A leftward shift': Communist party USA sees chance as progressives surge [View all]

[DonViejo]

In Chicago, an American party derided and feared for 100 years looked eagerly to a brighter future

Eric Lutz in Chicago

Sun 23 Jun 2019 08.30 EDT

As the Communist party USA kicked off its 100th anniversary celebration, Jarvis Tyner called for delegates and guests at the national convention in Chicago to “set the record straight” about one of American politics biggest historical bogeymen.

“The truth is the communist party isn’t out to hurt you,” Tyner, vice-chair of CPUSA and its candidate for vice-president in 1972 and 1976, told a large and diverse crowd. “It will set you free.”

The remarks, met with applause, came on the first day of CPUSA’s 31st national convention – and at a moment in American politics in which democratic socialism and progressive ideas are increasingly finding a home in the mainstream of the Democratic party.

Communists from across the US, along with international delegates from Germany, Canada, Venezuela and elsewhere, sought to send the message that their party has been the most consistent champion of those ideas, has been on the right side of some of the most consequential ideological battles of the last hundred years, and is ready to continue the fight into its second century.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/23/communist-party-usa-chicago-cpusa-convention