Happy Communists

Sam Webb, Communist Party USA National Chair, in a November 15 speech to the CPUSA National Committee, called the election of Barack Obama a monumental victory. He said that election night was a magical moment in which tears of joy and exhilaration mingled with memories of how far we have come.

Fidel Castro says that Cuba can talk with Obama.

Hugo Chavez congratulates Obama and suggests rebuilding relations.

No doubt Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse Tung would also be pleased.

Not many years ago very few of us were confused about Communism. We saw that it was opposed to our way of life, that our individual freedoms would be lost forever if Communists took over in America. Now, here we are celebrating Obama's victory with a bunch of happy Communists.

Have a look at the Communist Party USA web site. It is attractive, professional, and full of interesting articles and links. Much of what it contains doesn't sound foreign or scary at all. The CPUSA presentation of socialism and progressive ideas could be published by most Democrats and more than a few Republicans without significant revision.

Have the Communists changed? Have they mellowed since the days when Nikita Khrushchev pounded his shoe on the UN podium and promised to bury us? Have they given up on the Gulags and re-education camps? Do they no longer inspire boat people to flee for their lives? Are present day Communist economic and social policies likely to produce better results than those which impoverished much of Europe until the 1989 revolutions?

Or have we changed? Have we become more progressive, more tolerant, more inclusive? Have enough of us been indoctrinated in public schools where there is no pride in American history and no classic English literature, where patriotism and individualism are discouraged, and where God is the enemy?

Have we learned to be Workers and Peasants rather than Sovereign Citizens - dependent consumers and entitled beneficiaries rather than free holding producers?

While celebrating with Obama, we may do well to reflect upon Sam Webb and his happy Communists.