Sam Webb | |
---|---|
Chairman of the Communist Party USA | |
In office 2000–2014 | |
Preceded by | Gus Hall |
Succeeded by | John Bachtell |
Personal details | |
Born | Maine,U.S. | June 4,1945
Political party | Communist (1978–2016) |
Alma mater | St. Francis Xavier University,(B.A.,Economics) University of Connecticut,(M.A.,Economics) |
Website | www.samwebb.org |
Samuel Webb (born June 4,1945) is an American activist and political leader,who served as the Chairman of the Communist Party USA from 2000 to 2014,succeeding the party's longest running leader Gus Hall. Webb did not accept nomination to be reelected as chairman at the 30th National Convention of the Communist Party USA in 2014,at which John Bachtell was elected the party's new chairman. Webb continued to serve on the party's National Committee until 2016. [1]
Samuel Webb was born in Maine and graduated from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia,Canada,in 1967. He holds an M.A. in economics from the University of Connecticut. [2] He worked as a Communist Party organizer in Michigan from 1978–1988. [2]
Webb led the CPUSA when it made the decision to support some Democratic candidates in the 2004 U.S. presidential election. While the Party regarded both major parties as two capitalist entities in a collaborative dictatorship for established financial institutions,it believed that rule by the Democrats was preferable to rule by the Republicans,arguing that the latter puts the interests of working people in considerable danger. [3] During the 2008 U.S. presidential election,Webb called President Obama a "people's advocate" and said that some of his early decisions,in reversing some of President George W. Bush's policies,were praiseworthy. [4]
In 2005 Webb wrote Reflections on Socialism,a paper reflecting ideas that Webb first presented at the 2005 Left Forum in New York City. This paper points out that socialism is once again being discussed in the trade union and student movements,in popular magazines and certainly in the halls of power worldwide. [5]
Webb traveled to China, [6] United Kingdom,Cuba, [7] and Vietnam, [6] in order to meet communist and socialist leaders.
On February 4,2011 Webb published an essay in the Communist Party magazine Political Affairs,"A Party of Socialism in the 21st Century:What It Looks Like,What It Says,and What It Does". It set forth positions that came under sharp criticism from Communist parties across the world,as well as a portion of CPUSA members,as being revisionist,social democratic,and anti-Communist. These parties included the Communist Parties of Canada, [8] Mexico, [9] Germany [9] and Greece [10] as well as the CPUSA Houston club, [11] the Austin Hogan Transit Club of NYC, [12] the CPUSA Tucson Club, [13] the LA Metro Club, [14] and the Communist Party of San Francisco. [15]
In 2014,Webb did not seek reelection as the National Committee's chairman and stepped down from office. At the 30th National Convention of the Communist Party USA,John Bachtell was elected as the new Chairman of the National Committee,thereby ending Webb's 14 years as the party's leader.
At the end of the 2016 Democratic primary,Webb defended Hillary Clinton and urged supporters of Bernie Sanders to support her in the general election. [16]
Gus Hall was the General Secretary of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and a perennial candidate for president of the United States. He was Finnish-American. He was the Communist Party nominee in the 1972,1976,1980,and 1984 presidential elections. As a labor leader,Hall was closely associated with the so-called "Little Steel" Strike of 1937,an effort to unionize the nation's smaller,regional steel manufacturers. During the Second Red Scare,Hall was indicted under the Smith Act and was sentenced to eight years in prison. After his release,Hall led the CPUSA for over 40 years,often taking an orthodox Marxist–Leninist stance.
The Young Communist League USA (YCLUSA) is a communist youth organization in the United States. The stated aim of the League is the development of its members into Communists,through studying Socialism and through active participation in the struggles of the American working class. The YCL recognizes the Communist Party USA as the party for socialism in the United States and operates as the Party's youth wing. Although the name of the group changed a number of times during its existence,its origins trace back to 1920,shortly after the establishment of the first communist parties in the United States.
The Communist Party of Greece is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Greece. It was founded in 1918 as the Socialist Labour Party of Greece and adopted its current name in November 1924. It is the oldest political party in modern Greek politics. The party was banned in 1936,but played a significant role in the Greek resistance and the Greek Civil War,and its membership peaked in the mid-1940s. Legalization of the KKE was restored following the fall of the Greek junta.
The Coalition of the Left,of Movements and Ecology,commonly known as Synaspismos and abbreviated to SYN (ΣΥΝ),was a Greek political party of the radical New Left. It was founded in 1991 and was known as the Coalition of the Left and Progress until 2003. In 2004 SYN was a founding member of the Party of the European Left.
The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia is a communist party in the Czech Republic. As of 2022,KSČM has a membership of 20,450,and is a member party of The Left in the European Parliament –GUE/NGL in the European Parliament,and an observer member of the European Left Party. Sources variously describe the party as either left-wing or far-left on the political spectrum. It is one of the few former ruling parties in post-Communist Central Eastern Europe to have not dropped the Communist title from its name,although it has changed its party program to adhere to laws adopted after 1989.
The Communist Party of Canada is a federal political party in Canada,founded in 1921 under conditions of illegality. Although it does not currently have any parliamentary representation,the party's candidates have previously been elected to the House of Commons,the Ontario legislature,the Manitoba legislature,and various municipal governments across the country. The party has also made significant contributions to Canada's trade union,labour,and peace movements.
Communist Party USA,officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA),also known as the American Communist Party,is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revolution.
Earl Russell Browder was an American politician,spy for the Soviet Union,communist activist and leader of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Browder was the General Secretary of the CPUSA during the 1930s and first half of the 1940s.
The Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS) is a democratic socialist group in the United States that originated in 1991 as the Committees of Correspondence,a moderate grouping in the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Named after the Committees of Correspondence formed during the American Revolution,the group criticized the leadership of CPUSA president Gus Hall and argued that,in light of the dissolution of the Soviet Union,the party should reject Leninism and adopt a multi-tendency democratic socialist orientation. The party continues to consider itself Marxist.
The history of the socialist movement in the United States spans a variety of tendencies,including anarchists,communists,democratic socialists,Marxists,Marxist–Leninists,Trotskyists and utopian socialists. It began with utopian communities in the early 19th century such as the Shakers,the activist visionary Josiah Warren and intentional communities inspired by Charles Fourier. Labor activists,usually Jewish,German,or Finnish immigrants,founded the Socialist Labor Party of America in 1877. The Socialist Party of America was established in 1901. By that time,anarchism also rose to prominence around the country. Socialists of different tendencies were involved in early American labor organizations and struggles. These reached a high point in the Haymarket massacre in Chicago,which founded the International Workers' Day as the main labour holiday around the world,Labor Day and making the eight-hour day a worldwide objective by workers organizations and socialist parties worldwide.
Charlene Alexander Mitchell was an American international socialist,feminist,labor and civil rights activist. In 1968,she became the first Black woman candidate for President of the United States.
Dorothy Ray Healey was a long-time activist in the Communist Party USA,from the late 1920s to the 1970s. In the 1930s,she was one of the first union leaders to advocate for the rights of Chicanos and Black Americans as factory and field workers.
Gil Green was a leading figure in the Communist Party of the United States of America until 1991. He is best remembered as the leader of the party's youth section,the Young Communist League,during the tumultuous decade of the 1930s.
The American Left can refer to multiple concepts. It is sometimes used as a shorthand for groups aligned with the Democratic Party. At other times,it refers to groups that have sought egalitarian changes in the economic,political,and cultural institutions of the United States. Various subgroups with a national scope are active. Liberals and progressives believe that equality can be accommodated into existing capitalist structures,but they differ in their criticism of capitalism and on the extent of reform and the welfare state. Anarchists,communists,and socialists with international imperatives are also present within this macro-movement. Many communes and egalitarian communities have existed in the United States as a sub-category of the broader intentional community movement,some of which were based on utopian socialist ideals. The left has been involved in both the Democratic and Republican parties at different times,having originated in the Democratic-Republican Party as opposed to the Federalist Party.
Communist Party USA (CPUSA) is an American political party with a communist platform that was founded in 1919 in Chicago. The history of the Communist Party USA is deeply rooted in the history of the American labor movement and the Communist Party USA indeed played critical roles in the earliest struggles to organize American workers into unions as well as the later civil rights and anti-war movements. The history of CPUSA is ideologically complex and tied to communism,labor movements,and Marxism. Many party members were forced to work covertly due to the high level of political repression in the United States against Communists. CPUSA faced many challenges in gaining a foothold in the United States as they endured two eras of the Red Scare and never experienced significant electoral success. Despite struggling to become a major electoral player,CPUSA was the most prominent leftist party in the United States. CPUSA developed close ties with the Soviet Union,which led to them being financially linked.
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a multi-tendency,democratic-socialist,and labor-oriented political organization in the United States. Its roots are in the Socialist Party of America (SPA),whose leaders included Eugene V. Debs,Norman Thomas and Michael Harrington. In 1973,Harrington,the leader of a minority faction that had opposed the SPA's transformation into the Social Democrats,USA (SDUSA) during the party's 1972 national convention,formed the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC). In 1982,it merged with the New American Movement (NAM),a coalition of intellectuals with roots in the New Left movements of the 1960s and former members of socialist and communist parties of the Old Left. Upon the DSA's founding,Harrington and the socialist feminist author Barbara Ehrenreich were elected co-chairs of the organization.
The 30th National Convention of the Communist Party USA was held from 13 to 15 June 2014 in Chicago,Illinois. The Party set its agenda taking into account developments since its May 2010 convention,including the April 2014 convention of the AFL–CIO,the 2012 election,and the Occupy movement,as well as re-examining the Party's organizational structure.
John Bachtell is an American Marxist,activist,trade unionist,and community organizer who served as the Chairman of the National Committee of the Communist Party USA from its 30th National Convention in 2014 until its 31st National Convention in 2019.
The Socialism in Greece has a significant history,with various activists,politicians and political parties identifying as socialist. Socialist movements in Greece began to form around the early 20th century,including the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) (1920–present),the Socialist Party of Greece (1920-1953) and the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). Socialist ideology is present within the political party Syriza which forms the current opposition in Greece,also known as the Coalition of the Radical Left.
The Red Guards were American "Marxist–Leninist–Maoist collectives of community organizers and mass workers" originating in Los Angeles and Austin with other branches operating in Kansas City,Pittsburgh,and Charlotte,as well as St. Louis and San Marcos,under the distinct titles of Red Path Saint Louis and San Marcos Revolutionary Front respectively.