Sam Webb (communist): Difference between revisions

Sam Webb is an American politician and the current leader of Communist Party USA.

Now a resident of New York City, Webb was born in Maine and graduated in 1967 from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.^[1] He received a Master's in Economics from the University of Connecticut.^[2] He worked as a Communist Party state organizer in Michigan from 1978 to 1988.^[2]

Sam Webb's public positions have been critical of the current United States government institutions and class structure, but relatively uncritical of the principles of American government, (such as democracy and checks and balances), which is consistent with the current policies of the CPUSA. Webb is a staunch proponent of socialism and democracy.^[3]

Webb led the party when it made decision to support some candidates in the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election. While the CPUSA regards both major parties as capitalist, it believes that Republican domination is dangerous. Webb has argued that working people and democracy are threatened if the Republicans remain in power.^[4] He has called President Barack Obama a "people's advocate" and said that some of his early decisions, in reversing President George W. Bush's policies, were praiseworthy.^[5]

Webb has argued that independent politics should be done in a manner that builds confidence and victories, not in the usual manner that is seen as a losing scenario, even by proponents of third parties themselves.^{[citation needed]}

Webb's leadership has led to new developments US communist political thought, activism, and openness.^{[citation needed]} This includes developing a wide-ranging discussion on socialism, as laid out in an article entitled Socialism Revisited, and how to get there along with deeper discussions and analysis of key democratic questions.

He is the author of Reflections on Socialism, a paper reflecting ideas that Webb first presented at the 2005 Left Forum in New York. This paper points out that socialism is once again being discussed in the trade union movement, the student movement, in popular magazines and certainly in the halls of power worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

Webb has traveled to China,^[6] the United Kingdom, Cuba,^[7] and Vietnam,^[6] in order to meet communist and socialist leaders. He has represented the CPUSA at the Athens meeting of world communist parties.

Webb has been criticized among the American left for taking the CPUSA in a decidedly social democratic direction and covertly dropping serious theoretical connection with Leninist thought.^[8]

"To me, money is...what most of us have too little of, notwithstanding the efforts of the Bush Administration. We're all still waiting for that money to trickle down." –Sam Webb, interview with Leah Hoffman, February 2007.^[2]

• Interview with Sam Webb
• Political Affairs -- Interview with Sam Webb
• Our Best Hope
• Reflections on Socialism
• Socialism Revisited

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