The French Party statement, strongly condemning the mass murder of Israelis, was an outlier in the communist movement. Other parties either condemned the killings in a low register or not at all. I include the U.S. party in the low register category.
Such a posture, however, is inconsistent with the longstanding policy of the party that guided its approach to the Middle East over a half century. Hy Lumer and Danny Rubin, who wrote extensively on the Middle East for decades in party publications, would find the statement, I’m sure, not to their liking.
Written by
Sam Webb
I'm a long-time socialist and activist, but new to the blogging world. I hope to bring a different perspective on politics, sports, culture, and Marxism. Besides blogging, I also leave plenty of time for swimming, hiking, ESPN, music, reading, drinking good beer, and, not least, my family and friends. I wish I could play basketball, but my knees ruled out that possibility long ago.
While I currently reside in New York, my politically formative years were spent in Portland, Me. and Detroit during the 1970s and 1980s. I graduated from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia (where I played basketball) and received a MA in economics from the University of Connecticut.
I was the national chairperson of the Communist Party, USA from 2000 until 2014 when I stepped down at the convention. In 2016 I resigned from the Communist Party two years later. We were no longer on the same page.
