The Development Picture and Prospects of the Communist Party USA since Its 30th National Convention

The 30th National Convention of the Communist Party USA (hereinafter referred to as the CPUSA) held in June 2014 was an important node in the Party’s development history since the 21st century. Before this, CPUSA Chair Sam Webb, during his tenure (2000–2014), along with his supporters within the Party, advocated abandoning Leninism, democratic centralism, and the concept of the vanguard party, demanded a change of the Party’s name, and sought to transform the Party from a revolutionary organization into a social-democratic organization. This caused ideological confusion within the Party and organizational splits. The CPUSA’s 30th National Convention replaced the leadership, and Sam Webb’s proposals were also resisted. After the convention, Sam Webb and his supporters left the CPUSA. Under the leadership of the new leadership, the CPUSA corrected Sam Webb’s right-deviationist line and, in light of new changes in the domestic political and economic environment of the United States, steadily pushed forward the Party’s struggle. Systematically reviewing the development picture of the CPUSA since its 30th National Convention and deeply analyzing the prospects of the CPUSA’s development are of great significance for us to understand and grasp the actual conditions and future direction of the socialist movement in developed capitalist countries.

2014年6月召开的美国共产党（以下简称“美共”）第三十次全国代表大会是21世纪以来美共发展史上的一个重要节点。在此之前，美共主席萨姆·韦伯在其任内（2000-2014）与其党内支持者主张放弃列宁主义、民主集中制、先锋党概念，要求更改党的名称，将党由革命组织转变为社会民主组织，这造成了党内思想的混乱和组织的分裂。美共三十大更换了领导层，萨姆·韦伯的主张也受到抵制。会后，萨姆·韦伯及其支持者离开美共。美共在新的领导层带领下，纠正了萨姆·韦伯的右倾路线，并结合美国国内政治经济环境的新变化，推动美共斗争不断稳步向前发展。系统梳理美共三十大以来的发展图景，深入探析美共发展的前景，对于我们认识和把握发达资本主义国家社会主义运动的现实状况和未来走向具有重要意义。

I. The Development Picture since the CPUSA’s 30th National Convention

一、美共三十大以来的发展图景

Since its 30th National Convention, the CPUSA has continuously strengthened its exploration of theory and practice, and its development presents the following picture.

美共三十大以来不断加强理论与实践的探索，其发展呈现出如下图景。

(A) Strengthening and Improving the Party’s Own Construction

（一）加强、改进党的自身建设

First, clearly not changing the Party’s name and continuing to uphold Leninism. In November 2016, then-CPUSA Chair John Bachtell stated in a political report at the National Committee meeting: “There is no proposal to change the name of our Party,” “We are not abandoning Leninism or Lenin’s ideas, including Lenin’s concept of a revolutionary party.” In April 2020, the new Party program published on the CPUSA website emphasized: “The Communist Party is guided by the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism and scientific socialism,” and Marxism-Leninism “makes our Party the most steadfast fighter dedicated to unity, progress, and socialism.” Second, clearly upholding democratic centralism. The new CPUSA program points out: “A revolutionary party of the working class needs democratic decision-making, central leadership, and unified action… We call this method democratic centralism”; “Decisions made through democratic discussion must be implemented by the whole Party with effort”; “Factional organization is prohibited.” Third, strengthening Marxist theoretical education. The CPUSA requires that each club and district organization assign at least one member to be specifically responsible for Marxist education, and that each club and district organization formulate a Marxist education plan based on its size and capacity. The CPUSA has opened a Marxist classroom (webinar) on its official website, conducts basic knowledge tests on Marxism, and provides downloadable study materials for Party members. In addition, the CPUSA also runs a Marxist school, inviting Party member representatives from across the country to attend in person. Fourth, strengthening the construction of the Party’s basic-level organizations—clubs. The CPUSA believes: “Building clubs with strategic, tactical, educational, and organizational capabilities in workplaces and working-class communities helps win daily struggles.” As of April 20, 2021, the CPUSA had established 75 functioning clubs, with another 8 clubs in the process of formation. Fifth, striving to develop Party members and expand the Party’s size. The CPUSA makes full use of its official website, its organ newspaper *People’s World*, and various social media to publicize and introduce itself, attracting people to join; it relaxes membership conditions and simplifies membership procedures; it emphasizes recruiting members among African Americans, Latino Americans, women, and millennials to improve the Party’s racial, gender, and age structure. The CPUSA organization has achieved relatively rapid development in recent years. In 2018, the CPUSA had 5,000 official members. In 2019, 1,033 people joined the Party; in 2020, 2,152 new members were recruited. In 2021, approximately 2,800 people joined the Party. Currently, the CPUSA’s membership stands at around 11,000.

一是明确不改党名并继续坚持列宁主义。2016年11月，时任美共主席约翰·巴切特尔在全国委员会会议上的政治报告中指出：“我们没有改变党的名称的提议”，“我们没有放弃列宁主义或列宁的思想，这包括列宁的革命党概念”。2020年4月，美共网站公布的新党纲强调：“共产党以马克思列宁主义、科学社会主义的理论和实践为指导”，马克思列宁主义“使我们党成为致力于团结、进步和社会主义的最坚定的战士”。二是明确坚持民主集中制。美共新党纲指出：“一个工人阶级革命党需要民主决策、中央领导和统一行动……我们把这种方法叫做民主集中制”；“经过民主讨论作出的决定，全党必须努力执行”；“禁止派系组织”。三是加强马克思主义理论教育。美共要求，每个俱乐部和地区组织应至少指派一名成员，专职负责马克思主义教育，每个俱乐部和地区组织要根据规模和能力制定马克思主义教育计划。美共在其官方网站开设马克思主义课堂（网络研讨会），进行马克思主义基本知识测试，提供可供党员下载学习的有关资料。此外，美共还举办马克思主义学校，邀请全国各地党员代表实地参加。四是加强党的基层组织——俱乐部建设。美共认为：“在工作场所和工人阶级社区内建设具有战略、战术、教育和组织能力的俱乐部，有助于赢得日常斗争。”截至2021年4月20日，美共已经组建了75个正常运转的俱乐部，另外还有8个俱乐部处于组建之中。五是努力发展党员，扩大党的规模。美共充分利用其官网、机关报《人民世界》（People’s World）及各类社交媒体宣传介绍自己，吸引民众加入；放宽入党条件，简化入党程序；重视在非裔美国人、拉丁裔美国人、女性和千禧一代当中发展党员，以改善党员的种族结构、性别结构、年龄结构。美共组织近年来获得较快发展。2018年，美共有5000名正式党员。2019年，有1033人入党，2020年新招收党员2152人。2021年，约有2800人入党。目前，美共人数达到11000人左右。

(B) Innovating and Developing the Party’s Basic Ideas

（二）革新、发展党的基本思想

“A radical critique of capitalism and a vision of socialism constitute the basic ideas of the Communist Party USA.” The CPUSA, in light of new developments in the situation, has put forward its own new understandings of capitalism and socialism. First, a new critique of capitalism. The CPUSA believes that modern capitalism’s exploitation of the working class has increased both in quantity and quality. Automation and robotization using computer control and artificial intelligence, the “gig economy” or freelance economy, state right-to-work laws, and the secret collection of large amounts of personal data are all new weapons that monopoly capital possesses in its arsenal of class struggle. At the same time, large multinational corporations extract profits by exploiting more workers globally, while they lay off workers domestically and export jobs. The CPUSA points out that monopoly capital is intensifying its use of privileges to accumulate vast wealth and gaining ever-greater control over the flow of capital worldwide. Monopoly capital is also committed to developing a culture of cynicism, low expectations, fatalism, violence, and distraction to prevent the working class from uniting to fight for its own interests. The CPUSA also believes that contemporary capitalism has brought a series of crises to the world, such as an unprecedented planetary crisis and global ecological crisis, the threat of war, a crisis of extreme wealth polarization, a crisis of unemployment caused by automation and artificial intelligence, a political crisis, a refugee crisis, and a human rights crisis under the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, a new understanding of socialism. The CPUSA believes that socialism is a stage of social and economic development in which millions of people increasingly determine their own destiny and gradually establish new democratic institutions to manage the economy. Socialism will provide a mechanism enabling working people to cooperate together and extend political democracy into substantive democracy in all areas of social life, including the economy. Socialism will end oppression, exploitation (including exploitation of nature), and create a sustainable, fair, and democratic economy. Socialism is an economic system in which the decisive sectors of the economy will be owned and controlled by society, and the anarchy and destructive competition of capitalism will be replaced by strategic planned economy. A socialist society will not abolish small businesses and family farms; everyone will possess personal property. Socialism will eliminate the waste under the capitalist system and the private appropriation of profits created by the working class, thereby eliminating inequality. Workers will be compensated according to the principle “from each according to ability, to each according to labor.”

“对资本主义的激进批判和对社会主义的设想构成了美国共产党的基本思想。”美共结合新的形势的发展，对资本主义和社会主义提出了自己的新认识。一是对资本主义的新批判。美共认为，现代资本主义对工人阶级的剥削在数量和质量上都有所增加。使用计算机控制和人工智能的自动化和机器人化、“零工经济”或自由职业经济、国家工作权利法，以及秘密收集大量个人数据，都是垄断资本在其阶级斗争武库中拥有的新武器。与此同时，大型跨国公司通过对全球更多工人的剥削来获取利润，而他们却在美国国内裁员并将工作出口。美共指出，垄断资本正在加紧利用其特权，积累大量财富，并对全世界的资本流动获得了越来越大的控制权。垄断资本还致力于发展犬儒主义、低期望、宿命论、暴力和注意力分散的文化，以阻止工人阶级团结起来为自己的利益而战。美共还认为，当今资本主义给全球带来了系列危机，比如前所未有的地球危机和世界生态危机、战争的威胁、财富极端化的危机、自动化和人工智能所造成的失业危机、政治危机、难民危机，以及新冠感染疫情之下的人权危机等。二是对社会主义的新认识。美共认为，社会主义是社会经济发展的一个阶段，在这个阶段中，数百万人日益决定自己的命运，逐步建立新的民主制度来管理经济。社会主义将提供一种机制，使劳动人民能够共同合作，将政治民主扩展为包括经济在内的社会生活所有领域的实体民主。社会主义将结束压迫、剥削（包括对自然的剥削），并创造可持续、公平、民主的经济。社会主义是一种经济制度，经济的决定性部门将由社会所有和控制，资本主义的无政府状态和破坏性的竞争将被战略性计划经济所取代。社会主义社会不会取消小企业和家庭农场，每个人都将拥有个人财产。社会主义将消除资本主义制度下的浪费和对工人阶级所创利润的私人占有，以消除不平等现象。工人将按照“按能力分配，按劳动分配”的原则获得报酬。

(C) Criticizing and Resisting Extreme Right-Wing Forces

（三）批判、抵制极端右翼势力

Striking against far-right forces is the primary task of the first stage of the CPUSA’s planned transition to socialism. In 2016, Republican candidate Trump won the presidential election, bringing far-right forces in the United States onto the mainstream political stage. The CPUSA has conducted forceful criticism and resolute struggle against them. First, it criticizes the Trump administration. The CPUSA points out that Trump leads a far-right and fascist government, whose goal is to dismantle the hard-won achievements of the labor movement and the civil rights movement through an alliance of the Republican Party with finance capital, evangelical Christians, and right-wing media, in order to maintain its own power. The CPUSA further states that the Trump administration is characterized by “authoritarianism, lawlessness, attacks on democracy, and violations of constitutional norms,” and that it is openly linked with white supremacists, male supremacists, fascist groups, and online networks. The CPUSA calls for boycotting Trump administration domestic policies with obvious right-wing extremist features, such as repealing the Obama healthcare bill, deporting and blocking immigrants, military budget plans, and regressive environmental policies, and strongly criticizes the Trump administration’s incompetent and ineffective response to the pandemic crisis. The CPUSA also attacks the Trump administration’s “America First” foreign policy, arguing that it tends to use non-diplomatic means for regime change, promotes “preventive war doctrine,” disdains global institutions, supports free-market capitalism, and seeks to eliminate socialism. The CPUSA strongly condemns the Trump administration’s imperialist policies, such as suppressing China, blockading Cuba, provoking North Korea, militarily intervening in Syria, threatening war against Iran, and attempting to overthrow the Maduro regime in Venezuela. Second, it uses elections to strike against far-right forces. At the 31st National Convention of the CPUSA in 2019, the CPUSA pointed out that defeating the far-right “the most decisive arena is the 2020 election.” To this end, the CPUSA’s electoral strategy mainly consisted of: supporting the Democratic Party, whose policies are relatively closer to its own; building an anti-far-right coalition comprising labor organizations, communities of color, women, youth, democratic and social movements, and a portion of the bourgeoisie; using the banner of defending the democracy being undermined by Trump to win the support of a majority of voters, including independent voters and Republican voters; conducting voter registration, educating and mobilizing grassroots people to vote to increase turnout, expanding the battlefield into “red states and regions,” and demanding that every vote be counted. Through these efforts, the election achieved the CPUSA’s intended goals. After the election, the CPUSA also called for defending the voting results and preventing Trump’s coup attempt.

打击极右翼势力是美共规划的向社会主义过渡的第一阶段的主要任务。2016年，共和党候选人特朗普在总统大选中获胜，美国极右翼势力登上主流政治舞台。美共对其进行了有力批判和坚决斗争。一是批判特朗普政府。美共指出，特朗普领导着一个极右翼和法西斯主义的政府，他们的目标是通过共和党与金融资本、福音派基督徒和右翼媒体的联盟来瓦解劳工运动和民权运动经过艰苦奋斗获得的成果，维护自己的权力。美共进一步指出，特朗普政府的特点是“威权主义、无法无天、攻击民主、违背宪法规范”，它与白人至上主义者、男性至上主义者、法西斯团体和网络公开联系在一起。美共呼吁抵制特朗普政府推出的具有明显右翼极端主义特征的国内政策，如废除奥巴马医改法案、对移民的驱逐和阻隔、军事预算方案、倒退的环保政策等，强烈批评特朗普政府面对疫情危机无能无为的表现。美共还抨击特朗普政府“美国第一”的外交政策，认为它倾向于运用非外交手段进行政权更迭，推行“预防性战争主义”，蔑视全球机构，支持自由市场资本主义和消灭社会主义。美共强烈谴责特朗普政府打压中国、封锁古巴、挑衅朝鲜、军事干预叙利亚、战争威胁伊朗、企图颠覆委内瑞拉马杜罗政权等帝国主义政策。二是利用选举打击极右翼势力。在2019年美共三十一大上，美共指出，打败极右翼“最具决定性的舞台是2020年的选举”。为此，美共制定的选举策略主要是：支持政策与之较为相近的民主党；建立由劳工组织、有色人种社区、女性、青年、民主与社会运动以及部分资产阶级组成的反极右翼联盟；以捍卫正被特朗普破坏的民主为旗号，争取包括独立选民和共和党选民在内的多数选民的支持；做好选民登记，教育和动员基层民众参加投票以提高投票率，将战场扩大到“红色州和地区”，要求清点每一张选票。经过努力，选举达到美共预期目的。大选结束后，美共又呼吁捍卫投票结果，阻止特朗普政变企图。

(IV) Monitoring and Evaluating Biden’s Domestic and Foreign Policies

（四）关注、评析拜登内政外交

Supporting the Democratic Party in the general election was a reluctant choice for the CPUSA under the two-party system, choosing the lesser of two evils. After Biden took office, the CPUSA continuously monitored his domestic and foreign policies, promptly offering judgments and analyses to state its own views and attitudes. First, it offers mixed praise and criticism for his domestic policies. On the 100th day of the Biden administration, the CPUSA expressed general approval of his domestic policies. The CPUSA believes that Biden has largely fulfilled his campaign promises: nominating Boston Mayor and former labor union president Marty Walsh as Secretary of Labor; launching an economic relief plan; making large-scale investments in infrastructure to promote employment; issuing dozens of executive orders to promote environmental protection, reversing Trump’s environmental policies; repealing Trump-era immigration policies, including the “Muslim ban,” the zero-tolerance policy, and the Migrant Protection Protocols; incorporating racial equity into the agenda of the Domestic Policy Council; allocating funds to help communities build affordable housing; implementing a child tax credit policy, and so on. However, the CPUSA also criticized some of Biden’s actions on immigration, such as: continuing to use Title 42 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ban asylum seekers; once abandoning the promise to increase the number of refugees accepted; and deporting Haitian immigrants. Second, it holds a critical attitude toward his foreign policy. The CPUSA believes that Biden views China as a competitor and has adopted the same confrontational policy toward China as Trump. He blames China for the decline in American workers’ living standards, criticized China at the US-China Alaska summit, maintained Trump’s trade sanctions against China, shut out Chinese students and researchers, banned Americans from investing in Chinese companies related to the military or surveillance technology, further restricted the export of advanced semiconductor technology to China, and established the AUKUS trilateral military alliance targeting China. The CPUSA demands that the Biden administration “not engage in a new Cold War with China.” The CPUSA also points out that the Biden administration has continued sanctions against Cuba, maintained hostility toward Venezuela, continued confrontation with Iran, and refused international cooperation on vaccines. The CPUSA proposes to force the Biden administration to change its foreign policy through genuine mass politics. In summary, the CPUSA’s attitude toward the Biden administration’s policies is: “Support where it benefits the working class and the people; oppose where it harms the working class and the people.”

在大选中支持民主党，是美共在两党制下两害相权取其轻的无奈之举。拜登上台后，美共持续关注其内政外交，及时予以评判剖析，表明自己的态度看法。一是对其国内政策褒中有贬。在拜登执政百天之际，美共表示了对其国内政策的总体肯定。美共认为拜登基本兑现了竞选承诺：提名波士顿市长、前劳工联盟主席马蒂·沃尔什担任劳工部长；推出经济救助计划；大规模投资基础设施，以促进就业；发布数十项促进环保的行政命令，扭转特朗普环保政策；废除特朗普时期的移民政策，包括“禁穆令”、零容忍政策、移民保护协议；将种族平等纳入国内政策委员会议程；拨款帮助社区建造经济适用房；儿童税收抵免政策，等等。但美共也批评了拜登在移民问题上的某些做法，如：继续使用疾病控制与预防中心第42条对寻求庇护者的禁令；曾一度放弃增加接纳难民人数的承诺；驱逐海地移民等。二是对其外交政策持批评态度。美共认为，拜登将中国视为竞争者，采取了和特朗普一样的与华对抗政策。他将美国工人生活水平的下降归咎于中国，在中美阿拉斯加峰会上指责中国，维持特朗普对中国的贸易制裁，将中国留学生和研究人员拒之门外，禁止美国人投资与军队或监控技术有关的中国公司，进一步限制向中国出口尖端半导体技术，建立针对中国的澳英美三边军事同盟等。美共要求拜登政府“不与中国进行新冷战”。美共还指出，拜登政府延续了对古巴的制裁、对委内瑞拉仍怀敌意、与伊朗继续敌对、拒绝疫苗国际合作。美共提出，要通过真正的群众政治来迫使拜登政府改变外交政策。总之，美共对拜登政府政策的态度是：“凡是有利于工人阶级和人民的地方就支持，凡是不利于工人阶级和人民的地方就反对。”

(V) Participating in and Promoting Progressive Social Movements

（五）参与、推动进步社会运动

First, actively participating in and promoting strike movements. On September 16, 2019, the United Auto Workers (UAW) organized a nationwide strike. The CPUSA issued a statement on its official website expressing full support for the striking auto workers. The CPUSA called on all Party members to proactively contact local UAW and AFL-CIO offices to assist with solidarity and mobilization efforts; to contact local UAW picket lines to provide food for strikers; to organize information-gathering activities at General Motors dealerships and demand that dealers urge GM to resolve the strike; to contact various social organizations such as local community groups, veterans’ groups, and women’s groups to support the strike; and to send representatives to city councils and county commissions to demand they formally support the strike. For other strike movements, the CPUSA generally adopted similar approaches. Second, actively participating in and promoting the anti-racism movement. In response to the August 12, 2017, incident in Charlottesville where a white supremacist drove a car into a crowd, the CPUSA expressed outrage and demanded that the White House and elected officials take necessary action. On May 25, 2020, African American man George Floyd died after being subjected to violent policing by white police officers in Minneapolis. The CPUSA called on Party members to join anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests in every possible way, demanding the immediate arrest and prosecution of the white police officers who murdered George Floyd. On May 30, the Baltimore and Washington D.C. CPUSA organizations participated in peaceful demonstrations against racism. On November 19, 2020, the Kenosha County Circuit Court in Wisconsin acquitted white teenager Kyle Rittenhouse, who had killed two people and wounded one during an anti-racism and anti-police brutality protest. The CPUSA stated on this: “The U.S. justice system has not resolved its own systemic racism, let alone the racist violence in American communities.” The CPUSA urged all anti-fascist, anti-racist, and progressive forces to rise up in mass protest against Rittenhouse’s acquittal and demanded that President Biden oppose the verdict. In addition to the movements mentioned above, the CPUSA also actively participates in movements against gender discrimination, for a $15 minimum wage, for climate justice, for immigrant rights, and others, pushing American society toward progress.

一是积极参与、推动罢工运动。2019年9月16日，美国汽车工人联合会（UAW）组织了全国范围的大罢工。美共在其官网发表声明，表示全力支持罢工的汽车工人。美共呼吁全体党员主动与当地的美国汽车工人联合会（UAW）和劳联—产联（AFL—CIO）办事处联系，协助提供团结动员工作；联系当地的美国汽车工人联合会（UAW）纠察队，为罢工者提供食物；在通用汽车经销商处组织信息收集活动，并要求经销商呼吁通用汽车公司解决罢工问题；联系当地社区团体、退伍军人团体、妇女团体等各种社会组织支持罢工；派代表前往市议会、县委员会，要求他们正式支持罢工。对于其它罢工运动，美共基本上也采取了类似的作法。二是积极参与、推动反对种族主义运动。针对2017年8月12日白人种族主义者在夏洛茨维尔市开车冲撞人群事件，美共表示愤慨，并要求白宫和民选官员采取必要行动。2020年5月25日，非洲裔男子弗洛伊德因遭明尼阿波利斯市白人警察暴力执法而死亡。美共呼吁党员以一切可能的方式加入反对种族歧视和警察暴力执法抗议活动，要求立即逮捕和起诉谋杀乔治·弗洛伊德的白人警察。5月30日，巴尔的摩共产党组织、哥伦比亚特区共产党组织参加了反对种族主义的和平示威。2020年11月19日，美国威斯康星州基诺沙县巡回法院就白人青年凯尔·里滕豪斯在一起反种族歧视反警察暴力执法示威抗议中枪杀2人、射伤1人的案件作出无罪裁决。美共对此指出：“美国司法系统没有解决其自身的系统性种族主义问题，更不用说美国社区的种族主义暴力了。”美共敦促所有反法西斯、反种族主义和进步力量起来大规模抗议里滕豪斯的无罪判决，并要求拜登总统反对这一裁决。除了上述运动之外，美共还积极参加反性别歧视、争取15美元最低工资、气候正义、移民权利等运动，推动美国社会走向进步。

II. Main Opportunities Facing the Communist Party USA

二、美国共产党面临的主要机遇

Today’s United States remains in multiple crises, with capitalism showing signs of decline, corresponding to the development of socialist factors domestically. From a global perspective, under the changes unseen in a century, the socialist movement is moving toward revitalization. These are the favorable conditions currently facing the development of the CPUSA.

当今之美国，仍然处于多重危机之中，资本主义表现出衰落的征象，与之相对应的是国内社会主义因素的发展。而从世界范围来看，百年变局之下，社会主义运动正在走向振兴。这些是当前美共发展面临的有利条件。

(I) The Systemic Crisis in the United States Continues

（一）美国系统性危机仍在持续

First, the wealth gap has further widened. A report on the distribution of wealth in the United States released by the Federal Reserve in October 2021 shows that, as of the second quarter of 2021, the total net assets of the top 1% of U.S. households stood at $36.2 trillion, surpassing for the first time since data collection began in 1989 the total net assets ($35.7 trillion) of the middle-income households that make up 60% of the population. The data indicate that 70% of U.S. wealth is currently concentrated in the top 20% of households. Another set of data from the Federal Reserve shows that in the second quarter of 2021, the share of corporate equity and mutual funds held by the richest 10% of Americans hit a record high, with 89% of U.S. stocks held by the wealthy, while the personal stock holdings of the 90% of Americans at the bottom of the wealth distribution accounted for only 11%, one percentage point lower than before the pandemic. U.S. Congressman Alex [4]4 The original text reads "阿莱克斯" (Alaikesi), likely referring to U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, commonly known as AOC, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives. bluntly pointed out: "We are in an absolute inequality crisis." Second, the economy faces multiple crises. After taking office, Biden relied on large-scale monetary and fiscal stimulus to drive economic growth, giving the U.S. economy a superficial recovery. However, as the peak of fiscal stimulus passes, its effects are gradually weakening. In fact, the U.S. economy is facing multiple crises that interact with and exacerbate each other: persistently high inflation, an unsustainable burden of government debt, labor shortages in the job market, and an increasingly severe supply chain crisis. The U.S. economy is beset with difficulties. Third, political polarization is becoming more severe. The Democratic and Republican parties place party interests above all else, attacking and undermining each other, which seriously affects national governance. Partisan strife reached a peak in the later stages of the 2020 presidential election. Trump refused to concede defeat, accused the Democrats of "stealing votes," and filed political lawsuits. Even after all 50 states had certified the election results, 77% of Republican voters still questioned the legitimacy of the president-elect on grounds of electoral fraud—the first time this has happened in nearly a century. After Biden took office, the two parties remained sharply opposed on major issues such as climate change, healthcare, infrastructure, and foreign policy. On January 6, 2022, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives held a commemorative event for the "Capitol Hill incident" [5]5 The "Capitol Hill incident" refers to the storming of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021, by supporters of then-President Donald Trump in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election., but almost all Republicans chose to be absent. The increasingly severe political polarization has caused the American public to lose confidence in U.S. democracy. According to a report on the website of the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School on December 1, 2021, a national poll of Americans aged 18 to 29 found that only 7% of respondents considered the U.S. democratic system "healthy," while 52% believed U.S. democracy was "in trouble" or "failing." Fourth, racial discrimination worsens the situation of ethnic minorities. Structural deficiencies in the system lead to growing racial inequality in the United States. Asian Americans face increasingly severe discrimination and violent attacks. A report released on November 18, 2021, by the organization "Stop AAPI Hate" [6]6 "Stop AAPI Hate" is a U.S.-based organization that tracks and reports incidents of discrimination and hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. showed that from March 19, 2020, to September 30, 2021, the organization received 10,370 reports of racist attacks against Asian Americans, with most incidents occurring in public spaces. Police brutality resulting in the deaths of African Americans occurs frequently. Data from the website "Mapping Police Violence" show that U.S. police shot and killed 1,127 people in 2020. African Americans make up only 13% of the U.S. population but account for 28% of those killed by police gunfire; African Americans are three times more likely to be killed by police than whites. At the same time, the economic gap between ethnic minorities and whites in the United States continues to widen. Fifth, the pandemic situation continues to deteriorate. The ravages of the Omicron variant have triggered an even greater wave of deaths in the United States. As of U.S. time on May 4, 2022, the number of deaths from COVID-19 infections had exceeded one million, all occurring within just 27 months of the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States, with more than half of the deaths occurring after the current U.S. administration took office. The "American-style pandemic response" has completely failed. U.S. media and the public are also increasingly losing confidence in the government's pandemic response. Time magazine commented that many countries face pandemic challenges, but few have handled them as poorly as the United States. The ongoing systemic crisis in the United States is essentially a contemporary manifestation of the inherent contradictions of capitalism. It shows that capitalism can no longer solve its own problems, and its system and institutions are facing increasing pressure for change. This presents a favorable development opportunity for the CPUSA, which is committed to criticizing and struggling against capitalism.

一是贫富差距进一步拉大。美国联邦储备委员会在2021年10月份发布的美国财富分布情况报告显示，截至2021年第二季度，收入最高的1%美国家庭总净资产为36.2万亿美元，自1989年有数据统计以来，首次超过占总数60%的中等收入家庭的总净资产（35.7万亿美元）。数据显示，目前美国70%的财富集中在收入前20%的家庭中。美国联邦储备委员会的另一项数据显示，2021年第二季度，美国最富有的10%的人群持有的企业股权和共同基金占比创下历史纪录，89%的美国股票被富人群体占有，而财富位于底层的那90%美国人的个人持股仅占11%，比疫情前低一个百分点。美国国会众议员阿莱克斯对此毫不客气地指出：“我们正处于绝对不平等危机中。”二是经济面临多重危机。拜登上台后靠大规模的货币和财政刺激来推动经济增长，使美国经济表面上看有所恢复，但随着财政刺激高峰过去，其效应逐步减弱。事实上，美国经济正面临着多重危机，而且这些危机彼此作用相互加剧：通胀水平持续高位，政府巨债不堪重负，就业市场劳工不足，供应链危机愈演愈烈。美国经济可谓困难重重。三是政治极化愈加严重。民主与共和两党将政党利益高于一切，相互攻击，相互拆台，导致国家治理受到严重影响。两党纷争在2020年总统大选后期达到高峰。特朗普拒绝承认失败，指责民主党“窃取选票”，并提起政治诉讼。在50个州全都认证了选举结果的情况下，仍有77%的共和党选民以选举舞弊为由质疑当选总统的合法性，这是近百年来的第一次。拜登执政后，两党在气候变化、医保、基建、对外政策等重大议题上仍尖锐对立。2022年1月6日，美国会参众两院就“国会山事件”举行纪念活动，但几乎所有共和党人都选择缺席。愈发严重的政治极化令美国民众对美国民主失去信心。哈佛大学肯尼迪政府学院政治学研究所网站2021年12月1日报道，一项针对美国18岁至29岁年轻人的全国性民意调查显示，只有7%的受访者认为美国民主制度尚属“健康”，有52%的受访者认为美国的民主已经“陷入困境”或“失败”。四是种族歧视恶化少数族裔处境。制度的结构性缺陷导致美国种族不平等日益加剧。亚裔面临日趋严重的歧视和暴力攻击。“停止仇恨亚裔及太平洋岛民”组织于2021年11月18日发布的报告显示，2020年3月19日至2021年9月30日，该组织共收到10370起针对亚裔的种族主义攻击事件报告，大多数事件发生在公共空间。警察暴力执法导致非洲裔死亡案件频发。“警察暴力地图”网站数据显示，2020年美国警察共枪杀1127人。非洲裔只占美国总人口的13%，却占被警察枪杀人数的28%，非洲裔被警察杀死的概率是白人的3倍。同时，美国少数族裔与白人之间的经济鸿沟也在不断扩大。五是疫情形势继续恶化。奥密克戎变异毒株的肆虐，在美国引发了更大的死亡浪潮。截止美国时间2022年5月4日，新冠感染死亡病例已超过100万例，这都是在美国暴发新冠感染疫情的短短27个月内丧生的，而且超半数人死于美国现任政府就职之后。“美式抗疫”已彻底失败。美国媒体和民众对美国政府的疫情应对也日益失去信心。美国《时代》周刊评论说，许多国家都面对疫情挑战，但很少有国家像美国的应对那样糟糕。美国仍在持续的系统性危机本质上是资本主义固有矛盾的当代表现，它说明资本主义已经无法解决自身的问题，其制度和体制正面临越来越大的变革压力。这为致力于资本主义批判和斗争的美共带来了良好的发展机遇。

(II) The Resurgence of Socialist Thought in the United States

（二）美国社会主义思潮再度兴起

Socialist thought once had a certain influence in American history, but from the end of World War II to the beginning of the 21st century, socialist thought had been in decline, and the term “socialism” was often given negative connotations and was not accepted by mainstream Americans. The outbreak of the financial crisis and its social consequences changed people’s views on socialism. Socialism began to enter mainstream American political discourse, and socialist thought also re-emerged in the United States. First, socialism was widely discussed. In April 2019, Co-Chair of the CPUSA Joe Sims described it thus: the press, churches, workplaces, barbershops, and campuses were all discussing socialism; major media outlets such as the *New York Times* and the *Washington Post* published series of articles and videos on the topic; late-night cable news programs were also discussing the issue, touching on democratic socialism, state socialism, cooperative socialism, “command economy” socialism, Stalinist socialism, market socialism, and so on; even the *Post* had an article about Eisenhower socialism. [7]7 A reference to the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961), a Republican, implying that even his policies contained socialist elements. Second, socialism was welcomed by a considerable portion of Americans. A poll conducted by the Harris Poll for the program “Axios on HBO” from April 16 to 18, 2019, showed that 40% of Americans would prefer to live in a socialist country rather than a capitalist one. In November 2019, a Gallup poll in the US showed that approximately 52% of Millennials and Generation Z held a positive view of socialism. [8]8 Millennials are typically defined as those born between 1981 and 1996; Generation Z as those born from 1997 onward. According to a survey conducted by Axios/Momentive in June 2021, in terms of the “positive” index, the proportion of adult US citizens with a “positive” view of “socialism” was 41%, a slight increase from 2019. This indicates that the appeal of socialism in the United States continues to grow. Third, socialist organizations have been continuously strengthened. For example, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has experienced explosive growth in recent years. In 2015, the DSA had only 6,000 members and was weak in strength. But starting from 2016, its ranks expanded rapidly, and it now has 92,000 members, making it the largest socialist organization in the United States. Fourth, socialists have performed notably in elections. Bernie Sanders, who calls himself a “democratic socialist,” ran high-profile campaigns for the presidency in 2016 and 2020, declaring his intention to implement socialism in the United States, thus stirring up a socialist whirlwind in American society. Gloria La Riva of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in the United States won 79,689 votes in the 2020 presidential election, making her the most-voted socialist presidential candidate since 1976. In the 2017 local elections, DSA member Lee Carter defeated his Republican opponent Jackson Miller to be elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. In the 2018 midterm elections, democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York’s 14th congressional district defeated her Republican opponent Anthony Pappas to be elected to the US House of Representatives. In 2019, in the Chicago City Council elections, six democratic socialists were elected to the city council. The *Chicago Sun-Times* declared: “This is the biggest electoral victory for socialists in modern American history.” On June 22, 2021, socialist India Walton defeated incumbent mayor Byron Brown in the Democratic primary for mayor of Buffalo, New York’s second-largest city. The resurgence of socialist thought in the United States has improved the political climate in the US, expanded the space for left-wing activities, and created a favorable political and social environment for the survival and development of the CPUSA.

社会主义思潮曾经在美国历史上有过一定的影响，但从二战结束到21世纪之初，社会主义思潮一直式微，“社会主义”一词也常常被赋予负面化含义，并不被美国的主流民众所接受。金融危机的爆发及带来的社会后果改变了人们对社会主义的看法，社会主义开始进入美国的主流政治话语，社会主义思潮也在美国再度兴起。一是社会主义受到广泛讨论。2019年4月，美共联合主席乔·西姆斯对此有所描述：新闻界、教堂、工作场所、理发店和校园都在讨论社会主义；《纽约时报》和《华盛顿邮报》等主要媒体发布有关该主题的系列文章和视频；在深夜的有线新闻节目中也在讨论这个问题，这些问题涉及到民主社会主义、国家社会主义、合作社会主义、“命令经济”社会主义、斯大林社会主义、市场社会主义等；甚至《邮报》竟有一篇关于艾森豪威尔社会主义的文章。二是社会主义受到相当一部分美国人的欢迎。2019年4月16日至18日，美国哈里斯民意调查公司为“Axios on HBO”节目所做的一项民意调查显示，40%的美国人更愿意生活在社会主义国家，而不是资本主义国家。2019年11月，美国盖洛普民调显示，大约52%的千禧一代和Z世代对社会主义持积极态度。⑨23根据Axios/Momentive在2021年6月份进行的一项调查，从“积极”指数来看，对“社会主义”持“积极”态度的美国成年公民比例为41%，这一比例比2019年略有上升。这说明，社会主义在美国的吸引力继续增长。三是社会主义组织不断得到壮大。比如美国民主社会主义者组织（DSA）近年来呈爆炸性增长。2015年，DSA的成员仅为6000人，势单力薄。但从2016年开始，队伍迅速扩大，到目前拥有92000名成员，成为美国最大的社会主义组织。四是社会主义者在选举中表现引人注目。自称为“民主社会主义者”的伯尼·桑德斯（Bernie Sanders），于2016年和2020年两次高调参加总统大选，宣称要在美国实行社会主义，从而在美国社会刮起了一阵阵社会主义旋风。美国争取社会主义与解放党格洛里亚·拉·莉瓦（Gloria La Riva）在2020年总统选举中赢得79689张选票，成为1976年以来得票最多的社会主义总统候选人。2017年的地方选举中，DSA成员李·卡特（Lee Carter）打败对手共和党人杰克逊·米勒（Jackson Miller）当选为弗吉尼亚州众议员。2018年的中期选举中，纽约第14国会选区的民主社会主义者亚历山大·奥卡西奥-科特兹（Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez）战胜共和党对手安东尼奥·帕帕斯，当选为联邦众议院议员。2019年，在芝加哥市议会选举中，六名民主社会主义者被选入市议会。《芝加哥太阳时报》宣称：“这是现代美国历史上社会主义者最大的选举胜利。”2021年6月22日，社会主义者茵迪雅·沃尔顿（India Walton）在纽约州第二大城市布法罗市长初选中击败时任市长拜伦·布朗。美国社会主义思潮的再次兴起，改善了美国的政治气候，扩大了左翼活动的空间，为美共的生存与发展创造了有利的政治、社会环境。

(3) The World Socialist Movement Is Moving Toward Revitalization

（三）世界社会主义运动走向振兴

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the world socialist movement has shown momentum toward revitalization. The subjective forces of socialism in non-socialist countries, through reform and reorganization, have gradually gained a foothold on the domestic political stage, their strength has somewhat recovered, and they are actively exploring their own socialist paths. The Communist Party of Moravia and Czechia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation have become the second-largest parties in parliament; the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, the Progressive Party of the Working People of Cyprus, and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) have at one time come to power through parliamentary elections. Multiple communist forces in countries such as India, Nepal, and Bangladesh have continuously expanded their spheres of influence, forming an “international red corridor” covering an area of 100,000 square kilometers with a population of over 200 million. The South African Communist Party, with over 300,000 members, formed a “tripartite alliance” with the African National Congress and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, winning the 2019 South African general election. Currently, left-wing governments are in power in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Honduras, Chile, and other countries in Latin America. Among socialist countries, apart from North Korea and Cuba, whose development has been hindered by long-term Western blockade, China, Vietnam, and Laos have all achieved significant development achievements on the path of reform and opening up. China’s economy has maintained medium-to-high growth rates, its total economic output has firmly held the second position in the world, its contribution to world economic growth exceeds 30%, and the gap with the US in total economic output is continuously narrowing. At the same time, the economic structure is constantly being optimized, pushing the economy towards a higher level of development. According to the current development momentum, China’s total economic output may surpass that of the United States in the future, at which point the balance of power between the two major social systems in the world will undergo a transformative change. In 2020, China historically resolved the problem of absolute poverty that had plagued the Chinese nation for thousands of years, completed the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and raised the people’s living standards to a new level. China also actively participates in global governance, promotes the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, advances international cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative, and provides epidemic prevention and control experience and materials, contributing Chinese wisdom, Chinese solutions, and Chinese strength to solving the major problems and crises facing humanity today. This stands in stark contrast to Western capitalist countries, which are at a loss, in disarray, and shifting blame when facing global problems. The significant enhancement of China’s comprehensive national power and the unprecedented increase in its international influence have created a local high tide within the overall low tide of the world socialist movement, making China the mainstay of the world socialist movement. Vietnam’s average annual GDP growth rate for the 2011-2015 term was 5.91%, and for the 2016-2021 term it was 5.99%, making it one of the countries and regions with the fastest GDP growth globally and regionally. In 2020, Vietnam’s total economic output reached 268.4 billion USD, and its per capita GDP reached 2,750 USD. The lives of the Vietnamese people have improved, with the proportion of poor households dropping to 1.45%, recognized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as one of the most outstanding countries in poverty reduction achievements. Laos’s GDP growth rate was between 6.4% and 6.8% from 2016 to 2019, with per capita GDP rising from 2,027 USD to 2,683 USD, while the people’s living standards also improved. On November 24, 2021, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring Laos’s graduation from the least developed country category. The subjective forces of socialism in various countries have also strengthened their unity and cooperation through platforms such as the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties, the “Global Left Forum,” and the “São Paulo Forum,” forming new alliances and “creating a certain scale advantage for the development of world socialism.” The world socialist movement moving towards revitalization brings confidence, theoretical reference, practical experience, and strength of support to the struggle of the CPUSA, and will inevitably help the CPUSA achieve new development.

进入21世纪以来，世界社会主义运动呈现出走向振兴的势头。非社会主义国家的社会主义主体性力量经过改革、重组逐步在国内政治舞台站稳脚跟，力量有所恢复，并积极探索本国的社会主义路径。摩拉维亚和捷克共产党、俄罗斯联邦共产党成为议会第二大党，摩尔多瓦共产党人党、塞浦路斯劳动人民进步党、尼泊尔共产党（毛主义）曾一度通过议会选举上台执政。印度、尼泊尔和孟加拉国等国的多支共产党力量不断扩展势力范围，形成了一个面积达10万平方公里、人口超2亿的“国际红色走廊”。拥有超过30万党员的南非共产党与非国大、南非工会大会组成“三方联盟”，在2019年南非大选中获得胜利。目前，拉美的古巴、委内瑞拉、尼加拉瓜、墨西哥、阿根廷、玻利维亚、秘鲁、洪都拉斯、智利等国都实现了左翼执政。社会主义国家除了朝鲜、古巴因长期遭受西方国家封锁而发展受阻之外，中国、越南、老挝都在改革开放的道路上取得重大发展成就。中国经济持续保持中高速增长，经济总量稳居世界第二位，对世界经济增长贡献率超过30%，与美国经济总量差距不断缩小。同时，经济结构不断优化，推动经济迈向更高发展水平。按照目前的发展势头，中国经济总量将来有可能会超越美国，届时世界两大社会制度力量对比将发生转折性的变化。2020年，中国历史性地解决了困扰中华民族几千年的绝对贫困问题，全面建成小康社会，人民生活水平上了一个大台阶。中国还积极参与全球治理，推动构建人类命运共同体、促进“一带一路”国际合作、提供疫情防控经验和物资，为解决当今人类面临的重大问题、重大危机贡献了中国智慧、中国方案和中国力量。这与西方资本主义国家在全球问题面前束手无策、自乱阵脚、甩锅卸责形成鲜明对比。中国综合国力的显著提升和国际影响力的空前提高，形成了世界社会主义运动总体低潮中的局部高潮，中国成为世界社会主义运动的中流砥柱。越南2011-2015任期国内生产总值的年平均增长率为5.91%,2016-2021任期为5.99%，是全球和地区GDP增速最快的国家和地区之一。2020年，越南经济总量达到了2684亿美元，人均GDP达到2750美元。越南人民生活得到改善，贫困家庭比例已降至1.45%，被联合国开发计划署（UNDP）认定为减贫成就最为突出的国家之一。老挝在2016-2019年间，GDP增速在6.4%-6.8%之间，人均GDP从2027美元提升到2683美元，同时人民生活水平也得到提高。2021年11月24日，联合国大会通过决议，宣布老挝脱离最不发达国家行列。各国社会主义主体性力量还通过共产党和工人党国际会议、“全球左翼论坛”、“圣保罗论坛”等平台加强彼此之间的团结与合作，构建起了新的联盟，“形成了世界社会主义发展的一定规模优势”。正在走向振兴的世界社会主义运动为美共斗争带来了信心的鼓舞、理论的参考、经验的借鉴和力量的支持，必将助推美共获得新的发展。

III. Main Challenges Facing the Communist Party of the USA

三、美国共产党面临的主要挑战

The current CPUSA, although it has developed considerably compared with the past, still has some problems within itself that cannot be ignored, and there are also several factors in American society that affect the CPUSA’s development. These constitute major challenges for the CPUSA.

目前的美共，尽管与以前相比有了较大的发展，但是其自身还存在着一些不容忽视的问题，美国社会也有若干影响美共发展的因素，这些对美共构成了主要挑战。

(I) The CPUSA itself has many problems

（一）美共自身存在着诸多问题

First, its organizational strength is weak and its finances are strained. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the CPUSA’s membership once shrank to just over a thousand, and its survival situation was worrying. Later, its strength slowly recovered. After the financial crisis, membership gradually increased to 3,000 in 2011, then to over 5,000 in 2018, and only recently has the CPUSA developed to over 10,000 members. In many regions, it has not yet established organizations. A political party organization of this scale is a weak presence in American society. Even with this meager strength, its internal members are not all necessarily advanced and pure. Since applicants for Party membership no longer need to undergo ideological or political training beforehand, nor do they need recommendations from two Party members, and they can join the Party online by simply paying $12, and the probationary period for new members has also been abolished, the quality of new members is difficult to guarantee. Furthermore, among both new and old members, there exists a considerable degree of petty-bourgeois ideology and conduct, such as “individualism, lack of working-class consciousness, insufficient commitment to honesty and principles, lack of responsibility for workers’ interests, inability to cooperate with the collective, disregard for and evasion of collective discipline, self-centeredness and arrogance,” and so on. Although the CPUSA strives to expand its influence, its voice remains relatively weak, and many Americans are still unaware that such a political party exists. Former CPUSA Chair John Bachtell (in office 2014–2019) admitted, “We are a small organization.” In 2015, when he met a young African American pastor in Baltimore who was organizing protests against the police shooting of Freddie Gray, he asked the pastor what he thought of the Communist Party. The pastor replied bluntly: “You may be famous in your circles, but you are still unknown to the world.” The weakness of its strength makes it difficult for the CPUSA not only to exert a significant influence on mainstream American politics but also places it in a relatively marginalized position within the progressive camp, limiting its role in transforming capitalism. The CPUSA’s finances are also extremely strained. Historically, the CPUSA’s finances mainly relied on aid from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the CPSU, the CPUSA immediately fell into a severe financial crisis. Currently, the CPUSA’s stable income mainly comes from the rent for leasing some floors of its headquarters building in New York, and the meager annual dues from Party members (most members pay $60 per year, low-income members pay $24 per year). But these incomes are relatively limited, and the CPUSA has to find ways to raise funds. In early 2021, the CPUSA raised over $100,000. The CPUSA frankly stated that although this alleviated financial pressure, “we have not gotten out of the well-known predicament.” In December, to achieve the goal of raising a mere $35,000 by the end of the year, the CPUSA issued an extremely earnest appeal for donations on its official website to its readers. This fully demonstrates the CPUSA’s financial embarrassment. Finance is the lifeblood of an organization. The shortage of financial resources has become a major constraining factor for the CPUSA’s development. Second, internal divisions persist. As mentioned earlier, Sam Webb, during his tenure as Chair, attempted to change the nature and identity of the CPUSA, which met with strong opposition within the Party. In this dispute, some within the Party who were dissatisfied with Sam Webb’s actions left the CPUSA and established the Party of Communists USA. Later, although Sam Webb and others also left the CPUSA, their ideas still had a certain influence within the Party. On the eve of the CPUSA’s 31st National Congress in 2019, fierce debates erupted again within the Party over some major issues. Regarding the question of Black national self-determination, Wadi’h Halabi, Chair of the CPUSA National Economic Commission, insisted on the Black national self-determination advocated by the Comintern in the 1920s and 1930s, arguing that Black people in the United States constitute a nation in the Marxist sense and should therefore exercise the right to national self-determination. He also emphasized that communists recognizing the right to national self-determination and land rights for oppressed nations would not split but would strengthen and unite workers worldwide. In contrast, opponents represented by Joe Sims (elected Co-Chair at the 31st Congress in June) argued that in the experience of African Americans, there is no shared economic life and territory, and Black people are insufficiently defined as a nation, so there is naturally no question of national self-determination. They argued that Black people should unite with white workers to jointly oppose the power of monopoly capital. On the question of the international unity of communist parties, Wadi’h Halabi believed that the Comintern was the most effective weapon of the working class, and despite its flaws, this weapon should not be discarded. The dissolution of the Comintern made the international communist movement worse, with the most serious event being the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He implied that the Comintern should be rebuilt. In response, some within the Party raised objections. Wadi’h Halabi further pointed out that the major failures of the 20th-century international communist movement were mainly due to the disunity of the international communist movement and the split of the world party. He also believed that after the split, it was wrong for many parties to seek “socialist national paths”; only a reunified world party could lead the path of human liberation. Joe Sims immediately refuted this. He pointed out that one of the biggest mistakes of the 20th-century communist movement was precisely the immature use of the Soviet model as a universal blueprint for communists worldwide. The failure of the Comintern stemmed from the inability of guidance and decision-making from the center to adapt to the diversity and differences of working-class movements in various countries. The socialist path must be developed independently by each communist party and each country’s working class. There is no need to establish a Comintern today. In response to Joe Sims’s views, Wadi’h Halabi replied: The inequalities caused by the culture of exploitation led to the Comintern’s mistakes, but these can be overcome through everyone’s joint efforts. Today, human survival faces challenges; without the common initiative of all communist parties, there will be no solution to the problems. Human liberation requires recommitting to communist international unity and the common interests of the proletariat, regardless of nationality. The two sides were almost diametrically opposed, neither yielding to the other. These differences affect the CPUSA’s unity and solidarity, and impact its cohesion and combat effectiveness.

一是组织力量弱小，财政困难。苏联解体后，美共人数曾一度萎缩至千余人，生存状况堪忧，后来力量缓慢复苏，金融危机之后，人数逐渐增加到2011年的3000人，然后再增加到2018年的5000余人，直到最近美共才发展到1万余人，在很多地区还没有建立起组织。这样规模的政党组织在美国社会是一个弱小的存在。即便是这么点力量，其内部成员也非尽然具有先进性和纯洁性。由于入党申请者不需要先接受思想或政治训练，也不再需要两名党员推荐，仅需缴纳12美元即可在线入党，而且新党员考察期也被取消，这就使新党员的质量难以得到保证。此外，在新老党员中还存在着相当程度的小资产阶级思想和做派，比如“个人主义、缺乏工人阶级意识、对诚实和原则承诺不够、对工人利益缺乏责任感、不能与集体合作、无视和逃避集体纪律、以自我为中心和傲慢”等等。尽管美共极力扩大自己的影响，但其声音仍然比较微弱，很多美国人甚至还不知道有这么一个政党存在。前任美共主席约翰·巴切特尔（2014-2019在任）就承认“我们是一个小组织”。2015年，他在巴尔的摩会见一位组织抗议警察枪杀弗雷迪·格雷暴行的年轻非洲裔牧师时，问对方认为共产党怎样，对方直言：“你们可能在你们的圈子里有名，但你们仍不为世人所知。”力量的弱小使得美共不但很难对美国主流政治产生明显的影响力，而且在进步阵营也处于相对边缘化的地位，对资本主义变革的作用有限。美共的财政也极为困难。历史上，美共财政主要靠苏共援助。苏共垮台后，美共即陷入严重财政危机。目前，美共稳定的收入主要是在纽约的总部大楼部分楼层出租的租金、党员每年微薄的党费（大多数党员每年支付60美元，低收入成员每年支付24美元）。但这些收入比较有限，美共不得不想办法筹款。2021年初，美共筹集了超过10万美元的资金，美共坦言，这虽然缓解了财政压力，但“我们并没有走出众所周知的困境”。12月份，为实现年终筹集区区3.5万美元的目标，美共在官网上向其读者发出言辞极为恳切的捐款呼吁。这足见美共财政之窘迫。财政是组织的命脉。财政经费的短缺成为美共发展的一大制约因素。二是内部分歧不断。如前所述，萨姆·韦伯在担任主席期间试图改变美共的性质和身份，受到党内强烈反对。在这次纷争中，党内部分对萨姆·韦伯做法不满的人离开美共，另立了美国共产党人党（Party of Communists USA)。后来，尽管萨姆·韦伯等人也离开美共，但其思想在党内仍有一定影响。2019年美共三十一大召开前夕，美共党内围绕一些重大问题再次展开激烈争论。关于黑人民族自决权问题，美共中央经济委员会主席瓦迪·哈拉比坚持共产国际在20世纪20、30年代倡导的黑人民族自决权，认为美国的黑人在马克思主义意义上已经构成了一个民族，因此应该行使民族自决权，而且他还强调，共产党人承认被压迫民族的民族自决权和土地权不会分裂而是会加强和团结全世界的工人。而以乔·西姆斯（在6月份的三十一大上被选为联合主席）为代表的反对者则认为，在非裔美国人的经历中，没有拥有共同的经济生活和领土，黑人不足以被定义为一个民族，当然无所谓民族自决权，黑人要与白人工人团结起来，共同反对垄断资本的力量。关于共产党的国际团结问题，瓦迪·哈拉比认为，共产国际是工人阶级最有效的武器，尽管它有缺陷，但不能丢掉这个武器，共产国际的解散，使国际共运变得更糟，最严重的事件是苏东剧变。他暗示应该重建共产国际。对此，党内有人提出异议。瓦迪·哈拉比再次指出，20世纪国际共运的重大失败主要原因是由于国际共运的不团结、世界党的分裂。他还认为，分裂之后，许多党去寻求“社会主义民族道路”是错误的，只有一个重新统一的世界党才能引领人类解放的道路。乔·西姆斯立即反驳。他指出，20世纪共产主义运动最大的错误之一正是不成熟地将苏联模式作为世界各地共产主义者的普遍蓝图，共产国际的失败是因为来自中心的指导和决策无法适应各国工人阶级运动的多样性和差异性，社会主义道路必须由每一个共产党、每一个国家的工人阶级独立自主地发展，今天没有共产国际建立的必要。针对乔·西姆斯的观点，瓦迪·哈拉比回应到：剥削文化造成的不平等导致了共产国际犯错误，但这可以通过大家共同努力来克服；今天人类生存面临着挑战，没有各共产党的共同倡议，就不会有解决问题的办法；人类解放需要不分国籍，重新致力于共产主义国际统一和无产阶级的共同利益。双方几乎是针锋相对，互不相让。这些分歧影响着美共的团结统一，影响着美共的凝聚力和战斗力。

(II) There are many unfavorable factors in American society

（二）美国社会存在着诸多不利因素

First, the “anti-communist” prejudice of the American people is difficult to eliminate. Early European immigrants to North America gradually formed their own set of values in the process of opening up the New Continent, namely, the advocacy of freedom, democracy, individualism, the inviolability of private property, and so on, while communist ideology advocates collectivism and the abolition of private property and private ownership of capital. Consequently, when communism was first introduced to the United States, it was rejected by the majority of Americans. After the victory of the October Revolution, the bourgeois government of the United States conducted extensive “demonizing” propaganda against the Bolshevik regime in Russia, leading the American people to mistakenly believe that the Bolshevik regime was a brutal, dictatorial regime that violated morality and justice. Thus, the CPUSA, which advocated carrying out a Bolshevik revolution in the United States to establish a Soviet regime, encountered widespread opposition from American society. After the United States and the Soviet Union entered the Cold War, the U.S. government spared no effort to intensify anti-Soviet and anti-communist propaganda, and even attacked the Soviet Union with the term “totalitarianism,” further worsening the impression of the Soviet Union and communism among the American people. Moreover, the CPUSA long obeyed the Soviet Communist Party, and its domestic policy formulation was subordinated to the will of the Soviet Communist Party and served the interests of the Soviet Union. This led the American people to view the CPUSA as an agent of the Soviet Union in the United States, or even a spy for the Soviet Union, further deepening their negative impression. This negative impression has taken root in the hearts of the American people and remains difficult to eliminate to this day, seriously affecting the current development of the CPUSA. Elena, the former head of the CPUSA’s organizational department and a veteran Party member who had worked for the Party for 35 years, pointed out with sadness in her resignation letter submitted to the leadership in 2015 that no matter how hard she and her colleagues tried to recruit Party members, few people joined the Party organization, and most people did not recognize this organization. The popularity of Bernie Sanders had not changed the negative connotations of “communism” and “communist party.” Out of pessimism about the development prospects of the CPUSA, she left the CPUSA. Second, the threat posed by far-right forces remains serious. The strategy of far-right forces includes anti-communist and anti-socialist content, posing a major threat to American socialism and squeezing the political space of the CPUSA. In October 2018, the White House released a 72-page report titled *The Opportunity Cost of Socialism*, which heavily criticized existing socialist models and listed the potential losses that socialism could bring to U.S. economic growth, as well as its impact on federal finances and people’s living standards. On February 5, 2019, Trump stated in his State of the Union address that the United States would never become a socialist country. At the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 2, Trump said in his speech that the future of the United States must never fall into the hands of those who believe in socialism. Although Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, this threat “will not disappear,” because “with the support of 73 million voters, a majority of Republicans in both houses of Congress, and massive financial backing, they remain a powerful force that must be defeated.” In fact, far-right forces and their supporters are not willing to accept defeat and are attempting to make a comeback. On January 6, 2021, a large number of members supporting Trump’s campaign and right-wing armed groups from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., to participate in the “Save America” rally on the White House lawn. That afternoon, supporters held demonstrations, which quickly turned violent, forcibly storming the U.S. Capitol building, creating the shocking “storming of the Capitol” incident. In June, 10,000 Trump supporters gathered in Wellington, Ohio; in September, 15,000 supporters gathered in Perry, Georgia; in early November, thousands of supporters gathered at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. Trump himself also returned to the national political stage, vowing at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2021 to retake seats in both houses of Congress for Republicans in 2022 and hinting at running for president again in 2024. Far-right forces are also vigorously suppressing voters and increasing the difficulty of voting. Driven by them, in 2021, 49 states proposed more than 440 bills restricting voting rights, and 19 states passed 34 bills restricting voting rights. Facing the future struggle to defeat far-right forces, the CPUSA still faces considerable pressure. Third, the class consciousness of American workers is relatively weak. The working class is the main class foundation and basic reliance of the Communist Party, and the main body of the socialist movement. The key to the strength of the CPUSA, the achievement of its struggle results, and the development of the socialist movement lies in the exertion of the main role of workers. A necessary prerequisite for the exertion of the main role of workers is the maturity of working-class consciousness. Unfortunately, the class consciousness of American workers is generally weak; they lack revolutionary spirit and unity. In the early stages of American development, the land was vast and cheap, making it easy for new immigrants to obtain their own land, and through personal hard work, they could quickly become wealthy. Coupled with the labor shortage in the United States at the time, American workers’ wages were far higher than those of European workers, and their living conditions were relatively good. These factors “hindered them from having sufficient class consciousness and revolutionary ideas.” After World War II, the U.S. capitalist economy developed rapidly, and the U.S. government adopted welfare state programs and measures to improve labor-management relations, greatly improving the working and living conditions of American workers. As a result, the revolutionary spirit of American workers was greatly diminished. As a CPUSA member pointed out in the big discussion before the 31st National Convention in 2019, cultivating working-class consciousness is a real challenge, one reason being that “their income allows them to drive big trucks and keep the gas tank full.” Furthermore, the United States is a multiracial country composed of immigrants from all over the world. Due to differences in language, culture, and psychology, it is difficult for immigrants of different races to communicate and integrate. They are accustomed to living and grouping together with people from the same region and race. This makes American workers tend to see themselves as members of a certain race rather than members of a certain class, with their racial loyalty greater than their class loyalty. At the same time, the continuous influx of new immigrant laborers makes older immigrant workers feel that their jobs are being squeezed, thus generating strong xenophobic sentiments. In this way, it is difficult for American workers to achieve unity and jointly oppose capitalism. The fact that a large number of working-class voters were attracted to Trump in the 2016 presidential election is clear evidence of this.

一是美国民众的“反共”偏见难以消除。早期移民到北美的欧洲人在开拓新大陆的过程中逐渐形成了自己的一套价值观，即崇尚自由、民主、个人主义，私有财产神圣不可侵犯等，而共产主义思想主张集体主义、消灭私有财产和资本私有制，因而，共产主义刚刚传入美国的时候，即受到多数美国人的排斥。十月革命胜利后，美国资产阶级政府对俄国布尔什维克政权进行了大量“丑化”宣传，使美国民众误认为布尔什维克政权是一个残暴、独裁、违背道德正义的政权。因而，主张在美国开展布尔什维克革命以建立苏维埃政权的美共遭到了美国社会的普遍反对。美苏进入冷战后，美国政府更是不遗余力地加强反苏反共宣传，而且用“极权主义”攻击苏联，美国民众对苏联、对共产主义的印象再次恶化。而美共又长期听命于苏共，其国内政策的制定服从苏共意志，服务于苏联的利益，这使美国民众把美共看作是苏联在美国的代理人，甚至是苏联在美国的间谍，更增加了对其的不良印象。这种不良印象在美国民众的心中扎下了根，直到现在仍难以消除，这对美共今天的发展构成了严重的影响。美共前组织部门负责人伊莉娜——一位为党工作了35年的老党员，在2015年提交给领导层的辞职信中无不伤感地指出，无论她和同事们怎样努力去招募党员，但人们很少加入党组织，大多数人并不认可这个组织，伯尼·桑德斯的受欢迎程度也未改变“共产主义”和“共产党”的负面含义。出于对美共发展前景的悲观，她离美共而去。二是极右翼势力构成的威胁依然严重。极右翼势力的战略包含着反共反社会主义的内容，是美国社会主义的重大威胁，挤压着美共的政治空间。2018年10月，白宫发布了长达72页的题为《社会主义的机会成本》报告，对已有的社会主义模式大肆批评，并列举了社会主义可能给美国经济增长带来的损失和对联邦财政及人们生活水平的影响。2019年2月5日，特朗普在国情咨文演讲中称，美国永远不会成为社会主义国家。在3月2日的“保守派政治行动大会”上，特朗普在发言时说，美国的未来绝对不能落在那些信奉社会主义的人手中。尽管特朗普在2020年总统选举中失败，但这种威胁“不会消失”，因为“在7300万选民、参众两院多数共和党人的支持下，以及庞大的资金支持下，他们仍然是一支必须被击败的强大力量。”事实上，极右翼势力及其支持者并不甘心失败，企图卷土重来。2021年1月6日，大量支持特朗普竞选的成员和来自全国各地支持特朗普的右翼武装组织聚集在华盛顿特区，参加在白宫草坪上“拯救美国的行动”。当天下午，支持者进行示威活动，并很快转向暴力，强行闯入美国国会大厦，制造了震惊世界的“占领国会山”事件。6月，1万名特朗普的支持者在俄亥俄州惠灵顿集会；9月，1.5万名支持者在佐治亚州佩里集会；11月初，还有数千名支持者在得梅因市游乐场集会。特朗普本人也重返全国政治舞台，在2021年2月的“保守派政治行动大会”上，誓言要在2022年为共和党人重新夺回国会参众两院的席位，并暗示将在2024年再选总统。极右翼势力还极力进行选民压制，增加投票难度。在他们的推动下，2021年，美国有49个州提出了440多项限制投票权的法案，19个州通过了34项限制投票权的法案。面对未来击败极右翼势力的斗争，美共仍面临着不小的压力。三是美国工人的阶级意识比较淡薄。工人阶级是共产党的主要阶级基础和基本依靠力量，是社会主义运动的主体。美共力量的强大、斗争成效的取得、社会主义运动的发展，关键在于工人主体作用的发挥。工人主体作用发挥的必要前提是工人阶级意识的成熟。遗憾的是，美国工人的阶级意识整体上比较淡薄，他们缺乏革命性和团结性。在美国开发的早期阶段，美国的土地广袤而又廉价，新来的移民们很容易获得属于自己的土地，经过个人努力经营很快就可以发家致富。再加上当时美国劳动力缺乏，使得美国工人的工资远高于欧洲工人工资，工人的生活状况相对较好。这些“妨害了他们具有充分的阶级觉悟和革命思想”。二战以后，美国资本主义经济发展迅速，美国政府采取了福利国家计划和改善劳资关系的措施，美国工人的工作、生活条件得到大幅度改善。美国工人的革命性由此大大消解。正如一位美共党员在2019年三十一大召开前的大讨论中所指出的，培养工人阶级意识是一项真正的挑战，原因之一是“他们的收入可以让他们开大卡车并保持油箱处于加满状态”。此外，美国是一个由来自世界各地的移民组成的多种族国家，由于语言、文化、心理的差异，不同种族的移民之间很难交流、融合，他们习惯于和来自同地区同种族的人聚居结团，这使得美国工人倾向于把自己看作是某种族的成员，而非某阶级的成员，其种族忠诚大于阶级忠诚。同时，随着新移民劳工的不断涌入，让老移民劳工感到自己的就业岗位被挤占，因而产生了强烈的排外情绪。这样，美国工人很难达到团结一致，共同反对资本主义。在2016年总统大选中，大量工人阶级选民被特朗普吸引就是一个明证。

Conclusion

结束语

To date, the Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA) has traversed a course of struggle spanning over a century. It has experienced the hardships of its founding, the flourishing period during World War II, a prolonged downturn after the war, and further setbacks following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It was not until the 2008 financial crisis that it encountered an opportunity for development. Although situated in the region where capitalist forces are most powerful, the CPUSA has persistently struggled, continuously advancing the development of socialist theory and practice. The new theoretical developments since its 30th National Convention provide a different perspective for understanding contemporary capitalism and socialism, which is conducive to enriching the theory of scientific socialism. The new practical developments are of great significance for strengthening its own forces, safeguarding the interests of the middle and lower strata of the American people, resisting the influence of the far right in the United States, promoting a leftward turn in U.S. politics, and advancing social progress in the United States. Given the favorable factors currently facing the CPUSA, its influence among the American people, especially among young people who lack memories of the Cold War and are in unfavorable circumstances, will further increase. Its organization will further expand, its policies will place greater emphasis on meeting the actual needs of American society, its performance in U.S. politics will become more active, its marginalized status in American society will improve to some extent, and it will play a greater role in the development of the socialist movement in the United States. However, the real challenges facing the CPUSA determine that it will be difficult to fundamentally change its own situation in the short term, that the struggles it wages will find it difficult to achieve breakthrough progress, and that its influence on mainstream U.S. politics must be viewed with rational expectations. The CPUSA’s exploration of a socialist path suited to the United States will be a long-term, arduous, and complex process. It requires further deepening and effectively advancing the localization of Marxism, [13]13 “Localization of Marxism” (马克思主义本土化) refers to the process of adapting Marxist theory to the specific historical, cultural, and social conditions of a given country, analogous to the CPC’s concept of “adapting Marxism to the Chinese context” but applied here to the U.S. context. it requires solid accumulation of strength, dissemination of ideas, mobilization of workers, and rallying of the people, and it requires patiently awaiting the arrival of a mature opportunity.

迄今为止，美国共产党已经走过了百余年的奋斗历程。它经历过成立之初的艰辛、二战时期的兴盛、战后的长期低迷及苏联解体后的进一步受挫，直到2008年金融危机，才迎来了发展的契机。尽管身处资本主义力量最为强大的地带，但美共始终坚持奋斗，不断推动社会主义理论与实践的发展。三十大以来理论上的新发展，为我们认识当代资本主义、认识社会主义提供了不同的视角，有利于丰富科学社会主义理论。实践上的新发展，对于推动其自身力量的壮大，维护美国中下层民众利益，抵制美国极右翼势力的影响，促进美国政治的左转和美国社会的进步具有重要的意义。鉴于美共当前面临的有利因素，美共在美国民众，特别是在缺乏冷战记忆而又处境不佳的年轻人当中的影响力将会进一步提升，组织会得到进一步扩大，方针政策将更加注重贴近美国社会的现实需求，在美国政治中的表现会更活跃，在美国社会的边缘化地位会得到一定改善，也将为美国社会主义运动的发展发挥更大作用。但是，美共所面临的现实挑战决定了它在短期内难以从根本上改变自身的状况，所开展的斗争难以取得突破性进展，对美国主流政治的影响也须被理性期待。美共对本国社会主义道路的探索将是一个长期的、艰巨的、复杂的过程，需要进一步深入、有效地推进马克思主义本土化，需要做扎扎实实的力量积蓄、理念传播、工人动员和民众凝聚，需要耐心等待成熟时机的到来。

(Author bios: Li Haiyu, Professor at the School of Marxism, Henan Polytechnic University, Ph.D. in History; Feng Xiaoxu, Master’s student at the School of Marxism, Henan Polytechnic University)

（作者简介：李海玉，河南理工大学马克思主义学院教授，历史学博士；冯小徐，河南理工大学马克思主义学院硕士研究生）

(Fund: National Social Science Fund Project (20BKS166): Research on the New Trends in the Development of the Communist Party of the USA since the 21st Century)

（基金：国家社会科学基金项目（20BKS166）:21世纪以来美国共产党发展的新动向研究）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心