by Trevor | Feb 10, 2019 | CPUSA, Democratic Party, Enemies Within, Red Reps, Russia, Social Movements, Socialism/Communism, Socialist Opinion Shapers
A donkey is shown with the American flag. (Pixabay)
By Trevor Loudon | February 8, 2019 Updated: February 8, 2019 | The Epoch Times
Commentary
The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) is infiltrating the Democratic Party across the country. Communists, some openly, some secretly, are working in Democratic campaigns, holding Democratic Party leadership positions, and even running for public office on the Democratic Party ballot line. The communists also are pushing their policies inside the Democratic Party, to the point that it’s almost impossible to distinguish between the CPUSA and Democratic Party programs. Many comrades also work closely with influential Congress members or U.S. senators.
The CPUSA supports China, Cuba, Venezuela, and the Russian Communist Party — all enemies of the United States. The CPUSA still advocates for the “overthrow of the capitalist class” in this country, yet the Democrats do absolutely zilch to keep the communists out of their party.
CPUSA infiltration of the Democratic Party is widespread—it affects every region where the communists have a significant presence.
Support and Infiltration
In the San Diego area, two CPUSA members, Carl Wood and Emiliana Sparaco, ran this month for the California Democratic Party Central Committee, from Assembly Districts 76 and 80, respectively.
Wood, a lifelong communist, intended to push for the “Healthy California Act that provides improved Medicare for All, a Living Wage of at least $15/hour, the Green New Deal for a healthy environment with good new jobs in a peace economy, and legislation to promote strong Unions.” In 1999, California’s then-Democratic Gov. Gray Davis appointed Wood to a six-year term on the California Public Utilities Commission, where he “played a significant role in protecting California from the consequences of its disastrous deregulation experiment.”
Sparaco, a former leader of the Young Communist League, traveled to Sochi, Russia, in October 2017, as part of a U.S. communist delegation to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution — keynoted by Vladimir Putin himself. In 2018, Sparaco was a leading activist in Flip the 49th, which helped Democrat Mike Levin win California’s 49th Congressional District.
In Northern California, Sacramento area Democratic Congressman Ami Bera, who serves on the House Foreign Relations Committee, has won several super-close elections with communist help. For example, in 2014, CPUSA members Juan Lopez, Cassie Lopez, Michelle Kern, Nell Ranta, and Mik Diddams canvassed and phone-banked out of Bera’s campaign headquarters.
Further up the left coast in rural Washington state, communists Tim and Joyce Wheeler and Tim’s sister Marion “Honeybee” Wheeler Burns have been active in the Clallam County Democrats for decades. They campaigned for Barack Obama, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, and local Congressman Derek Kilmer. Tim traveled to international communist gatherings for many years as editor of the CPUSA’s People’s World. His father, Don Wheeler, betrayed American secrets to Moscow during World War II while working for U.S. intelligence.
Over in Minnesota, local CPUSA leaders the late Doris and Erwin Marquit were very active inside the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (Minnesota’s Democratic Party affiliate). The couple helped raise funds for congressional aspirant Keith Ellison in their home three times. In 2006, they used their political influence to help get Ellison elected to Congress.
Another Minnesota communist, Mark Froemke, is very active in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. Froemke has enjoyed good relations with former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken and former Gov. Mark Dayton.
Swinging down to Chicago, we see CPUSA members such as Pepe Lozano working in the successful Chuy Garcia for Congress campaign. CPUSA member Abdul-Aziz Hassan has worked for 22nd Ward Alderman Ricardo Munoz, a Democrat, for several years. Even CPUSA leader John Bachtell once served as a precinct chairman for U.S. Senate candidate Obama.
In Ohio, former CPUSA chairman Rick Nagin worked inside the Democratic Party for decades. In 2006, Nagin was on the staff of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations 2006 campaign that first elected Sherrod Brown. Nagin also worked closely with Congressman Dennis Kucinich for many years. Nagin has run several times for public office on the Democratic Party ticket and served as the Democratic Leader in Cleveland Ward 14 and on the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Executive Committee.
In St. Louis, the CPUSA has worked closely with many black Democratic candidates through its front group the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. Longtime CPUSA member Glenn Burleigh is very active in the Democratic Party and has managed several Democratic campaigns, including Robin Wright-Jones for State Senate and Lewis Reed for St. Louis mayor. Missouri CPUSA leader Tony Pecinovsky will be standing for St. Louis Alderman in 2020, presumably as a Democrat.
Over in New York City, the communists have been working inside the Democratic Party since at least the 1930s.
Former communist Dan Margolis was active in New York City elections, including as the mid-Staten Island coordinator for the 2004 Democratic Party congressional campaign.
According to Margolis’s blog: “I ended up working on many Democratic campaigns during by time in the CPUSA: John Kerry’s, Obama’s twice, [Senator] Kirsten Gillibrand’s, Fernando Ferrer’s (he nearly beat Michael Bloomberg to become mayor of NYC), and a host of others known mostly to NYC residents. I am proud to say that I wrote the first official document in the CPUSA calling for support of Obama in the primaries: I wrote this as chair of the party in Brooklyn, in 2007.”
In 2014, the CPUSA’s Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Club wrote: “Sometimes, we must be free to disagree with Democrats on selected issues, even those whom we have supported, such as Obama on a national level, Jerrold Nadler, a progressive Congressman from Manhattan, and Bill DeBlasio, who is New York City’s new progressive mayor. For example, we should be free to advocate a general reduction of our country’s military and to disagree with the Obama Administration’s expansion of some sections of our military forces.”
Across the river in New Jersey, communists such as Estevan Nembhard and Carol Widom were active in Democrat Ras Baraka’s successful 2014 campaign for the mayoralty of Newark. Baraka is the son of one-time CPUSA member Amina Baraka.
Connecticut is the CPUSA’s “jewel in the crown.” The party almost runs the state. The CPUSA is close to Gov. Ned Lamont, as it was to his predecessor Dannel Malloy. Both U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen. Chris Murphy are close to the party. Sen. Murphy employed CPUSA member Max Goldman as an aide for nearly three years while serving on the highly sensitive Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro is very close to CPUSA Connecticut leader Joelle Fishman and her husband Art Perlo — the son of Roosevelt-era Soviet spy ring leader Victor Perlo. In 2012, DeLauro helped organize birthday celebrations for veteran Connecticut communist Al Marder. Comrade Marder is so well regarded in international communist circles that he was invited to Moscow in June 2015 to help the Russian Communist Party celebrate the anniversary of the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany. Marder even got a big hug from then-Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov.
Three other Connecticut Congress members, Jim Himes (House Intelligence Committee), Joe Courtney (House Armed Services Committee), and John B. Larson work closely with the CPUSA front group Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans. Even freshman Congress member Jahana Hayes had veteran communist Len Yannielli working in her campaign office.
Down in Texas, the situation is not much better. In Dallas, local communist leader Gene Lantz is very active in the Democratic Party and the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans. Lantz is close to Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology) and is friends with Congressman Marc Veasey (House Armed Services Committee).
In Houston, local CPUSA leader Bernard Sampson doubles as a Democratic Party precinct chairman. The Houston CPUSA ran several comrades for public office in 2018 on the Democratic ticket (it’s illegal to run for office as a communist in Texas).
Comrade Ali Khorasani ran for Congress in Texas District 2 but was defeated in the primary. Communist Penny Shaw ran for a seat on the Harris County Commission but lost with 45 percent of the vote. Party member Sema Hernandez ran a shoestring campaign in the Texas U.S. Senate primary and managed to secure a respectable 250,000 votes.
And this is just the open or easily identifiable members. As a conspiratorial revolutionary organization, the CPUSA keeps much of its membership secret. The CPUSA almost certainly has many secret members and supporters in key positions throughout the Democratic Party.
Opposition
Millions of grassroots Democrat voters are strongly opposed to communism. Many are descendants of families who fled communism in Eastern Europe, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Cuba. Many lost friends or family fighting communism in Vietnam. Many are Catholic, informed of the evils from communism at an early age by their priests, bishops, and popes.
Most would be horrified to know that communists are working openly and secretly at every level of their cherished Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party knows the identity of most of its communist members. They do nothing about it. They do more than turn a blind eye; they welcome the revolutionaries into their party.
The Democrats have spent the last two years bashing President Donald Trump for having ties to Russia. Yet the Democrats are willing to tolerate pro-China communists actively working within their own party.
By allowing communists to stand for office on their ticket, Democrats are cheating the American voter. By allowing communists to work closely with Democratic Congressmembers and senators, they are endangering national security.
Trevor Loudon is an author, filmmaker and public speaker from New Zealand. For more than 30 years, he has researched radical left, Marxist and terrorist movements and their covert influence on mainstream politics.
Trevor presents his movie, “ENEMIES WITHIN” DVD—BUY NOW!
by Trevor | Feb 4, 2019 | CPUSA, Democratic Party, Enemies Within, Environmentalism, Green New Deal, Social Movements, Socialism/Communism, Socialist Opinion Shapers
A Chinese naval officer communicates with his French counterparts during a joint exercise 16 March 2004, in the East China Sea STR/AFP/Getty Images
By Trevor Loudon | The Epoch Times | January 22, 2019 Updated: February 4, 2019
Commentary
This article is Part 1 of a two-part series on the “Green New Deal.” Part 2 will address the organizations promoting this massive socialist proposal.
The “Green New Deal” currently being promoted by socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) will halve the U.S. military budget. The proposal, which enjoys support of more than 40 other Democratic representatives, is a plan to re-organize the U.S. economy along what is deemed to be ecologically sound lines.
If fully implemented, the Green New Deal will at best plunge the world into a massive war or, at worst, into an unprecedented permanent tyranny.
Unsurprisingly, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) supports Ocasio-Cortez’s plan. After all, she is a member of the United States’ largest Marxist organization, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which is formally allied to the CPUSA through the Left Inside/Outside Project.
Cuts to Defense
The Green New Deal, described euphemistically by The New York Times as “a call to reimagine an environment-first economy that would phase out fossil fuels,” promotes massive government jobs programs, guaranteed incomes for all, and a whole raft of hugely socialist proposals.
These huge programs will be paid for out of the U.S. defense budget. The Green New Deal calls for cutting U.S. “military spending by at least half” and to close “800 [U.S. military] bases worldwide.”
Right now, the neo-“Evil Axis” of China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran are re-arming at breakneck speed.
Beijing, for example, is openly threatening Taiwan, which is creating grave concern in South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, the Pacific micro-states, Australia, and this author’s country of New Zealand. China is building around 60 military vessels a year right now. The United States is building less than 10 military vessels per year and, thanks to former President Obama, has the weakest Navy in decades.
The commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. Philip S. Davidson, stated in April 2018 that “China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States,” during his Senate confirmation process.
If U.S. military spending was halved and all U.S. bases west of Pearl Harbor (maybe even including Pearl Harbor) were abolished, what would stop China from dominating the whole Asia-Pacific region? What would that do to U.S. trade relationships and national security capabilities?
Halving U.S. military spending almost guarantees an invasion of Taiwan and the extension of Chinese power right across the Asia-Pacific region. As China already has huge influence in South America and Africa, it would effectively deliver the Southern Hemisphere to China. Russia may not take advantage of U.S. impotence and re-conquer Europe, Iran may not attack Israel and Saudi Arabia, and North Korea may not join in the fun, but this author would not bet on it.
The Green New Deal may not give us World War III—but only because America will be too weak to fight back.
Communist Party USA Support
As mentioned previously, the neo-Evil Axis’s most reliable ally in the United States, the CPUSA, is heavily promoting the Green New Deal.
In a recent presentation to the CPUSA National Board, published online Jan. 7, party chairman John Bachtell urged comrades to get behind the Green New Deal. Bachtell told his comrades: “We have to be seen as being all in on this [Green New Deal] and publicly associated with it.”
Bachtell continued: “We have to think about the Peace New Deal [as well]. … This whole thing has to be connected with the demilitarization of the economy as well.”
Bachtell told the comrades that DSA member Joe Uehlein of the far-left Labor Network for Sustainability, a major backer of the Green New Deal project, estimated the cost of eliminating fossil fuels and implementing a sustainable-energy-only policy would cost up to $10 trillion, which Bachtell explained would come from the “demilitarization of the economy.”
$10 trillion would cover all current U.S. military spending for a decade. As the Green New Deal is supposed to be implemented by 2030, this proposal would mean that the U.S. military budget would be virtually eliminated. That doesn’t even account for the colossal drop in industrial production and trade that would inevitably occur. <
The Green New Deal would effectively end the U.S. military as an effective fighting force and spell the end of NATO and all other Western military alliances.
Would China and its neo-Evil Axis partners sit back while all this unfolded, or would they take advantage of the opportunity to expand their economic and military influence at the United States’ expense?
Considering that the CPUSA is loyal to China, and not to the United States, their support for the Green New Deal is a given. Consider the words from a CPUSA advertisement for a meeting at the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library in Oakland, California, held on Dec. 4, 2010:
“The United States government has been committing direct acts of provocation against China’s economy, and other aspects of its society, including its military. …If these confrontations are allowed to become full-blown, it … will demand from all of us new energies on yet another—perhaps the biggest—domestic front against U.S. Imperialism.”
In other words, if the United States gets into a shooting war with China, the CPUSA will work on U.S. soil to help America’s enemy. Of course, this is the very definition of treason.
If the CPUSA is willing to work for China during war-time, why would they not work in peace-time to sabotage the U.S. economy, or to destroy the U.S. military to the benefit of their masters in Beijing?
Bachtell also told the CPUSA National Committee earlier this month that the Green New Deal is “potentially the embarking point for our path to a sustainable socialist society.”
Bachtell claimed that the idea could “frame the entire debate for the 2020 elections.” Also, that it could “isolate the right-wing” and that this, according to Ocasio-Cortez, could “spell the doom of the Republican Party.”
If the DSA and the CPUSA succeed in forcing the Democrats into implementing the Green New Deal, the ramifications are inconceivable. America would cease to be America and would become ripe fruit to be picked by China, Russia, Iran, and/or North Korea.
The Green New Deal is a national suicide pact.
Trevor Loudon is an author, filmmaker and public speaker from New Zealand. For more than 30 years, he has researched radical left, Marxist and terrorist movements and their covert influence on mainstream politics.
Trevor presents his movie, “ENEMIES WITHIN” DVD—BUY NOW!
by Trevor | Feb 1, 2019 | CPUSA, Democratic Party, Enemies Within, Social Movements, Socialism/Communism, Socialist Opinion Shapers
By Trevor Loudon | TrevorLoudon.com | February 1, 2019 – 2:30 pm EST
I’ve been asked to compile a list of socialists and communists in Congress. A friend of mine was challenged to name “even two socialists in Congress.” Altogether, if you add in Islamist connections I think about 100 members of the House of Representatives would struggle to pass a low-level background security check..but guess what? There are no security checks in Congress.
Here’s my list of 50 of the most obvious socialists in the House, with links to my website Keywiki for the backup evidence. Apologies to the many I’ve omitted. Please email me at trevor.newzeal @gmail.com if you’d like to be included in future lists.
Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) Has worked closely with the Communist Party USA since at least 1993. A self-described “Alinskyite.” Traveled to Cuba in 2015.
Ami Bera (D-CA) Has used Communist Party USA campaign volunteers in 2010, 2014 and 2016. Also close to Democratic Socialists of America.
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Very close to several key Communist Party USA allies in San Francisco in the 1970s and ’80s. Also some involvement with Democratic Socialists of America.
Barbara Lee (D-CA) Lee has been close to the Communist Party USA for decades. In the 1990s she was a leading member of the Communist Party spin-off Committees of Correspondence. Has been to Cuba more than 20 times.
Ro Khanna (D-CA) Very close to Democratic Socialists of America.
Salud Carbajal (D-CA) Long history with Democratic Socialists of America members.
Judy Chu (D-CA) Was heavily involved with the now-defunct pro-Beijing Communist Workers Party in the 1970s and ’80s. Still works closely with former members today. China’s best friend in the US Congress.
Raul Ruiz (D-CA) Worked closely with Workers World Party members in Massachusetts in the late 1990s.
Karen Bass (D-CA) Was actively involved with the Marxist-Leninist group Line of March in the 1980s. Still works closely with former members. Mentored by a leading Communist Party USA member. Also close to Democratic Socialists of America and some Freedom Road Socialist Organization members. Has been to Cuba at least 4 times.
Maxine Waters (D-CA) Long history with the Communist Party USA. Also ties to some Communist Workers Party and Workers World Party fronts. Has employed staff members from Democratic Socialists of America and League of Revolutionary Struggle.
Joe Courtney (D-CT) Has worked closely with several Communist Party USA leaders.
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) Has worked extremely closely with the Communist Party USA for many years. Traveled to Cuba in 2014.
Jim Himes (D-CT) His 1988 thesis “The Sandinista Defense Committees and the Transformation of Political Culture in Nicaragua” was a sympathetic portrayal of Marxist government’s civilian spy network. Has worked closely with one Communist Party USA front group.
Kathy Castor (D-FL) Has worked closely with Cuba and pro-Castro organizations to open US trade with the communist island.
John Lewis (D-GA) Worked closely with the Communist Party USA and Socialist Party USA in the 1960s. In recent years has worked with Democratic Socialists of America members.
Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) Has worked with Democratic Socialists of America members through her political career. Ties to some Filipino-American “former communists.” Worked with Communist Party USA affiliated former Congressman Dennis Kucinich to defend Soviet-Russian puppet Syrian leader Bashar-al-Assad.
Bobby Rush (D-IL) Former leader of the Maoist-leaning Black Panther Party. Has worked closely with Communist Party USA and Democratic Socialists of America. Has traveled to Cuba twice.
Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-IL) Has worked closely with the Communist Party USA for nearly 40 years.
Danny Davis (D-IL) Was a member of Democratic Socialists of America in the mid 2000s. Has worked closely with the Communist Party USA since the 1980s. Also close to Committees of Correspondence in the 1990s.
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) Was a member of Democratic Socialists of America in the 1980s and has continued to work closely with the organization. Has also worked closely with some Communist Party USA members.
Dave Loebsack (D-IA) has worked closely with Socialist Party USA and
Democratic Socialists of America members for many years.
John Yarmuth (D-KY) has worked with Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism members. Traveled to Cuba in 2011.
Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has worked closely with Democratic Socialists of America for many years.
Jim McGovern (D-MA) has supported Latin American socialist and revolutionary groups for 20 years. Has traveled to Cuba at least three times.
Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) Has been endorsed by Democratic Socialists of America. Worked with Freedom Road Socialist Organization front groups and with the pro-Beijing Chinese Progressive Association in Boston.
Andy Levin (D-MI) Close to Democratic Socialists of America for at least a decade.
Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) Democratic Socialists of America member.
Betty McCollum (D-MN) Close ties to communist Laos. Has worked with Democratic Socialists of America members. Traveled to Cuba in 2014.
Ilhan Omar (D-MN) Supported by Democratic Socialists of America- controlled groups Our Revolution and National Nurses United. Reportedly a self-described “Democratic Socialist.”
Bennie Thompson (D-MS) Was close to the Communist Party USA for many years. Also supported one Communist Workers Party organization. Traveled to Cuba in 2000 and worked with Fidel Castro to train leftist American medical students in Cuba.
William Lacy Clay (D-MO) Has worked with Communist Party USA fronts for many years.
Greg Meeks (D-NY) Has traveled to Cuba at least 3 times. Was a strong supporter of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez.
Grace Meng (D-NY) Very close to the pro-Beijing Asian Americans for Equality. Was also active in a radical Korean-American organization.
Nydia Velasquez (D-NY) Close ties to Democratic Socialists of America. Welcomed Fidel Castro to Harlem in 1995.
Yvette Clarke (D-NY) Addressed a Workers World Party rally in 2005. A close ally of a prominent Democratic Socialists of America member. Traveled to Cuba in 2007.
Jerry Nadler (D-NY) Was a member of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee in the 1970s and was involved with Democratic Socialists of America in the ’80s and ’90s.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) A member of Democratic Socialists of America.
Jose Serrano (D-NY) Close ties to the Communist Party USA and Democratic Socialists of America. Was a strong supporter of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez.
G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) Some connection to Workers World Party and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Also close to the “former” communist led Moral Mondays movement.
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) Ties to Democratic Socialists of America. Traveled to Cuba in 2002.
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) Ties to Democratic Socialists of America.
Steve Cohen (D-TN) Close ties to Memphis Socialist Party USA members. Traveled to Cuba in 2011.
Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) Elected to the Texas State House with Communist Party USA support. Works closely with a major communist-influenced organization.
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) Long relationship with the Communist Party USA. Traveled to Cuba at least twice.
Marc Veasey (D-TX) Very close relationship with the Communist Party USA.
Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) Has been involved with Democratic Socialists of America since the 1980s.
Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) Has been involved with Freedom Road Socialist Organization-connected groups for many years.
Mark Pocan (D-WI) Close to some Democratic Socialists of America activists. Long-time active supporter of Colombian revolutionary movements.
Gwen Moore (D-WI) Has been mentored by leading Democratic Socialists of America and Communist Party USA members.
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) Former Young Peoples Socialist League member. Long connection to Democratic Socialists of America.
For more information on socialists and communists in the US Congress watch my acclaimed 90-minute documentary the Enemies Within, or read my book Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists And Progressives In The US Congress.
Trevor Loudon is an author, filmmaker and public speaker from New Zealand. For more than 30 years, he has researched radical left, Marxist and terrorist movements and their covert influence on mainstream politics.
Trevor presents his movie, “ENEMIES WITHIN” DVD—BUY NOW!
by Trevor | Jan 29, 2019 | Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party, Enemies Within, Red Reps, Socialism/Communism, Socialist Opinion Shapers
Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 25, 2016. Bernie Sanders promotes Democratic Socialism.
Commentary
So, what’s the difference between democratic socialism and communism?
Usually, five to 10 years.
Seriously, though, this question comes up a lot in the age of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Many younger people seem to think democratic socialism means all the liberty and prosperity we enjoy today, plus a bunch of free stuff. Indoctrinated young people are led to believe that the only changes in their lives under socialism would be the addition of free college, free health care, lots of public housing, guaranteed pensions, and generous welfare programs. Sweden, Germany, and Norway are the oft-cited examples of the benefits of a welfare state.
Small government advocates will retort that the amount of taxation and regulation required to maintain this kind of system will stifle innovation and entrepreneurialism, strangle growth and job creation, and drive most of us into poverty—Venezuela is the current fashionable example.
The term “democratic socialism” is often used interchangeably with socialism. The purists, though, will condescendingly explain that the qualifier “democratic” distinguishes democratic socialism from the admittedly tyrannical Marxist–Leninist variety of socialism, popularly known as communism.
Some on the left, especially those from America’s largest Marxist organization, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), will tell you that this will never happen on their watch. We’ll stay “democratic”—they say—all major decisions will come to a vote. We’ll introduce widespread “workplace democracy.” They will point to the stability of Scandinavian countries for their evidence of a model welfare state. “We’ll never let the United States turn into Venezuela, or Cuba, or Bulgaria, or Hungary, or the Soviet Union, or the People’s Republic of China, or the Democratic Republic of Germany (East Germany), or the Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea),” they assure us.
As an often quoted saying goes, “Any country with ‘democratic’ in its name, isn’t.”
Most young democratic socialists probably sincerely believe they are working toward a freer, prosperous, more equitable society with a mix of public, private, and co-operative ownership. They acknowledge the need for greater taxes (such as Ocasio-Cortez’s 70 percent on “billionaires”) and regulations. Despite the repeated lessons of history, the young socialists don’t believe that greater taxes and regulations will damage the economy and drive huge numbers of people into abject poverty.
The more hardened (and honest) radicals will tell you, “Yes, we will need more taxes and regulations. Yes, that will put businesses out of business. That’s the point!”
In an article from the Spring 2007 edition of the DSA publication “Democratic Left,” DSA National Political Committee member David Green of Detroit wrote very candidly about his organization’s goals:
“What distinguishes socialists from other progressives is the theory of surplus value. According to Marx, the secret of surplus value is that workers are a source of more value than they receive in wages. The capitalist is able to capture surplus value through his ownership of the means of production, his right to purchase labor as a commodity, his control over the production process, and his ownership of the final product. Surplus value is the measure of capital’s exploitation of labor. … Our goal as socialists is to abolish private ownership of the means of production.”
Notice Green doesn’t just want to abolish “big business.” There’s no qualifier there. He is explicitly advocating for the full public ownership of the “means of production”—communism.
As Karl Marx famously said in the “Communist Manifesto”: “The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property.”
Green was quoted by Reuters in February 2017 as a participant in the Michigan Democratic Party’s spring convention. The Michigan Democratic Party did not seem to mind that a high-ranking socialist was in their midst.
“We need a party that’s open to progressive forces,” Green was quoted as saying. “And that’s why we have to elect progressive leadership within the party.”
Now, according to DSAers and their comrades, abolition of private property will be done “democratically.” There will be a vote in Congress to take away your multi-national corporation, your timber mill, your dairy farm, your gas station, or your convenience store. There will be no rampaging proletarian mob to “expropriate” your business or farm. It will be done in a civilized manner. Incrementally at first. Gradually you will pay more taxes, you will have to deal with more and more regulations, and hiring and firing will get ever more difficult and onerous. If you’re a small business, you’ll probably eventually be forced to sell out to a bigger business that can afford to hire enough lawyers and accountants or bribe enough officials to keep the government at bay before you are forced to shut your doors.
At some point, the slide to socialism and communism may arrive at a temporary equilibrium, where big business will co-exist alongside the “all-powerful state”—China in the last three decades is an example.
Following the “revolution,” Marx argued, workers (the “proletariat”) would take control of the “means of production.” After a period of transition, the government would magically fade away, leading to a classless society based on common ownership of all wealth: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
Unfortunately, no socialist has ever convincingly explained why revolutionary leaders with control of all the wealth and power would then willingly turn that over to the “masses.”
British historian and statesman Lord Acton understood human nature much better than Marx. His famous dictum, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” is the ultimate argument against Marx’s demonstrably unworkable theories of socialism and communism.
Acton’s dictum holds equally true whether the wealth and power is seized “democratically” or by naked brute force.
Naive young Marxists believe that democratic socialism will lead to socialism and eventually to a benevolent classless, leaderless utopia called communism.
Importantly, more sophisticated and seasoned revolutionaries understand that “democratic socialism” and then “socialism” will lead to the centralization of wealth and power into a very few hands. Those revolutionaries intend to be those hands. This is where the communist dream must inevitably end.
There are many roads to tyranny. “Democratic socialism” is but the subtlest and most benign sounding road to communism.
Trevor Loudon is an author, filmmaker and public speaker from New Zealand. For more than 30 years, he has researched radical left, Marxist and terrorist movements and their covert influence on mainstream politics.
Trevor presents his movie, “ENEMIES WITHIN” DVD—BUY NOW!
