September 27, 2001 - Washington Times
Communists, go home
Robert Stacy McCain
Ten years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, communists are taking
over Washington � or at least, the National Mall.
Most in the media would have you believe that the protesters who will
gather Saturday across from the White House are a "broad coalition" of groups
(as CNN decribed the 1999 rioters in Seattle) or perhaps a "various
political, social and religious organizations" (as the New York Times
described this summer's rioters in Genoa, Italy).
Hogwash. They're communists, and some of them are honest enough to
admit it.
One of the most vocal promoters of Saturday's demonstration is the
International Action Center (IAC). The IAC's chief spokesmen � Brian Becker
and Larry Holmes � are both officials of the Worker's World Party (WWP), a
Marxist organization with a record of supporting repressive communist regimes
such as Cuba and North Korea.
The history of the WWP is instructive. Its founder, Sam Marcy, was a
follower of Leon Trotsky, the Bolshevik leader who was purged by (and later
assasinated by henchmen of) Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Marcy split from
the Socialist Workers Party after his fellow Troskyists refused to endorse
the USSR's 1956 invasion of Hungary.
So Messrs. Becker and Holmes, whose party began by defending Kruschev's
military conquest of Hungary, now want to protest war and "American
imperialism." Isn't that nice?
But the WWP and the IAC aren't the only commies backing Saturday's
demonstrations. Among those sponsoring, promoting and supporting the rally at
the Washington Monument is the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).
The Young Communist League, youth affilate of the CPUSA, carries this
message on its Web site, www.yclusa.org: "We extend our invitation for people
to come to Washington D.C. for the Peoples' Summit . . . on September 29th."
Like the WWP and the IAC, the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) has
its own front group, Refuse & Resist (R&R), founded in 1987 by veteran RCP
activist Clark Kissinger. Mary Lou Greenberg, another RCP member, is also on
the National Council of R & R, a sponsor of Saturday's protests.
Kissinger � who recently served a 90-day jail sentence for probation
violation � was national officer of the Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS) in the 1960s, was involved in the 1968 riots in Chicago, then left SDS.
A follower of Mao Zedong, Kissinger has been affiliated for more than 20
years with the Maoist RCP.
Last year, Kissinger offered this bit of analysis: "The problem in this
country is the oppressive system of capitalism that exploits people all over
the world, that destroys our planet, that oppresses minority people, that
sends people to the death chambers in droves. That is a problem that has to
be done away with. Is there a solution? Yes. Revolution is the solution."
Advocating Maoist revolution � and promoting the ubiquitous hero of the
left, Philadelphia cop-killer Mumia-Abu Jamal � has won R&R and RCP the
support of rockers like Rage Against the Machine and Chumbawamba.
The communist influence on Saturday's protest extends far beyond the
participation of avowed Marxists, Trotskyists and Maoists. Among the
scheduled speakers are members of the Institute for Policy Studies, a think
tank which during the Cold War consistently trumpeted the Soviet position,
"supporting the goals and causes of virtually every revolutionary terrorist
movement backed by Havana, Hanoi, and Moscow," according to one historian.
Want more? Should any protesters manage to get themselves arrested
Saturday, they will call on the attorneys of the National Lawyers Guild
(NLG), organized by lawyers for the Communist Party in 1936. The NLG is
affiliated with the International Association of Democratic Lawyers,
described by the CIA in 1978 as "one of the most useful Communist front
organizations at the service of the Soviet Communist Party."
Being old enough to remember the Cold War and to have cheered the
collapse of the Soviet empire, I have to scratch my head at the crowds of
young people � most of them rich, white college kids � who flock to these
protests organized by communists. Did America endure a four-decade nuclear
standoff with the Evil Empire, so that its children could grow up to be
commies?
I suppose many young people are victims of their Baby Boomer teachers,
who taught them that the "peace" movement of the 1960s was all sunshine and
light. Guess nobody bothered to tell the kids about the bombings perpetrated
by the Weather Underground and the murders committed by the Black Panthers,
to say nothing of the millions enslaved and slaughtered in Vietnam and
Cambodia because of the "peace" resulting from communist victory.
So hundreds of young people will be out in front of the White House,
supporting the communist attack on "American imperialism."
It doesn't really matter what they're protesting, of course. Saturday's
demonstrations were originally organized to protest against "globalization"
during the the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund meetings. Those
meetings were canceled after the Sept. 11 bombings, so suddenly the focus was
shifted to opposing U.S. efforts to strike back against terrorism.
It makes no difference to the commies, you see. Whatever the cause, the
enemies are the same: America and capitalism.
Some may ask why the "anti-globalization" movement doesn't purge all
these communists. The simple answer is that, if all the communists were
purged, there wouldn't be any movement left. Behind all the rhetoric about
protecting the environment and relieving poverty in the developing world,
this movement is unadulterated Marxism � anti-capitalist, anti-freedom,
anti-American.
A better question is this: Why are we sending aircraft carriers halfway
around the world to look for enemies, when our nation's worst enemies �
communists proclaiming an anti-American jihad � will be right there in front
of the Washington Monument on Saturday?
