The
Communist Party USA
will not run a candidate for president, will not support
progressive third-party bids but will instead throw its
support behind the Democratic Party in an all-out effort
to defeat President Bush and the Republican Congress.
The giveaway of the party's plan, is a
frequent call for a ''united front'' to defeat Bush by
major figures and spokesmen. This is the language
employed by the party in the past when it has supported
liberal candidates and issues not necessarily under
party discipline.
As far back as April 17, Joelle
Fishman, chairwoman of the party's political action
committee, wrote in a report to the national board that
Communists should not field a candidate of their own in
2004.
''Our presidential campaigns in the
past were a great opportunity to project our program,
and I'm sure we will find ourselves at that point some
time in the future,'' she wrote. ''At this moment, we
will convey our program best by working with all out
might to build the broadest possible coalitions, fronts
and networks that can defeat the undemocratic,
imperialistic Bush war machine. This is our
responsibility to our own class here and
internationally.''
Fishman also mentioned discussions
with the Green Party and other ''left'' organizations in
which the Communists have argued against presidential
and congressional candidates by third parties, adding,
''one united push is required to defeat the Republican
stronghold.''
''The discussion will require a
special approach with groups like the Campus Greens and
the Peace and Freedom Party in California,'' she
continued.
At a June 29 meeting in New York, the
national committee approved a resolution making the
defeat of Bush and the Republican majority in Congress
the ''number one priority.''
''Discussion is also taking place
within the Green Party about whether to run a
presidential candidate this year,'' said a report to the
national committee this summer. ''A section of Greens
have come to agree that the defeat of Bush is the number
one issue.''
However, not all of the Democratic
presidential candidates energize the Communists. While
the party has not yet weighed in on the candidacy of
Gen. Wesley Clark, officials speak and write critically
of Sen. Joe Lieberman, ''who has played an enabling role
of the Bush administration by leading on compromises
that undercut stronger Democratic proposals, especially
in foreign policy.''
The party is also leery of John
Edwards and Richard Gephardt because of their
association with the less-progressive Democratic
Leadership Council.
The party has nothing but praise for
Sen. John Kerry, Bob Graham, Howard Dean, Al Sharpton
and Carol Moseley Braun. But, judging from the accolades
and laudatory comments, Dennis Kucinich, the co-chairman
of the
Congressional Progressive Caucus, is by far the
favorite Democratic candidate. His co-chairwoman is
Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who has a career-long history
of associations with Communist Party and extremist
groups and individuals.
Lee is a long-time friend of Communist
Party militant Angela Davis, a former Communist Party
presidential candidate, and succeeded another radical
from the city of Oakland, Rep. Ron ''Red'' Dellums. Lee
paid her establishment political dues – first as an aide
to Dellums and later as a California assemblywoman and
state senator. However, less known is Lee's service on
the national coordinating committee of the ''Committees
of Correspondence,'' an organization that splintered
from the Communist Party USA in 1991. Davis, the
three-time Communist Party candidate for vice president
of the United States, served by her side.
''The field of Democratic presidential
hopefuls is not monolithic,'' explained a report by
Fishman to the CPUSA national committee June 28. ''Rep.
Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Rev. Al Sharpton are playing a
radicalizing role Sharpton is campaigning for
constitutional amendments to guarantee the right to
vote, to education and to health care. Kucinich has
pledged his first act as president will be to repeal
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and the WTO
(World Trade Organization). He has introduced and
co-sponsored legislation to form a Department of Peace,
to abolish the death penalty and to end pre-emptive
military policy, among many others.''
''It will take an extraordinary united
all-people's front with a movement on the ground to
defeat the Bush right-wing agenda in 2004,'' explained a
report to the CPUSA national committee June 28, again
written by Fishman. ''It can be done with the
combination of the labor vote, the women's vote and
African-American and Latino vote, combined with the
youth vote, the peace vote, the environmental vote, the
senior vote, the farm vote, etc., all of whom are
pledged to work as they never have before.''
Kucinich's Progressive Caucus is a
socialist-leaning bloc of about 60 votes or nearly 30
percent of the minority vote in the lower chamber. Until
1999, the website of the Progressive Caucus was hosted
by the
Democratic Socialists of America.
Following an
expose of the link between the two organizations in
WorldNetDaily, the Progressive Caucus established
its own website under the auspices of the Congress.
Another officer of the Progressive Caucus, and one of
its guiding lights, is avowed socialist Rep. Bernie
Sanders, the Vermont independent.
The Democratic Socialists of America's
chief organizing goal is to work within the Democratic
Party and remove the stigma attached to ''socialism'' in
the eyes of most Americans.
''Stress our Democratic Party strategy
and electoral work,'' explains an organizing document of
the DSA. ''The Democratic Party is something the public
understands, and association with it takes the edge off.
Stressing our Democratic Party work will establish some
distance from the radical subculture and help integrate
you to the milieu of the young liberals.''
Nevertheless, the goal of the
Democratic Socialists of America has never been deeply
hidden. Prior to the cleanup of its website in 1999, the
DSA included a song list featuring ''The Internationale,''
the worldwide anthem of communism and socialism. Another
song on the site was ''Red Revolution'' sung to the tune
of ''Red Robin.'' The lyrics went: ''When the Red
Revolution brings its solution along, along, there'll be
no more lootin' when we start shootin' that Wall Street
throng. ...'' Another song removed after WorldNetDaily's
expose was ''Are You Sleeping, Bourgeoisie?'' The lyrics
went: ''Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Bourgeoisie,
Bourgeoisie. And when the revolution comes, We'll kill
you all with knives and guns, Bourgeoisie,
Bourgeoisie.''
In the last three years, the
Progressive Caucus has been careful to moderate its
image for mainstream consumption. ''The members of the
Progressive Caucus share a common belief in the
principles of social and economic justice,
non-discrimination and tolerance in America and in our
relationships with other countries,'' the group's
statement of purpose explains. Most of the members of
the Progressive Caucus, including House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi, opposed authorizing the war on Iraq. In
fact, most Democrats in the House opposed the war
resolution. Then House Minority Leader Gephardt and 81
other House Democrats supported the move.