Communists for Obama: Stalinist tactics used to silence critics

The enemies of free speech are on the march--Part 12

By Wes Vernon

"Our time has come...I can see a role for the Communist Party USA in the next period." Those words from Libero Della Piana, an operative speaking at the headquarters of the Communist Party USA and eagerly anticipating an Obama presidency.

Communist morale high

In an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP), Piana (viewing the Obama campaign, coupled with the economic crunch) declares, "We can afford to be less defensive for the first time since Ronald Reagan, and we can say our word in rebuilding America on a new basis, rebuilding a better world, instead of the greed of the few." (Thus echoing the age-old Marxist theme of class hatred — often mimicked by Obama and others in prominent ranks of today's Democrat Party.)

The significance

Herbert Romerstein — a veteran intelligence professional and expert whose insight is from time to time consulted by this column — offers us this perspective on the Communist Party USA's endorsement of Barack Obama's quest for the White House:

"The Communist Party itself will not have influence, but those whom they influence will — the new left, the terrorists from the Weather Underground, the Committees of Correspondence — all are involved in the Obama campaign one way or another. The Communist Party itself has very few members [estimated at 3,000 to 3,500] most of them quite old. But the influence they've had in the past on the so-called progressive movement still continues."

In fact, Romerstein adds, "There's actually a group that calls itself Progressives for Obama that was announced in the ultra left-wing Nation magazine some months ago. And they turn out to be the same people from the Committees of Correspondence, from the SDS — all the anti-American organizations that have operated here for the past forty years. So although the [official] Communists are very small, they really are very representative of this kind of thinking — of destroy the United States economically and politically and militarily."

Note 1 — The SDS is Students for a Democratic Society That is the radical group that spawned the Weather Underground, whose unrepentant terrorists and Obama friends Bill Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn plotted and carried out bombings of the Pentagon, the Capitol, and police headquarters in the seventies.

Note 2 — The Committees of Correspondence advocates socialism and has defended Castro's Communist Cuba.

Out and out endorsement

Agence France-Presse made one erroneous statement in its coverage of the U.S. Communist Party headquarters: "There is no communist running for the White House and the Communist Party does not endorse Democrat Barack Obama."

Romerstein begs to differ on the last point, citing Joelle Fishman, a high-ranking Communist Party official and spokeswoman. In an article in the Communist People's Weekly World, Fishman wrote that "[l]eft and progressive voters will push for a stronger break from corporate control," and that "[a] landslide vote that is organized to stay in motion after the elections can challenge the demands that Wall Street and military interests will make on the new administration. Obama has shown he is ready to listen."

Why communists (with or without the capital "C") like Obama

Not only is Barack Obama "ready to listen" to the siren call of Marxism, he and his minions have already employed Stalinist tactics to shut up anyone who has the goods on the candidate.

A case in point is that of Stanley Kurtz, whose investigations of Barack Obama have been publicized by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) here in Washington.

Kurtz had to overcome multiple legal and tactical stonewalling thrown in his path by the Obama campaign, which tried to block his access to very telling documents housed in Chicago's Richard J. Daley Library. Once he overcame those barriers, the researcher found a goldmine of information detailing the Illinois senator's close collaboration with Ayers when they worked together at the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC).

(BTW — Obama, when questioned about his and Bill Ayers' connections with CAC, disingenuously replies that the late Walter Annenberg — founder of CAC — was a friend of Ronald Reagan's. So what? Not only the Annenberg group, but the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, are prime examples of mischief wrought by those who succeeded them and who ultimately steered the philanthropies in political directions never intended by the founders. More recently, some founders of philanthropic causes have shut them down prior to their deaths, lest they be misused after they're gone.)

Poisoning the minds of the kids

The intended purpose of the CAC program (to the tune of over $100 million) was to reform Chicago schools.

Kurtz found solid evidence that Obama and Ayers had worked as a team to steer that bounteous funding instead to involving the kids and their parents with hate America radicalism. Ayers defined himself as a radical "small 'c' communist."

Applications to advance kids' knowledge in math and science were turned down. Instead the emphasis was on such subjects as Afrocentricity and bilingualism. Money was steered to Mr. Obama's alma mater, the Developing Communities Project, to recruit parents to his overall political agenda.

Acorn again

Some of the money — over $200,000 — went to ACORN operations, now hip deep in charges of trying to steal this year's election and under investigation for conspiracy to commit voter fraud in at least a dozen states.

The Obama campaign denies having more recently shifted $800,000 to ACORN. But investigators have uncovered the incontrovertible evidence.

ACORN — let it not be forgotten — played a leading role in the housing credit collapse — having strong-armed banks into making bad loans to people who were unable to repay them.

Inquiring minds want to know

These and other interesting discoveries by Kurtz caught the attention of the producers of the Milt Rosenberg Show on Chicago's WGN-Radio. So they invited Stanley Kurtz to appear on the call-in program in late August.

Of course, in keeping with the program's policy, its producers also invited the Obama campaign to appear on the program with Kurtz and refute the charges. If the Obama campaign — headquartered right there in Chicago — had nothing to hide, its people would have dispatched someone to take a very short walk to the studio to participate. But do you think the Obama people would accept that? No way.

The Stalinist strong arm

Instead, they sent out "alert" e-mails to their supporters, complaining that a "hatchet man" and "slimy smear merchant" was about to drop a bomb on their hero, and urged them to bombard the station with telephoned demands that the interview be canceled. The minions followed through on that, demanding Kurtz be barred from the airwaves.

When Rosenberg did not heed the threats from the Obama Politburo, the campaign jammed the phone lines so that after the host had interviewed his guest and invited calls from listeners, they got nearly 90 minutes of angry demands that the conversation be ended. The callers did not even seem to understand the issues — instead coming up with such sweeping demands as "We just want it to stop" and "Everything he [Kurtz] said was dishonest." Not until the very last part of show were genuine unprogrammed listeners able to get through with some relevant questions.

Back to square one

This experience is but one example of the Stalinist tactics used by operatives for the Obama campaign to try to shut up its critics. If they will resort to the jack boot before the election, one can imagine what they'll do once they actually gain power.

"Our time has come," crowed the spokesman for the Communist Party USA. So it would seem.

© Wes Vernon