# Any current or former card carrying Communists on the SDMB? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 21, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289 "2008-07-21T19:03:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/1 "2008-07-21T19:03:11Z")
I’m curious and mundanely pointless. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/2 "2008-07-21T19:07:17Z")
Brain Glutton is a card carrying Socialist, last I heard. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/3 "2008-07-21T19:08:49Z")
Olentzero doesn’t post anymore, but he was a CCC (card carrying communist). Still is, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/4 "2008-07-21T19:31:40Z")
I do sometimes wonder if some of our more right-wing posters were red-diaper babies. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/5 "2008-07-21T19:43:41Z")
Never carried a card as far as I can recall, but apart from that, yeah. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/6 "2008-07-21T20:52:42Z")
**lalenin** was, when he lived in Cuba, I believe. StG ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/7 "2008-07-21T21:04:43Z")
There are cards? ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/8 "2008-07-22T03:07:53Z")
I believe I registered as such many years ago. . . Communist or Socialist-- I think the latter, actually (both were options in my state). I was young and too green to realize that this might be a mistake (in a paranoid way (I still vaguely wonder if someday it will haunt me in some neo-McCarthian-era), and also in that it was somewhat toothless and ineffective, regardless of my political convictions-- something I still don’t entirely regret as I vote my conscience but with a bit more pragmatism). ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/9 "2008-07-22T04:30:35Z")
I once had a dormmate who had posters of Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, and Che Guevara up on the wall. I thought it was amusing in a kitschy way until I started reading Russian and Cuban history in detail, then it became about as tasteless as having a Nazi swastika or a Khmer Rouge poster on the wall. That’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to Communism. Well, that and reading the _Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei_, but that was strictly informational. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/10 "2008-07-22T05:30:11Z")
I am a founding member of the Socialist Equality Party which ran candidates at the last Aussie elections. I have a friend who is a devoted socialist and I joined the party because it required 500 paid members to be considered valid. I don’t know that I agree with their entire world view but I support their right to voice it. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/11 "2008-07-22T09:36:19Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] I once had a dormmate who had posters of Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, and Che Guevara up on the wall. I thought it was amusing in a kitschy way until I started reading Russian and Cuban history in detail, then it became about as tasteless as having a Nazi swastika or a Khmer Rouge poster on the wall. That’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to Communism. Well, that and reading the _Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei_, but that was strictly informational. Stranger [/QUOTE] No matter what it isn’t ever as tasteless as having a swastika poster for some reason. There’s a Soviet themed pub in Dublin but I doubt anyone would have a 3rd Reich Beer Hall. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/12 "2008-07-22T09:49:51Z")
I’ve always said that Communists were okay, but Maoists are a real drag at parties. That being said, as a left-wing radical, I feel it is my duty to point out that officially sanctioned persecution of the left in America was not all that long ago; I’ll bet card-carrying Communists are _still_ a little funny about answering when asked directly if they’re Communists. (Are you now, or have you ever been…) ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/13 "2008-07-22T10:25:20Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] No matter what it isn’t ever as tasteless as having a swastika poster for some reason. There’s a Soviet themed pub in Dublin but I doubt anyone would have a 3rd Reich Beer Hall. [/QUOTE] It wouldn’t be _perceived_ being as tasteless, but I think it would still be. Communism has been romanticized in a way that Nazi-ism hasn’t. Even though way _way_ more people died under Communism than under the Nazis. Communism _in theory_ sounds like a nice idea, whereas Nazi-ism in theory is based on racial politics so there’s nothing about the philosophy that is remotely likable unless you’re racist. But in practice - I think they’re equal. ---
**Author:** ![puppygod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/14 "2008-07-22T10:40:26Z")
I was born in communist country. Does that count? 🙂 I never bought communist ideals though, and first hand experience with applied communism is best vaccine against them I can imagine. Tragedy of the commons will kill any communist utopia. It’s law of nature, sadly. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/15 "2008-07-22T10:48:25Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] It wouldn’t be _perceived_ being as tasteless, but I think it would still be. [/QUOTE] Taste is based on one’s perception surely. Your opinion is that it is as tasteless but the fact that for example Dublin has a bar called Pravda and a chain of restaurants called Café Mao suggests that not everyone nor a significant proportion of people find it tasteless. For another example check out the phenomenon of _ostalgie_ in Germany. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/16 "2008-07-22T12:04:16Z")
As I’ve mentioned here and there, my middle brother is a Communist. More specifically he is a Spartacist and a Trotskyist. I don’t think he carries an actual card, but he does have the requisite Che poster - although that was actually a birthday gift to me. I never hung it up. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/17 "2008-07-22T13:41:48Z")
I’d like to meet a card carrying communist just so I could ask to see their card; I have no idea what such a card looks like. My rabidly republican sister assures me that Bill Clinton is a card carrying communist but I doubt I’ll ever meet him. She also says his wife, Hillary, is pure evil but I don’t know if she is a card carrying communist or just a card carrying evil person. Obama is an undercover Muslim terrorist, as is his wife: I don’t know if terrorists carry cards or not. A jillion years ago, when I was in college, pantie raids were a big deal; supposedly they were organized by card carrying communist to instill disrespect for the system in young, impressionable college men----I always thought it was just a chance for young men to see the inside of women’s dorms; they were all segregated back then. And of course, a few years later, the civil rights movement and the hippies as a whole were all controlled by card carrying communist. I couldn’t’ even get a card certifying that I was a hippie; I would have proudly carried it if I only had one. I want to meet at least one card carrying communist before I die.\* \*I don’t even know for certain that I met one while I was in China. ETA: repaired goof. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/18 "2008-07-22T13:48:39Z")
[QUOTE=brujaja] That being said, as a left-wing radical, I feel it is my duty to point out that officially sanctioned persecution of the left in America was not all that long ago; I’ll bet card-carrying Communists are _still_ a little funny about answering when asked directly if they’re Communists. (Are you now, or have you ever been…) [/QUOTE] It’s “not all that long ago” only in the sense that it’s still around. They ask you about a dozen questions during the interview when you apply for permanent residency (ie. a green card). They’re all really stupid (“Do you plan to practice polygamy in the United States?” “Do you plan to participate in the armed overthrow of the US Government?”), but by far the stupidest is “Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of any communist party or other totalitarian party?” ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/19 "2008-07-22T13:57:19Z")
[QUOTE=LouisB] I couldn’t’ even get a card certifying that I was a hippie; I would have proudly carried it if I only had one. [/QUOTE] They only started issuing them after '68 when the government discontinued Draft Cards and we still needed something for cleaning the seeds & lumber out of our weed. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289/20 "2008-07-22T14:38:19Z")
I was a card-carrying member of the International Socialist Organization for a while in college; does that count? I wasn’t very good at it, because they kept wanting us to sell the _Socialist Worker_ in parking lots and I was too shy to approach people. I did hitch a ride to Socialist Summer School in Chicago with a couple of complete strangers, one of whom was an Iranian ex-political prisoner. Got home about 4:00 in the morning, ended up in a one-room apartment in an obscure part of DC with about five Iranian guys crashing on cots. I panicked and called my dad to pick me up right NOW. So much for socialist principles. I did donate $10 to the Steelworker’s Union strike relief fund while I was in Chicago, and for years afterwards got copies of their newsletter, addressed to Mr. Norm Porpentine. (My name is Nora. _Ms._ Nora.) Ah, good times. Nineteen-year-olds are so silly. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-current-or-former-card-carrying-communists-on-the-sdmb/457289.md?page=2)