Communism in the USA

Extract

[...] According to Nathan Rosenberg, a teacher of economics at the Stanford University, the USA is the ideal society for the development of Marxism: “Socialism as an economic form of organization can only be a success because the problems of production and distribution of the essential resources have been solved by a former capitalist society.” A teacher of social theory at the Rutgers University, Robin Fox, puts the stress on the necessity to go through capitalism to success in communism: “According to Marx as well as Engels, the only way to communism lies in the internal contradictions of capitalism, which must be fully developed so as to arrive to a real conscience of class ( ) It is impossible to press Therefore, there is a future for communism in the USA. [...]

[...] 1950-1954 has been the harshest period for communists in the USA. Many have been prosecuted under the Special Committee on Un-American Activities. In communist leaders were condemned. There was big process such as the Alger Hiss one in 1948 or the Rosenberg one in 1951. Nearly 7,000 civil servants were fired under the Loyalty Program. The number of members went from 80,000 to 25,000 and the CPUSA (Communist Party of the USA) was mainly infiltrated by the FBI. This was not new, in 1919-1920, there already had been a Red Scare (4,000 people under arrest). [...]

[...] According to historians, the CPUSA was too much dependent on the CPUSSR and the Comintern. It contributed to discredit them. The hard-liners only managed to be less and less close to the US workers. Besides, the strength of the bipartism is really important and doesn't let the “third parties” live. The influence of the CPUSA is only quite important between the intellectuals. A possible renewal ? But, once considered the probable deaths of the CPUSA because of its archaisms, many searchers in the USA consider that Marxism is not to be buried right away. [...]