# Kick the Commie! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 11, 2011, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276 "2011-10-11T09:09:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/21 "2011-10-11T19:23:04Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Geez, **John** , i sort of expected a stick-up-the-ass conservative like **Moto** to miss the whole point of the OP, but i thought that a smart guy like you, who understands the stupidity of Tea Party-style name-calling, would get the point that **foolsguinea** is making here. > > Hint: the last paragraph is the key here. I don’t think so, based on the posting history of the OP. I don’t detect any intention at irony in the statement: " …this [communism] is a real, positive thing and people have fought and died for it." IOW, I many not be as far left as to really be a communist, but I hate seeing people besmirch this good and noble cause. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/22 "2011-10-11T19:50:04Z")
Well, i have no particular recollection of the OP’s position on the issue, apart from what appears in this thread. Maybe you’re right. But it seems to me that the last paragraph is a pretty clear suggestion that this is, at least in part, a reaction to the hysterical bleating of conservatives who identify everyone to the left of Attila the Hun as a communist or socialist. On that level, at least, i think it’s rather apposite in the current political climate. Also, i tend to have some sympathy for anyone who tries to push Americans’ buttons about communism. Not because Communism, as practiced my places like the Soviet Union, was/is a good thing, but because many Americans tend to become all foaming-at-the-mouth irrational as soon as the topic is raised, and seem unable to discuss it rationally. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/23 "2011-10-11T20:04:12Z")
The mayonnaise eaters will be the first up against the wall. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/24 "2011-10-11T20:33:39Z")
In point of fact, I have some pretty big beefs with most Maoist and Maoist-supported governments. But isn’t it interesting? Kissingerian “Realpolitik” led the USA to support the relatively axe crazy Maoists and Khmer Rouge against the relatively respectable USSR and Vietnam. But when I say I’m a Communist, the man in the US street calls up the crimes of Maoist-affiliated régimes. Or, you know, Stalin. Because of course capitalism never hurt anybody for profit. Ever. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/25 "2011-10-11T21:02:55Z")
Atilla the Hun was a communist sympathizer at minimum, and we all know how that worked out. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/26 "2011-10-11T21:38:31Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > th **e** n Communism can’t mean… > > Grammar Nazi is Fascinated Hey, you know what happened the last time a Nazi went up against a Commie right? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/27 "2011-10-11T22:08:58Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > In point of fact, I have some pretty big beefs with most Maoist and Maoist-supported governments Hey, how many Maoists does it take to change a light bulb? 100: One to screw in the light bulb, and 99 to chant “Fight Darkness!!!” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/28 "2011-10-11T22:24:59Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Well, I’ve been putting it off, but I’ve been meaning for a couple of months to send in dues to the CPUSA. I hope I can get a little wallet card so the next time someone calls me a Communist I can pull it out and say, “Yeah! So?” Might be worthwhile. [Politics1.com](http://www.politics1.com/parties.htm) sez: > [@](#): > > [COMMUNIST PARTY USA](http://www.cpusa.org/) - The CPUSA – once the slavish propaganda tool and spy network for the Soviet Central Committee – experienced a forced transformation in recent years. Highly classified Soviet Politburo records, made public after the fall of Soviet communism in the 1990s, revealed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) illegally funneled millions of dollars to the CPUSA to finance its activities from the 1920s to the 1980s. The flow of Soviet dollars to the CPUSA came to an abrupt halt when the Soviet communists were ousted from power in 1991 – ultimately causing a total overhaul of CPUSA activities. Founded in 1924, the CPUSA reached its peak vote total in 1932 with nominee William Z. Foster (102,000 votes - 4th place). The last national CPUSA ticket – headed by Stalinist Gus Hall and 60s radical activist Angela Davis – was fielded in 1984 (36,000 votes - 8th place). While the party has not directly run any candidates since the late 1980s, the CPUSA sometimes backs some candidates in various local elections (often in Northeastern industrial communities) and engages in grassroots political and labor union organizing. As for issues, the CPUSA calls for free universal health care, elimination of the federal income tax on people earning under $60,000 a year, free college education, drastic cuts in military spending, “massive” public works programs, the outlawing of “scabs and union busting,” abolition of corporate monopolies, public ownership of energy and basic industries, huge tax hikes for corporations and the wealthy, and various other programs designed to “beat the power of the capitalist class … [and promote] anti-imperialist freedom struggles around the world.” The CPUSA’s underlying Marxist ideology remains strong. However, it has evolved now – after the death of Hall in 2000 – into a Gorbachev-style “democratic reform communist” movement headed by activist Sam Webb. Under Webb’s leadership, the CPUSA now touts a platform of true democratic socialism and trade unionism, and frequently encourages votes for Democratic candidates as a pragmatic electoral tactic to defeat conservatives. Other official CPUSA websites include the People’s World party newspaper, Political Affairs monthly party magazine, and the Young Communists League youth organization. If the Communist Party USA is that moderate (compared to before) now, maybe eventually it will merge with the [Socialist Party USA,](http://socialistparty-usa.org/) and maybe even the [Democratic Socialists of America,](http://www.dsausa.org/dsa.html) and if there’s any beneficial synergy and publicity (there’d better be, because we know the numbers alone of the different groups added together still won’t amount to much, not at first) then there **might** be a dynamic and relevant democratic-socialist movement in America for the first time since the 1930s. In fact, why don’t you join all three and push for merger from within? That could start something, won’t cost much. And then, perhaps, the American Democratic Socialist Party or whatever could ally in a Popular Front with, to start with, the Greens and all the (state-level at present) social-democratic/progressive parties, like the [Working Families Party](http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/) and the [Vermont Progressive Party.](http://www.progressiveparty.org/) And then there’s a real **force** to the left of the Democrats, and maybe they might like to join it? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/29 "2011-10-11T22:28:43Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > The mayonnaise eaters will be the first up against the wall. And on their knees. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/30 "2011-10-11T22:39:28Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > The mayonnaise eaters will be the first up against the wall. As well as the rest of that whole sickening genre of condiments! You can’t hide your lyonnaise! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/31 "2011-10-11T23:15:04Z")
[obligatory “In Soviet Russia” joke] ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/32 "2011-10-11T23:15:53Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > The mayonnaise eaters will be the first up against the wall. > [@elucidator](#): > > As well as the rest of that whole sickening genre of condiments! You can’t hide your lyonnaise! That should be **cadre** of condiments, shouldn’t it? You know, just to enhance the linguistic symbology… ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/33 "2011-10-11T23:29:46Z")
You coulda just declared yourself a Canadian. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/34 "2011-10-11T23:35:18Z")
> [@Implicit](#): > > You coulda just declared yourself a Canadian. 😃 I know this is the Pit, but isn’t that a little strong? ---
**Author:** ![Vita\_Beata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@Vita\_Beata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vita_Beata)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/35 "2011-10-12T15:13:56Z")
Am enjoying this thread! In Soviet Russia, mayonnaise is the first up against the wall. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/36 "2011-10-12T16:24:53Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Kick the Commie. Never mind. I thought this was one of those dumb pile-on-Obama thread, and wanted to point out that Communism and Socialism aren’t the same things. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/37 "2011-10-12T16:35:52Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Never mind. I thought this was one of those dumb pile-on-Obama thread, and wanted to point out that Communism and Socialism aren’t the same things. > > Carry on. Not so fast, there, **magellan,** we still got some space on the wall. You eat mayonnaise? No? What’s that on your lapel? ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/38 "2011-10-12T16:46:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > “Freak,” only if your monthly pot consumption exceeds two pounds. We have to maintain **some** standards! Only 1 key a month? I’d say that only qualifies for “Freak-in-Training”. Gotta get to at least 2 keys to be a _full-fledged_ Freak. ETA: That’s only 2.3 OZs a day. Get Tokin, Freak-in-Training!! ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/39 "2011-10-12T16:52:27Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Well, I’ve been putting it off, but I’ve been meaning for a couple of months to send in dues to the CPUSA. I hope I can get a little wallet card so the next time someone calls me a Communist I can pull it out and say, “Yeah! So?” One of my college Poli Sci profs _was_ a member of the CPUSA. They actually do give out wallet cards. Or at least, they did back in the mid 80s. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276/40 "2011-10-12T16:58:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Kick the Commie! For mommie? -XT [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kick-the-commie/599276.md?page=3)