CP stuff

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

[was: RE: [PEN-L] If Not Now, When, was Re: David Broder's new (materialist) idea]

CC writes: >It _is_ worth noting, also, that different CPs around the world differed
in how they implemented Comintern decisions within the context of
particular national struggles.<

right. It's important to remember that the CPs differed, that some of them were "puppets" and others not. It depended on how bureaucratic the party was, how much they had mass support, and how revolutionary the social situation was. The CPs didn't simply respond to pressure from the Comintern; they also had to worry about the base. This was made clear to the CPUSA when the Hitler-Stalin pact hit (and the CP's line changed and many people quit the CP) and in 1956, when Khrushchev made his speech (and the CP followed, losing a lot more members).

 

> They (the CPUSA) supported Joseph McCarthy in the Republican primary in Wisconsin (46? 48?) because they thought he would be a weaker candidate in the general election, in which they supported LaFollette.<

If I remember correctly, the CP also supported state persecution of the Trotskyists during World War II, which set a precedent that hoisted them later (on their own petard).

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://myweb.lmu.edu/jdevine