http://greatreporter.com/mambo/content/view/1713/1/
- - - After years in the wilderness, the Communist Party USA is giving itself a public relations and ideological makeover, and, with its new $1 million office, hopes to be running the US within 50 years. ... The Reds went "green" for their $1 million overhaul, including various environmentally conscious features in the design. Huge windows and transparent walls were installed to take advantage of the sunlight and create greater energy efficiency. They also installed occupancy sensors so artificial lighting would not be wasted, and nontoxic building materials were used to reduce health risks to staff. The new office is the symbol of a new era in the Communist movement and what its members hope will be the first step in a return from the political fringes. "It's a very exciting time for the organization," said Sam Delgado, a 24-year-old web content developer and spokesperson for CPUSA. ... We now envision a broad coalition of the people of this country as the only way we can move towards socialism." Webb believes it is vital to focus only on the "ultra-right" now. "Instead of fighting corporate power as whole, we made a distinction between one section of it - right-wing extremism based among energy and military industries, and other sections that weren't quite as reactionary." According to Webb these new alliances with more moderates have been a major factor in bringing more members to the party. Alongside this ideological softening, the party has also embraced a new organizational principle called "democratic centralism," a seemingly oxymoronic new admixture of Joseph Stalin and pluralism. "Most people think it means top down organizing," said Webb. "But it's not only that. It does have leadership bodies that make decisions, but the membership is asked to be part of those decisions. It is democratic; we don't order anybody to do this thing or that." To its own surprise, the party has even found a connection to Democratic golden boy and presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama. In his autobiography, "Dreams of My Father," Obama refers to a mentor named Frank, who was recently revealed to be Frank Marshall David, a poet and a CPUSA member. ... Lucas Gray, 19, of Knoxville, Iowa, joined the CPUSA a year ago and is a member of the new CPUSA facebook.com group. "A lot of the positions of the Democrats now, like universal healthcare, are actually the same as the Communists'," he said. The Fox News pundit David Horowitz, a former Communist, takes a potential resurgence seriously. "I'm concerned," he said. - - - It's amazing how *really* bad ideas get recycled in human history--even those that result in the murder and impoverishment not merely of thousands but *millions* of people. - Bob _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
