[Marxism] Committees of Correspondence (COC) history

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

In 1991, when the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) broke
into two factions over the politically correct attitude toward the
collapse of the Soviet Union, Cagan, along with Angela Davis,
co-founded a revolutionary splinter group, the Committees of
Correspondence (COC), which supported Mikhail Gorbachev against those
who supported the coup against him. Leaders of COC also included
writer Noam Chomsky and folksinger Pete Seeger.

http://www.capitalresearch.org/news/news.asp?ID=243&t=6

_________________

This is a right-wing attack on Leslie Cagan and as such, not only are
the facts wrong, but the whole thrust is wrong. There are conservatives
who would try to write honestly, but this is from the David Horowitz
school of discourse.

The Committees of Correspondence was not conceived as a revolutionary
organization, but as an alliance of former members of some Marxist
groups along with individuals that wanted a new type of organization.
The former Trotskyist, Peter Camejo, was very active in trying to build
it. In any case, there was nothing "revolutionary" about it.

If Chomsky, who calls himself an anarchist, was indeed a member along
with Camejo, one sees that this is not a formal organization but only a
collection of people who want to keep in touch.

By saying that it arose when the CP broke up, the implication is that
members were former members of the CP. This is especially clear by
including Cagan and Davis in the sentence about the break up of the CP.
Although Davis was a member of the CP and Cagan worked closely with
them, I don't believe that Cagan was a formal member.

As Carlos points out, putting the names of prominent members such as
Chomsky and Seeger on a letterhead or listing them as members of some
board doesn't make them leaders.

I am sure that there are better Internet sources for the C of C than
this. If your interest is about Cagan: Yes she worked closely with the
CP, in the sense that she supports the Democratic Party as a "lesser
evil" to the Republican Party.

Over the years many individuals worked closely with the CP, including
W.E.B. DuBois. On the other hand, DuBois never joined the CP until he
left for Africa and he did it as a demonstrable criticism of the racism
of the United States. Despite his close association with the CP, he
also defended the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party when its leaders
were jailed under the Smith Act during WW II. The CP supported this
jailing. DuBois also participated in the United Socialist Ticket in New
York State in 1958 along with Trotskyists. Again, the CP criticized him
for this.

from Brian Shannon

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