'[He] not only sustain(s) a deeply anti-communist line, in [his] political practise, but [he] destroy(s), the operational reality of democratic centralism'.
- Richard Zhovey, Friend and Comrade to the General-Secretary
Well comrades, it seems that the accusations are being thrown about once again. The prisons of the ACP shall be full indeed, come their empowerment! Look out, you disgusting den of Kautskyite-Martovite-Trotskyite-Bukharinite-Zinovievite-DeLeonite-Browderite-Avakianite-Marcyite-Sanderite-Unruhite-Maupinite-Simite ,,revolutionary'' counter-revolutionaries! The truly begotten Vanguard has come again, to save the proletariat from your infantile and psychopathic ways! We charge you with credible crimes, which you have most clearly committed: from fascist revolution and imperialist espionage, to wrecking railroads and sabotage.
If any of you have been hit in these damning accusations, your personal opinion, your preferred tendency, or even the party that you belong to, then I say to scum like you- 'well met, fellow diversionist!'. For I am also expected to be in the crosshairs of the American Communist Party. Of course, you will forgive me, comrades, for my denunciation above, but one can never be too careful when the Vanguard Party is seeking roaches (or rats) under the rugs. One may only hope, like Andreas Hofer, that whoever becomes People's Commissar of the General Political Underarmerie can shoot well, and rewards us with this for our denunciations.
To be serious, now, I must say that the current attitude of ACP leaders such as Carlos Garrido is concerning. I confess that he may have perhaps meant his accusations for the CPUSA leadership alone, but I am not sure that it matters, considering that it still lends to an atmosphere of which I am concerned by. Obviously, I do not really expect People's Commissar of Score-Settling Jackson Hinkle to knock on my door, inviting me to have a discussion with Comrade Tokarev and Comrade Makarov in the basement in my lifetime. However, the general political health, not merely of the ACP internally, but by extension of them, of the entire (US) Left is severely damaged by this kind of attitude, and cross-party rivalry. There is another General-Secretary of another communist party who is simply obsessed with attacking the CPUSA and insulting its leadership. This General-Secretary does not even realise that his own party is ailing, so obsessed is he with this feud he maintains against the old CP.
On the question of Jackson Hinkle, to digress a moment: I hold the policy that, if the American Communist Party proves to be a good party, then I can look past a leader or two that I personally find distasteful (I call this concept 'His Comrajesty's Government', and have two articles coming out on it, later). If, however, the ACP looks to be engaging in uncomradely, or corrupt, behaviour, then I will take my concerns about leaders- such as Hinkle -into consideration upon whether the party is a positive or negative development. I have seen some... troubling matters, but I understand that things may be missing context, or may be obsolete. I sincerely hope that one of these two possibilities is the case, for if neither is so, then that is most unwell for the health and stability of the party.
The quotes in the title and at the beginning of this article are Carlos Garrido's, but there is more to make note of. He accused other Leftists, without naming any person or organisation, of sabotaging the ACP: specifically, blocking members of its delegation to Venezuela from being able to leave the United States. This accusation of internal conspiracy is a Robespierrean Terror, a Yezhovshchina, if you will, which I had hoped should be left behind at least until the actual revolution. Alas, the Left has managed to learn exactly nothing, but exactly (which is a massive improvement in theory, to be sure!). I simply ask the question: which Leftists have the power to do what Carlos Garrido has accused the ,,mystery wreckers''. Comrade Carlos, should we begin searching the bed-sheets, the pantries, and the closets of everyone, or just all of the (pseudo-)communists? I believe Obama is a no-good, two-faced, pseudo-communist, and that thug, Joe Simalin McCarthy as well, and worst of all, I denounce that Carlos Garrido as a two-bit, hack-sack pseudo-communist... oh wait... Apologies Comrade Carlos... wait, let's talk about this, what are doing with that PPSh? It was just a mistake, please comrade!
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Again, not to say anything bad of comrades' potential future actions, but we can not pretend to ignore the dismal historical precedent which has been handed down to us. In reality, the danger often does not come from the leadership (and many times it has), but has come from the masses instead, like the Maoist Red Guards. The party leaders give their rousing speeches, speaking of how all of these numerous wreckers shall not impede the revolt of the masses; next week, the local comrades are handing Comrade Yezhov a
list with your name on it, only because you voted against a bill in your good conscience, in your reasoned, honest opinion. Now you must die, fool. Or maybe it was because you forgot to shake their hands, impossible to tell, really. Such a waste.
You might think that I am being too wound up about Carlos Garrido's rhetorical live-stream, that I am over-reacting to a stage-performance, an energising campaign speech, so to phrase. It may be so particularly regarding Carlos. But comrades, something has happened to cause me this deep concern of mistrust. A comrade which I have long organised with, including creating groups with him, seems to have betrayed our friendship, without issuing a single word. I have known this comrade for about eight or nine years- nearly a decade; this is how he apparently treats long-standing comrades that he has had only the smallest (mostly abstract, literary, or historical) disagreements with. Thus how can I know that Carlos, with no prior relations with me, will have the good-will to cross out my name if it be presented to him on a kill-sheet? How do I know that, one day, Carlos (or the ACP) will not publicly attack me with all sorts of accusations and insinuations? My friend (not the one just mentioned, but the one involved in Leftist parties) was stabbed in the back by Ken/PCUSA, so I have seen it actually occur.
I know that the last few articles have been bitter, and rather sarcastic, so I will try to produce a basically objective, or reasoned, rather, analysis of the American Communist Party. First, I should like to notate the two videos that have come from Midwestern Marx on it. If I finish the notations, and find them interesting enough, then perhaps I will post them as well.
*Minor update: intriguingly, Carlos Garrido proclaimed that 'there is no CPUSA, there is no PCUSA, there is no one else: there is the ACP!'. I had originally thought that, due to the implication of Christopher Helali being a leader, previously of the PCUSA, now of the ACP, that this might have all been a coup launched by the delusional PCUSA against the old CP. It is possible that this is merely more rhetoric from Carlos Garrido, or maybe he does not know whether the PCUSA is pulling Helali's strings behind the curtain. Christopher Helali has had controversy around him, but nothing, I think, as troubling or substantiated as Jackson Hinkle, so I make no claim about his personal or political integrity here. Whatever the fact of the case, it is good, at minimum, to finally hear such a disavowal of the PCUSA by a leader of the ACP. Note that I say a disavowal, rather than an attack, or an accusation, or a denunciation. When parties do the latter, it is a damaging harm to the atmosphere of Leftist politic, but the former is a commendable statement of position (whereby principles may be inferred by each individual comrade).
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