Remote View

3y ago

Good news everyone! CPUSA's officially campaigning for the Democrats!

https://mobile.twitter.com/communistsusa/status/1494787543522545669

The article itself reads like a DNC political operatives campaign plan, and it openly states that the party officially abandons the class struggle in all forms - from assisting in organizing unionization efforts, educating local labor/tenants/unemployed people on collective action and the class struggle, or even agitating for the advancement of society towards socialism.

Sure one might say "you can do more than one thing" and undoubtedly various clubs will try to do the Communist cause proud, yet what is important here is that the whole party is orientating itself, to the best it can remotely follow democratic centralism, to put neoliberal electoral theatrics as its core goal for the next 3 years and will pour party resources wholeheartedly into reinforcing the entrenched bougeoise State.

Also side note, it's fucking embarrassing that the Communist Party is using official party, club, and organization accounts to have Twitter fights. Those are organization accounts belonging to the collective party, not your own fucking soapbox to complain about how you're getting ratioed for your shit takes

58 comments

When you're more revisionist than DSA :bernie-pout:
- CPUSA endorsed Clinton over succdem Sanders, lol just pull the plug on the CPUSA
  
  Imagine being so irrelevant as a communist party that you endorse a Democrat and the Republicans don't even bother putting that in their attack ads.

Cringe Party USA

this is the :fedposting: party right?
- It's the :liberalism: party now

Literally just uncritical support offered for the democratic party, which has repeatedly expressed a refusal to fight the existence of the republican party in any meaningful sense.
Embarrassing is the kindest word for it.

@wrecker_vs_dracula @RedArmor new theory dropped
- Thank you for posting this, comrade.
  
  We all support our boys and girls in ~~communist crimson~~ ~~red~~ blue! :agony-mescaline:
  
  Is your username a Decker reference?
- Something something The State and Revolution.
  
  The State and Revolution? More like we need to revolutionize our state so that it can work for everyone of us if we go out and vote like our democracy is on the line :pete:

I have to hand it to the :fedposting: on this one, it's smart to a) redirect the energy of a would-be radical leftist org into electoralism while simultaneously b) giving Fucker Tarlson and co a neat headline for getting their chuds to :frothingfash: over anarcho-bidenists, which will c) convince "I'm as left as they come" libs that by :vote:ing for slaykween pelosi they are literally as left as they come

This is the most important election of your Life ....
- :bird-screm-2:

Trying to follow the tried and true tactic of "Do nothing but back the Dems" since the Earl Browder days, I see.

:fedposting:
- :liberalism:

Wait, who is even funding CPUSA anyways? The actual left gave up on them decades ago.
- :fedposting: :cia:
- Member dues and fund drives are still a portion of their funds. The party also owns properties, estates, stock portfolios, etc. Some of that comes from life-long dedicated partymembers bequeathing to the party their possessions when they pass away, some of that comes from investments of party funds.
  
  I'm not gonna tell an organization that labels itself communist how to run itself, but that all seems, as the kids say, pretty sus.
  P sus, if you will.
- Ward Churchill made a funny comment on the CPUSA a few years ago, the only dues paying members were Feds
  
  The only ones that pay one time*
- idk, but I've decided that if I win the lottery of something, I'm starting a real communist party.

- This broad united front
  United front is where :vote: :biden-fall:
- obviously the democrats are a workers party which is why all communists should VOte BLUE NO MaTtEr WHOOOOOOOOOOO

- :sicko-wistful:

communism and liberalism are literally incompatible. US "leftist" political parties read any theory challenge (impossible)
- They do read theory. But much like v**sh, they use it to justify supporting the DNC and not much else.

Reminds me of the communist party of Australia.

Collaborationist larpers, go eat shit with the rest of the libs

Just found about the Working Class Party While I know electoralism is worthless actively campaigning on a class struggle platform is a great way to spread solidarity.
- Electoralism is a valid tactic if used to build the party of the working class, whether that's to use the State's own media apparatus to get out message out that they fucking suck and there's alternatives out there, or if enough candidates hold seats of power to use them for the benefit of building the outside structures the class and party - in addition to using the state media apparatus to fucking dunk on the state every chance you get.

Just wanna flag that this kind of bullshit is a symptom of a wider problem among Western socialists: parties are more like a club where people start their own actions at random, they lack a coherent plan or vision focused on revolution and are instead reacting randomly to bourgeois political forces. In the end, this approach makes them become, in terms of their effect, merely the left wing of the Democratic Party or a charity group with better political views. The lack of organization and planning also means pointless and public infighting, like the Twitter beefs you mention, op. Members of the party see that it's like a club and thinks hat the way to effect change is by arguing with each other like they usually do, rather than a serious organization that gains strength from a united message and productive internal argument.
Yes, I know I'm basically describing democratic centralism. I'm not saying your org needs to hold to it or even do it dogmatically, but I do strongly recommend pushing in its direction when it comes to creating a long-term, coherent strategy, to take the value of a public party line seriously, and to bully people (internally) when they start public beefs.
I should also say that demcent parties can still have this problem by falling into the trap of getting led around by bourgeois timelines like electoral cycles and quarterly reports. That is a symptom of failing to create a coherent long-term strategy for building power and leaves your org vulnerable to burnout, as reacting to bourgeois shit is very tiring compared to engaging in longer-term engagements like mutual aid and radical unionization. Also important but neglected things like building an org on person-to-person comraderie, preventing harassment and discrimination (and worse) with good protocols and prioritizing marginalized voices, and having a well-established, rapid, and effective grievance procedure.
tl;dr: watch out for some symptoms of bourgeois political organizing so that your org doesn't become CPUSA.

The party of feds supports the system? Shocking! Well, not that shocking really.

Are there any good American ML parties?
- I'm obviously going to rep my party. (PCUSA) But I'm not conceited enough to say it's the foremost best of the best.
  If you're gonna join a party, you gotta choose one you're comfortable with, and one that's closest to your ideological position. If you think Chairman Gonzalo is somehow the most greatest recent theoretician of the Communist movement then PCUSA, or any Marxist-Leninist party, will not feel like the right fit for you. Don't just jump into joining a party without sitting down and reading their documents to understand what you're jumping into.
- I will back up everything my comrade already replied to you with. I’m also a member of the PCUSA.

Those are organization accounts belonging to the collective party, not your own fucking soapbox to complain about how you’re getting ratioed for your shit takes
With you on everything except this last part.
It's twitter and you do what works on twitter. If you don't do what works on twitter you're a boomer trying to just do your own thing and getting nowhere. All of these platforms you either do what works on them to succeed and get more reach or you may as well not be on them at all.
Everyone gets that it's just the social media person and not some collective statement or representation.
Same goes for how you use reddit and insta and youtube and tiktok and every other platform as an organisation. You do and act in the way each platform demands for success or you may as well not waste the time and energy on it.
- Official party accounts are for official communication and dissemination of public information to both domestic and international audiences.
  You don't see the State Council Information Office of China twitter account post a hot take about how Chinese citizens should support the right-KMT in the upcoming elections, and then see the Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations twitter account and the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Grenada twitter account arguing in the comment section about how if you don't agree with their line then you're an ultra-Left dogmatist.
  Collective platforms are for collective work. Just switch accounts and argue on your own personal account if you're malding about getting ratiod for a shit take.
  
  No. This is not the correct way to look at social media platforms as an organisation at all.
  Your website is the only place where your collectively approved things should be happening. It is your official newspaper, your official statement board, etc etc.
  If the twitter or whatever other account needs to link to one of these official statements, then it does.
  Otherwise, it is a social media account run by the social media person. Like every single other organisation out there. Its goal is and should be growth and reach because that is what these platforms are designed for. They are your pathway to growth and further reach for those important communications.
  You do not get growth and reach by being the dryest most boring fucking people on the planet because you're obsessed with the notion that absolutely everything needs to perfectly reflect the organisation as a collective at all times. It is unrealistic for any of these platforms. You may as well not be on them because you're absolutely not utilising them correctly if that is how you're using them, they are just a waste of time in that way. It's literally a marketing platform, and if you don't get that it's a marketing platform for growth you may as well not bother.
  Some shit will be a miss. Some attempts to be quirky will not work. It's ok when that happens. No big deal.
  Obviously I'm not defending the CPUSA at all they're CLEARLY a completely compromised org. But good orgs out there hand off these these platforms to the right people to do "twitter" or "instagram" or "tiktok" with the understanding that each platform has to be approached differently and your behaviour on each is either twitter or tiktok or insta or whatever behaviour. You behave in the way the platform likes for growth and that's that. Same shit on reddit(although an org doesn't need to use it visibly), as much as you don't like it you have to behave in a suitably reddit-ey way to get upvotes there or you may as well be wasting your time on the platform shouting into the void.

58 comments