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The communists are arguing with one another. On July 21, a group of activists announced the launch of the American Communist Party and declared the Communist Party USA “defunct, and usurped by interests contrary to its historical existence.” The new organization boasts the support of more than thirty CPUSA clubs and cells across the country.
But there is more to this story than crusty commies splitting hairs. The vanguard of this new group is not old-school far-left types, but far-right influencers. The American Communist Party Plenary Committee is, per its long-winded “declaration,” composed of ten men. The most famous of them is 24-year-old Jackson Hinkle, a proud Hamas supporter and Putin fan with 2.7 million followers on X. He vows to liberate “America from the control of the warmongers and the corporate elite” via his leadership in the ACP. Comparing the U.S. and Russia, Hinkle posted on X that “The US celebrates ‘Pride Month’ on June 1st. America is run by pedophiles,” whereas “Russia celebrates International Day for the Protection of Children on June 1st.”
The other aspiring proletarian leaders include pro-Stalin Haz Al-Din, whose pinned X thread explains “Why Marxism is not woke”; Rev Laskaris, who proudly supports Assad and wrote that “Russia is the true defender of freedom and sovereignty”; and Eddie “Liger” Smith, a wrestler who denies that Stalin murdered millions of his own people.
The ACP is the extreme proof-of-concept for a new branch of the radical right that sticks ideas from the left and the right into a blender and comes out with something very weird—and dark. Hinkle formerly called himself a “MAGA Communist,” which he describes as “a certain level of class consciousness that is upset with the way our country’s headed.”
MAGA Communists’ policy wishlist, per an infographic shared by Hinkle, includes ending foreign wars, banning “ANTIFA Street Terrorism,” “patriotic education,” subsidized gyms, and pardoning the January 6 protesters—not to mention a goal to “Deport Bush Family, Clinton Family, Obama, Pompeo, Bolton to ICC.”
Perhaps above all else, this crowd of influencers emphasizes that they are an alternative to the mainstream political parties that serve “ZIONISTS & WARMONGERS.”
This strange new species of communist is best understood as a descendant of the “tankie”: authoritarian communists who idolized the USSR and other bloodthirsty communist projects. But the ACP’s support of Islamist terrorists and brutal dictators suggests that 2024 communism has a. . . broader coalition.
The ACP has a sleek website and strange promotional video rife with industrial motifs like trains, ships, and welders and set to techno, totalitarian-core music. All they need to do now is replace their red MAGA hats with ushankas.
Julia Steinberg is an intern at The Free Press. Read her piece on the college dropout who unlocked the secrets of ancient Rome using AI. And follow her on X @Juliaonatroika.
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