Communist Party USA

The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is one of several Marxist-Leninist groups in the United States. While the CPUSA played a significant role in organizing industrial unions and defending the rights of African-Americans in the 1930s and 1940s, it was effectively eliminated as a political force by McCarthyism and the Cold War.

Recovery after McCarthyism

The CPUSA itself was largely eclipsed by the New Left in the 1960s; while it supported the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other movement leaders kept communists and former communists at arm's length for fear of being branded communists themselves. Similarly, the peace movement and the New Left rejected the CPUSA for both its bureaucratic rigidity and its association with Stalinism.

Related Topics:
Civil rights movement - Martin Luther King, Jr.

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In the 1970s, the CPUSA managed to grow in membership to about 25,000 members, despite the exodus of numerous Anti-Revisionist and Maoist groups from its ranks. However, in 1984, seeing the onslaught of Ronald Reagan's anti-Communist administration and decreased CPUSA membership, Gus Hall chose to end the CPUSA's nation-wide electoral campaigns. The CPUSA still runs candidates for local office.

Related Topics:
1970s - Anti-Revisionist - Maoist - 1984 - Ronald Reagan

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