Li Haiyu & Feng Xiaoxu: An Analysis of the Development Landscape and Prospects of the Communist Party USA Since Its 30th National Convention
The 30th National Convention of the Communist Party of the USA (hereafter "CPUSA"), held in June 2014, represents a major milestone in the party's history in the 21st century. Prior to this, during the tenure of CPUSA Chairman Sam Webb (2000–2014), Webb and his supporters within the party advocated for the abandonment of Leninism, democratic centralism, and the concept of the vanguard party. They sought to change the party’s name and transform it from a revolutionary organization into a social-democratic one, which caused ideological confusion and organizational fracturing. The 30th Convention saw a change in leadership, and Webb’s proposals were resisted. Following the convention, Webb and his supporters left the CPUSA. Under its new leadership, the party corrected Webb’s right-deviationist line and, by integrating new changes in the domestic political and economic environment of the United States, has steadily pushed the CPUSA's struggle forward. Systematically mapping the developmental landscape since the 30th Convention and deeply analyzing the party’s prospects is of great significance for our understanding and mastery of the current state and future direction of socialist movements in developed capitalist countries.
I. The Developmental Landscape of the CPUSA Since the 30th Convention
Since the 30th Convention, the CPUSA has continuously strengthened its explorations in theory and practice, and its development presents the following landscape:
(1) Strengthening and improving the Party's self-building First, the party clarified that it would not change its name and would continue to uphold Leninism. In November 2016, then-CPUSA Chairman John Bachtell noted in his political report to the National Committee: "We have no proposal to change the name of the Party," and "We have not abandoned Leninism or the ideas of Lenin, which include Lenin’s concept of a revolutionary party." In April 2020, the new Party Program published on the CPUSA website emphasized: "The Communist Party is guided by the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism and scientific socialism," and that Marxism-Leninism "makes our Party the most consistent fighter for unity, progress, and socialism." Second, it explicitly upheld democratic centralism. The new Party Program states: "A working-class revolutionary party needs democratic decision-making, central leadership, and unified action... We call this method democratic centralism"; "Once a decision is made after democratic discussion, the entire Party must strive to implement it"; and "Factional organizations are prohibited." Third, it strengthened Marxist theoretical education. The CPUSA requires every club and district organization to assign at least one member to be specifically responsible for Marxist education, with education plans tailored to their size and capacity. The CPUSA has launched a "Marxist Classes" (webinar) series on its official website, conducts tests on basic Marxist knowledge, and provides downloadable study materials for members. Additionally, the party holds Marxist Schools, inviting member representatives from across the country to participate in person. Fourth, it strengthened the building of "clubs"—the primary party organizations. The CPUSA believes that "building clubs with strategic, tactical, educational, and organizational capacity in workplaces and working-class communities helps win day-to-day struggles." As of April 20, 2021, the CPUSA had established 75 functioning clubs, with another 8 in the process of formation. Fifth, it has worked to recruit members and expand its scale. The CPUSA makes full use of its website, its organ People’s World, and various social media platforms to promote itself and attract the public; it has relaxed membership requirements and simplified the joining process. It places importance on recruiting among African Americans, Latinos, women, and Millennials to improve the party’s racial, gender, and age composition. The CPUSA organization has grown rapidly in recent years. In 2018, there were 5,000 formal members. In 2019, 1,033 people joined; in 2020, 2,152 new members were recruited; and in 2021, approximately 2,800 joined. Currently, CPUSA membership has reached approximately 11,000.
(2) Innovating and developing the Party's fundamental ideas "Radical critique of capitalism and the vision of socialism constitute the fundamental ideas of the CPUSA." Integrating the development of new circumstances, the CPUSA has proposed new understandings of capitalism and socialism. First, a new critique of capitalism. The CPUSA argues that modern capitalism’s exploitation of the working class has increased in both quantity and quality. Automation and robotization using computer control and AI, the "gig economy" or freelance economy, "Right to Work" laws [1], and the secret collection of massive amounts of personal data are all new weapons in monopoly capital's arsenal for class struggle. Meanwhile, large transnational corporations extract profits by exploiting more workers globally while cutting jobs and exporting them from the US. The CPUSA points out that monopoly capital is intensifying its use of privilege to accumulate massive wealth and is gaining increasing control over global capital flows. Monopoly capital also seeks to cultivate a culture of cynicism, low expectations, fatalism, violence, and distraction to prevent the working class from uniting to fight for its own interests. The CPUSA also believes that contemporary capitalism has brought a series of global crises, such as an unprecedented planetary and ecological crisis, the threat of war, the crisis of extreme wealth polarization, unemployment crises caused by automation and AI, political crises, refugee crises, and the human rights crisis under the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, a new understanding of socialism. The CPUSA views socialism as a stage of socio-economic development in which millions of people increasingly determine their own destiny and gradually establish new democratic institutions to manage the economy. Socialism will provide a mechanism for working people to cooperate, extending political democracy into substantive democracy in all areas of social life, including the economy. Socialism will end oppression and exploitation (including the exploitation of nature) and create a sustainable, equitable, and democratic economy. Socialism is an economic system where the decisive sectors are socially owned and controlled, and where the anarchy of capitalism and destructive competition are replaced by a strategically planned economy. Socialist society will not abolish small businesses or family farms, and everyone will own personal property. Socialism will eliminate the waste of the capitalist system and the private appropriation of profits created by the working class to end inequality. Workers will be compensated according to the principle of "from each according to their ability, to each according to their work." [2]
(3) Critiquing and resisting extreme right-wing forces Combating extreme right-wing forces is the primary task of the first stage of the transition to socialism as planned by the CPUSA. In 2016, Republican candidate Trump won the presidential election, and American far-right forces took the mainstream political stage. The CPUSA has conducted a powerful critique and a resolute struggle against them. First, it critiques the Trump administration. The CPUSA points out that Trump led a far-right and quasi-fascist [3] government whose goal was to dismantle the hard-won gains of the labor and civil rights movements through an alliance of the Republican Party with finance capital, evangelical Christians, and right-wing media to maintain power. The CPUSA further notes that the Trump administration was characterized by "authoritarianism, lawlessness, attacks on democracy, and violations of constitutional norms," and was openly linked to white supremacists, male supremacists, fascist groups, and online trolls. The CPUSA called for resistance to the Trump administration’s domestic policies characterized by right-wing extremism—such as the repeal of Obamacare, the deportation and blocking of immigrants, military budget plans, and regressive environmental policies—and strongly criticized the administration's incompetent performance in the face of the pandemic crisis. The CPUSA also attacked the "America First" foreign policy, arguing it tended toward non-diplomatic means for regime change, promoted "preventative war-ism," showed contempt for global institutions, and supported free-market capitalism and the elimination of socialism. The CPUSA strongly condemned the Trump administration’s imperialist policies, such as suppressing China, blockading Cuba, provoking North Korea, militarily intervening in Syria, threating war with Iran, and attempting to subvert the Maduro regime in Venezuela. Second, it used elections to strike at far-right forces. At the 31st CPUSA Convention in 2019, the party pointed out that the "most decisive arena" for defeating the far right was the 2020 election. To this end, the CPUSA’s election strategy mainly involved: supporting the Democratic Party, whose policies were relatively closer to its own; building an anti-far-right alliance composed of labor organizations, communities of color, women, youth, democratic and social movements, and parts of the bourgeoisie; using the banner of defending democracy (then being undermined by Trump) to win the support of the majority of voters, including independents and some Republicans; conducting voter registration, educating and mobilizing the masses to vote to increase turnout, expanding the battlefield to "red states and districts," and demanding every vote be counted. Through these efforts, the election achieved the CPUSA's expected goals. Following the election, the CPUSA called for the defense of the voting results and for blocking Trump's coup attempts.
(4) Observing and analyzing Biden’s domestic and foreign policies Supporting the Democratic Party in the general election was a helpless choice for the CPUSA under the two-party system—a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. Since Biden took office, the CPUSA has continuously monitored his domestic and foreign policies, providing timely critiques and analysis to state its positions. First, its view of his domestic policy is a mix of praise and criticism. At the 100-day mark of the Biden administration, the CPUSA expressed overall affirmation of his domestic policies. The CPUSA believes Biden largely fulfilled his campaign promises: nominating former labor union president and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as Secretary of Labor; launching economic relief plans; investing heavily in infrastructure to promote employment; issuing dozens of environmental executive orders to reverse Trump’s policies; repealing Trump-era immigration policies including the "Muslim Ban," zero-tolerance policies, and Migrant Protection Protocols; including racial equity on the Domestic Policy Council agenda; allocating funds for affordable housing; and implementing the Child Tax Credit, etc. However, the CPUSA also criticized certain actions by Biden on immigration, such as the continued use of Title 42 [4] to ban asylum seekers, the temporary abandonment of promises to increase refugee admissions, and the deportation of Haitian migrants. Second, it holds a critical attitude toward his foreign policy. The CPUSA believes Biden views China as a competitor and has adopted the same confrontational policy toward China as Trump. He blames China for the decline in American workers' living standards, criticized China at the US-China Alaska summit, maintained Trump’s trade sanctions, barred Chinese students and researchers, prohibited Americans from investing in Chinese companies related to the military or surveillance tech, further restricted the export of cutting-edge semiconductor technology, and established the AUKUS trilateral military alliance targeting China. The CPUSA demands that the Biden administration "not engage in a New Cold War with China." The CPUSA also points out that the Biden administration has continued sanctions against Cuba, remains hostile toward Venezuela, continues enmity with Iran, and refused international cooperation on vaccines. The CPUSA proposes using genuine mass politics to force the Biden administration to change its foreign policy. In short, the CPUSA’s attitude toward the Biden administration is: "Support it wherever it benefits the working class and the people, and oppose it wherever it does not."
(5) Participating in and promoting progressive social movements
First, it has actively participated in and promoted strike movements. On September 16, 2019, the United Auto Workers (UAW) organized a nationwide general strike. The CPUSA issued a statement on its official website expressing full support for the striking autoworkers. The CPUSA called on all members to take the initiative to contact local UAW and AFL-CIO offices to assist with solidarity and mobilization efforts; to contact local UAW picket lines to provide food for strikers; to organize information-gathering activities at General Motors (GM) dealerships and demand that dealers call on GM to resolve the strike; to contact local community groups, veterans' groups, women's groups, and various other social organizations to support the strike; and to send representatives to city councils and county boards to demand they formally support the strike. For other strike movements, the CPUSA has basically adopted similar practices. Second, it has actively participated in and promoted anti-racist movements. In response to the August 12, 2017 incident where a white supremacist drove into a crowd in Charlottesville, the CPUSA expressed outrage and demanded that the White House and elected officials take necessary action. On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, an African American man, died due to violent law enforcement by a white police officer in Minneapolis. The CPUSA called on members to join protests against racial discrimination and police violence in every possible way, demanding the immediate arrest and prosecution of the white police officer who murdered George Floyd. On May 30, the Baltimore and DC branches of the Communist Party participated in peaceful anti-racist demonstrations. On November 19, 2020, the Kenosha County Circuit Court in Wisconsin issued a "not guilty" verdict in the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, a white youth who shot and killed two people and wounded one other during an anti-racist and anti-police violence protest. Regarding this, the CPUSA noted: "The American judicial system has not addressed its own systemic racism, let alone the racist violence in American communities." The CPUSA urged all anti-fascist, anti-racist, and progressive forces to rise up in mass protest against Rittenhouse's acquittal and demanded that President Biden oppose the ruling. In addition to the aforementioned movements, the CPUSA has also actively participated in movements against sexism, for a $15 minimum wage, climate justice, and immigrant rights, pushing American society toward progress.
II. Main Opportunities Facing the Communist Party USA
Today's United States remains mired in multiple crises; capitalism is showing signs of decline, which corresponds to the development of domestic socialist factors. Viewed from a global perspective, under the "changes unseen in a century" [5], the socialist movement is moving toward revitalization. These constitute favorable conditions for the current development of the CPUSA.
(1) The systemic crisis in the United States continues. First, the gap between the rich and the poor has further widened. A report on US wealth distribution released by the Federal Reserve in October 2021 showed that as of the second quarter of 2021, the top 1% of US households had a total net worth of $36.2 trillion. For the first time since data collection began in 1989, this exceeded the total net worth of the 60% of middle-income households ($35.7 trillion). Data show that 70% of US wealth is currently concentrated in the top 20% of households by income. Another set of data from the Federal Reserve shows that in the second quarter of 2021, the wealthiest 10% of Americans held a record share of corporate equity and mutual funds, with 89% of US stocks owned by the wealthy, while the bottom 90% of Americans held only 11% of individual stocks, one percentage point lower than before the pandemic. Regarding this, US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [6] pointed out bluntly: "We are in an absolute inequality crisis." Second, the economy faces multiple crises. After taking office, Biden relied on large-scale monetary and fiscal stimulus to drive economic growth, making the US economy appear to recover on the surface, but as the peak of fiscal stimulus passed, its effects gradually weakened. In fact, the US economy is facing multiple crises that interact and exacerbate one another: inflation remains at high levels, the government is burdened by massive debt, the labor market faces shortages, and the supply chain crisis is intensifying. The US economy can be described as beset with difficulties. Third, political polarization is worsening. The Democratic and Republican parties place partisan interests above all else, attacking and undermining each other, which has severely impacted national governance. The dispute between the two parties peaked during the latter stages of the 2020 presidential election. Trump refused to concede defeat, accused the Democratic Party of "stealing votes," and filed political lawsuits. Even after all 50 states certified the election results, 77% of Republican voters still questioned the legitimacy of the president-elect on grounds of voter fraud—a first in nearly a century. Since Biden took office, the two parties remain sharply opposed on major issues such as climate change, healthcare, infrastructure, and foreign policy. On January 6, 2022, the Senate and House of Representatives held commemorative events for the "Capitol Riot," but nearly all Republicans chose to be absent. Worsening political polarization has caused the American public to lose confidence in American democracy. The Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School reported on December 1, 2021, that a national poll of young Americans aged 18 to 29 showed only 7% of respondents believed the US democratic system was "healthy," while 52% believed American democracy was "in trouble" or "failing." Fourth, racial discrimination has worsened the situation for ethnic minorities. Structural defects in the system have led to increasing racial inequality in the US. Asian Americans face escalating discrimination and violent attacks. A report released by "Stop AAPI Hate" on November 18, 2021, showed that from March 19, 2020, to September 30, 2021, the organization received a total of 10,370 reports of racist attacks against Asian Americans, the majority of which occurred in public spaces. Violent law enforcement encounters leading to the death of African Americans occur frequently. Data from the "Mapping Police Violence" website show that US police shot and killed 1,127 people in 2020. While African Americans make up only 13% of the total US population, they account for 28% of those shot and killed by police; the probability of an African American being killed by police is three times that of a white person. Meanwhile, the economic gap between minority groups and whites in the US is also expanding. Fifth, the pandemic situation continues to deteriorate. The rampage of the Omicron variant triggered an even larger wave of deaths in the US. As of May 4, 2022, US time, deaths from COVID-19 have exceeded 1 million. These lives were lost within the short 27 months since the outbreak in the US, and more than half died after the current administration took office. The "American-style pandemic response" has completely failed. US media and the public are also increasingly losing confidence in the government's response. Time magazine commented that while many countries face the challenge of the pandemic, few have handled it as poorly as the United States. The ongoing systemic crisis in the US is essentially a contemporary manifestation of the inherent contradictions of capitalism; it demonstrates that capitalism can no longer solve its own problems, and its systems and structures are facing increasing pressure for change. This brings excellent development opportunities to the CPUSA, which is dedicated to the critique of and struggle against capitalism.
(2) The resurgence of socialist thought in the United States. Socialist thought once had a certain influence in American history, but from the end of World War II to the beginning of the 21st century, it remained in decline. The term "socialism" was often given a negative connotation and was not accepted by the American mainstream. The outbreak of the financial crisis and its social consequences changed people's views on socialism; socialism began to enter mainstream US political discourse, and socialist thought has risen again in the United States. First, socialism is widely discussed. In April 2019, CPUSA Co-Chair Joe Sims described this: socialism is being discussed in the press, churches, workplaces, barbershops, and on campuses; major media outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post have published series of articles and videos on the subject; it is discussed on late-night cable news programs, touching upon democratic socialism, state socialism, cooperative socialism, "command economy" socialism, Stalinist socialism, market socialism, etc.; even the Post went so far as to have an article on "Eisenhower socialism." Second, socialism is welcomed by a significant portion of Americans. A poll conducted by Harris Poll for the program "Axios on HBO" from April 16 to 18, 2019, showed that 40% of Americans would prefer to live in a socialist country rather than a capitalist one. In November 2019, a Gallup poll showed that approximately 52% of Millennials and Gen Z held a positive view of socialism. According to a survey conducted by Axios/Momentive in June 2021, in terms of the "positive" index, the proportion of adult US citizens holding a "positive" attitude toward "socialism" was 41%, a slight increase from 2019. This indicates that the attraction of socialism in the US continues to grow. Third, socialist organizations continue to expand. For example, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has experienced explosive growth in recent years. In 2015, the DSA had only 6,000 members and was spread thin. But starting in 2016, its ranks expanded rapidly, now reaching 92,000 members, making it the largest socialist organization in the US. Fourth, socialists have made a striking showing in elections. Bernie Sanders, a self-described "democratic socialist," ran high-profile presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020, declaring he would implement socialism in the US, thereby stirring up "socialist whirlwinds" in American society. Gloria La Riva of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) won 79,689 votes in the 2020 presidential election, becoming the socialist presidential candidate with the most votes since 1976. In the 2017 local elections, DSA member Lee Carter defeated his Republican opponent Jackson Miller to be elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. In the 2018 midterm elections, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic socialist from New York's 14th Congressional District, defeated Republican opponent Anthony Pappas to be elected to the federal House of Representatives. In 2019, six democratic socialists were elected to the Chicago City Council. The Chicago Sun-Times declared: "This is the largest electoral victory for socialists in modern American history." On June 22, 2021, socialist India Walton defeated incumbent Mayor Byron Brown in the mayoral primary for Buffalo, the second-largest city in New York State. The resurgence of socialist thought in the US has improved the political climate, expanded the space for left-wing activities, and created a favorable political and social environment for the survival and development of the CPUSA.
(3) The global socialist movement is moving toward revitalization.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the world socialist movement has exhibited a momentum toward revitalization. In non-socialist countries, the subjective forces of socialism have gradually regained their footing on the domestic political stage through reform and reorganization, experiencing a recovery of strength while actively exploring socialist paths suited to their own nations. The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation have become the second-largest parties in their respective parliaments; the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, the Progressive Party of Working People in Cyprus, and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) all held power for a time after winning parliamentary elections. Multiple Communist forces in countries such as India, Nepal, and Bangladesh continue to expand their spheres of influence, forming an "International Red Corridor" covering an area of 100,000 square kilometers and a population of over 200 million. The South African Communist Party, with over 300,000 members, formed a "Tripartite Alliance" [7] with the African National Congress (ANC) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), achieving victory in the 2019 South African general elections. Currently, left-wing governance has been realized in Latin American countries including Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Honduras, and Chile. Among socialist countries, except for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Cuba, whose development has been hindered by long-term blockades from Western nations, China, Vietnam, and Laos have all achieved major developmental successes on the path of reform and opening up.
China's economy has maintained a consistent medium-to-high growth rate, with its total economic volume firmly established as the second largest in the world, contributing over 30% to global economic growth and continuously narrowing the gap with the United States. Simultaneously, the economic structure has been continuously optimized, pushing the economy toward a level of high-quality development. Given the current momentum, China’s total economic volume is likely to surpass that of the United States in the future, at which point the balance of power between the world’s two major social systems will undergo a transformative shift. In 2020, China historically resolved the problem of absolute poverty that had plagued the Chinese nation for thousands of years, finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects [8] and raising the people's standard of living to a new level. China also actively participates in global governance, promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, facilitating international cooperation under the "Belt and Road" initiative, and providing experience and supplies for pandemic prevention and control, thereby contributing Chinese wisdom, Chinese solutions, and Chinese strength to solve the major problems and crises facing humanity today. This stands in sharp contrast to Western capitalist countries, which have been helpless in the face of global issues, falling into internal disarray and resorting to blame-shifting and shirking responsibility. The significant improvement in China’s comprehensive national power and its unprecedented international influence have created a "local high tide" within the general low ebb of the world socialist movement; China has become the mainstay of the world socialist movement.
In Vietnam, the average annual GDP growth rate was 5.91% during the 2011–2015 term and 5.99% during the 2016–2021 term, making it one of the fastest-growing countries and regions globally and regionally. In 2020, Vietnam’s total economic volume reached 268.4 billion USD, with a per capita GDP of 2,750 USD. The lives of the Vietnamese people have improved, and the proportion of impoverished households has dropped to 1.45%, leading the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to recognize it as one of the countries with the most outstanding achievements in poverty reduction. Between 2016 and 2019, Laos maintained a GDP growth rate between 6.4% and 6.8%, with per capita GDP rising from 2,027 USD to 2,683 USD, while the people's standard of living also improved. On November 24, 2021, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution announcing that Laos would graduate from the category of Least Developed Countries. Furthermore, the subjective forces of socialism in various countries have strengthened their solidarity and cooperation through platforms such as the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties, the "World Left Forum," and the "São Paulo Forum," building new alliances and "forming a certain degree of scale advantage for the development of world socialism." The world socialist movement, moves toward revitalization, provides the Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA) with an inspiration of confidence, theoretical references, lessons from experience, and material support, which will surely assist the CPUSA in achieving new development.
III. Major Challenges Facing the Communist Party of the USA
At present, although the CPUSA has developed significantly compared to the past, it still faces several problems within itself that cannot be ignored, and there are various factors in American society affecting its development. These constitute the primary challenges for the CPUSA.
(1) Internal Problems of the CPUSA
First, its organizational strength is weak and it faces financial difficulties. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the CPUSA’s membership once withered to a mere thousand people, leaving its survival in doubt. Its strength later recovered slowly; following the financial crisis, membership gradually increased to 3,000 in 2011, then to over 5,000 in 2018, and it was only recently that the CPUSA grew to over 10,000 members. Organizations have not yet been established in many regions. A party organization of this scale is a weak presence in American society. Even among this small force, the members are not necessarily characterized by "advanced nature" or "purity." Since applicants are not required to undergo ideological or political training beforehand, nor do they require recommendations from two party members—needing only to pay 12 USD to join online—and because the probationary period for new members has been abolished, the quality of new members is difficult to guarantee.
Furthermore, among both old and new members, there is a considerable degree of petty-bourgeois ideology and behavior, such as "individualism, lack of working-class consciousness, insufficient commitment to honesty and principles, a lack of responsibility toward the interests of workers, inability to cooperate with the collective, ignoring or evading collective discipline, egocentrism, and arrogance." Despite the CPUSA's best efforts to expand its influence, its voice remains relatively faint; many Americans are not even aware that such a party exists. Former CPUSA Chairman John Bachtell (in office 2014–2019) admitted, "We are a small organization." In 2015, while meeting a young African American pastor who was organizing protests in Baltimore against the police shooting of Freddie Gray, Bachtell asked what the pastor thought of the Communist Party. The pastor replied bluntly: "You might be famous in your circles, but you are still unknown to the world."
This weakness in strength means the CPUSA not only struggles to exert significant influence on mainstream American politics but also occupies a relatively marginalized position within the progressive camp, playing a limited role in capitalist transformation. The CPUSA’s finances are also extremely strained. Historically, CPUSA finances relied primarily on aid from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). After the collapse of the CPSU, the CPUSA immediately fell into a serious financial crisis. Currently, its stable income mainly consists of rent from leasing floors of its headquarters building in New York and the meager annual dues of its members (most members pay 60 USD per year, while low-income members pay 24 USD). These revenues are limited, forcing the CPUSA to find other ways to raise funds. In early 2021, the CPUSA raised over 100,000 USD; the party admitted that while this eased financial pressure, "we are not out of the proverbial woods." In December, to reach a year-end goal of raising a mere 35,000 USD, the CPUSA issued an extremely earnest appeal for donations to its readers on its official website. This underscores the dire state of the CPUSA's finances. Finance is the lifeblood of an organization, and the shortage of funds has become a major constraint on the CPUSA's development.
Second, there are continuous internal divisions. As previously mentioned, during his tenure as chairman, Sam Webb attempted to change the nature and identity of the CPUSA, which met with strong opposition within the party. During this conflict, some members who were dissatisfied with Webb's approach left the CPUSA to establish the Party of Communists USA (PCUSA). Later, although Webb and others also left the CPUSA, their ideas still retain a certain influence within the party. On the eve of the CPUSA's 31st National Convention in 2019, intense debates broke out again within the party regarding several major issues.
Regarding the issue of the right to national self-determination for Black people, Wadi'h Halabi, chairman of the CPUSA Central Committee's Economics Commission, upheld the right to Black national self-determination advocated by the Communist International (Comintern) in the 1920s and 30s. He argued that Black people in the U.S. constitute a nation in the Marxist sense and should therefore exercise the right to self-determination. He further emphasized that Communist recognition of the self-determination and land rights of oppressed nations would not divide but rather strengthen and unite workers worldwide. Conversely, opponents represented by Joe Sims (who was elected co-chair at the 31st Convention in June) argued that the African American experience does not involve a shared economic life or territory, and thus Black people do not meet the definition of a nation; therefore, the question of self-determination is moot. They argued that Black people must unite with white workers to jointly oppose the power of monopoly capital.
Regarding the issue of international solidarity among Communist parties, Wadi'h Halabi argued that the Comintern was the most effective weapon of the working class; despite its flaws, this weapon should not be discarded. He argued that the dissolution of the Comintern made the international communist movement worse, the most serious result being the dramatic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He hinted at the need to reconstruct the Comintern. This was met with dissent from within the party. Halabi again pointed out that the main reason for the major failures of the 20th-century international communist movement was disunity and the split of the "world party." He also believed it was a mistake for many parties to seek "national roads to socialism" after the split, arguing that only a reunified world party could lead the path to human liberation. Joe Sims immediately rebutted this, pointing out that one of the greatest mistakes of the 20th-century communist movement was the premature adoption of the Soviet model as a universal blueprint for communists everywhere. He argued that the Comintern failed because guidance and decision-making from the center could not adapt to the diversity and differences of working-class movements in various countries. The socialist road must be developed independently by each Communist party and the working class of each nation; today, there is no necessity to establish a Comintern. In response to Sims's view, Wadi'h Halabi countered that while the inequalities caused by a culture of exploitation led the Comintern to make mistakes, these could be overcome through collective effort. He argued that humanity today faces existential challenges, and without joint initiatives from Communist parties, there will be no solutions. Human liberation requires a renewed commitment to international communist unity and the common interests of the proletariat, regardless of nationality. The two sides were almost diametrically opposed, neither willing to yield. These differences affect the CPUSA's solidarity, unity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness.
(2) Adversarial Factors in American Society
First, the “anti-communist” prejudice of the American public is difficult to eliminate. In the process of developing the New World, the early European immigrants to North America gradually formed their own set of values—namely, the veneration of liberty, democracy, individualism, and the sanctity of private property. Since communist ideology advocates for collectivism and the elimination of private property and the private ownership of capital, communism encountered rejection from the majority of Americans as soon as it was introduced to the United States. Following the victory of the October Revolution, the American bourgeois government engaged in extensive “denigrating” propaganda against the Russian Bolshevik regime, leading the American public to mistakenly believe that the Bolshevik regime was a brutal, dictatorial, and morally bankrupt power. Consequently, the CPUSA, which advocated for a Bolshevik revolution in the United States to establish a Soviet regime, met with widespread opposition from American society. After the U.S. and the Soviet Union entered the Cold War, the U.S. government spared no effort in strengthening anti-Soviet and anti-communist propaganda, using “totalitarianism” to attack the Soviet Union; thus, the American public’s impression of the USSR and communism deteriorated once again. Furthermore, the CPUSA followed the orders of the CPSU for a long period, subjecting its domestic policy-making to the will of the CPSU and serving Soviet interests. This led the American public to view the CPUSA as a Soviet proxy or even as Soviet spies in the United States, further compounding their negative perception. This poor impression has taken root in the hearts of the American people and remains difficult to erase even now, posing a serious impact on the CPUSA’s development today. Elena [9], the former head of the CPUSA’s organizing department and a veteran member who worked for the Party for 35 years, noted with great sorrow in her 2015 resignation letter to the leadership that no matter how hard she and her colleagues tried to recruit members, few joined the organization, and most people did not recognize it; even Bernie Sanders’ popularity did not change the negative connotations of “communism” and “communist party.” Driven by pessimism regarding the CPUSA's development prospects, she left the party.
Second, the threat posed by far-right forces remains severe. The strategy of far-right forces contains anti-communist and anti-socialist elements, represents a major threat to American socialism, and squeezes the political space of the CPUSA. In October 2018, the White House released a 72-page report titled The Opportunity Costs of Socialism, which leveled harsh criticisms against existing socialist models and enumerated the potential losses socialism could bring to U.S. economic growth, as well as its effects on federal finances and people’s living standards. On February 5, 2019, Donald Trump stated in his State of the Union address that the United States would never be a socialist country. At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on March 2, Trump said in his speech that America’s future must never fall into the hands of those who believe in socialism. Although Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, this threat “will not disappear,” because “with the support of 73 million voters, a majority of Republicans in the House and Senate, and massive financial backing, they remain a powerful force that must be defeated.” In fact, far-right forces and their supporters are not reconciled to defeat and are attempting a comeback. On January 6, 2021, a large number of members supporting Trump’s campaign and right-wing armed organizations from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., to participate in a “Save America” action on the White House lawn. That afternoon, the supporters demonstrated and quickly turned to violence, forcibly breaking into the U.S. Capitol Building and creating the “Occupation of Capitol Hill” incident [10] that shocked the world. In June, 10,000 Trump supporters rallied in Wellington, Ohio; in September, 15,000 supporters rallied in Perry, Georgia; and in early November, thousands more rallied at the Des Moines fairgrounds. Trump himself has returned to the national political stage, vowing at the February 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference to retake congressional seats for Republicans in 2022 and hinting at another presidential run in 2024. Far-right forces have also exerted great effort in voter suppression, increasing the difficulty of voting. Driven by them, in 2021, over 440 bills restricting voting rights were introduced in 49 U.S. states, and 34 such bills were passed across 19 states. Facing the future struggle to defeat far-right forces, the CPUSA still faces considerable pressure.
Third, the class consciousness of American workers is relatively weak. The working class is the primary class basis and fundamental pillar of the Communist Party, and the main subject of the socialist movement. The strength of the CPUSA, the success of its struggles, and the development of the socialist movement depend crucially on the exertion of the workers’ subjective role. A necessary prerequisite for the exertion of this subjective role is the maturity of working-class consciousness. Regrettably, the class consciousness of American workers is overall quite weak; they lack a revolutionary spirit and solidarity. During the early stages of American development, land in the United States was vast and cheap; new immigrants could easily acquire their own land, and through personal effort and management, they could quickly become wealthy. Coupled with the labor shortage at the time, this made the wages of American workers much higher than those in Europe, and their living conditions were relatively good. These factors “prevented them from possessing sufficient class consciousness and revolutionary ideas.” After World War II, the American capitalist economy developed rapidly, and the U.S. government adopted welfare state programs and measures to improve labor-management relations; the working and living conditions of American workers were significantly improved. The revolutionary nature of American workers was thus greatly dissipated. As one CPUSA member noted during the great discussion prior to the 31st National Convention in 2019, cultivating working-class consciousness is a real challenge, one reason being that “their income allows them to drive big trucks and keep their gas tanks full.” Furthermore, the United States is a multi-ethnic country composed of immigrants from all over the world. Due to differences in language, culture, and psychology, it is difficult for immigrants of different races to communicate and integrate; they are accustomed to clustering with people from the same region and race. This makes American workers inclined to see themselves as members of a certain race rather than a certain class, with racial loyalty outweighing class loyalty. Meanwhile, the continuous influx of new immigrant labor makes older immigrant workers feel their jobs are being squeezed out, thus generating strong xenophobic sentiments. Consequently, it is difficult for American workers to achieve unity and jointly oppose capitalism. The fact that a large number of working-class voters were attracted to Trump in the 2016 presidential election is a clear testament to this.
Conclusion
To date, the Communist Party USA has traversed a journey of struggle spanning more than a century. It has experienced the hardships of its founding, the prosperity of the World War II era, long-term post-war stagnation, and further setbacks following the collapse of the Soviet Union; it was only with the 2008 financial crisis that it welcomed an opportunity for development. Despite being situated in the heartland of the most powerful capitalist forces, the CPUSA has consistently persisted in its struggle, continuously promoting the development of socialist theory and practice. The new theoretical developments since the 30th National Convention provide us with different perspectives for understanding contemporary capitalism and socialism, which is conducive to enriching the theory of scientific socialism. The new developments in practice are of great significance for promoting the growth of its own strength, safeguarding the interests of the lower and middle classes in the United States, resisting the influence of far-right forces, and facilitating a leftward shift in American politics and social progress.
Given the current favorable factors, the influence of the CPUSA among the American public—especially among young people who lack Cold War memories and find themselves in difficult circumstances—will further increase. The organization will expand further, its principles and policies will become more attuned to the practical needs of American society, its performance in American politics will become more active, and its marginalized status in society will be somewhat improved, allowing it to play a greater role in the development of the American socialist movement. However, the practical challenges faced by the CPUSA dictate that it will be difficult for it to fundamentally change its own situation in the short term; the struggles it carries out will struggle to achieve breakthrough progress, and expectations regarding its influence on mainstream American politics must remain rational. The CPUSA’s exploration of a socialist path for its own country will be a long-term, arduous, and complex process. It requires further deep and effective advancement of the Sinicization of Marxism [11], steady accumulation of strength, dissemination of ideas, mobilization of workers, and rallying of the masses, while patiently awaiting the arrival of the right moment.