FBI Files Reveal Historian Howard Zinn Lied to Hide CPUSA Membership

Posted on | July 31, 2010 | 86 Comments

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) document drop on the Left’s favorite anti-American historian:

On July 30, 2010, the FBI released one file with three sections totaling 423 pages on Howard Zinn, a best selling radical historian, teacher, playwright, and political activist. . . .
In 1949, the FBI opened a domestic security investigation on Zinn (FBI File # 100-360217). The Bureau noted Zinn’s activities in what were called Communist Front Groups and received informant reports that Zinn was an active member of the CPUSA; Zinn denied ever being a member when he was questioned by agents in the 1950s. In the 1960s, the Bureau took another look at Zinn on account of his criticism of the FBI’s civil rights investigations. Further investigation was made when Zinn traveled to North Vietnam with Daniel Berrigan as an anti-war activist.

Cliff Kincaid summarizes the FBI documents:

Although Zinn denied being a member of the CPUSA, the FBI file discloses that several reliable informants in the party identified Zinn as a member who attended party meetings as many as five times a week.
What’s more, one of the files reveals that a reliable informant provided a photograph of Zinn teaching a class on “Basic Marxism” at party headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, in 1951. A participant in the class said that Zinn taught that “the basic teaching of Marx and Lenin were sound and should be adhered to by those present.”
The FBI file also includes information on Zinn’s pro-Castro activism and support for radical groups such as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Progressive Labor Party (PLP), Socialist Workers Party (SWP), and Black Panther Party. Much of the latter was in connection with Zinn’s support for a communist military victory in Vietnam.

Read the rest of that. What is important to note here is that Zinn evidently joined the Kremlin-controlled CPUSA not during the “Popular Front” era of the 1930s — when many idealists were seduced — but after the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in which Stalin cruelly and cynically sacrificed Poland to the Nazis. Zinn was a card-carrying Commie who advocated Marxism-Leninism after the Red Army’s “Iron Curtain” occupation of Eastern Europe, after the treachery of the Rosenbergs and Alger Hiss had been revealed, and even during the height of Stalin’s anti-Semitic “Doctors’ Plot” purge!

UPDATE: Going through the PDFs and — wow! — Zinn’s file from the 1940s and ’50s makes for fascinating reading to anyone familiar with Communist Party history. Any innocent liberal might have unwittingly joined a CPUSA front group or two. But only a card-carrying Commie would have joined every front group that came along, as Zinn evidently did:

“ZINN came to Washington, D.C., on March 25 [1948], and helped picket the White House on March 26, 1948, in connection with the picketing sponsored by the American Committee to Protect the Jewish State and the United Nations. ZINN indicated that he is a member of the Communist Party and that he attends Party meetings five nights a week in Brooklyn.”

This is a perfect example of how Communist front groups operated, seeking to exploit various “causes” for their own purposes. Of course, there were many Americans, Jewish and otherwise, who supported the founding of Israel in 1948. But the CPUSA’s purpose was to glom onto the pro-Israel cause for purposes of propaganda and recruitment, so they formed this ad-hoc committte (ACPJSUN), whose name vaguely resembled that of the (mainstream, non-communist) American Jewish Committee. These front groups were often no more than a letterhead and a post-office box, but could be used to solicit donations from well-meaning people who didn’t realize that they were contributing indirectly to the CPUSA. Furthermore, these phony organizations with innocent-sounding names would issue flyers, pamphlets, advertisements and letters to newspapers, pushing the CPUSA propaganda line on the relevant issue. Of course, anyone who inquired about membership in the front group became a candidate for recruitment to other similar groups, and perhaps eventually into the CPUSA itself.

“The June, 4, 1948 issue of the ‘Daily Worker’ reflects that HOWARD ZINN was a member of the Steering Committee of the Veterans Committee against the Mundt-Nixon Bill. ZINN was among the group of the National Veterans Caravan to Washington, D.C., on the anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1948.”

Again, we see how the Communists exploited “causes” — veterans, patriotism and D-Day — for their own purposes. Zinn was a leader of an ad-hoc front CPUSA group trying to stop the 1948 Mundt-Nixon Bill (subsequently incorporated in the McCarran Act) that required all members of the Communist Party to register with the Attorney General. Note that this was before Joe McCarthy had turned anti-communism into his signature issue. By 1948, it had become evident to the FBI and most other Americans who paid close attention that the Communist Party USA was subversive — a carefully controlled tool of Soviet policy, rather than an independent organization of idealists. Thus, CPUSA members were agents of a foreign government and could be required to register as such. The fact that Zinn was prominently named in the CPUSA’s official paper, The Daily Worker, in connection with the protest against the Mundt-Nixon Bill is further evidence of Zinn’s importance in the CPUSA hierarchy at the time.

“He is working with an organization to assist the [Henry] WALLACE Third Party Movement. On the night of March 27, 1948, he intended to attend a rally in Brooklyn sponsoring the WALLACE Movement, a which time he was supposed to give a report on the picketing of the White House in Washington.
ZINN expressed his interest with regard to the Third Party Movement, indicating that the Communist Party was 100% behind this movement.”

Of course, the “Progressive” campaign of 1948 by former FDR Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace was indeed backed to the hilt by the CPUSA. Harry Truman’s anti-Communist turn had fractured the New Deal coalition, which had been fully supported by the pro-Soviet “Popular Front” of the 1930s. The extensive detail about his activities that Zinn was willing to divulge to the FBI informant indicates that the informant must have been highly trusted as a CPUSA member or ally of the Communist movement.

“HOWARD ZINN, of the Kings County Committee, American Veterans Committee, advised an employee of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee on February 11, 1947, that the American Veterans Committee was sending as delegates to the conference of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee on February 16, 1947, BOB GOLDNER, 30 Ocean Parkway, and HOWARD ZINN, 926 LaFayette Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. . . .
This information was contained in a letter from the Milwaukee Office [of the FBI] to the Atlanta Office dated June 14, 1947, regarding Communist infiltration into the American Veterans Committee.”

From Wikipedia, we learn that the American Veterans Committee publicly purged its Communist members in 1948. The Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, formed as a charity to benefit refugees from the Spanish Civil War, was designated a Communist subversive organization pursuant to a 1947 executive order of President Truman. The JAFRC sued, which led to a famous 1951 Supreme Court ruling. Eleven members of the JAFRC board were sentenced to prison in 1948 and were celebrated as innocent martyrs by Communist writer Howard Fast in a 1948 pamphlet and a Daily Worker column.

This entry gives further insight into how the FBI conducted its investigations. Zinn’s name had come up in reports in 1947 and ’48, but these were not collated into a file until 1949. Zinn’s membership in the Communist-infiltrated AVC, and his role as a delegate to the JAFRC (designated a Communist organization), would tend to indicate that he played a key role as an organizational liaison for the CPUSA.

“ZINN filed claim for ‘property damage’ against the State of New York, resulting from the ‘Peekskill riots.‘ Subject’s wife solicited signatures to New York State Communist Party Nominating Petitions, in 1946. ZINN and wife members of International Workers Order, Brooklyn, New York, 1949.”

Heh — the infamous “Peekskill riots,” a once-famous cause célèbre of the Left. Singer Paul Robeson, who had been associated with the Communist movement for years, made some very controversial pro-Soviet comments at a “peace conference” in Paris. He had also testified in Congress against the Nixon/Mundt/McCarran law. When it was announced that he would give an August 1949 “civil rights” concert near Peekskill, N.Y., this inflamed local sentiment to such an extent as to spark a riot in which 13 people were injured.

The International Workers Order was a very interesting organization which, among other activities, sponsored “Camp Kinderland,” one of the camps where so-called “Red Diaper babies” (children of CPUSA members) spent their summers. Like the JAFRC, the IWO was listed as a subversive group by the U.S. Attorney General in 1947.

Note in this FBI entry one of the factors that helped inspire sympathy for accused Communists. In 1946, when Zinn’s wife was leading a petition drive for the Communist Party, there was no law against CPUSA membership and — the Soviets having recently been a U.S. ally in World War II — the Zinns had no reason at that time to believe that their support for the Party would subsequently be viewed as a matter of criminal investigation. There was therefore a certain ex post facto element to these anti-Communist probes.

“It is further to be noted that the Civil Rights Congress has been designated a Communist organization by the Attorney General and comes withint the purview of Executive Order 9835.”

Once again, as with the “American Committee to Protect the Jewish State and the United Nations,” we see how Communist-front organizations operated by allying themselves with various causes, in this case “civil rights.” That Zinn was a sincere believer in racial equality, there can be no doubt. Yet the CRC was a Communist-controlled organization that sought to exploit the civil-rights issue to benefit the CPUSA’s Soviet controllers by discrediting the United States.

In his must-read memoir Radical Son, David Horowitz — whose parents were active members of the CPUSA during the same era — reflects at great length on the nature of Communist involvement in the civil rights movement and other such noble causes. Quoting a letter to a childhood friend whose parents were also CPUSA, Horowitz writes:

“Our parents were idolators in the church of a mass murderer named Joseph Stalin.”

Their commitment to “the totalitarian idea,” Horowitz saw, made Communists accomplices in the crimes of Stalin, who annihilated millions, and that commitment was ultimately motivated “not by altruism and love but nihilism and hate.” This verdict applies equally to Howard Zinn, although Zinn’s apostles on the Left will never be able to confront the true meaning of his totalitarian complicity.

UPDATE: Let the spin begin! Salon’s Justin Elliott manages to report the FBI document release without admitting the obvious fact demonstrated, namely that Howard Zinn was a Stalinist stooge.

UPDATE II: My God, talk about willful blindness! David Knowles of AOL News remains agnostic on Zinn’s CPUSA membership, despite acknowledging:

Zinn admittedly associated with numerous groups that the FBI considered to be communist, and the bureau cited several informants who identified Zinn as a member of the Communist Party.

We may charitably suppose that Knowles is insufficiently knowledgeable of CPUSA operations to understand how strong the FBI’s case was. Someone whose wife circulated Communist Party petitions in 1946, who functioned as a delegate from a Communist-infilitrated group (American Veterans Committee) to a group blacklisted by the Attorney General in 1947 (Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee), and whose leadership role in protests against the Nixon-Mundt Bill was reported by the Daily Worker — even if one can imagine an innocent explanation for such activities (coincidence!) there is this little telltale bit of evidence:

“On November 21, 1947, Confidential Informant [redacted] advised that the name of HOWARD ZINN, 926 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, appeared on a list of addressograph stencils at Communist Party Headquarters, 35 East 12th Street, New York City.”

Here, then, you have a direct link between Zinn and CPUSA. One of the things you can learn from M. Stanton Evans’ recent book on Joe McCarthy’s investigations, Blacklisted by History, is how deeply the FBI had penetrated CPUSA. One reason that McCarthy’s was sometimes unable to publicly substantiate his accusations was that he relied on secret information passed along by the FBI. McCarthy couldn’t identity the source of his information without compromising the FBI’s investigations, so when his critics tried to make it appear that McCarthy’s suspicions were without merit, McCarthy couldn’t simply say, “Here is the FBI file.”

As we see from this file, the FBI had access to the CPUSA mailing list, which is not the same as a membership list, but is certainly strong evidence when combined — as in Zinn’s case — with admitted high-level involvement in a slew of front-group activities.

UPDATE III: Even if all the other FBI files proved nothing, this 1957 memorandum based on information from a former CPUSA member would seem rather conclusive:

So, according to the informant, Zinn appeared to have been a member of the Brooklyn section of CPUSA before the informant joined that section in 1949 — tending to corroborate information previously developed by the FBI.

Here is something very interesting: George Kirschner is named as co-author of Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States: The Wall Charts. Whether this is the same person as the George Kirshner who reportedly hosted CPUSA meetings in Brooklyn in 1952 might be a subject worth researching.

At any rate, the fact that “Informant T-1” was “brought up on charges of ‘white chauvinism’ by the CP” is also very interesting. This was the kind of “thought-crime” inquisition to which CPUSA members were sometimes subjected. Certainly an avid Communist like the informant, who had been a Party member since 1948, could not have been an outright racist, so we don’t know why he would have faced such an accusation. But it should be kept in mind that Stalin purged and executed many of the original Bolsheviks on fabricated pretexts of “deviationism,” and a similar Stalinist impulse might have made “T-1” a scapegoat.

This would seem to be the clincher: “T-1” is reported to have taken a photo of Zinn teaching a class on Communist doctrine in 1951, and to have provided the photo to the FBI in 1956. Zinn reportedly “took the position [in the 1951 class] that the basic teachings of Marx and Lenin were sound and should be adhered to.”

In May 1955, the FBI had de-activated its “Security Index” card on Zinn, who at that time was working on his Ph.D. at Columbia University and teaching at Upsala College in East Orange, N.J. Zinn’s file was re-opened by the FBI’s Atlanta office in 1957, after Zinn joined the faculty of Spellman College in Atlanta. A few years later, during the Kennedy administration, Zinn wrote an article in the Sunday edition of the Daily Worker disparaging Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the FBI for their supposed failure to protect civil rights — without ever acknowledging that Zinn himself had been interviewed a decade earlier by the FBI for his own Communist activities.

UPDATE IV: A little more Googling turns up George Kirschner’s December 2008 obituary in the New York Times, with commenters memorializing his association with Zinn:

KIRSCHNER–George. Beloved grandfather and greatgrandfather, father, husband, teacher and friend will be remembered for his contagious smile and energy, unwavering principles, profound sense of justice, unequivocal commitment to activism, and open and welcoming heart. Born in New York City, George served in the US Coast Guard during WWII. He began as a brewer, later went to college, and found his professional love as a teacher of history at the Walden School in New York City.

His age and biography as a longtime New Yorker would lend credence to the suspicion Kirschner was the same as the “Kirshner” listed in the FBI files as hosting Brooklyn CPUSA section meetings. So we may therefore presume that Kirschner is, like Zinn, now the only kind of good Communist.

UPDATE V: FBI files from the 1960s connect Zinn to a Who’s Who of the New Left anti-war radicalism:

In 1966, the main publication of the Socialist Workers Party, the Militant, reported Zinn joining with then-SDS president Carl Oglesby on a committee to defend a South African activist. After the SDS split in 1969 that led to the formation of the Weather Underground, Oglesby subsequently became a JFK assassination conspiracy theorist.

Zinn participated in a 1967 anti-war “teach-in” at Harvard, sponsored by SDS in cooperation with the American Institute for Marxist Studies, an organization founded by historian Herb Aptheker, chief theoretician of CPUSA.

At an MIT teach-in, Zinn was joined by Noam Chomsky.

In one of Zinn’s most infamous exploits, he traveled to Hanoi in 1968 with the radical priest Daniel Berrigan, an event hailed at press conference involving Tom Hayden (SDS co-founder and principal author of the “Port Huron Statement”) and socialist/pacifist Dave Dellinger, subsequently of “Chicago 7” notoriety.

What we see in all this, then, is how Zinn’s career forms a major thread in a rope that connects ’60s radicalism back to the Stalinism of the 1940s and ’50s. Zinn was a consistent advocate of Marxist-Leninist doctrine throughout his career, and it is amazing that his teachings — his anti-American history — are so popular nearly two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

America won the Cold War, but the Communists won the campuses.

UPDATE VI: Linked by Da Tech Guy and Laura at Pursuing Holiness. Meanwhile, Professor Donald Douglas reminds us that Michelle Malkin wrote a column about Zinn in December. That may explain why she took an interest in this topic, re-Tweeting me this morning.

Some of the “So what?” reaction — “Zinn was a commie? Big surprise.” — is kind of annoying. Not everyone is grasping the significance of Zinn actually joining the CPUSA circa 1946-53, when the Soviet Union was in the grip of Stalin’s paranoia and America was awakening to the nuclear terror of the dawning Cold War.

UPDATE VII: Now linked by Tigerhawk and Pundette, with a Memeorandum thread.

UPDATE VIII: Linked at Carol’s Closet.

Category: Crime, Education, Progressivism

Comments

86 Responses to “FBI Files Reveal Historian Howard Zinn Lied to Hide CPUSA Membership”

Tom Geer
August 1st, 2010 @ 6:13 pm

I had the good fortune to take a course from Howie, a long time ago. I say good fortune because the good Professor was an easy target if you were just looking for a grade.

The experience had two salient features. First, we all thought Zinn was something of an idiot, that his ideas were simplistic. Second, it was easy to get a good grade, simply by trashing Western culture or finding some kind, any kind, of dialectic.

I took up the challenge of avoiding overt Marxism, and wrote, for my principal paper, an essay comparing human intelligence (which, after all, had created the atomic bomb) with the teeth of the saber tooth tiger–handy in the short run but ultimately leading to extinction. Needless to say, I got an A for my drivel.

What a clown.
Prospecter
August 1st, 2010 @ 2:13 pm

Of course Zinn was a Soviet agent. His mission was to subvert our history and diminish our accomplishments. Disaffected youth are quite malleable and enjoy soft rebellion. Zinn preyed upon them.
Tom Geer
August 1st, 2010 @ 2:13 pm

I had the good fortune to take a course from Howie, a long time ago. I say good fortune because the good Professor was an easy target if you were just looking for a grade.

The experience had two salient features. First, we all thought Zinn was something of an idiot, that his ideas were simplistic. Second, it was easy to get a good grade, simply by trashing Western culture or finding some kind, any kind, of dialectic.

I took up the challenge of avoiding overt Marxism, and wrote, for my principal paper, an essay comparing human intelligence (which, after all, had created the atomic bomb) with the teeth of the saber tooth tiger–handy in the short run but ultimately leading to extinction. Needless to say, I got an A for my drivel.

What a clown.
Assistant Village Idiot
August 1st, 2010 @ 6:26 pm

ff11 “…he certainly caused less damage to the US than the likes of McCarthy…” Change to “…he certainly caused less damage to the US Left than the likes of McCarthy…”

You’re welcome. I personally think millions of dead people slightly outweighs not allowing Pete Seeger to appear on TV, but YMMV.

As the secret files in both Russia and the US come out years later, it appears that the right-wing crazies actually underestimated the problem.
Assistant Village Idiot
August 1st, 2010 @ 2:26 pm

ff11 “…he certainly caused less damage to the US than the likes of McCarthy…” Change to “…he certainly caused less damage to the US Left than the likes of McCarthy…”

You’re welcome. I personally think millions of dead people slightly outweighs not allowing Pete Seeger to appear on TV, but YMMV.

As the secret files in both Russia and the US come out years later, it appears that the right-wing crazies actually underestimated the problem.
Bob Morris
August 1st, 2010 @ 6:41 pm

Marxist front groups often end up being deeply ineffective because their primary goal is to recruit for the party, not the ostensible cause. Thus, they block moderates from having any say and can never become genuine mass organizations. In a very real sense they are self-limiting, except for mini-empire building.

The zealotry of the lead organizers is what makes them sometimes have impact. They will continue working long after everyone else has gone home. It’s quite similar to religious zealots, The Gospel According to Karl (as interpreted by them.)

CPUSA has for decades urged voters to vote Democratic rather than for third party candidates so they won’t end up electing Republicans. They are currently about as revolutionary as Reader’s Digest.
Bob Morris
August 1st, 2010 @ 2:41 pm

Marxist front groups often end up being deeply ineffective because their primary goal is to recruit for the party, not the ostensible cause. Thus, they block moderates from having any say and can never become genuine mass organizations. In a very real sense they are self-limiting, except for mini-empire building.

The zealotry of the lead organizers is what makes them sometimes have impact. They will continue working long after everyone else has gone home. It’s quite similar to religious zealots, The Gospel According to Karl (as interpreted by them.)

CPUSA has for decades urged voters to vote Democratic rather than for third party candidates so they won’t end up electing Republicans. They are currently about as revolutionary as Reader’s Digest.
mike
August 1st, 2010 @ 8:04 pm

“Wish the Kremlin would publish the amount of money and other resources they spent supporting groups like the CPUSA.”

Why the past tense?
mike
August 1st, 2010 @ 4:04 pm

“Wish the Kremlin would publish the amount of money and other resources they spent supporting groups like the CPUSA.”

Why the past tense?
jeffry house
August 1st, 2010 @ 8:34 pm

What I see is evidence that Howard Zinnwas probably in the CP in the late forties-early fifties.

There really is not much to show a CP connection after that.
jeffry house
August 1st, 2010 @ 4:34 pm

What I see is evidence that Howard Zinnwas probably in the CP in the late forties-early fifties.

There really is not much to show a CP connection after that.
Daily scoreboard « Don Surber
August 1st, 2010 @ 5:01 pm

[…] From Robert Stacy McCain: “FBI Files Reveal Historian Howard Zinn Lied to Hide CPUSA […]
Nolanimrod
August 1st, 2010 @ 10:20 pm

Yeah, this is kinda cool to know. Like that linoleum comes from the flax seed, aka the linseed, hence linoleum.

But it’s old news. The left has won. They own the schools. They own the colleges. They own the big money foundations. They own the media. They have won.

The fact that the Democrats could pull the shenanigans they pulled to ram their health care golem down our throats without something like a national strike resulting after Pelosi’s smirking “You have to pass the health care bill to find out what’s in it” is proof of that. A country that gave a damn would have taken her giant gavel and put it in its proper place.

They have won.
Nolanimrod
August 1st, 2010 @ 6:20 pm

Yeah, this is kinda cool to know. Like that linoleum comes from the flax seed, aka the linseed, hence linoleum.

But it’s old news. The left has won. They own the schools. They own the colleges. They own the big money foundations. They own the media. They have won.

The fact that the Democrats could pull the shenanigans they pulled to ram their health care golem down our throats without something like a national strike resulting after Pelosi’s smirking “You have to pass the health care bill to find out what’s in it” is proof of that. A country that gave a damn would have taken her giant gavel and put it in its proper place.

They have won.
Kojocaro
August 1st, 2010 @ 10:31 pm

and saying israel defeding itself is crime denis you fucktarded commie is stupid but i highly doubt robert stacy mccain has ever accused you of having a functioning brain
Kojocaro
August 1st, 2010 @ 6:31 pm

and saying israel defeding itself is crime denis you fucktarded commie is stupid but i highly doubt robert stacy mccain has ever accused you of having a functioning brain
Kojocaro
August 1st, 2010 @ 10:33 pm

defending*

sorry for my appalling spelling
Kojocaro
August 1st, 2010 @ 6:33 pm

defending*

sorry for my appalling spelling
Lee Reynolds
August 1st, 2010 @ 10:39 pm

I’ve not read the whole article yet….

But I feel the need to pipe in prematurely and point out just how similar the approach of CPUSA was to that of another evil cult that is still active right now: Scientology.

Like CPUSA, Scientology creates dozens of innocuous sounding front groups that it attaches to various causes and uses to push its agenda and extract money from an unsuspecting public.

On 9/11 the Scientologists were there, distracting people by pretending to be emergency responders and generally making an nuisance of themselves, all so they could prey upon people who were injured or at the very least shook up quite badly.

They also operate numerous scam groups that present themselves as career building organizations, but whose true purpose is to sucker people into joining the cult.

Scientology has a lot in common with communism in that both are totalitarian ideologies that attempt to masquerade as liberating forces. Both work to deprive their victims of their wealth, and if possible to enslave them completely. Both are manifestations of pure evil. So it isn’t surprising that they would choose similar methods to promote themselves.
Lee Reynolds
August 1st, 2010 @ 6:39 pm

I’ve not read the whole article yet….

But I feel the need to pipe in prematurely and point out just how similar the approach of CPUSA was to that of another evil cult that is still active right now: Scientology.

Like CPUSA, Scientology creates dozens of innocuous sounding front groups that it attaches to various causes and uses to push its agenda and extract money from an unsuspecting public.

On 9/11 the Scientologists were there, distracting people by pretending to be emergency responders and generally making an nuisance of themselves, all so they could prey upon people who were injured or at the very least shook up quite badly.

They also operate numerous scam groups that present themselves as career building organizations, but whose true purpose is to sucker people into joining the cult.

Scientology has a lot in common with communism in that both are totalitarian ideologies that attempt to masquerade as liberating forces. Both work to deprive their victims of their wealth, and if possible to enslave them completely. Both are manifestations of pure evil. So it isn’t surprising that they would choose similar methods to promote themselves.
HOWARD ZINN’s RED TIES & his CPUSA Membership (Comprehensive Profile by JP) | JUST Piper
August 1st, 2010 @ 8:58 pm

[…] 1949. Zinn’s membership in the Communist-infiltrated AVC, and his role as a delegate to the JAFRC (designated a Communist organization), would tend to indicate that he played a key role as an organizational liaison for the CPUSA. Howard […]
Howard Zinn Lied to Hide Communist Party Membership, FBI Files Reveal « Counterculture Con HQ
August 2nd, 2010 @ 1:08 am

[…] Uncategorized — Jesusland @ 00:08 This should come as a shock to absolutely nobody. From The Other McCain: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) document drop on the Left’s favorite […]
File No. 100-360217 : The Other McCain
August 2nd, 2010 @ 6:48 am

[…] No. 100-360217Posted on | August 2, 2010 | No CommentsFor those who missed the weekend’s Howard Zinn FBI files story — or who prefer a straight narrative account — my latest column at The American […]
Red
August 2nd, 2010 @ 2:51 pm

“This explains precisely why we are in the position we are in today. And academia is the first place we must take back, otherwise political victories are meaningless.”
@ J.J. Sefton Absolutely spot on!
Red
August 2nd, 2010 @ 10:51 am

“This explains precisely why we are in the position we are in today. And academia is the first place we must take back, otherwise political victories are meaningless.”
@ J.J. Sefton Absolutely spot on!
Howard Zinn, Left’s Favorite Historian Now Proven Member of US Communist Party &laquo Publius Forum
August 2nd, 2010 @ 11:16 am

[…] now, that myth of Zinn’s all American demeanor is shattered forever. At The Other McCain we see detailed the long communist paper trail that belongs to the left’s favorite […]
Red Pawn « The Camp Of The Saints
August 2nd, 2010 @ 11:16 am

[…] do take the time to read Stacy’s TAS summary. And then, I would urge you to read the posting at his site which goes into much more of the details of the file. From that latter posting: What we see in […]
Stacy on Zinn: The sequel « DaTechguy's Blog
August 2nd, 2010 @ 12:03 pm

[…] communist, history, howard zinn, robert stacy mccain, totalitarianism 0 Following up on his first rate post on Howard Zinn this weekend Stacy puts up a new article at the American Spectator: Revelation of […]
Nick Shaw
August 2nd, 2010 @ 5:32 pm

The problem is, of course, progressives will say that’s all ancient history. What with half of Hollywood currently following the party line, America bad, socialism good, not to mention 98% of the Dims (50% of Repubs too) in Congress all this story will generate is a big yawn from the MSM. So quickly Americans forget, Communists, socialists and progressives are prepared to eat their own, after they eat yours.
Nick Shaw
August 2nd, 2010 @ 1:32 pm

The problem is, of course, progressives will say that’s all ancient history. What with half of Hollywood currently following the party line, America bad, socialism good, not to mention 98% of the Dims (50% of Repubs too) in Congress all this story will generate is a big yawn from the MSM. So quickly Americans forget, Communists, socialists and progressives are prepared to eat their own, after they eat yours.
Windy Wilson
August 2nd, 2010 @ 7:39 pm

Part, if not all of the reason this all seems like ancient history is that the Communist Party won an important victory when it managed to arouse the people who were more disturbed by the actions of anti-communists than by the actions of communists. I suppose it was seen as somehow unAmerican to be so agitated about mere politics. As a consequence, after about 1960, the FBI stopped infiltrating mere Communist groups and began to infiltrate groups that were actively making bombs.
The only bombs Zinn made were figurative, and would take effect in the minds of his students.
Windy Wilson
August 2nd, 2010 @ 3:39 pm

Part, if not all of the reason this all seems like ancient history is that the Communist Party won an important victory when it managed to arouse the people who were more disturbed by the actions of anti-communists than by the actions of communists. I suppose it was seen as somehow unAmerican to be so agitated about mere politics. As a consequence, after about 1960, the FBI stopped infiltrating mere Communist groups and began to infiltrate groups that were actively making bombs.
The only bombs Zinn made were figurative, and would take effect in the minds of his students.
Intellectual history « The Tiger on Politics
August 3rd, 2010 @ 3:31 pm

[…] It turns out that the man was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party of the United States — one so dedicated that he attended Party meetings five times a week and taught their introductory classes on Marxism and Leninism to newly minted party members. What’s more, he joined the party after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in 1939 — pre-1939 members could be excused as idealists in a terrible time. But not Zinn. (Who then lied about it.) […]
poop
August 28th, 2010 @ 11:46 pm

haha. this is great propaganda. using the blanket excuse that everything he did was a front for communism is ridiculous. he was an outspoken critic of the soviet union and china. he appreciated the views of marx, but vehemently believed that the soviets and chinese betrayed his ideals.

opposing the mundt-nixon bill is an affirmation of the 1st, 4th, 14th amendments. for all intents and purposes, this action is incredibly patriotic and devoid of exploitation. this has nothing to do with communism.

having a photo of zinn ‘teaching a class on Communist doctrine’ is the dumbest thing i’ve ever read. ‘clincher’? not even close. was he holding a sign that read ‘i’m a commie teaching communism’? i think not. also, i’m in a political ideologies class this semester, and guess what part of our study material is… communism. does that mean that my professor is a communist, or that we’re learning how to become communists? absolutely not.

then you list wikipedia as a source and we’re still supposed to take you seriously.

‘Zinn admittedly associated with numerous groups that the FBI considered to be communist, and the bureau cited several informants who identified Zinn as a member of the Communist Party.’ hearsay does not hold up in a court of law. the fbi (the organization that killed black panther members and did nothing to protect blacks and civil rights activists) considered some of the groups he ‘associated’ with to be communist, and there were informants. this is mind-numbingly not credible.

‘One reason that McCarthy’s was sometimes unable to publicly substantiate his accusations was that he relied on secret information passed along by the FBI.’ – because it was bullshit.

the kirschner obituary is somewhat compelling in that it’s meaningless conjecture. try again. even if it’s the same person, you’re passing off unsubstantiated propaganda as evidence of something that doesn’t exist.

then you conclude with this:
‘What we see in all this, then, is how Zinn’s career forms a major thread in a rope that connects ’60s radicalism back to the Stalinism of the 1940s and ’50s.’ really? you haven’t expressed anything that even remotely makes that connection.

‘Zinn was a consistent advocate of Marxist-Leninist doctrine [not true]throughout his career, and it is amazing that his teachings — his anti-American history – are so popular nearly two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union. America won the Cold War, but the Communists won the campuses.’

he was not an advocate of
marxist-leninist’ doctrine. read ‘passionate declarations’ chapter ‘communism and anit-communism’ to see how he outright denounces stalin, lenin, trotsky behavior after the bolshevik revolution. his teachings aren’t anti-american. your ideological bias is so skewed it hurts. have you read an american history text book? he contrasts a different perspective of american history while condemning that it’s been largely ignored by academic institutions. academia is so far right wing i’m not sure how you missed it. except that you cite david horowitz (the guy who said ron paul and his supporters are anti-american, while glenn beck called them terrorists). pathetic. your misunderstanding of communism is laughable. howard zinn is definitely a socialist and readily admitted that, but a communist advocate of the soviet union… not even close. i feel sorry for anyone who buys into this.
poop
August 28th, 2010 @ 7:46 pm

haha. this is great propaganda. using the blanket excuse that everything he did was a front for communism is ridiculous. he was an outspoken critic of the soviet union and china. he appreciated the views of marx, but vehemently believed that the soviets and chinese betrayed his ideals.

opposing the mundt-nixon bill is an affirmation of the 1st, 4th, 14th amendments. for all intents and purposes, this action is incredibly patriotic and devoid of exploitation. this has nothing to do with communism.

having a photo of zinn ‘teaching a class on Communist doctrine’ is the dumbest thing i’ve ever read. ‘clincher’? not even close. was he holding a sign that read ‘i’m a commie teaching communism’? i think not. also, i’m in a political ideologies class this semester, and guess what part of our study material is… communism. does that mean that my professor is a communist, or that we’re learning how to become communists? absolutely not.

then you list wikipedia as a source and we’re still supposed to take you seriously.

‘Zinn admittedly associated with numerous groups that the FBI considered to be communist, and the bureau cited several informants who identified Zinn as a member of the Communist Party.’ hearsay does not hold up in a court of law. the fbi (the organization that killed black panther members and did nothing to protect blacks and civil rights activists) considered some of the groups he ‘associated’ with to be communist, and there were informants. this is mind-numbingly not credible.

‘One reason that McCarthy’s was sometimes unable to publicly substantiate his accusations was that he relied on secret information passed along by the FBI.’ – because it was bullshit.

the kirschner obituary is somewhat compelling in that it’s meaningless conjecture. try again. even if it’s the same person, you’re passing off unsubstantiated propaganda as evidence of something that doesn’t exist.

then you conclude with this:
‘What we see in all this, then, is how Zinn’s career forms a major thread in a rope that connects ’60s radicalism back to the Stalinism of the 1940s and ’50s.’ really? you haven’t expressed anything that even remotely makes that connection.

‘Zinn was a consistent advocate of Marxist-Leninist doctrine [not true]throughout his career, and it is amazing that his teachings — his anti-American history – are so popular nearly two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union. America won the Cold War, but the Communists won the campuses.’

he was not an advocate of
marxist-leninist’ doctrine. read ‘passionate declarations’ chapter ‘communism and anit-communism’ to see how he outright denounces stalin, lenin, trotsky behavior after the bolshevik revolution. his teachings aren’t anti-american. your ideological bias is so skewed it hurts. have you read an american history text book? he contrasts a different perspective of american history while condemning that it’s been largely ignored by academic institutions. academia is so far right wing i’m not sure how you missed it. except that you cite david horowitz (the guy who said ron paul and his supporters are anti-american, while glenn beck called them terrorists). pathetic. your misunderstanding of communism is laughable. howard zinn is definitely a socialist and readily admitted that, but a communist advocate of the soviet union… not even close. i feel sorry for anyone who buys into this.
Zombie » What’s the Matter with Texas?
August 31st, 2010 @ 5:07 pm

[…] example, it was recently revealed that famed historian Howard Zinn was a communist — a not just a casual half-hearted communist, but a lifelong fierce and unapologetic advocate […]