Click here to read Part 1 of THE COMMUNIST PARTY USA: AN ABANDONMENT OF MARXISM-LENINISM

Sam Webb: The Catalyst of Our Current Crisis

Sam Webb is a little-known former leader of the CPUSA but has played a critical role in the development of the current liberal revisionist line we see today in the Sims-Cambron leadership clique.

Originally joining the Communist Party in 1977, Webb served as the National Chairman of the Communist Party from 2000 until 2014 and remained on the National Committee of the party until 2016, at which point he resigned from the party to become a card-carrying Democrat. Webb arose as National Chairman following the death of longtime Communist leader Gus Hall and was notably the first Chairman to lead the party without having been influenced by the leadership of the Soviet Union.

Webb’s reign prior to the 2008 US Presidential Election was relatively uneventful, marking a period of decline and disorientation in the party that didn’t allow the flexing of much political muscle. However, Webb’s rabid endorsement of Barack Obama's presidential campaign and his lack of criticism of the Obama administration is truly the origin of the modern idea that the Democratic Party and Communist Party are inseparably tied together.

Following the election of former President Obama, while speaking at the 2008 National Committee meeting, Webb presented a long speech praising Obama, stating, “If the election of Barack Obama was a monumental victory, election night itself was a magical moment… To say that a sea change occurred on Nov. 4 is no exaggeration. A sense of joy, catharsis, and renewal is in the air. Expectations are high. A new era of progressive change is waiting to be set in motion. If the past eight years of the Bush administration seemed like a winter of discontent, Obama’s ascendancy to the presidency feels like a springtime of possibility…”

At no point would Webb’s adoration of Obama cease, accompanied by his lack of criticism of his imperialist policies. This lack of nuance would result in Webb being openly criticized not only by numerous international Communist Parties but also by many local Communist Party clubs within the United States.

The Sims-Cambron Leadership Clique

Joe Sims and Rossana Cambron were jointly appointed as “co-chairs” of the Communist Party during the 31st National Convention of CPUSA in 2019. Neither has offered any significant theoretical or practical advancements to either the CPUSA or the international Communist movement. Cambron has done so little of significance in her political career, even compared to revisionist opportunists like Sims and Webb, that it remains a mystery to many party members how she even managed to be considered for the position of chairperson.

Sims, on the other hand, has a long track record of attempting to distort and destroy the very foundational concept of Marxism-Leninism. Following the 2008 Presidential election, Sims wrote “Ten Worst and Best Ideas of Marxism” for the former CPUSA publication Political Affairs. In his “top ten worst ideas of Marxism,” he wrote: “Dictatorship of the proletariat: Probably the worst phrase uttered by a political theorist ever.” Chinese and Vietnamese Socialist Market Economies, “Defense of the Soviet Union in the Comintern,” and most audaciously “Marxism-Leninism: Way too subjective and besides too many bad stories and nightmares associated with it.”

Today, these two sit at the helm of the Communist Party, the institution that is meant to be the representative of revolutionary working-class organizing within the United States. It has been made clear to the membership within the party that they do not represent that interest, and a growing internal revolution is beginning to brew with many factions beginning to turn on the early 2000s Old Guard who were able to seize power thanks to the disarray that was Communism in the late 1990s.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of this series!