, and Forces for Progress: The Working Class and Trade Union Movement Democratic Struggle and its Relation to Class Struggle Special Oppression and Exploitation. Multiracial, Multinational Unity for Full Equality and Against Racism"](https://www.cpusa.org/party-program/#3d). *CPUSA Online*. May 19, 2006. Retrieved April 7, 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-74)** "CPUSA Members Mark 5th Anniversary of the War: Ben Davis Club Remembers Those Lost". *CPUSA Online*. March 20, 2008. Retrieved April 7, 2009. ["CPUSA Online – CPUSA members mark 5th anniversary of the war"](https://web.archive.org/web/20090719194315/http://www.cpusa.org/article/view/906/). Archived from [the original](http://www.cpusa.org/article/view/906/) on July 19, 2009. Retrieved April 7, 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-75)** ["Blacks and the CPUSA (by L. Proyect)"](http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/race/solomon.htm). *www.columbia.edu*. Retrieved November 27, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-76)** García, Mario T. *Mexican Americans: Leadership, Ideology, and Identity, 1930–1960*. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1991. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0300049848](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0300049848).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-77)** ["CPUSA Constitution"](http://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-constitution/). Amended July 8, 2001, at the 27th National Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Retrieved August 29, 2006.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Communist_Party_votes_by_county_79-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Communist_Party_votes_by_county_79-1) ["Communist Party votes by county"](https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_map-votes.shtml). *depts.washington.edu*. Retrieved July 20, 2017.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Kelley-1990_80-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Kelley-1990_80-1) Kelley, Robin D.G. (1990). [*Hammer and hoe : Alabama Communists during the Great Depression*](https://archive.org/details/hammerhoealabama0000kell) (2nd ed.). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. [2–10](https://archive.org/details/hammerhoealabama0000kell/page/2). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0807819212](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0807819212).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-81)** ["Communist Party membership by Districts 1922–1950 – Mapping American Social Movements"](https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_map-members.shtml). *depts.washington.edu*. Retrieved December 9, 2022.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:1_82-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:1_82-1) Karp, Jacqueline (April 19, 2017). ["Gut Feelers and Blind Believers: A Comparative Analysis of Jewish Involvement in the Communist Party in New York City and London, 1935-1945"](https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/JacquelineKarp_Gut%20Feelers%20and%20Blind%20Believers_2017.pdf) (PDF).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:2_83-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:2_83-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:2_83-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-:2_83-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-:2_83-4) Jacobs, Jack, ed. (2017). [*Jews and Leftist Politics: Judaism, Israel, Antisemitism, and Gender*](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/jews-and-leftist-politics/F716CB6734634689C12DE8319C72233C). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-107-04786-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-107-04786-0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-:23_84-0)** Jacobs, Jack, ed. (2017). [*Jews and Leftist Politics: Judaism, Israel, Antisemitism, and Gender*](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/jews-and-leftist-politics/F716CB6734634689C12DE8319C72233C). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-107-04786-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-107-04786-0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-:22_85-0)** Jacobs, Jack, ed. (2017). [*Jews and Leftist Politics: Judaism, Israel, Antisemitism, and Gender*](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/jews-and-leftist-politics/F716CB6734634689C12DE8319C72233C). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-107-04786-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-107-04786-0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-86)** Heppell, J. L. (January 1, 2004). ["A Rebel, not a Rabbi: Jewish Membership of the Communist Party of Great Britain"](https://academic.oup.com/tcbh/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/tcbh/15.1.28). *Twentieth Century British History*. **15** (1): 28–50. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/tcbh/15.1.28](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Ftcbh%2F15.1.28). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0955-2359](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0955-2359).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-87)** ["Communist Party Membership by Districts 1922–1950"](https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_map-members.shtml).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-88)** ["Communist Party membership by Districts 1922–1950 – Mapping American Social Movements"](https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_map-members.shtml). *depts.washington.edu*. Retrieved May 3, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-89)** Klehr, Harvey; Haynes, John Earl; Anderson, Kyrill M. (2008). [*The Soviet World of American Communism*](https://books.google.com/books?id=u-o5jqehzvcC&pg=PA155). Yale University Press. p. 155. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0300138009](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0300138009).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-90)** Dobbs, Michael (February 8, 1992). ["U.S. Party Said Funded by Kremlin"](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/02/08/us-party-said-funded-by-kremlin/421119eb-6953-413d-baf0-3558cbeb7e48/). *Washington Post*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0190-8286](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0190-8286). Retrieved November 10, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Witness_91-0)** Chambers, Whittaker (1987) [1952]. *Witness*. New York: Random House. p. 799. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0895267894](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0895267894). [LCCN](/source/LCCN_(identifier)) [52005149](https://lccn.loc.gov/52005149).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-92)** ["NOVA Online | Secrets, Lies, and Atomic Spies | Read Venona Intercepts"](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/intercepts.html). *www.pbs.org*. Retrieved August 14, 2021.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Haynes,_John_Earl_2000_93-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Haynes,_John_Earl_2000_93-1) Haynes, John Earl, and Klehr, Harvey, *Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America*, Yale University Press (2000).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-94)** Schecter, Jerrold and Leona, *Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History*, Potomac Books (2002).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-95)** Sudoplatov, Pavel Anatoli, Schecter, Jerrold L., and Schecter, Leona P., *Special Tasks: The Memoirs of an Unwanted Witness – A Soviet Spymaster*, Little Brown, Boston (1994).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-96)** ["Title 50 > Chapter 23 > Subchapter IV > § 841. Findings and declarations of fact"](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/841). U.S. Code collection on the site of [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University). Retrieved August 30, 2006.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-97)** *Retrieved Papers Shed Light On Communist Activities In U.S.*, Associated Press, January 31, 2001.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-98)** Weinstein, Allen, and Vassiliev, Alexander, *The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America – the Stalin Era* (New York: Random House, 1999).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-99)** Klehr, Harvey (July 3, 2017). ["Opinion | American Reds, Soviet Stooges"](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/opinion/communist-party-usa-soviet-union.html). *The New York Times*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0362-4331](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved November 10, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-100)** Babcock, Charles R. (September 17, 1981). ["Soviet Secrets Fed to FBI for More Than 25 Years"](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/09/17/soviet-secrets-fed-to-fbi-for-more-than-25-years/5dcdaab1-1d05-4e0f-8c25-87ecf852d67c/). *Washington Post*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0190-8286](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0190-8286). Retrieved November 10, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-101)** ["The SOLO File: Declassified Documents Detail 'The FBI's Most Valued Secret Agents of the Cold War'"](https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB375/). *nsarchive2.gwu.edu*. Retrieved November 15, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-102)** ["Carl N. Freyman, 85"](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-06-04-0106040229-story.html). *Chicago Tribune*. June 4, 2001. Retrieved November 15, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-103)** Tromblay, Darren E. (January 2, 2020). ["From Old Left to New Left: The FBI and the Sino–Soviet Split"](https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2019.1670207). *International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence*. **33** (1): 97–118. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/08850607.2019.1670207](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F08850607.2019.1670207). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0885-0607](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0885-0607). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [214529143](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:214529143).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-104)** Tromblay, Darren E. (2015). [*The U.S. Domestic Intelligence Enterprise: History, Development, and Operations*](https://books.google.com/books?id=8F9ECgAAQBAJ&pg=PA384). CRC Press. pp. 384–387. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1482247749](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1482247749).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-105)** [Taylor, Clarence](/source/Clarence_Taylor) (2011). ["The First Wave of Suspensions and Dismissals"](https://books.google.com/books?id=KC8epvjNRXAC&pg=PA141). [*Reds at the Blackboard: Communism, Civil Rights, and the New York City Teachers Union*](https://books.google.com/books?id=KC8epvjNRXAC). [Columbia University Press](/source/Columbia_University_Press). pp. 141–142. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0231526487](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0231526487). Retrieved June 4, 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-106)** [Urofsky, Melvin I.](/source/Melvin_I._Urofsky) (2012). ["Eugene Dennis"](https://books.google.com/books?id=5UN1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44). [*100 Americans Making Constitutional History: A Biographical History*](https://books.google.com/books?id=5UN1AwAAQBAJ). [CQ Press](/source/CQ_Press). pp. 44–46. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.4135/9781452235400](https://doi.org/10.4135%2F9781452235400). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1452235400](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1452235400). Retrieved June 4, 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-107)** Mink, Gwendolyn, and Alice O'Connor. *Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, and Policy*. ABC-CLIO, 2004, p. 194. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1576075975](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1576075975).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-108)** Healey, Dorothy; Isserman, Maurice (1990). [*Dorothy Healey remembers: A Life in the American Communist Party*](http://archive.org/details/dorothyhealeyrem00heal). Internet Archive. New York : Oxford University Press. p. 149. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-503819-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-503819-4).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: publisher location ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_publisher_location))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-109)** ["In this issue..."](https://web.archive.org/web/20070927004032/http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/115/) *Political Affairs*. April 2004. Archived from [the original](http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/115/) on September 27, 2007. Retrieved August 16, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-110)** ["Communist Party, USA: Resolution on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Rights"](https://www.cpusa.org/communist-party-usa-resolution-on-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender-rights/). Convention Resolution on July 20, 2005. *CPUSA Online*. Retrieved August 20, 2012

1. **[^](#cite_ref-111)** ["Gay Pride Month: Communists stand in solidarity"](https://www.cpusa.org/gay-pride-month-communists-stand-in-solidarity/). *CPUSA Online*. June 24, 2006. Retrieved August 20, 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-112)** ["No to Bush's War!"](https://web.archive.org/web/20030407153812/http://cpusa.org/). *CPUSA Online*. Archived on the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive) on April 7, 2003.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-113)** ["Judith LeBlanc | C-SPAN.org"](https://www.c-span.org/person/?53039/JudithLeBlanc). *www.c-span.org*. Retrieved November 13, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-114)** ["C. E. Ruthenberg Page"](https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/eam/writers/ruthenberg.html).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-115)** ["The James P. Cannon Library"](https://www.marxists.org/archive/cannon/works/index.htm).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-116)** ["William Z. Foster"](https://www.marxistsfr.org/archive/foster/index.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20190223093358/http://www.marxistsfr.org/archive/foster/index.htm) February 23, 2019, at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-117)** ["CACCHIONE DEAD; COUNCIL MEMBER; First Avowed Communist Ever to Hold Elective Office in State Victim of a Heart Attack"](https://www.nytimes.com/1947/11/07/archives/cacchione-dead-council-member-first-avowed-communist-ever-to-hold.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. New York. November 7, 1947. Retrieved September 10, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-118)** ["Benjamin J. Davis, 60, Is Dead; Secretary of Communist Party; Former City Councilman Was"One of 11 Reds Convicted for Conspiracy in '49"](https://www.nytimes.com/1964/08/24/archives/benjamin-j-davis-60-is-dead-secretary-of-communist-party-former.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. New York. August 24, 1964. Retrieved September 10, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-119)** Library of Congress: Chronicling America – [The Chicago Star (Chicago, Ill.) 1946–1948](https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87062321/)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-120)** Library of Congress: Chronicling America – [The Illinois Standard (Chicago, Ill.) 1948–1949](https://www.loc.gov/item/sn82015060/)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-121)** Pecinovsky, Tony (December 9, 2015). "'Word Warrior' a good book on democratic media". *[People's World](/source/People's_World)*. Reviewing the book *Word Warrior* by Sonja D. Williams

1. **[^](#cite_ref-122)** ["Isaacs Appoints Communist as Aid"](https://www.newspapers.com/image/420934969/?match=1&terms=%22gerson%22). *[Daily News](/source/New_York_Daily_News)*. New York. December 23, 1937. Retrieved July 15, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-123)** Fishman, Joelle (January 28, 2005). ["Si Gerson, 95, journalist and electoral expert"](https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/si-gerson-95-journalist-and-electoral-expert/). *[People's World](/source/People's_World)*. Chicago. Retrieved July 15, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-People's_World_Protests_124-0)** Farrar, Jordan (May 13, 2011). ["Baltimore students protest cuts"](http://www.peoplesworld.org/baltimore-students-protest-cuts). *[People's World](/source/People's_World)*. Chicago, Illinois: Long View Publishing Co. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20120818155101/http://www.peoplesworld.org/baltimore-students-protest-cuts) from the original on August 18, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2021.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Bastfield-2002_125-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Bastfield-2002_125-1) Bastfield, Darrin Keith Bastfield (2002). "Chapter 7: A Revolutionary". [*Back in the Day: My Life and Times with Tupac Shakur*](https://books.google.com/books?id=Wna2MAiFpgEC&q=Back+in+the+Day:+My+Life+and+Times+with+Tupac+Shakur). Cambridge, Mass. : Da Capo; London: Kluwer Law International. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0306812959](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0306812959).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-126)** ["Charles E. Taylor"](https://ballotpedia.org/Charles_E._Taylor). *Ballotpedia*. Retrieved January 31, 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-127)** ["The Communists of Sheridan County"](https://www.montanaseniornews.com/communists/). *Montana Senior News*. December 1, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2023.

## Further reading

For a selection of the most important titles, see [bibliography on American Communism](/source/Bibliography_on_American_Communism).

- Arnesen, Eric, "Civil Rights and the Cold War at Home: Postwar Activism, Anticommunism, and the Decline of the Left", *American Communist History* (2012), 11#1 pp 5–44.

- [Draper, Theodore](/source/Theodore_Draper), *The Roots of American Communism.* New York: Viking, 1957.

- [Draper, Theodore](/source/Theodore_Draper), *American Communism and Soviet Russia: The Formative Period.* New York: Viking, 1960.

- [Draper, Theodore](/source/Theodore_Draper), The Roots of American Communism. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers (Originally published by Viking Press in 1957). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0765805138](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0765805138).

- [Howe, Irving](/source/Irving_Howe) and [Lewis Coser](/source/Lewis_Coser), *[The American Communist Party: A Critical History](https://archive.org/details/cpusahowecoser).* Boston: Beacon Press, 1957.

- [Isserman, Maurice](/source/Maurice_Isserman), *Which Side Were You On?: The American Communist Party During the Second World War.* Wesleyan University Press, 1982 and 1987.

- Jaffe, Philip J., *Rise and Fall of American Communism.* Horizon Press, 1975.

- [Klehr, Harvey](/source/Harvey_Klehr). *The Heyday of American Communism: The Depression Decade*, Basic Books, 1984.

- [Klehr, Harvey](/source/Harvey_Klehr) and [Haynes, John Earl](/source/John_Earl_Haynes), *The American Communist Movement: Storming Heaven Itself*, Twayne Publishers (Macmillan), 1992.

- Klehr, Harvey, John Earl Haynes, and Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov. *The Secret World of American Communism.* New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.

- Klehr, Harvey, Kyrill M. Anderson, and John Earl Haynes. *The Soviet World of American Communism.* New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.

- Lewy, Guenter, *The Cause That Failed: Communism in American Political Life.* New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

- McDuffie, Erik S., *Sojourning for Freedom: Black Women, American Communism, and the Making of Black Left Feminism.* Durham: Duke University Press, 2011

- Ottanelli, Fraser M., *The Communist Party of the United States: From the Depression to World War II.* New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1991.

- Maurice Spector, *James P. Cannon, and the Origins of Canadian Trotskyism*, *1890–1928.* Urbana, IL: Illinois University Press, 2007

- Palmer, Bryan, *James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left, 1890–1928.* Urbana, IL: Illinois University Press, 2007.

- Service, Robert. *Comrades!: a history of world communism* (2007).

- Shannon, David A., *The Decline of American Communism: A History of the Communist Party of the United States since 1945.* New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1959.

- Starobin, Joseph R., *American Communism in Crisis, 1943–1957.* Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972.

- Zumoff, Jacob A. *The Communist International and US Communism, 1919–1929.* [2014] Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2015.

### Archives

- ["Communist Party of the United States of America Records"](https://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/tam_132/), Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives, New York University Special Collections

- [Communist Party of the United States of America Records](https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv78295), 1956–1960. At the [Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections](https://lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/laws).

- [Communist Party of the United States of America, Washington State District Records](https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv94784), 1919–2003. At the [Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections](https://lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/laws).

- [Marion S. Kinney Papers](https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv61984), 1930–1983. At the [Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections](https://lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/laws).

- [Radical Pamphlet Collection](https://findingaids.loc.gov/db/search/xq/searchMfer02.xq?_id=loc.rbc.eadrbc.rb021002&_faSection=overview&_faSubsection=did&_dmdid=d65770e6&_q=rb021002&_type=fa_id&_displayTerm=rb021002), Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., contains 3,645 pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, broadsides, posters, cartoons, sheet music, and prints, with the bulk of the material pertaining to the Communist Party of the United States of America between 1930 and 1949.

## External links

- Media related to [Communist Party USA](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Communist_Party_USA) at Wikimedia Commons

- [Young Communist League USA](http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090711155158/http://www.yclusa.org/) – youth group

- [*People's World*](http://www.peoplesworld.org) – weekly newspaper

- [Communism in Washington State History and Memory Project](https://web.archive.org/web/20121011122550/https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_intro.shtml/)

- [Manifesto and program. Constitution. Report to the Communist International](https://archive.org/details/ManifestoAndProgram.Constitution.ReportToTheCommunistInternational) – first pamphlet of the Communist Party of America

- [Communist Party USA History and Geography](https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_intro.shtml/)-maps

- [Manifesto to the Workers of America](https://archive.org/details/ManifestoToTheWorkersOfAmerica) (1922). Milwaukee: Labor Press Syndicate.

- [Tamiment Library Poster and Broadside Collection – United States: Communist Party (US): undated](https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/tamwag/graphics_002/images/n02v7037/)

- [FBI files on the CPUSA](https://archive.org/details/CPUSA) on the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)

v t e Communist Party USA Nominees Presidential William Z. Foster (1924; 1928; 1932) Earl Browder (1936; 1940) Charlene Mitchell (1968) Gus Hall (1972; 1976; 1980; 1984) Vice Presidential Benjamin Gitlow (1924; 1928) James W. Ford (1932; 1936; 1940) Mike Zagarell (1968) Jarvis Tyner (1972; 1976) Angela Davis (1980; 1984) Presidential nominating conventions 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1968 1979 Leaders C. E. Ruthenberg (1919–1920; 1922–1927) Alfred Wagenknecht (1919–1921) Charles Dirba (1920–1921) Louis Shapiro (late 1920) L. E. Katterfeld (1921) William Weinstone (1921–1922) Jay Lovestone (1922; 1927–1929) James P. Cannon (1921–1922) Caleb Harrison (1921–1922) Abram Jakira (1922–1923) William Z. Foster (1929–1934) Earl Browder (1934–1945) Eugene Dennis (1945–1959) William Z. Foster (1945–1957) Gus Hall (1959–2000) Sam Webb (2000–2014) John Bachtell (2014–2019) Rossana Cambron & Joe Sims (2019–present) Prominent members Bernard Ades William Albertson Herbert Aptheker Max Bedacht John Bernard Walter Bernstein Marc Blitzstein Ella Reeve Bloor Anne Burlak Peter Cacchione Benjamin J. Davis Jr. Shirley Graham Du Bois Bella Dodd Richard Durham Si Gerson Albert Goldman Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Harry Haywood Dorothy Ray Healey Manning Johnson Oakley C. Johnson Claudia Jones Antoinette Konikow Claude Lightfoot Steve Nelson Karl Emil Nygard William L. Patterson William J. Pennock Paul Robeson Tupac Shakur Charles E. Taylor Emma Tenayuca Richard Wright Litigation Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board Aptheker v. Secretary of State Communist Party v. Subversive Activities Control Board De Jonge v. Oregon Dennis v. United States Kent v. Dulles Keyishian v. Board of Regents Noto v. United States Scales v. United States Smith Act trials Watkins v. United States Yates v. United States State parties Current Georgia Maryland Texas Wisconsin Defunct Alabama Hawaii Related articles American Committee for Spanish Freedom Bill of Rights socialism Browderism Communist Labor Party English-language press International Publishers Language federation Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party Lincoln Battalion List of Communist Party USA members who have held office in the United States National conventions 1922 Bridgman Convention New York Workers School Non-English press People's World Red diaper baby San Francisco Workers' School Soviet Negro Republic Relations with African Americans Ware Group Yokinen Show Trial Young Communist League USA Young Pioneers of America

v t e XV International Brigade – Abraham Lincoln Commanders János Gálicz (Jan–Feb 1937) Vladimir Ćopić (Feb–Jul 1937) Klaus Becker (Jul–Aug 1937) Vladimir Ćopić (Aug 1937–Mar 1938) Robert Hale Merriman (Mar–Apr 1938) Vladimir Ćopić (Apr–May 1938) José Antonio Valledor Álvarez (May–Sep 1938) Battalions British Battalion Lincoln Battalion (incl. American Medical Bureau & Connolly Column) Dimitrov Battalion Sixth of February Battalion 24 Battalion Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion Washington Battalion People William Aalto Bernard Ades Bill Alexander Hans Amlie Edward K. Barsky James Walker Benét Alvah Bessie Delmer Berg Herman Bottcher Edward A. Carter Jr. Christopher Caudwell Lewis Clive Morris Cohen Robert Garland Colodny Fred Copeman John Cornford Jock Cunningham Peter Daly Peko Dapčević Carmelo Delgado Delgado Philip Detro Charles Donnelly Bob Doyle Petar Drapšin Frank Edwards Leo Eloesser Moe Fishman Hugh Garner John Gates David Guest Jason Gurney Gopal Mukund Huddar William Herrick Robert Hilliard Jack Jones Salaria Kea Robert Klonsky Oliver Law Laurie Lee Maurice Levitas Yank Levy Matti Mattson Alex McDade Paddy Roe McLaughlin Kosta Nađ Conlon Nancarrow George Nathan Steve Nelson Paddy O'Daire John O'Reilly Michael O'Riordan Thomas Patten Will Paynter Koča Popović Harry Wayland Randall Patrick Read Esmond Romilly Frank Ryan Alfred Sherman George Sossenko Stephen Spender Wally Tapsell Robert G. Thompson Tom Wintringham Milton Wolff Political parties Communist Party USA Communist Party of Great Britain Communist Party of Canada Communist Party of Ireland Republican Congress Communist Party of Yugoslavia Communist Party of Cuba Related International Brigades Communist International Yankee Squadron International Brigade Memorial Trust Jarama Valley Songs of the Lincoln Battalion Viva la Quinta Brigada Jewish volunteers Yugoslav volunteers Irish volunteers Yugoslav Partisans Atomic spies Smith Act

v t e National political parties in the United States List of political parties in the United States Major parties Democratic Republican Third parties Larger Communist Constitution Democratic Socialists of America Green Libertarian Working Families Smaller African People's Socialist Alliance American Communist American Freedom American Solidarity Christian Liberty Citizens Freedom Road Freedom Socialist Forward Legal Marijuana Now Liberal Marijuana Peace and Freedom Pirate Progressive Labor Prohibition Reform Revolutionary Communists of America Revolutionary Communist Social Democrats Socialism and Liberation Socialist Socialist Action Socialist Alternative Socialist Equality Socialist Labor Socialist Workers Transhumanist Unity Working Class Workers World World Socialist Defunct parties Major parties Democratic-Republican Federalist National Republican Whig National Union Third parties American (1924) American (1969) American (Know Nothing) Americans Elect American Nazi American Vegetarian Anti-Masonic Black Panther Boston Tea Citizens Communist Workers' Constitution (1952) Constitutional Union Democratic-Republican (1844) Equal Rights Farmer–Labor Free Soil Gold Democrats Greenback Human Rights Independence (1906) Independence (2007) Justice Labor (1919) Labor (1996) Liberal Republican Liberty (1840) National Progressives National (1917) National Renaissance National Socialist National States' Rights Natural Law New Alliance New (1992) New Union Nullifier Opposition (Southern) Patriot People's (2017) People's (1971) Personal Choice Populist (1984) Populist (or People's, 1892) Progressive (1912) Progressive (1924) Progressive (1948) Proletarian Radical Democratic Raza Unida Readjuster Red Guards (1969) Red Guards (2015) Renew America Serve America Silver Silver Republican Social Democratic Socialist (1901) States Rights (Dixiecrat) Traditionalist Worker Unconditional Union Union (1850) Union (1861) Union (1936) Union Labor U.S. Labor (1973) White Panther White Patriot Young Patriots Workers Young Lords State and local political parties (without national body) Presidential nominating convention (List) Politics of the United States Politics portal

v t e Current communist parties in the United States Marxist–Leninist (including Maoist and Hoxhaist parties) American Communist Party Communist Party of Puerto Rico Communist Party USA Communist Party USA (Provisional) Freedom Road Socialist Organization Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America New Afrikan Black Panther Party Party for Socialism and Liberation Progressive Labor Party Revolutionary Communists of America Revolutionary Communist Party, USA Workers World Party Trotskyist Freedom Socialist Party Socialist Action Socialist Alternative Socialist Equality Party Solidarity Spartacist League Other African People's Socialist Party All-African People's Revolutionary Party Puerto Rican Workers' Revolutionary Party Revolutionary Black Panther Party Socialist Front Socialist Labor Party Socialist Workers Party Workers' Socialist Movement World Socialist Party Communism portal List of communist parties

v t e Historical left-wing third-party U.S. presidential tickets This group includes only pre-1996 parties that fielded a candidate that won greater 0.1% of the popular vote in at least one presidential election Presidential tickets that won at least one percent of the national popular vote (candidate(s) / running mate(s)) Greenback Peter Cooper/Samuel F. Cary (1876) James B. Weaver/Barzillai J. Chambers (1880) Benjamin Butler/Absolom M. West (1884) Union Labor Alson Streeter/Charles E. Cunningham (1888) Populist James B. Weaver/James G. Field (1892) William Jennings Bryan/Thomas E. Watson (1896) Socialist Eugene V. Debs/Ben Hanford (1904 and 1908) Eugene V. Debs/Emil Seidel (1912) Allan L. Benson/George R. Kirkpatrick (1916) Eugene V. Debs/Seymour Stedman (1920) Norman Thomas/James H. Maurer (1932) Bull Moose Theodore Roosevelt/Hiram Johnson (1912) Progressive (1924) Robert M. La Follette/Burton K. Wheeler (1924) Progressive (1948) Henry A. Wallace/Glen H. Taylor (1948) Other notable left-wing parties Socialist Labor Party of America Social Democratic Party of America Independence Party Farmer–Labor Party Communist Party USA Socialist Workers Party Liberty Party People's Party Citizens Party New Alliance Party Third-party performances in presidential elections Labor history of the United States Liberalism in the United States Progressivism in the United States Socialism in the United States

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF National United States France BnF data Czech Republic 2 3 Israel People Trove Other IdRef SNAC Yale LUX

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Communist Party USA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_USA) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_USA?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.