View source for Communist Party USA

{{Short description|American political party}}
{{redirect|American Communist Party|other parties|Haz Al-Din#Founding of the American Communist Party|and|List of communist parties}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Self-published|date=May 2023|talk=Self-Published on the Party's Website}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Communist Party of the United States of America
| logo             = CPUSA.svg
| slogan           = "People and Planet Before Profits"
| flag             = File:Communist Party USA Flag.svg
| colorcode        = {{party color|Communist Party USA}}
| presidium        = [[National conventions of the Communist Party USA|National Convention]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-organizational-chart/|title=CPUSA Organizational Chart|work=Communist Party USA |date=March 26, 2020}}</ref>
| foundation       = {{nowrap|{{start date and age|1919|9|1}}}}
| founder          = [[C. E. Ruthenberg]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-o5jqehzvcC&dq=communist+party+usa+founder+charles+ruthenberg&pg=PR24|isbn=978-0-300-13800-9|title=The Soviet World of American Communism|date=2008|publisher=Yale University Press}}</ref><br />[[Alfred Wagenknecht]]
| split            = [[Socialist Party of America]]
| merger           = Communist Party of America<br />[[Communist Labor Party of America]]
| headquarters     = 235 W 23rd St, New York, New York 10011, [[Manhattan]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
| newspaper        = ''[[People's World]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lccn.loc.gov/sn82016135|title=People's World|website=Library of Congress|oclc=09168021 |access-date=January 21, 2019}}</ref>
| youth_wing       = [[Young Communist League USA|Young Communist League]]<ref group="note">The party voted to dissolve its youth wing in 2015 and voted to re-establish it in 2019. [http://www.cpusa.org/article/final-resolutions-for-the-31st-national-convention/ ''Final Resolutions for the 31st National Convention'']. June 10, 2019.</ref>
| membership       = Self-reported:<br>{{increase}} 20,000<ref name=":0" /><br>Alleged:<br>{{decrease}} 5,000<ref>{{Cite news |last=Owen |first=Tess |date=2024-05-24 |title='A deranged fringe movement': what is Maga communism, the online ideology platformed by Tucker Carlson? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/24/what-is-maga-communism |access-date=2025-06-03 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
| membership_year  = 2024
| ideology         = {{ubl|[[Communism]]<ref name="CPUSA Party Constitution">{{cite web |url=http://www.cpusa.org/party_info/cpusa-constitution/ |title=CPUSA Constitution |work=CPUSA Online |date=September 20, 2001 |access-date=October 30, 2017}}</ref>|[[Marxism–Leninism]]<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book |url=http://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-constitution/ |title=Constitution of the Communist Party of the United States of America |publisher=Communist Party of the United States of America |year=2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140121151252/http://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-constitution/ |archive-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref>|[[Bill of Rights socialism]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cpusa.org/party_info/socialism-in-the-usa/ |title=Bill of Rights Socialism |work=CPUSA Online |date=May 1, 2016 |access-date=October 30, 2017}}</ref>|[[Browderism]] (1942–1945)}}
| position         = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pierard |first1=Richard |year=1998 |title=American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists, & Others. By John George and Laird Wilcox. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Press, 1996. 443 pp. $18.95 |journal=Journal of Church and State  |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=912–913 |publisher=Oxford Journals |doi=10.1093/jcs/40.4.912 }}</ref>
| international    = [[International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties|IMCWP]] (since 1998)<br />[[Communist International|Comintern]] (until 1943)
| colors           = {{color box|{{party color|Communist Party USA}}}} [[Red]]
| website          = {{URL|https://www.cpusa.org/|cpusa.org}}
| country          = the United States
| leader1_name     = [[Joe Sims (politician)|Joe Sims]]<br />Rossana Cambron
| leader1_title    = Co-chairs
| seats1_title     = [[List of Communist Party USA members who have held office in the United States|Members in elected offices]]
| seats1           = 0
}}
{{communist parties}}

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The '''Communist Party USA''' ('''CPUSA'''), officially the '''Communist Party of the United States of America''', also referred to as the '''American Communist Party''' mainly during the 20th century, is a [[communist party]] in the [[United States]]. It was established in 1919 in the wake of the [[Russian Revolution]], emerging from the far-left wing of the [[Socialist Party of America]] (SPA). The CPUSA sought to establish socialism in the U.S. via the principles of [[Marxism–Leninism]], aligning itself with the [[Communist International]] (Comintern), which was controlled by the [[Soviet Union]].

The CPUSA's early years were marked by factional struggles and clandestine activities. The U.S. government viewed the party as a subversive threat, leading to mass arrests and deportations in the [[Palmer Raids]] of 1919–1920. Despite this, the CPUSA expanded its influence, particularly among industrial workers, immigrants, and [[African Americans]]. In the 1920s, the party remained a small but militant force. During the [[Great Depression]] in the 1930s, the CPUSA grew in prominence under the leadership of [[William Z. Foster]] and later [[Earl Browder]] as it played a key role in [[Trade union|labor organizing]] and [[Anti-fascism|anti-fascist]] movements. The party's involvement in [[Strikes in the United States in the 1930s|strikes]] helped establish it as a formidable force within the [[Labor history of the United States|American labor movement]], particularly through the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] (CIO). In the mid-1930s, the CPUSA followed the Comintern's "[[popular front]]" line, which emphasized alliances with progressives and liberals. The party softened its revolutionary rhetoric, and supported President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] policies. This shift allowed the CPUSA to gain broader acceptance, and its membership surged, reaching an estimated 70,000 members by the late 1930s. On the outbreak of [[World War II]] in 1939, the CPUSA initially opposed U.S. involvement, but reversed its stance after [[Operation Barbarossa|Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941]], fervently supporting the war effort.

As the [[Soviet espionage in the United States|CPUSA's role in Soviet Espionage activities]] became more widely known, the Party suffered dramatically at onset of the [[Cold War]]. The [[McCarthyism|Second Red Scare]] saw the party prosecuted under the [[Smith Act]], which criminalized advocacy of violent revolution and led to [[Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders|high-profile trials of its leaders]]. This decimated the CPUSA, reducing its membership to under 10,000 by the mid-1950s. The [[Khrushchev Thaw]] and revelations of [[Joseph Stalin]]'s crimes also led to internal divisions, with many members leaving the party in disillusionment. The CPUSA struggled to maintain relevance during the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. While it supported [[Civil rights movement|civil rights]], labor activism, and [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|anti–Vietnam War]] efforts, it faced competition from [[New Left]] organizations, which rejected the party's rigid adherence to Soviet communism. The [[Sino-Soviet split]] further fractured the communist movement, with some former CPUSA members defecting to [[Maoism|Maoist]] or [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] groups. Under the leadership of [[Gus Hall]] (1959–2000), the CPUSA remained loyal to the Soviet Union even as other communist parties distanced themselves from Moscow's policies, which marginalized it within the [[American left]]. The [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|collapse of the Soviet Union]] in 1991 dealt a devastating blow to the party, leading to financial difficulties and a further decline in membership.

In the 21st century, the CPUSA abandoned its traditional [[Leninism|Leninist]] framework and embraced a more [[Democratic socialism|democratic socialist]] orientation. It has focused on [[labor rights]], [[Anti-racism|racial justice]], [[Environmental movement|environmental activism]], and opposition to [[corporate capitalism]]. While the party still upholds [[Marxism|Marxist]] principles, it no longer advocates for revolution against the U.S. government, instead working within progressive movements and electoral politics. The CPUSA publishes the newspaper ''[[People's World]]'' and continues to engage in leftist activism, though its influence remains marginal compared to other progressive organizations.{{Such as|date=June 2025}}

== Modern membership ==
In 2011, CPUSA claimed 2,000 members.<ref>{{Cite web |work=[[New York Times]] |date=May 22, 2011 |title=Workers of the World, Please See Our Web Site |first1=Joseph |last1=Berger |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/nyregion/leftist-parties-in-new-york-have-new-appeal.html |quote=All three have greatly shrunk from their heydays. The Socialist Party has about 1,000 members nationally. The Communists claim 2,000. The Democratic Socialists, which for many years included luminaries like Michael Harrington and Irving Howe, have about 6,000.}}</ref> In 2017 and 2018, CPUSA claimed 5,000 members.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gómez |first1=Sergio |title=Communist Party membership numbers climbing in the Trump era |date=April 19, 2017 |newspaper=[[People's World]] |publisher=Communist Party USA |url=https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/communist-party-membership-numbers-climbing-in-the-trump-era/ |quote=Of the country’s 300 million inhabitants, the organization currently has some 5,000 members nationwide.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Lifang |title=Interview: U.S. Communist Party leader says Marxism "vibrant, philosophical" outlook |date=April 15, 2018 |publisher=[[Xinhua News Agency]] |url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-04/15/c_137112760.htm |quote=Founded in 1919, the CPUSA has some 5,000 members spread across the country. The party has been active in a range of political and social movements from the labor workers' rights to the environmental protection and peace issues, according to Bachtell.}}</ref> In 2019, former Party member Daniel Rosenberg claimed that "nearly half" of new joiners since 2000 had "paid no dues" and merely signed up for the mailing list.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Daniel |last=Rosenberg |date=April 22, 2019 |title=From Crisis to Split: The Communist Party USA, 1989–1991 |journal=American Communist History |volume=18 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–55 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14743892.2019.1599627 |doi=10.1080/14743892.2019.1599627 |quote=The CPUSA rented out most of the floors in its Manhattan headquarters to private companies, drawing valued income. Party clubs assumed increasingly virtual form. Facebook, Twitter, and website outreach seemingly bore fruit, producing online adherents. The Party carefully charted “likes” and “shares.” Nearly half the online joiners paid no dues. Most “likes” came from outside the United States.|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{rp|54}} In 2023, CPUSA claimed 15,000 members.<ref name=AP2023>{{Cite news |title=Trump wants to keep 'communists' and 'Marxists' out of the US. Here's what the law says |newspaper=[[AP News]] |date=June 28, 2023 |first1=Rebecca |last1=Santana |first2=Ali |last2=Swenson |url=https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-immigration-marxists-communists-ban-2024-d9a377149926457d1b8b182293d9c86e |quote=Communist Party USA has about 15,000 people on its membership list, said party co-chair Joe Sims. The list is “pruned regularly,” he said, but some of that group may not be active members.}}</ref> In 2024, CPUSA claimed 20,000 members.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=June 7, 2024 |title=Joe Sims on Communist Party USA and Campaign 2024 |url=https://www.c-span.org/program/washington-journal/joe-sims-on-communist-party-usa-and-campaign-2024/643328 |access-date=23 February 2025 |work=C-Span |at=At 8m45s "When we are mailing today, we are mailing to close to 20,000 people"}}</ref>

== History ==
{{main|History of the Communist Party USA}}

[[File:191024-cpa-charter-sm.jpg|thumb|Charter for a local unit of the CPUSA, dated October 24, 1919]]

During the first half of the 20th century, the Communist Party was influential in various struggles. Historian [[Ellen Schrecker]] concludes that decades of recent scholarship<ref group="note">She mentions James Barrett, Maurice Isserman, Robin D. G. Kelley, Randi Storch and Kate Weigand.</ref> offer "a more nuanced portrayal of the party as both a [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] sect tied to a vicious regime and the most dynamic organization within the [[American Left]] during the 1930s and '40s."<ref>Ellen Schrecker, "Soviet Espionage in America: An Oft-Told tale", ''Reviews in American History'', Volume 38, Number 2, June 2010 p. 359. Schrecker goes on to explore why the Left dared to spy.</ref> It was also the first political party in the United States to be "fully"{{clarification needed|date=September 2023}} racially integrated.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rose |first=Steve |date=January 24, 2016 |title=Racial harmony in a Marxist utopia: how the Soviet Union capitalised on US discrimination |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2016/jan/24/racial-harmony-in-a-marxist-utopia-how-the-soviet-union-capitalised-on-us-discrimination-in-pictures |work=The Guardian |access-date=March 25, 2019 }}</ref>

By August 1919, only months after its founding, the Communist Party claimed to have 50,000 to 60,000 members. Its members also included [[Anarchism|anarchists]] and other [[Far-left politics|radical leftists]]. At the time, the older and more moderate [[Socialist Party of America]], suffering from criminal prosecutions for its antiwar stance during World War I, had declined to 40,000 members. The sections of the Communist Party's [[International Workers Order]] (IWO) organized for communism around linguistic and ethnic lines, providing [[Benefit society|mutual aid]] and tailoring cultural activities to an IWO membership that peaked at 200,000 at its height.<ref name="heyday">{{cite book |last=Klehr |first=Harvey |author-link=Harvey Klehr |title=The Heyday of American Communism: The Depression Decade |url=https://archive.org/details/heydayofamerican00kleh |url-access=registration |publisher=Basic Books |year=1984 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/heydayofamerican00kleh/page/3 3]–5 (number of members)|isbn=978-0465029457 }}</ref>

During the [[Great Depression]], some Americans were attracted by the visible activism of Communists on behalf of a wide range of social and economic causes, including the rights of African Americans, [[Unemployed Councils|workers, and the unemployed]].<ref>[[Frances Fox Piven]] and [[Richard Cloward]], ''[[Poor People's Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail]]'', (New York:[[Vintage Books]], 1978), {{ISBN|0394726979}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qI9mzBuTvjUC&pg=PA53 pp. 52–58]</ref> The Communist Party played a significant role in the resurgence of organized labor in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hedges |first=Chris |year=2018 |title=America: The Farewell Tour |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |page=109 |isbn=978-1501152672 |author-link=Chris Hedges|quote=The breakdown of capitalism saw a short-lived revival of organized labor during the 1930s, often led by the Communist Party.}}</ref> Others, alarmed by the rise of the [[Falange Española de las JONS|Falangists]] in Spain and the [[Nazi Party|Nazis]] in Germany, admired the Soviet Union's early and staunch opposition to [[fascism]]. Party membership swelled from 7,500 at the start of the decade to 55,000 by its end.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/fifties/essays/anti-communism-1950s |title=Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |website=gilderlehrman.org|date=August 15, 2012 }}</ref>

Party members also rallied to the defense of the [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republic]] during this period after a nationalist military uprising moved to overthrow it, resulting in the [[Spanish Civil War]] (1936–1939).<ref name="Crain-2016">{{cite news |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/18/the-americans-soldiers-of-the-spanish-civil-war |title=The American Soldiers of the Spanish Civil War |last=Crain |first=Caleb |magazine=The New Yorker |date=April 11, 2016 |access-date=November 27, 2019 |language=en |issn=0028-792X}}</ref> The [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], along with [[Left-wing politics|leftists]] throughout the world, raised funds for medical relief while many of its members made their way to Spain with the aid of the party to join the [[XV International Brigade|Lincoln Brigade]], one of the [[International Brigades]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/SPrussia.htm |title=Soviet Union and the Spanish Civil War |website=Spartacus Educational |access-date=November 27, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Crain-2016" />

[[File:People Demand Peace.jpeg|thumb|300px|The Washington Commonwealth Federation newspaper after the signing of the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop pact]] (original scan)]]

The Communist Party was adamantly opposed to fascism during the [[Popular front|Popular Front]] period. Although membership in the party rose to about 66,000 by 1939,<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/sova.html Soviet and American Communist Parties] in [https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/ Revelations from the Russian Archives], Library of Congress, January 4, 1996. Retrieved August 29, 2006.</ref><ref name="Crain-2016" /> nearly 20,000 members left the party by 1943.<ref name="Crain-2016" /> While general secretary [[Earl Browder|Browder]] at first attacked Germany for its September 1, 1939 [[Invasion of Poland|invasion of western Poland]], on September 11 the Communist Party received a communique from Moscow denouncing the Polish government.<ref name="ryan162">{{cite book | vauthors=Ryan JG | date= 1997 | title=Earl Browder: the failure of American communism | publisher=University of Alabama Press | url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/39933 | isbn=978-0-585-28017-2 |page =162}}</ref> Between September 14–16, party leaders bickered about the direction to take.<ref name="ryan162"/>

On September 17, the [[Soviet invasion of Poland|Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland and occupied the Polish territory assigned to it]] by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, followed by coordination with German forces in Poland.<ref name="stalinswars43">{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Geoffrey |title=Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-300-11204-7 |page=44}}</ref><ref name="sanford">{{cite book|authorlink=George Sanford (scholar)|last=Sanford|first=George|year=2005|title=Katyn and the Soviet Massacre of 1940: Truth, Justice And Memory|location=London, New York|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=0-415-33873-5}}</ref> The Communist Party then turned the focus of its public activities from anti-fascism to advocating peace, opposing military preparations. The party criticized British Prime Minister [[Neville Chamberlain]] and French leader [[Édouard Daladier]], but it did not at first attack President Roosevelt, reasoning that this could devastate American Communism, blaming instead Roosevelt's advisors.<ref name="ryan164">{{cite book | vauthors=Ryan JG | date= 1997 | title=Earl Browder: the failure of American communism | publisher=University of Alabama Press | url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/39933 | isbn=978-0-585-28017-2 |pages = 164–165}}</ref> The party spread the slogans "[[The Yanks Are Not Coming]]" and "Hands Off," set up a "perpetual peace vigil" across the street from the [[White House]], and announced that Roosevelt was the head of the "war party of the American bourgeoisie."<ref name="ryan168">{{cite book |url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/39933 |title=Earl Browder: the failure of American communism |vauthors=Ryan JG |date=1997 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-585-28017-2 |page=168}}</ref> The party was active in the [[United States non-interventionism|isolationist]] [[America First Committee]].<ref>Selig Adler (1957). ''The isolationist impulse: its twentieth-century reaction''. pp. 269–270, 274.{{ISBN|9780837178226}}</ref> In October and November, after the [[Winter War|Soviets invaded Finland]] and [[Occupation of the Baltic states|forced mutual assistance pacts from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania]], the Communist Party considered Russian security sufficient justification to support the actions.<ref name="ryan166">{{cite book |url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/39933 |title=Earl Browder: the failure of American communism |vauthors=Ryan JG |date=1997 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-585-28017-2 |page=166}}</ref> The [[Comintern]] and its leader [[Georgi Dimitrov]] demanded that Browder change the party's support for Roosevelt.<ref name="ryan166" /> On October 23, the party began attacking Roosevelt.<ref name="ryan168" /> The party changed this policy again after Hitler broke the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact by [[Operation Barbarossa|attacking the Soviet Union]] on June 22, 1941.

In August 1940, after [[NKVD]] agent [[Ramón Mercader]] killed Trotsky with an [[ice axe]], Browder perpetuated Moscow's line that the killer, who had been dating one of Trotsky's secretaries, was a disillusioned follower.<ref name="ryan189">{{cite book |url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/39933 |title=Earl Browder: the failure of American communism |vauthors=Ryan JG |date=1997 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-585-28017-2 |page=189}}</ref>

As the decades progressed, the combined effects of [[McCarthyism]] (also known as the Second Red Scare) and [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s 1956 "[[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|Secret Speech]]" in which he denounced the previous decades of [[Joseph Stalin]]'s rule and the adversities of the continuing [[Cold War]] mentality, steadily weakened the party's internal structure and confidence. Party membership in the [[Communist International]] and its close adherence to the political positions of the Soviet Union gave most Americans the impression that the party was not only a threatening, subversive domestic entity, but that it was also a foreign agent that espoused an ideology which was fundamentally alien and threatening to the American way of life. Internal and external crises swirled together, to the point when members who did not end up in prison for party activities either tended to disappear quietly from its ranks, or they tended to adopt more moderate political positions which were at odds with the [[Party line (politics)|party line]]. By 1957, membership had dwindled to less than 10,000, of whom some 1,500 were informants for the [[FBI]].<ref>Gentry, Kurt, ''J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets''. W. W. Norton & Company 1991. P. 442. {{ISBN|0393024040}}.</ref> The party was also banned by the [[Communist Control Act of 1954]], although it was never really enforced and Congress later repealed most provisions of the act, also with some declared unconstitutional via the court system.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1071/communist-control-act-of-1954 |title=Communist Control Act of 1954 |last=Click |first=Kane Madison |website=www.mtsu.edu |language=en |access-date=November 27, 2019}}</ref>

The party attempted to recover with its opposition to the [[Vietnam War]] during the [[civil rights movement]] in the 1960s, but its continued uncritical support for an increasingly stultified and militaristic Soviet Union further alienated it from the rest of the left-wing in the United States, which saw this supportive role as outdated and even dangerous. At the same time, the party's aging membership demographics distanced it from the [[New Left#United States|New Left in the United States]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lexisnexis.com/documents/academic/upa_cis/10834_CPUSAFBIDDELib.pdf |title=The Communist Party USA and Radical Organizations, 1953–1960 |last=Naison |first=Mark }}</ref>

With the rise of [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] and his effort to radically alter the Soviet economic and political system from the mid-1980s, the Communist Party finally became estranged from the leadership of the Soviet Union itself. In 1989, the Soviet Communist Party cut off major funding to the Communist Party USA due to its opposition to ''[[glasnost]]'' and ''[[perestroika]]''. With the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, the party held its convention and attempted to resolve the issue of whether the party should reject [[Marxism–Leninism]]. The majority reasserted the party's now purely [[Marxism|Marxist]] outlook, prompting [[Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism|a minority faction]] which urged [[Social democracy|social democrats]] to exit the now reduced party. The party has since adopted Marxism–Leninism within its program.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> In 2014, the new draft of the party constitution declared: "We apply the [[Scientific socialism|scientific outlook]] developed by Marx, Engels, Lenin and others in the context of our American history, culture, and traditions."<ref>[http://www.cpusa.org/draft-new-constitution/ "New CPUSA Constitution (final draft)]."</ref>

[[File:Opening plenary & Keynote speech 30th National Convention.webm.jpg|thumb|The 30th National Convention was held in Chicago in 2014.]]

The Communist Party is based in New York City. From 1922 to 1988, it published ''[[Morgen Freiheit]]'', a daily newspaper written in [[Yiddish]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Two Worlds of a Soviet Spy – The Astonishing Life Story of Joseph Katz |url=https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-two-worlds-of-a-soviet-spy/ |access-date=June 4, 2017 |work=Commentary Magazine |publisher=Commentary, Inc. |date=February 15, 2017 |first1=Harvey |last1=Klehr |first2=John Earl |last2=Haynes |first3=David |last3=Gurvitz}}</ref><ref name="Henry02">Henry Felix Srebrnik, ''Dreams of Nationhood: American Jewish Communists and the Soviet Birobidzhan Project, 1924–1951.'' Brighton, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2010; p. 2.</ref> For decades, its West Coast newspaper was the ''[[People's World]]'' and its East Coast newspaper was ''[[The Daily World (communist newspaper)|The Daily World]]''.<ref>[https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0354_0298_ZD.html ''Yates v. United States''], 354 U.S. 298 (1957)</ref> The two newspapers merged in 1986 into the ''People's Weekly World''. The ''People's Weekly World'' has since become an online only publication called ''People's World''. It has since ceased being an official Communist Party publication as the party does not fund its publication.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://peoplesworld.org/about-the-peoples-world/|title=About People's World|newspaper=People's World |date=August 25, 2009}}</ref> The party's former theoretical journal ''[[Political Affairs (magazine)|Political Affairs]]'' is now also published exclusively online, but the party still maintains [[International Publishers]] as its publishing house. In June 2014, the party held its [[30th National Convention of the Communist Party USA|30th National Convention]] in Chicago.<ref>{{cite web |title=Opening of the Communist Party's 30th national convention |url=http://peoplesworld.org/opening-of-the-communist-party-s-30th-national-convention/ |website=People's World |date=June 13, 2014 |access-date=June 16, 2014}}</ref>

The party announced on April 7, 2021, that it intended to run candidates in elections again, after a hiatus of over thirty years.<ref>{{cite web |title=It's time to run candidates: A call for discussion and action |date=April 9, 2021|url=https://www.cpusa.org/article/its-time-to-run-candidates-a-call-for-discussion-and-action/}}</ref> Steven Estrada, who ran for city council in [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]], was one of the first candidates to run as an open member of the CPUSA again (although Long Beach local elections are officially non-partisan).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Steven Estrada for District One|url=https://www.stevenestrada.org/|access-date=April 26, 2021|website=Steven Estrada for District One|language=en-US|archive-date=April 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426133315/https://www.stevenestrada.org/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Estrada received 8.5% of the vote.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Steven Estrada – Ballotpedia|url= https://ballotpedia.org/Steven_Estrada |access-date=October 21, 2023|language=en-US}}</ref>

== Beliefs ==
{{Socialism US|orgs}}
=== Constitution program ===
According to the constitution of the party adopted at the 30th National Convention in 2014, the Communist Party operates on the principle of [[democratic centralism]],<ref name="2014constitution" /> its highest authority being the quadrennial National Convention. Article VI, Section 3 of the 2001 Constitution laid out certain positions as non-negotiable:<ref name="2001constitution">{{Cite web|url=http://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-constitution/|title=CPUSA Constitution|date=September 20, 2001|website=Communist Party USA|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117135345/http://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-constitution/|archive-date=November 17, 2011|access-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref>

<blockquote>[S]truggle for the unity of the working class, against all forms of national oppression, national chauvinism, discrimination and segregation, against all racist ideologies and practices,{{nbsp}}... against all manifestations of male supremacy and discrimination against women,{{nbsp}}... against homophobia and all manifestations of discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people.</blockquote>

Among the points in the party's "Immediate Program" are a $15/hour [[minimum wage]] for all workers, national universal health care, and opposition to [[privatization]] of [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]]. Economic measures such as increased taxes on "the rich and corporations, strong regulation of the financial industry, regulation and public ownership of utilities," and increased federal aid to cities and states are also included in the Immediate Program, as are opposition to the [[Iraq War]] and other military interventions; opposition to [[free trade]] treaties such as the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA); [[nuclear disarmament]] and a reduced military budget; various [[civil rights]] provisions; [[Campaign finance reform in the United States|campaign finance reform]] including public financing of campaigns; and [[election law]] reform, including [[Instant-runoff voting|instant runoff voting]].<ref name="Immediate Program" />

=== Bill of rights socialism ===
{{main|Bill of Rights socialism}}
The Communist Party emphasizes a vision of socialism as an extension of American democracy. Seeking to "build socialism in the United States based on the revolutionary traditions and struggles" of American history, the party promotes a conception of "Bill of Rights Socialism" that will "guarantee all the freedoms we have won over centuries of struggle and also extend the [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] to include freedom from unemployment" as well as freedom "from poverty, from illiteracy, and from discrimination and oppression."<ref name="28th Party Program">[http://www.cpusa.org/party-program/ "Program of the Communist Party"].</ref>

Reiterating the idea of property rights in socialist society as it is outlined in [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]]'s ''[[The Communist Manifesto|Communist Manifesto]]'' (1848),<ref>See Karl Marx, ''The Communist Manifesto'', Chapter 2.</ref> the Communist Party emphasizes:

<blockquote>Many myths have been propagated about socialism. Contrary to right-wing claims, socialism would not take away the personal private property of workers, only the private ownership of major industries, financial institutions, and other large corporations, and the excessive luxuries of the super-rich.<ref name="28th Party Program" /></blockquote>

Rather than making all wages entirely equal, the Communist Party holds that building socialism would entail "eliminating private wealth from stock speculation, from private ownership of large corporations, from the export of capital and jobs, and from the exploitation of large numbers of workers."<ref name="28th Party Program" />

=== Living standards ===
Among the primary concerns of the Communist Party are the problems of [[unemployment]], [[underemployment]] and [[job insecurity]], which the party considers the natural result of the profit-driven incentives of the capitalist economy:

<blockquote>Millions of workers are unemployed, underemployed, or insecure in their jobs, even during economic upswings and periods of 'recovery' from recessions. Most workers experience long years of stagnant and declining real wages, while health and education costs soar. Many workers are forced to work second and third jobs to make ends meet. Most workers now average four different occupations during their lifetime, many involuntarily moved from job to job and career to career. Often, retirement-age workers are forced to continue working just to provide health care for themselves and their families. Millions of people continuously live below the poverty level; many suffer homelessness and hunger. Public and private programs to alleviate poverty and hunger do not reach everyone, and are inadequate even for those they do reach. With capitalist globalization, jobs move from place to place as capitalists export factories and even entire industries to other countries in a relentless search for the lowest wages.<ref name="28th Party Program" /></blockquote>

The Communist Party believes that "class struggle starts with the fight for wages, hours, benefits, working conditions, job security, and jobs. But it also includes an endless variety of other forms for fighting specific battles: resisting speed-up, picketing, contract negotiations, strikes, demonstrations, lobbying for pro-labor legislation, elections, and even general strikes".<ref name="28th Party Program" /> The Communist Party's national programs considers workers who struggle "against the capitalist class or any part of it on any issue with the aim of improving or defending their lives" part of the class struggle.<ref name="28th Party Program" />

=== Imperialism and war ===
The Communist Party maintains that developments within the [[foreign policy of the United States]]—as reflected in the rise of [[Neoconservatism|neoconservatives]] and other groups associated with [[right-wing politics]]—have developed in tandem with the interests of large-scale capital such as the [[multinational corporation]]s. The state thereby becomes thrust into a proxy role that is essentially inclined to help facilitate "control by one section of the capitalist class over all others and over the whole of society".<ref name="28th Party Program" />

Accordingly, the Communist Party holds that right-wing policymakers such as the neoconservatives, steering the state away from working-class interests on behalf of a disproportionately powerful capitalist class, have "demonized foreign opponents of the U.S., covertly funded the [[Nicaraguan civil war|right-wing-initiated civil war in Nicaragua]], and gave weapons to the [[Saddam Hussein]] dictatorship in Iraq. They picked small countries to invade, including [[United States invasion of Panama|Panama]] and [[U.S. invasion of Grenada|Grenada]], testing new military equipment and strategy, and breaking down resistance at home and abroad to U.S. military invasion as a policy option".<ref name="28th Party Program" />

From its ideological framework, the Communist Party understands [[Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism|imperialism as the pinnacle of capitalist development]]: the state, working on behalf of the few who wield disproportionate power, assumes the role of proffering "phony rationalizations" for economically driven imperial ambition as a means to promote the sectional economic interests of big business.<ref name="28th Party Program" />

In opposition to what it considers the ultimate agenda of the conservative wing of American politics, the Communist Party rejects foreign policy proposals such as the [[Bush Doctrine]], rejecting the right of the American government to attack "any country it wants, to conduct war without end until it succeeds everywhere, and even to use 'tactical' nuclear weapons and militarize space. Whoever does not support the U.S. policy is condemned as an opponent. Whenever international organizations, such as the United Nations, do not support U.S. government policies, they are reluctantly tolerated until the U.S. government is able to subordinate or ignore them".<ref name="28th Party Program" />

Juxtaposing the support from the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] and the right-wing of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] for the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]]-led [[invasion of Iraq]] with the many millions of Americans who opposed the invasion of Iraq from its beginning, the Communist Party notes the spirit of opposition towards the war coming from the American public:

{{blockquote|Thousands of grassroots peace committees [were] organized by ordinary Americans{{nbsp}}... neighborhoods, small towns and universities expressing opposition in countless creative ways. Thousands of actions, vigils, teach-ins and newspaper advertisements were organized. The largest demonstrations were held since the Vietnam War. 500,000 marched in New York after the war started. Students at over 500 universities conducted a Day of Action for "[[Student Peace Action Network#Books Not Bombs|Books not Bombs]]."

Over 150 anti-war resolutions were passed by city councils. Resolutions were passed by thousands of local unions and community organizations. Local and national actions were organized on the Internet, including the "Virtual March on Washington DC"{{nbsp}}.... Elected officials were flooded with millions of calls, emails and letters.

In an unprecedented development, large sections of the US labor movement officially opposed the war. In contrast, it took years to build labor opposition to the Vietnam War.{{nbsp}}... For example in Chicago, labor leaders formed Labor United for Peace, Justice and Prosperity. They concluded that mass education of their members was essential to counter false propaganda, and that the fight for the peace, economic security and democratic rights was interrelated.<ref>Bachtell, John. "The Movements Against War and Capitalist Globalization". ''CPUSA Online''. July 17, 2003. Retrieved April 15, 2009. {{cite web |url=http://www.cpusa.org/article/articleview/565/0/ |title=CPUSA Online – the movements against war and capitalist globalization |access-date=April 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20031107092022/http://www.cpusa.org/article/articleview/565/0/ |archive-date=November 7, 2003}}</ref>}}

The party has consistently opposed American involvement in the [[Korean War]], the [[Vietnam War]], the [[Gulf War|First Gulf War]] and the post-[[September 11 attacks|September 11]] conflicts in both [[Iraq War|Iraq]] and [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|Afghanistan]]. The Communist Party does not believe that the threat of terrorism can be resolved through war.<ref>[http://www.cpusa.org/war-will-not-end-terrorism/ "War Will Not End Terrorism"]. ''CPUSA Online''. October 8, 2001. Retrieved April 6, 2009.</ref>

=== Women and minorities ===
[[Image:Benjamin J. Davis NYWTS.jpg|thumb|right|[[Robert G. Thompson]] and [[Benjamin J. Davis Jr.|Benjamin J. Davis]] leaving the courthouse during the [[Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders]] in 1949–1958]]
The Communist Party Constitution defines the U.S. working class as "multiracial and multinational. It unites men and women, young and old, gay and straight, native-born and immigrant, urban and rural." The party further expands its interpretation to include the employed and unemployed, organized and unorganized, and of all occupations.<ref name="2014constitution">[http://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-constitution/ "CPUSA Constitution"]. Amended July 8, 2001, at the 27th National Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Retrieved November 11, 2011.</ref>

The Communist Party seeks equal rights for women, equal pay for equal work and the protection of reproductive rights, together with putting an end to sexism.<ref>Myles, Dee. [http://www.cpusa.org/remarks-on-the-fight-for-women-s-equality "Remarks on the Fight for Women's Equality"]. Speech given at the 27th National Convention of the CPUSA. ''Communist Party USA''. ''CPUSA Online''. July 7, 2001. Retrieved April 7, 2009.</ref> They support the right of abortion and social services to provide access to it, arguing that unplanned pregnancy is prejudiced against poor women.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kern |first=Michelle |date=June 27, 2016 |title=What is the CPUSA's position on abortion rights? |url=http://www.cpusa.org/interact_cpusa/what-is-the-cpusas-position-on-abortion/ |access-date=August 22, 2018 |website=Cpusa.org}}</ref> The party's ranks include a Women's Equality Commission, which recognizes the role of women as an asset in moving towards building socialism.<ref>Trowbdrige, Carolyn. [http://www.cpusa.org/communist-party-salutes-women/ "Communist Party Salutes Women"]. ''CPUSA Online''. March 8, 2009. Retrieved April 7, 2009.</ref>

Historically significant in American history as an early fighter for African Americans' rights and playing a leading role in protesting the lynchings of African Americans in the South, the Communist Party in its national program today calls racism the "classic divide-and-conquer tactic".<ref group="note">See also [[The Communist Party and African-Americans]] and the article on the [[Scottsboro Boys]] for the Communist Party's work in promoting minority rights and involvement in the historically significant case of the Scottsboro Boys in the 1930s.</ref><ref>Section 3d: [http://www.cpusa.org/party-program/#3d "The Working Class, Class Struggle, Democratic Struggle, and Forces for Progress: The Working Class and Trade Union Movement Democratic Struggle and its Relation to Class Struggle Special Oppression and Exploitation. Multiracial, Multinational Unity for Full Equality and Against Racism"]. ''CPUSA Online''. May 19, 2006. Retrieved April 7, 2009.</ref> From its New York City base, the Communist Party's Ben Davis Club and other Communist Party organizations have been involved in local activism in [[Harlem]] and other African American and minority communities.<ref>"CPUSA Members Mark 5th Anniversary of the War: Ben Davis Club Remembers Those Lost". ''CPUSA Online''. March 20, 2008. Retrieved April 7, 2009. {{cite web |url=http://www.cpusa.org/article/view/906/ |title=CPUSA Online – CPUSA members mark 5th anniversary of the war |access-date=April 7, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090719194315/http://www.cpusa.org/article/view/906/ |archive-date=July 19, 2009}}</ref> The Communist Party was instrumental in the founding of the [[Progressivism|progressive]] [[Black Radical Congress]] in 1998, as well as the [[African Blood Brotherhood]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/race/solomon.htm |title=Blacks and the CPUSA (by L. Proyect) |website=www.columbia.edu |access-date=November 27, 2019}}</ref>

Historically significant in [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Latino]] working class history as a successful organizer of the Mexican American working class in the Southwestern United States in the 1930s, the Communist Party regards working-class Latino people as another oppressed group targeted by overt racism as well as systemic discrimination in areas such as education and sees the participation of Latino voters in a general mass movement in both party-based and nonpartisan work as an essential goal for major left-wing progress.<ref>García, Mario T. ''Mexican Americans: Leadership, Ideology, and Identity, 1930–1960''. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1991. {{ISBN|978-0300049848}}.</ref>

The Communist Party holds that racial and ethnic discrimination not only harms minorities, but is pernicious to working-class people of all backgrounds as any discriminatory practices between demographic sections of the working class constitute an inherently divisive practice responsible for "obstructing the development of working-class consciousness, driving wedges in class unity to divert attention from [[Marxism#Exploitation|class exploitation]], and creating extra profits for the capitalist class".<ref>[http://www.cpusa.org/cpusa-constitution/ "CPUSA Constitution"]. Amended July 8, 2001, at the 27th National Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Retrieved August 29, 2006.</ref><ref group="note">See also Executive Vice Chair [[Jarvis Tyner]]'s ideological essay [http://www.cpusa.org/the-national-question/ "The National Question"]. ''CPUSA Online''. August 1, 2003. Retrieved April 7, 2009.</ref>

The Communist Party supports an end to [[racial profiling]].<ref name="Immediate Program">[http://www.cpusa.org/article/static/511/#question29 "Communist Party Immediate Program for the Crisis"]. {{webarchive |url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090708121226/http://www.cpusa.org/article/static/511/ |date=July 8, 2009}}. Retrieved August 29, 2006.</ref> The party supports continued enforcement of [[civil rights]] laws as well as [[affirmative action]].<ref name="Immediate Program" />

== Geography ==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Communist Party membership 1934.jpg|thumb|A map showing Communist Party membership by district in 1934 from the [https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_map-members.shtml Mapping American Social Movements] project at the University of Washington]] -->
The Communist Party garnered support in particular communities, developing a unique geography. Instead of a broad nationwide support, support for the party was concentrated in different communities at different times, depending on the organizing strategy at that moment.

Before [[World War II]], the Communist Party had relatively stable support in [[New York City]], [[Chicago]] and [[St. Louis County, Minnesota]]. However, at times the party also had strongholds in more rural counties such as [[Sheridan County, Montana]] (22% in [[1932 United States presidential election|1932]]), [[Iron County, Wisconsin]] (4% in [[1932 United States presidential election|1932]]), or [[Ontonagon County, Michigan]] (5% in [[1934 Michigan gubernatorial election|1934]]).<ref name="Communist Party votes by county">{{cite web |url=https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_map-votes.shtml |title=Communist Party votes by county |website=depts.washington.edu |access-date=July 20, 2017}}</ref> Even in the [[Southern United States|South]] at the height of [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow]], the Communist Party had a significant presence in [[Alabama]]. Despite the [[Disenfranchisement after the Reconstruction Era|disenfranchisement]] of [[African Americans]], the party gained 8% of the votes in rural [[Elmore County, Alabama|Elmore County]]. This was mostly due to the successful biracial organizing of [[Sharecropping|sharecroppers]] through the [[Sharecroppers' Union]].<ref name="Communist Party votes by county" /><ref name="Kelley-1990" />

Unlike open mass organizations like the [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]] or the [[NAACP]], the Communist Party was a disciplined organization that demanded strenuous commitments and frequently expelled members. Membership levels remained below 20,000 until 1933 and then surged upward in the late 1930s, reaching 66,000 in 1939 and reaching its peak membership of over 75,000 in 1947.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Communist Party membership by Districts 1922–1950 – Mapping American Social Movements |url=https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_map-members.shtml |access-date=December 9, 2022 |website=depts.washington.edu}}</ref>

The party fielded candidates in presidential and many state and local elections not expecting to win, but expecting loyalists to vote the party ticket. The party mounted symbolic yet energetic campaigns during each presidential election from 1924 through 1940 and many gubernatorial and congressional races from 1922 to 1944.

The Communist Party organized the country into districts that did not coincide with state lines, initially dividing it into 15 districts identified with a headquarters city with an additional "Agricultural District". Several reorganizations in the 1930s expanded the number of districts.<ref>[https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_map-members.shtml "Communist Party Membership by Districts 1922–1950"].</ref>

The Party has always been headquartered in New York and that city accounted for a significant portion of national membership, usually at least one-third, sometimes approaching half of the total. In 1930, 3,084 out of 6,822 members lived in District 1 (New York state). In 1939, 25,327 out of 66,000 total membership were New Yorkers; and 25,000 out of 54,000 in 1949. District 8, headquartered in Chicago usually accounted for about 10% of members in the 1920s and early 1930s, but then was overtaken by District 13 (California) starting in the late 1930s.  <ref>{{Cite web |title=Communist Party membership by Districts 1922–1950 – Mapping American Social Movements |url=https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_map-members.shtml |access-date=May 3, 2025 |website=depts.washington.edu}}</ref>

== Relations with other groups ==
=== United States labor movement ===
{{main|Communists in the United States Labor Movement (1919–37)|Communists in the United States Labor Movement (1937–50)|l1=Communists in the United States labor movement (1919–1937)|l2=Communists in the United States labor movement (1937–1950)}}
[[File:May Day parade with banners and flags, New York (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[May Day]] parade with banners and flags, New York]]

The Communist Party has sought to play an active role in the labor movement since its origins as part of its effort to build a mass movement of American workers to bring about their own liberation through socialist revolution.

=== Soviet funding and espionage ===
From 1959 until 1989, when [[Gus Hall]] condemned the initiatives taken by [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] in the Soviet Union, the Communist Party received a substantial subsidy from the Soviets. There is at least one receipt signed by Gus Hall in the KGB archives.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Klehr|first1=Harvey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-o5jqehzvcC&pg=PA155|title=The Soviet World of American Communism|last2=Haynes|first2=John Earl|last3=Anderson|first3=Kyrill M.|date= 2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300138009|page=155|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Dobbs|first=Michael|date=February 8, 1992|title=U.S. Party Said Funded by Kremlin|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/02/08/us-party-said-funded-by-kremlin/421119eb-6953-413d-baf0-3558cbeb7e48/|access-date=November 10, 2021|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Starting with $75,000 in 1959, this was increased gradually to $3 million in 1987. This substantial amount reflected the party's loyalty to the Moscow [[Political line|line]], in contrast to the [[Italian Communist Party|Italian]] and later [[Communist Party of Spain|Spanish]] and [[Communist Party of Great Britain|British]] Communist parties, whose [[Eurocommunism]] deviated from the orthodox line in the late 1970s. Releases from the Soviet archives show that all national Communist parties that conformed to the Soviet line were funded in the same fashion. From the Communist point of view, this international funding arose from the internationalist nature of communism itself as fraternal assistance was considered the duty of communists in any one country to give aid to their allies in other countries. From the anti-Communist point of view, this funding represented an unwarranted interference by one country in the affairs of another. The cutoff of funds in 1989 resulted in a financial crisis, which forced the party to cut back publication in 1990 of the party newspaper, the ''People's Daily World'', to weekly publication, the ''[[People's World|People's Weekly World]]'' ([[#References|see references below]]).

Somewhat more controversial than mere funding is the alleged involvement of Communist members in espionage for the Soviet Union. [[Whittaker Chambers]] alleged that Sandor Goldberger—also known as Josef Peters, who commonly wrote under the name [[J. Peters]]—headed the Communist Party's underground secret apparatus from 1932 to 1938 and pioneered its role as an auxiliary to Soviet intelligence activities.<ref name="Witness">{{cite book |last1=Chambers |first1=Whittaker |title=Witness |publisher=Random House|orig-year=1952 |year=1987 |location=New York |page=799 |isbn=978-0895267894 |lccn=52005149}}</ref> Bernard Schuster, Organizational Secretary of the New York District of the Communist Party, is claimed to have been the operational recruiter and conduit for members of the party into the ranks of the secret apparatus, or "Group A line".

Stalin publicly disbanded the [[Comintern]] in 1943. A Moscow NKVD message to all stations on September 12, 1943, detailed instructions for handling intelligence sources within the Communist Party after the disestablishment of the Comintern.

There are a number of decrypted World War II Soviet messages between NKVD offices in the United States and Moscow, also known as the [[Venona cables]]. The Venona cables and other published sources appear to confirm that [[Julius Rosenberg]] was responsible for espionage. [[Theodore Hall]], a Harvard-trained [[physicist]] who did not join the party until 1952, began passing information on the atomic bomb to the Soviets soon after he was hired at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]] at age 19. Hall, who was known as Mlad by his KGB handlers, escaped prosecution. Hall's wife, aware of his espionage, claims that their NKVD handler had advised them to plead innocent, as the Rosenbergs did, if formally charged.<ref>{{Cite web|title=NOVA Online {{!}} Secrets, Lies, and Atomic Spies {{!}} Read Venona Intercepts|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/venona/intercepts.html|access-date=August 14, 2021|website=www.pbs.org}}</ref>

It was the belief of opponents of the Communist Party such as [[J. Edgar Hoover]], longtime director of the FBI; and [[Joseph McCarthy]], for whom [[McCarthyism]] is named; and other [[Anti-communism|anti-Communists]] that the Communist Party constituted an active [[conspiracy (political)|conspiracy]], was secretive, loyal to a foreign power and whose members assisted Soviet intelligence in the clandestine [[Espionage|infiltration]] of American government. This is the traditionalist view of some in the field of [[Soviet and Communist studies|Communist studies]] such as [[Harvey Klehr]] and [[John Earl Haynes]], since supported by several memoirs of ex-Soviet KGB officers and information obtained from the [[Venona project]] and Soviet archives.<ref name="Haynes, John Earl 2000">Haynes, John Earl, and Klehr, Harvey, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'', Yale University Press (2000).</ref><ref>Schecter, Jerrold and Leona, ''Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History'', Potomac Books (2002).</ref><ref>Sudoplatov, Pavel Anatoli, Schecter, Jerrold L., and Schecter, Leona P., ''Special Tasks: The Memoirs of an Unwanted Witness – A Soviet Spymaster'', Little Brown, Boston (1994).</ref>

At one time, this view was shared by the majority of the [[United States Congress|Congress]]. In the "Findings and declarations of fact" section of the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. Chap. 23 Sub. IV Sec. 841), it stated:

<blockquote>[T]he Communist Party, although purportedly a political party, is in fact an instrumentality of a conspiracy to overthrow the Government of the United States. It constitutes an authoritarian dictatorship within a republic{{nbsp}}... the policies and programs of the Communist Party are secretly prescribed for it by the foreign leaders{{nbsp}}... to carry into action slavishly the assignments given.{{nbsp}}... [T]he Communist Party acknowledges no constitutional or statutory limitations.{{nbsp}}... The peril inherent in its operation arises [from] its dedication to the proposition that the present constitutional Government of the United States ultimately must be brought to ruin by any available means, including resort to force and violence{{nbsp}}... its role as the agency of a hostile foreign power renders its existence a clear present and continuing danger.<ref>[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/841 "Title 50 > Chapter 23 > Subchapter IV > § 841. Findings and declarations of fact"]. U.S. Code collection on the site of [[Cornell University]]. Retrieved August 30, 2006.</ref></blockquote>

In 1993, experts from the Library of Congress traveled to Moscow to copy previously secret archives of the party records, sent to the Soviet Union for safekeeping by party organizers. The records provided an irrefutable link between Soviet intelligence and information obtained by the Communist Party and its contacts in the United States government from the 1920s through the 1940s. Some documents revealed that the Communist Party was actively involved in secretly recruiting party members from African American groups and rural farm workers. Other party records contained further evidence that Soviet sympathizers had indeed infiltrated the State Department, beginning in the 1930s. Included in Communist Party archival records were confidential letters from two American ambassadors in Europe to Roosevelt and a senior State Department official. Thanks to an official in the Department of State sympathetic to the party, the confidential correspondence, concerning political and economic matters in Europe, ended up in the hands of Soviet intelligence.<ref name="Haynes, John Earl 2000" /><ref>''Retrieved Papers Shed Light On Communist Activities In U.S.'', Associated Press, January 31, 2001.</ref><ref>Weinstein, Allen, and Vassiliev, Alexander, ''The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America – the Stalin Era'' (New York: Random House, 1999).</ref>

==== Counterintelligence ====
In 1952, Jack and [[Morris Childs]], together codenamed SOLO, became FBI informants. As high-ranking officials in the American Communist Party, they informed on the CPUSA for the rest of the Cold War, monitoring the Soviet funding.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Klehr|first=Harvey|date=July 3, 2017|title=Opinion {{!}} American Reds, Soviet Stooges|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/opinion/communist-party-usa-soviet-union.html|access-date=November 10, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Babcock|first=Charles R.|date=September 17, 1981|title=Soviet Secrets Fed to FBI for More Than 25 Years|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/09/17/soviet-secrets-fed-to-fbi-for-more-than-25-years/5dcdaab1-1d05-4e0f-8c25-87ecf852d67c/|access-date=November 10, 2021|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> They also traveled to Moscow and Beijing to meet USSR and PRC leadership.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The SOLO File: Declassified Documents Detail 'The FBI's Most Valued Secret Agents of the Cold War'|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB375/|access-date=November 15, 2021|website=nsarchive2.gwu.edu}}</ref> Jack and Morris Childs both received the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] in 1987 for their intelligence work. Morris's son stated, "The CIA could not believe the information the FBI had because the American Communist Party had links directly into the Kremlin."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Carl N. Freyman, 85|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-06-04-0106040229-story.html|access-date=November 15, 2021|website=Chicago Tribune|date=June 4, 2001 |language=en}}</ref>

According to intelligence analyst Darren E. Tromblay, the SOLO operation, and the Ad Hoc Committee, were part of "developing geopolitical awareness" by the FBI about factors such as the [[Sino-Soviet split]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tromblay|first=Darren E.|date=January 2, 2020|title=From Old Left to New Left: The FBI and the Sino–Soviet Split|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2019.1670207|journal=International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence|volume=33|issue=1|pages=97–118|doi=10.1080/08850607.2019.1670207|s2cid=214529143|issn=0885-0607|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The Ad Hoc Committee was a group within CPUSA that circulated a pro-Maoist bulletin in the voice of a "dedicated but rebellious comrade." Allegedly an operation, it caused a schism within the CPUSA.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tromblay|first=Darren E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8F9ECgAAQBAJ&pg=PA384|title=The U.S. Domestic Intelligence Enterprise: History, Development, and Operations|date=2015|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1482247749|pages=384–387|language=en}}</ref>

=== Criminal prosecutions ===
{{further|Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders}}
When the Communist Party was formed in 1919, the United States government was engaged in prosecution of socialists who had opposed World War I and military service. This prosecution was continued in 1919 and January 1920 in the [[Palmer Raids]] as part of the [[First Red Scare]]. Rank and file foreign-born members of the Communist Party were targeted and as many as possible were arrested and deported while leaders were prosecuted and, in some cases, sentenced to prison terms. In the late 1930s, with the authorization of President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], the FBI began investigating both domestic Nazis and Communists. In 1940, Congress passed the [[Smith Act]], which made it illegal to advocate, abet, or teach the desirability of overthrowing the government.

In 1949, the federal government put [[Eugene Dennis]], William Z. Foster and ten other Communist Party leaders on trial for advocating the violent overthrow of the government. Because the prosecution could not show that any of the defendants had openly called for violence or been involved in accumulating weapons for a proposed revolution, it relied on the testimony of former members of the party that the defendants had privately advocated the overthrow of the government and on quotations from the work of Marx, Lenin and other revolutionary figures of the past.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KC8epvjNRXAC|chapter=The First Wave of Suspensions and Dismissals|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KC8epvjNRXAC&pg=PA141|title=Reds at the Blackboard: Communism, Civil Rights, and the New York City Teachers Union|author=[[Clarence Taylor|Taylor, Clarence]]|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|date=2011|access-date=June 4, 2020|pages=141–142|isbn=978-0231526487}}</ref> During the course of the trial, the judge held several of the defendants and all of their counsel in contempt of court. All of the remaining eleven defendants were found guilty, and the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] upheld the constitutionality of their convictions by a 6–2 vote in ''[[Dennis v. United States]]'', {{ussc|341|494|1951}}. The government then proceeded with the prosecutions of more than 140 members of the party.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5UN1AwAAQBAJ|chapter=Eugene Dennis|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5UN1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44|title=100 Americans Making Constitutional History: A Biographical History|last=[[Melvin I. Urofsky|Urofsky, Melvin I.]]|publisher=[[CQ Press]]|date= 2012|access-date=June 4, 2020|pages=44–46|isbn=978-1452235400|doi=10.4135/9781452235400}}</ref>

Panicked by these arrests and fearing that the party was dangerously compromised by informants, Dennis and other party leaders decided to go underground and to disband many affiliated groups. The move heightened the political isolation of the leadership while making it nearly impossible for the party to function. The widespread support of action against communists and their associates began to abate after Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] overreached himself in the [[Army–McCarthy hearings]], producing a backlash. The end of the [[Korean War]] in 1953 also led to a lessening of anxieties about subversion. The Supreme Court brought a halt to the Smith Act prosecutions in 1957 in its decision in ''[[Yates v. United States]]'', {{ussc|354|298|1957}}, which required that the government prove that the defendant had actually taken concrete steps toward the forcible overthrow of the government, rather than merely advocating it in theory.

=== African Americans ===
{{main|Communist Party USA and African Americans}}
[[File:Vote Communist - Gus Hall for President, Jarvis Tyner for Vice-President LCCN2016648826.jpg|thumb|1976 presidential campaign poster]]

The Communist Party played a role in defending the rights of African Americans during its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s. The [[Alabama Chapter of the Communist Party USA]] helped organize the unemployed Black workers, the Alabama [[Sharecroppers' Union]] and numerous anti-lynching campaigns. Further, the Alabama chapter organized young activists that would later go on to be prominent members in the civil rights movement, such as Rosa Parks.<ref name="Kelley-1990">{{cite book |last1=Kelley |first1=Robin D.G. |title=Hammer and hoe : Alabama Communists during the Great Depression |url=https://archive.org/details/hammerhoealabama0000kell |url-access=registration |date=1990 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill|isbn=0807819212 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/hammerhoealabama0000kell/page/2 2–10] |edition=2nd}}</ref> Throughout its history several of the party's leaders and political thinkers have been African Americans. [[James W. Ford|James Ford]], [[Charlene Mitchell]], [[Angela Davis]] and [[Jarvis Tyner]], the current executive vice chair of the party, all ran as presidential or vice presidential candidates on the party ticket. Others like [[Benjamin J. Davis]], [[William L. Patterson]], [[Harry Haywood]], James Jackson, [[Henry Winston]], [[Claude Lightfoot]], [[Alphaeus Hunton]], Doxey Wilkerson, [[Claudia Jones]], and John Pittman contributed in important ways to the party's approaches to major issues from human and civil rights, peace, women's equality, the national question, working class unity, socialist thought, cultural struggle, and more. African American thinkers, artists and writers such as [[Claude McKay]], [[Richard Wright (author)|Richard Wright]], [[Ann Petry]], [[W. E. B. Du Bois]], [[Shirley Graham Du Bois]], [[Lloyd L. Brown|Lloyd Brown]], [[Charles Wilbert White|Charles White]], [[Elizabeth Catlett]], [[Paul Robeson]], [[Gwendolyn Brooks]], and others were one-time members or supporters of the party, and the Communist Party also had a close alliance with Harlem Congressman [[Adam Clayton Powell Jr.]]<ref>Mink, Gwendolyn, and Alice O'Connor. ''Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, and Policy''. ABC-CLIO, 2004, p. 194. {{ISBN|978-1576075975}}.</ref>

=== Gay rights movement ===
[[Harry Hay]] developed his political views as an active member of the Communist Party. Hay founded in the early 1950s the [[Mattachine Society]], America's second [[gay rights]] organization. However, gay rights were not seen as something the party should associate with organizationally.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} Many party members saw [[homosexuality]] as something [[Communism and LGBT rights#Association of fascism with homosexuality by communists|done by those with fascist tendencies]] (following the lead of the Soviet Union in criminalizing the practice for that reason). Hay was expelled from the party as an ideological risk.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} In 2004, more than a decade after the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|fall of the Soviet Union]] and after [[LGBTQ rights in Russia|Russia had legalized male homosexual relations]], the editors of ''[[Political Affairs Magazine|Political Affairs]]'' published articles detailing their [[Self-criticism (Marxism–Leninism)|self-criticism]] of the party's early views of gay and lesbian rights and praised Hay's work.<ref>[http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/115/ "In this issue{{nbsp}}..."], ''Political Affairs'', April 2004. Retrieved August 29, 2006.</ref>

The Communist Party endorsed [[LGBT rights in the United States|LGBT rights]] in a 2005 statement.<ref>[http://www.cpusa.org/communist-party-usa-resolution-on-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender-rights/ "Communist Party, USA: Resolution on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Rights"]. Convention Resolution on July 20, 2005. ''CPUSA Online''. Retrieved August 20, 2012</ref> The party affirmed the resolution with a statement a year later in honor of [[gay pride]] month in June 2006.<ref>[http://www.cpusa.org/gay-pride-month-communists-stand-in-solidarity/ "Gay Pride Month: Communists stand in solidarity"]. ''CPUSA Online''. June 24, 2006. Retrieved August 20, 2012.</ref>

=== United States peace movement ===
The Communist Party opposed the United States involvement in the early stages of [[World War II]] (until June 22, 1941, the date of the [[German invasion of the Soviet Union]]), the [[Korean War]], the [[Vietnam War]], the [[United States invasion of Grenada|invasion of Grenada]], and American support for [[Anti-communism|anti-Communist]] military dictatorships and movements in Central America. Meanwhile, some in the [[peace movement]] and the [[New Left]] rejected the Communist Party for what it saw as the party's bureaucratic rigidity and for its close association with the Soviet Union.

The Communist Party was consistently opposed to the United States' 2003–2011 war in Iraq.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030407153812/http://cpusa.org/ "No to Bush's War!"]. ''CPUSA Online''. Archived on the [[Internet Archive]] on April 7, 2003.</ref> [[United for Peace and Justice]] (UFPJ) includes the New York branch of the Communist Party as a member group, with Communist Judith LeBlanc serving as the co-chair of UFPJ from 2007 to 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Judith LeBlanc {{!}} C-SPAN.org|url=https://www.c-span.org/person/?53039/JudithLeBlanc|access-date=November 13, 2021|website=www.c-span.org}}</ref>

== Election results ==
{{main |List of Communist Party USA election results |List of Communist Party USA members who have held office in the United States}}

=== Presidential tickets ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Communist Party USA candidates for president and vice president
|-
!scope="col"|Year
!scope="col"| President
!scope="col"| Vice president
!scope="col"| Votes
!scope="col"| Percent
!scope="col"| Name
|-
!scope="row"|[[1924 United States presidential election|1924]]
|[[File:William Z. Foster, cropped.PNG|70px]]<br />[[William Z. Foster]]||[[File:Gitlow-benjamin-1928-trim.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Benjamin Gitlow]]||align=center|38,669||align=center|0.1%||[[Workers Party of America]]
|-
!scope="row"|[[1928 United States presidential election|1928]]
|[[File:William Z. Foster, cropped.PNG|70px]]<br />[[William Z. Foster]]||[[File:Gitlow-benjamin-1928-trim.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Benjamin Gitlow]]||align=center|48,551||align=center|0.1%||Workers (Communist)<br />Party of America
|-
!scope="row"|[[1932 United States presidential election|1932]]
|[[File:William Z. Foster, cropped.PNG|70px]]<br />[[William Z. Foster]]||[[File:James W. Ford Salvaged.jpg|frameless|89x89px]]
[[James W. Ford]]
| align="center" |103,307||align=center|0.3%||rowspan="10"|Communist Party USA
|-
!scope="row"|[[1936 United States presidential election|1936]]
|[[File:Browder-Earl-R-1939.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Earl Browder]]||[[File:James W. Ford Salvaged.jpg|frameless|89x89px]]
[[James W. Ford]]
| align="center" |79,315||align=center|0.2%
|-
!scope="row"|[[1940 United States presidential election|1940]]
|[[File:Browder-Earl-R-1939.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Earl Browder]]||[[File:James W. Ford Salvaged.jpg|frameless|89x89px]]
[[James W. Ford]]
| align="center" |48,557||align=center|0.1%
|-{{party shading/Progressive}}
!scope="row"|[[1948 United States presidential election|1948]]
|[[File:Henry-A.-Wallace-Townsend.jpeg|70px]]<br />No candidate;<br />endorsed [[Henry A. Wallace|Henry Wallace]]||[[File:Glentaylor.jpg|70px]]<br />No candidate;<br />endorsed [[Glen H. Taylor]]||rowspan=2 colspan=2 align=center|N/A
|-{{party shading/Progressive}}
!scope="row"|[[1952 United States presidential election|1952]]
|[[File:Vincent Hallinan.jpg|70px]]<br />No candidate;<br />endorsed [[Vincent Hallinan]]||[[File:Charlotta Bass-52.jpg|70px]]<br />No candidate;<br />endorsed [[Charlotta Bass]]
|-
!scope="row"|[[1968 United States presidential election|1968]]
|[[File:Charlene Mitchell.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Charlene Mitchell]]||[[File:Michael Zagarell.jpg|70px]]<br />Michael Zagarell|| align="center" |1,077||align=center|nil%
|-
!scope="row"|[[1972 United States presidential election|1972]]
|[[File:Angela Davis urges - declare your independence - vote for Hall and Tyner LCCN2016648082 (Gus Hall.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Gus Hall]]||[[File:Jarvis Tyner.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Jarvis Tyner]]||align=center|25,597||align=center|nil%
|-
!scope="row"|[[1976 United States presidential election|1976]]
|[[File:Angela Davis urges - declare your independence - vote for Hall and Tyner LCCN2016648082 (Gus Hall.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Gus Hall]]||[[File:Jarvis Tyner.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Jarvis Tyner]]||align=center|58,709||align=center|0.1%
|-
!scope="row"|[[1980 United States presidential election|1980]]
|[[File:Angela Davis urges - declare your independence - vote for Hall and Tyner LCCN2016648082 (Gus Hall.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Gus Hall]]||[[File:Angela Davis, 1974.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Angela Davis]]||align=center|44,933||align=center|0.1%
|-
!scope="row"|[[1984 United States presidential election|1984]]
|[[File:Angela Davis urges - declare your independence - vote for Hall and Tyner LCCN2016648082 (Gus Hall.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Gus Hall]]||[[File:Angela Davis, 1974.jpg|70px]]<br />[[Angela Davis]]||align=center|36,386||align=center|nil%
|-
|}

=== Best results in major races ===
{| class="wikitable"
!Office
!Percent
!District
!Year
!Candidate
|-
| rowspan="3" |President
|1.5%
|Florida
|[[1928 United States presidential election in Florida|1928]]
|[[William Z. Foster]]
|-
|0.8%
|Montana
|[[1932 United States presidential election in Montana|1932]]
| rowspan="2" |[[Earl Browder]]
|-
|0.6%
|New York
|[[1936 United States presidential election in New York|1936]]
|-
| rowspan="3" |US Senate
|1.2%
|New York
|[[1934 United States Senate election in New York|1934]]
|[[Max Bedacht]]
|-
|0.6%
|New York
|[[1932 United States Senate election in New York|1932]]
|[[William Weinstone]]
|-
|0.4%
|Illinois
|[[1932 United States Senate election in Illinois|1932]]
|William E. Browder
|-
| rowspan="3" |US House
|6.2%
|California District 5
|[[1934 United States House of Representatives elections|1934]]
|Alexander Noral
|-
|5.2%
|California District 5
|[[1936 United States House of Representatives elections|1936]]
|Lawrence Ross
|-
|4.8%
|California District 13
|[[1936 United States House of Representatives elections|1936]]
|Emma Cutler
|}

== Party leaders ==
{|class="wikitable"
|+Party leaders of the Communist Party USA
!scope="col"|Name
!scope="col"|Period
!scope="col"|Title
|-
!scope="row"|[[Charles Ruthenberg]]<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/eam/writers/ruthenberg.html "C. E. Ruthenberg Page"].</ref>
|1919–1927
|Executive Secretary of old CPA (1919–1920); Executive Secretary of WPA/W(C)P (May 1922 – 1927)
|-
!scope="row"|[[Alfred Wagenknecht]]
|1919–1921
|Executive Secretary of CLP (1919–1920); of UCP (1920–1921)
|-
!scope="row"|[[Charles Dirba]]
|1920–1921
|Executive Secretary of old CPA (1920–1921); of unified CPA (May 30, 1921 – July 27, 1921)
|-
!scope="row"|[[Louis Shapiro (communist)|Louis Shapiro]]
|1920
|Executive Secretary of old CPA
|-
!scope="row"|[[L.E. Katterfeld]]
|1921
|Executive Secretary of unified CPA
|-
!scope="row"|[[William Weinstone]]
|1921–1922
|Executive Secretary of unified CPA
|-
!scope="row"|[[Jay Lovestone]]
|1922; 1927–1929
|Executive Secretary of unified CPA (February 22, 1922 – August 22, 1922); of W(C)P/CPUSA (1927–1929)
|-
!scope="row"|[[James P. Cannon]]<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/archive/cannon/works/index.htm "The James P. Cannon Library"].</ref>
|1921–1922
|National Chairman of WPA
|-
!scope="row"|[[Caleb Harrison]]
|1921–1922
|Executive Secretary of WPA
|-
!scope="row"|[[Abram Jakira]]
|1922–1923
|Executive Secretary of unified CPA
|-
!scope="row"|[[William Z. Foster]]<ref>[https://www.marxistsfr.org/archive/foster/index.htm "William Z. Foster"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223093358/http://www.marxistsfr.org/archive/foster/index.htm |date=February 23, 2019 }}.</ref>
|1929–1934; 1945–1957
|Party Chairman
|-
!scope="row"|[[Earl Browder]]
|1934–1945
|Party Chairman
|-
!scope="row"|[[Eugene Dennis]]
|1945–1959
|General Secretary
|-
!scope="row"|[[Gus Hall]]
|1959–2000
|General Secretary
|-
!scope="row"|[[Sam Webb (communist)|Sam Webb]]
|2000–2014
|Chairman
|-
!scope="row"|[[John Bachtell]]
|2014–2019
|Chairman
|-
!scope="row"|Rossana Cambron
|2019–present
|Co-chair
|-
!scope="row"|[[Joe Sims (politician)|Joe Sims]]
|2019–present
|Co-chair
|-
|}

== Notable CPUSA members ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Well-known organizers and other members of the party
!Name
!Years active
!Title
!Notes
|-
|[[Angela Davis]]
|1969–1991
|Member, California Communist Party
|A supporter of the Communist Party until the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991 following the [[revolutions of 1989]], which ended communism in most countries worldwide. Davis then created the [[Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism]], a former reformist faction within the Communist Party, which is now independent and promotes democratic socialism. 
|-
|[[Charles E. Taylor (politician)|Charles E. Taylor]]
|?
|Member, Montana Communist Party; State Senator 
|Started a left-wing newspaper called "''Producers News''" in [[Sheridan County, Montana]] after being sent there by the [[Nonpartisan League]] of North Dakota. The newspaper slandered members of the community, sparking a libel case and newspaper war.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Charles E. Taylor |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Charles_E._Taylor| website=Ballotpedia| access-date=January 31, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Communists of Sheridan County |url=https://www.montanaseniornews.com/communists/ | date=December 1, 2019 |website=Montana Senior News |access-date=January 31, 2023}}</ref> 
|-
|[[Dorothy Ray Healey]]
|1920s–1973
|Member, California Communist Party
|An early supporter of the Communist Party, she became disillusioned with the leadership of [[Gus Hall]] and furthermore was against the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia]] in 1968. Healey criticized CPUSA orthodoxy after the [[Mass killings under communist regimes|crimes of Stalin]] were [[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|exposed by Nikita Khrushchev]]. She eventually left the party and joined the [[New American Movement|New America Movement]], an organization promoting [[New Left|new-left activism]].
|-
|Elizabeth Benson
|1939–1968<ref>{{Cite web|last=Daugherty|first=Greg|title=Smithsonian Magazine|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-child-prodigies-who-became-20th-century-celebrities-2436967/}}</ref>
|Party Organizer
|A child prodigy, Benson moved to Houston at the age of 22 to organize the area for the national party.<ref name="Carleton-1985">{{Cite book|last=Carleton|first=Don|title=Red Scare! Rightwing Hysteria, Fifties Fanatacism and their Legacy in Texas|publisher=TexasMonthly Press|year=1985|isbn=0932012906|location=Austin|pages=30}}</ref> Benson is best known for leading Texas organizing during the 1939 convention in San Antonio, where 5,000 people surrounded the building and rioted at the opening ceremonies. Benson and several others were escorted out by police.
|-
|[[Emma Tenayuca]]
|1936–1939(?)
|Party Organizer
|Emma Tenayuca (December 21, 1916 – July 23, 1999), also known as Emma Beatrice Tenayuca, was an American labor leader, [[Trade union|union organizer]] and educator. She is best known for her work organizing Mexican workers in Texas during the 1930s, particularly for leading the [[1938 San Antonio pecan shellers strike]].
|-
|Homer Brooks
|1938–1943
|Texas State Party Chair; 1938 Candidate for Governor
|First husband of [[Emma Tenayuca]]. Brooks faced a draft evasion charge that became an exercise in red-baiting. He was sentenced to 60 days in prison, but the charge was overturned.<ref name="Carleton-1985" />
|-
|[[Richard Durham]]
|1940s
|Member
|Creator and writer of the ''[[Destination Freedom]]'' radio series in Chicago. Durham was a CPUSA member while writing for ''[[New Masses]]'', the ''[[The Chicago Defender|Chicago Defender]]'', the ''[[Chicago Star]]'', and the ''[[Illinois Standard]]'' newspapers.<ref>Library of Congress: Chronicling America – [https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87062321/ The Chicago Star (Chicago, Ill.) 1946–1948]</ref><ref>Library of Congress: Chronicling America – [https://www.loc.gov/item/sn82015060/ The Illinois Standard (Chicago, Ill.) 1948–1949]</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pecinovsky |first1=Tony |title='Word Warrior' a good book on democratic media |journal=[[People's World]] |date=December 9, 2015 |quote=Reviewing the book ''Word Warrior'' by Sonja D. Williams}}</ref>
|-
|[[Tupac Shakur]]
|?
|Member, Baltimore [[Young Communist League USA|Young Communist League]]<ref name="People's World Protests">{{cite news|last=Farrar|first=Jordan|date=May 13, 2011|title=Baltimore students protest cuts|newspaper=[[People's World]]|publisher=Long View Publishing Co.|location=Chicago, Illinois|url=http://www.peoplesworld.org/baltimore-students-protest-cuts|url-status=live|access-date=June 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818155101/http://www.peoplesworld.org/baltimore-students-protest-cuts|archive-date=August 18, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Bastfield-2002">{{cite book|last=Bastfield|first=Darrin Keith Bastfield|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wna2MAiFpgEC&q=Back+in+the+Day:+My+Life+and+Times+with+Tupac+Shakur|title=Back in the Day: My Life and Times with Tupac Shakur|date=2002|publisher=Kluwer Law International|isbn=0306812959|location=Cambridge, Mass. : Da Capo; London|chapter=Chapter 7: A Revolutionary}}</ref>
|Known for his career as a rapper and actor, Tupac Shakur was at one time a member of the Young Communist League in Baltimore. He found the platform of the party appealing, having grown up in poverty. Shakur also dated the daughter of the director of the local Communist Party.<ref name="Bastfield-2002" />
|}

== See also ==
* [[American Communist Party (Haz Al-Din)|American Communist Party (2024)]]
* [[English-language press of the Communist Party USA]] (annotated list of titles)
* [[Soviet espionage in the United States|History of Soviet espionage in the United States]]
* [[International Publishers]]
* ''[[Jencks v. United States]]''
* [[Language federation]]
* [[National conventions of the Communist Party USA]]
* [[Non-English press of the Communist Party USA]] (annotated list of titles)
* [[Progressive Labor Party (United States)]]
* [[Revolutionary Communist Party, USA]]
* [[Socialist Workers Party (United States)]]
* [[W.E.B. Du Bois Clubs of America]]
* [[Young Communist League USA]]
* [[List of Communist Party USA members who have held office in the United States]]

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{for|a selection of the most important titles|bibliography on American Communism}}
{{refbegin}}
* Arnesen, Eric, "Civil Rights and the Cold War at Home: Postwar Activism, Anticommunism, and the Decline of the Left", ''American Communist History'' (2012), 11#1 pp 5–44.
* [[Theodore Draper|Draper, Theodore]], ''The Roots of American Communism.'' New York: Viking, 1957.
* [[Theodore Draper|Draper, Theodore]], ''American Communism and Soviet Russia: The Formative Period.'' New York: Viking, 1960.
* [[Theodore Draper|Draper, Theodore]], The Roots of American Communism. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers (Originally published by Viking Press in 1957). {{ISBN|0765805138}}.
* [[Irving Howe|Howe, Irving]] and [[Lewis Coser]], ''[https://archive.org/details/cpusahowecoser The American Communist Party: A Critical History].'' Boston: Beacon Press, 1957.
* [[Maurice Isserman|Isserman, Maurice]], ''Which Side Were You On?: The American Communist Party During the Second World War.'' Wesleyan University Press, 1982 and 1987.
* Jaffe, Philip J., ''Rise and Fall of American Communism.'' Horizon Press, 1975.
* [[Harvey Klehr|Klehr, Harvey]]. ''The Heyday of American Communism: The Depression Decade'', Basic Books, 1984.
* [[Harvey Klehr|Klehr, Harvey]] and [[John Earl Haynes|Haynes, John Earl]], ''The American Communist Movement: Storming Heaven Itself'', Twayne Publishers (Macmillan), 1992.
* Klehr, Harvey, John Earl Haynes, and Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov. ''The Secret World of American Communism.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
* Klehr, Harvey, Kyrill M. Anderson, and John Earl Haynes. ''The Soviet World of American Communism.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.
* Lewy, Guenter, ''The Cause That Failed: Communism in American Political Life.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
* McDuffie, Erik S., ''Sojourning for Freedom: Black Women, American Communism, and the Making of Black Left Feminism.'' Durham: Duke University Press, 2011
* Ottanelli, Fraser M., ''The Communist Party of the United States: From the Depression to World War II.'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1991.
* Maurice Spector, ''James P. Cannon, and the Origins of Canadian Trotskyism'', ''1890–1928.'' Urbana, IL: Illinois University Press, 2007
* Palmer, Bryan, ''James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left, 1890–1928.'' Urbana, IL: Illinois University Press, 2007.
* Service, Robert. ''Comrades!: a history of world communism'' (2007).
* Shannon, David A., ''The Decline of American Communism: A History of the Communist Party of the United States since 1945.'' New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1959.
* Starobin, Joseph R., ''American Communism in Crisis, 1943–1957.'' Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972.
* Zumoff, Jacob A. ''The Communist International and US Communism, 1919–1929.'' [2014] Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2015.
{{refend}}

=== Archives ===
* [http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/tam_132/ "Communist Party of the United States of America Records"], Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives, New York University Special Collections
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv78295 Communist Party of the United States of America Records], 1956–1960. At the [https://lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections].
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv94784 Communist Party of the United States of America, Washington State District Records], 1919–2003. At the [https://lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections].
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv61984 Marion S. Kinney Papers], 1930–1983. At the [https://lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections].

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* [http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090711155158/http://www.yclusa.org/ Young Communist League USA] – youth group
* [http://www.peoplesworld.org ''People's World''] – weekly newspaper
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121011122550/https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_intro.shtml/ Communism in Washington State History and Memory Project]
* [https://archive.org/details/ManifestoAndProgram.Constitution.ReportToTheCommunistInternational Manifesto and program. Constitution. Report to the Communist International] – first pamphlet of the Communist Party of America
* [https://depts.washington.edu/moves/CP_intro.shtml/ Communist Party USA History and Geography]-maps
*[https://archive.org/details/ManifestoToTheWorkersOfAmerica Manifesto to the workers of America]
* [[iarchive:CPUSA|FBI files on the CPUSA]] on the [[Internet Archive]]

{{Communist Party USA}}
{{XV International Brigade}}
{{United States political parties}}
{{Communist parties in the United States}}
{{Historical left-wing third party presidential tickets (U.S.)}}
{{Soviet Union–United States relations|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Communist Party USA| ]]
[[Category:1919 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Communism in the United States]]
[[Category:Communist parties in the United States]]
[[Category:Formerly banned communist parties]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1919]]
[[Category:Political parties in the United States]]
[[Category:Socialist parties in the United States]]
[[Category:Soviet Union–United States relations]]
[[Category:William Z. Foster]]
[[Category:International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties]]