Bernie Sanders is a creature of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). They’ve funded and manned his election campaigns. They’ve propagandized for him and supported him for well over 30 years now. Sanders would be nothing without the DSA. And they’re definitely small “c” communists.
But what about big “C” communists. The Communist Party USA, for example?
While the DSA is Sanders’ greatest love, he has also occasionally flirted with the DSA’s best friends in the Communist Party. Aside from a little jealousy, there was no great conflict here. The two organizations have collaborated for decades and share some cross-membership. Their policy positions are almost identical. The DSA’s more innocuous name does, however, make it a little easier to work inside churches, the Democratic Party, and other organizations.
Sanders’ communist flirtation got a little more serious in the late 1980s.
H.R. 950, the Job Creation and Infrastructure Restoration Act of 1997, was introduced in the 105th Congress on March 5, 1997, by congressman Matthew Martinez of California. It had 33 original co-sponsors, including Sanders.
“The primary purpose of this emergency federal jobs legislation was to provide much needed jobs at union wages to crisis ridden cities by putting the unemployed to work rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure (schools, housing, hospitals, libraries, public transportation, highways, parks, environmental improvements, etc[)]. $250 billion is authorized for emergency public works jobs over a five year period.”The Communist Party USA unsuccessfully promoted versions of this “funnel money to the unions” bill for some years. All the major groups promoting it, such as the National Labor Coalition For Public Works Jobs and the New York Coalition for Public Works Jobs, were led by Communist Party members such as Bill Davis of New York.
“There are few, if any, politicians on the left, more shrewd than Bernie Sanders. … I got to know him somewhat in my years as a UE rep in Vt, and later as DO for the Communist Party in N. New England. With a few arguable exceptions, he has always — both ideologically and politically — pursued a working-class line.
In front of a crowd of 700 gathered on Chicago’s far southeast side, Sen. Sanders and district Steelworker retiree leader Scott Marshall fired up the voters for their friend Garcia.
“U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders elaborated on the theme of building a people’s movement. ‘What we are doing is not just to make the 10th ward better,' he said, ‘but demonstrating when people stand together there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.’
“Then he laid out what looked to the enthusiastic crowd a lot like a platform for the 2016 presidential race.
“‘We’re gonna ask the richest people — billionaires and corporations — to start paying their fair share,’ he said right off the bat. Next, he spoke of putting millions to work at green and living wage jobs by ‘investing in the crumbling infrastructure' and creating energy systems that cut carbons. He advocated free tuition in public colleges and universities, Medicare for All, raising Social Security benefits, overturning Citizens United and public funding for elections. ...
“Members were involved with Bernie Sanders campaign and are continuing their activism in Our Revolution, Swing Left, Indivisible, Working Families Party, statewide groups like the New Virginia Majority and local Democratic Party groups and 2018 electoral campaigns.”The Communist Party USA appears to be at least equally involved in Sanders 2020 campaign.
“Defeating Trump and the ultra-right in 2020 means moving the electorate to the left. The most effective force doing that is the Sanders campaign, which we should become fully immersed in.”Communist Party Chairman Joe Sims may not consider Sanders a communist, but it seems like most of the rest of the party considers him a worthy comrade.
