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Communist Party of the United States of America

Documents and Publications Difficult to Find

      The CPUSA was founded as a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party in 1919. However, for the bulk of its history, since the mid-1930s, it has been a totally revisionist, and anything-but-revolutionary, party. From late 1921 until mid-1929 the legal organization of the Party was called the “Workers Party of America”. [Further introduction to be added later.]

      If you know of other difficult to find documents and publications of the CPUSA which should be made available here, contact us at: freespeech@bannedthought.net

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Programs and Basic Documents of the CPUSA

• “Manifesto and Program; Constitution; and Report to the Communist International”, by the Communist Party of America, Pamphlet No. 1, (Chicago: 1919), 41 pages. (Missing pp. 2-3.)   PDF format   [994 KB]
• “Program and Constitution — Workers Party of America”, (NY: Dec. 1921), 36 pages.   PDF format   [4,114 KB]
• “Our Immediate Work: Program Adopted by the Central Executive Committee of the Workers Party of America”, (NY: n.d. (but probably 1924)), 24 pages.   Searchable PDF format   3,515 KB]
• “Stages in the History of the Communist Party: A Political Review”, by the CPUSA, (NY: CPUSA, March 1943), prepared for new Party members, 40 pages. This document denies that the CPUSA has ever advocated “the overthrow by force and violence of the government of the United States.”   Searchable PDF format   [7,046 KB]
• “The Road to Socialism USA: Unity for Peace, Democracy, Jobs & Equality — Program of the Communist Party USA”, (CPUSA, 2005), 80 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [974 KB]

National Conventions

• 9th — 1936
  • “Resolutions of the Ninth Convention of the Communist Party of the U.S.A.”, (NY: Workers Library Publishers, 1936), 67 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [7,119 KB]
• 12th — May 20-22, 1944, Party formally liquidated and replaced with the Communist Political Association.
• 13th — July 26-28, 1945, Browder removed as General Secretary and name changed back to CPUSA.
  • Pre-convention Discussion Bulletin issued by the California State Committee, CPA (June & July 1945):
    • Discussion Bulletin 1, 4 pages. Includes: W. Z. Foster article on “Revisionism in the C.P.A.” and Browder’s response.   Searchable PDF format   [3,001 KB]
    • Discussion Bulletin 3, 4 pages. Includes: Foster’s Letter to the Members of the National Committee, written on Jan. 20, 1944.   Searchable PDF format   [3,655 KB]
    • Discussion Bulletin 4, 4 pages. Includes: “Some Aspects of Our Policies and Tasks” by Eugene Dennis, trying to distance himself from Browder’s line.   Searchable PDF format   [3,733 KB]
    • Discussion Bulletin 5, 4 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [3,120 KB]
    • Discussion Bulletin 8, 8 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [5,890 KB]
    • Discussion Bulletin 9, 8 pages. Includes: Browder’s Speech to the National Committee trying to justify his line.   Searchable PDF format   [6,178 KB]
  • Post-convention documents reflecting changes in line:
    • “Marxism-Leninism vs. Revisionism”, includes articles from Wm. Z. Foster, Jacques Duclos, Eugene Dennis, and John Williamson, from January 1944 through November 1945, (New York: New Century Publishers, Feb. 1946), 112 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [3,226 KB]
• 14th — August 2-6, 1948
• 15th — December 28-30, 1950
  • Our Party national pre-convention discussion bulletin, issues n.d. (but November or December 1950):
    • Our Party Number 1, 8 pages. Includes the extensive Draft Resolution for the Fifteenth National Convention of the CPUSA.   Searchable PDF format   [5,988 KB]
    • Our Party, [not numbered, but this is very likely number 2 in the series], 4 pages. Includes the article “U.S. Domination of the Capitalist World” by Wm. Z. Foster. (This article also discusses Kautsky’s theory of “ultra-imperialism”.)   Searchable PDF format   [3,770 KB]
  • The Party Review, Pre-Convention Discussion Bulletin issued by the California State organization of the CPUSA:
    • The Party Review, Number 3, 8 pages. Includes: “The outline for a program for Mexican-American people” and “Industrial concentration—why—where—how”.   Searchable PDF format   [5,940 KB]
• 16th — February 9-12, 1957
  • 16th National Convention Discussion Bulletin, national pre-convention publication, November 1956 - January 1957:
    • Discussion Bulletin Number 1, November 1, 1956, 8 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [6,538 KB]
    • Discussion Bulletin Number 2, November 27, 1956, 16 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [12,872 KB]
    • Discussion Bulletin Number 3, December 10, 1956, 12 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [9,464 KB]
    • Discussion Bulletin Number 4, January 1, 1957, 8 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [6,334 KB]
  • The Party Forum, CPUSA pre-convention publication in California, Summer-Fall 1956:
    • The Party Forum, Vol. 1, No. 2, July 10, 1956, 4 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [3,076 KB]
    • The Party Forum, Vol. 1, No. 3, August 20, 1956, 8 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [6,434 KB]
    • The Party Forum, Vol. 1, No. 4, September 10, 1956, 8 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [6,461 KB]
    • The Party Forum, Vol. 1, No. 7, December 1, 1956, 4 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [3,052 KB]

Early Articles and Documents

• “Fourth Statement on Unity Proceedings”, by Charles Dirba, Jan. 5, 1921, 7 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [92 KB]
• “Manifesto to the Workers of America”, by the Communist Party of America, (Milwaukee: Labor Press Syndicate, 1922), 15 pages. Poor condition, but legible.   PDF format   [2,042 KB]
• “Why Every Worker Should Be a Communist and Join the Workers Party”, by C. [Charles] E. Ruthenberg, Executive Secretary of the Workers Party, (NY: n.d. (c. 1923)), 8 pages. Tattered condition, but legible.   PDF format   [3,654 KB]
• “The Workers [Communist] Party: What it Stands For; Why Workers Should Join”, by C. [Charles] E. Ruthenberg, Executive Secretary of the Workers Party, (c. 1923)), 11 pages. Similar to previous item, but high quality reprint.   Searchable PDF format   [204 KB]
• “From Propaganda Society to Communist Party: Pages from Party History, 1919-1925”, by C. E. Ruthenberg. Originally published in Workers Monthly, Oct. 1925, and then as a pamphlet. Made available many decades later by 1000 Flowers Publishing, Corvallis, OR (n.d.), 10 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [116 KB]
• “Marx and Engels on Revolution in America”, by Heinz Newman, Little Red Library No. 6, (Chicago: Daily Worker Publishing Company, n.d. (1920s)), 52 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,675 KB]
• “On the Road to Bolshevization”, by the Central Committee of the Communist Party U.S.A., (N.Y.: Workers Library Publishers, Aug. 7, 1929), reprinted decades later by Red Star Publishers (N.Y.: n.d.), 46 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [238 KB]

William Z. Foster — Writings

• “The Bankruptcy of the American Labor Movement”, by William Z. Foster, (Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, Labor Herald Library, No. 4, 1922), Reprint, 67 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [475 KB]
• “Strike Strategy”, by William Z. Foster, (Chicago: Trade Union Educational League, Labor Herald Library, No. 18, 1926), 92 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [7,806 KB]
• [Book:]   “Toward a Soviet America”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: Coward-McCann/International, 1932), 360 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [22,723 KB]
• “The Crisis in the Socialist Party”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: Workers Library Publishers, 1936), Reprint, 65 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [489 KB]
• [Book:]   “American Trade Unionism — Principles and Organization, Strategy and Tactics”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: International, 1936), 1,108 pages.   Epub format   [5,157 KB]
• “A Manual of Industrial Unionism: Organizational Structure and Policies”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: Workers Library Publishers, August 1937), 69 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [5,571 KB]
• “Questions & Answers on the Piatakov-Radek Trial”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: Workers Library Publishers, 1937).   Searchable PDF format   [88 pages; 2,754 KB];   Epub format   [127 pages; 737 KB]
• [Book:]   “From Bryan to Stalin”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: International, 1937), 348 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [Large file: 51,736 KB]
• [Book:]   “Your Questions Answered — On Politics, Peace, Economics, Fascism, Anti-Semitism, Race Prejudice, Religion, Trade Unionism, Americanism, Democracy, Socialism, Communism”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: Workers Library Publishers, June 1939), 132 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [16,542 KB]
• “Capitalism, Socialism, and the War”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: Workers Library Publishers, June 1940), 24 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [4,161 KB]
• “World Capitalism and World Socialism”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: Workers Library Publishers, March 1941), 32 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [411 KB]
• “Communism versus Fascism”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: Workers Library Publishers, July 1941), Reprint, 26 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [254 KB]
• “In Defense of the Communist Party and the Indicted Leaders”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: New Century Publishers, 1949), 98 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [8,831 KB]
• [Book:]   “Outline Political History of the Americas”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: International, 1951), 657 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [Large file: 63,088 KB]
• [Book:]   “History of the Communist Party of the United States”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: International, 1952), 610 pages. (Some sections have considerable underlining; our apologies.)   Searchable PDF format   [30,542 KB]
  • “Reader’s Guide to William Z. Foster’s History of the Communist Party of the United States”, prepared by Henry T. Goodwin, as a Special Supplement to Political Affairs, Sept. 1953, 32 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [3,174 KB]
  • Reformatted Version of the Book (2023), 728 pages. Cleaner pages; much easier to read.   Searchable PDF format   [3,066 KB]
• [Book:]   “History of the Three Internationals: The World Socialist and Communist Movements from 1848 to the Present”, by William Z. Foster, (NY: International, 1955), 605 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [Huge file: 89,016 KB]
  • “On the Role of Mao Tse-tung”, 3-page excerpt from the above work.   Searchable PDF format   [70 KB]
• About William Z. Foster:
  • “Labor’s Own: William Z. Foster — A Communist’s Fifty Years of Workingclass Leadership and Struggle”, by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, (NY: New Century Publishers, March 1949), 50 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [3,796 KB]
  • [Book:]   “Forging American Communism: The Life of William Z. Foster”, by Edward P. Johanningsmeier, (Princeton, 2nd printing, 1998), 458 pages. Written by a bourgeois historian. (This scan is marginally defective: When the Acrobat Reader gives error messages about the fonts, just click “OK”.)   Searchable PDF format   [30,442 KB]

Earl Browder — Writings

• [Book:]   “Communism in the United States”, by Earl Browder, (NY: International, 1935), 354 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [25,915 KB]
• “Lincoln and the Communists”, by Earl Browder, (NY: Workers Library, 1936), 15 pages (missing p. 13).   PDF format   [763 KB]
• “Zionism”, Speech by Earl Browder, June 8, 1936, published by the Jewish Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party USA, 24 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [611 KB]
• “The Results of the Elections and the People’s Front”, by Earl Browder, (NY: Workers Library, 1936), 90 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [7,045 KB]
• “Trotskyism Against World Peace”, by Earl Browder, (NY: Workers Library, 1937), Epub reissue, 26 pages.   Epub format   [173 KB]
• “Traitors In American History: Lessons of the Moscow Trials”, by Earl Browder, (NY: Workers Library, 1938), Epub reissue, 43 pages.   Epub format   [1,081 KB]
• “Communists and National Unity: An Interview of PM [newspaper] with Earl Browder”, (NY: Workers Library Publishers, 1944), 44 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,989 KB]
• “The Road Ahead to Victory and Lasting Peace”, by Earl Browder, President, Communist Political Association. Includes his “remarks introducing the motion to dissolve the Communist Party” and related documents. (NY: Workers Library Publishers, 1944), 44 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [7,771 KB]

Political Education Courses

• “Theory and Practice of the Communist Party”, by the CPUSA, Marxist Study Series No. 1 (First Course), 1948, 52 pages.   PDF format   [1,844 KB]

Electoral Campaigns

• “Foster-Ford — The Candidates of the Working Youth”, 32 pages, (NY: Youth Publishers, n.d. (1932)).   Searchable PDF format   [1,797 KB]
• “Communist Election Platform — 1936”, 18 pages.   PDF format   [1,385 KB]

U.S. Government Attacks on the CPUSA

• “Eugene Dennis — Indicts the Wall Street Conspirators”, (NY: CPUSA, 1948), 15 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [781 KB]
• “The Communist Party of the United States of America: What It Is, How It Works, A Handbook for Americans”, by a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, 1956, 107 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [7,246 KB]

Jewish Question

• [Book:]   “Broken Bars”, by M. J. Olgin, (NY: Published by the Jewish Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPUSA, April 1937), 237 pages, in Yiddish.   PDF format   [7,401 KB]
• “Freedom for Survival: The Communist Position on the Jewish Question”, by Alexander Bittelman, (NY: New Century Publishers, 1947), 64 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [8,732 KB]
• “What We Did: The American Jewish Communist Left and the Establishment of the State of Israel”, by Dorothy M. Zellner, 2019, 40 pages. [This is a lament about the role played by the Soviet Union and the CPUSA in the creation of the Zionist state of Israel, and especially about the Jewish nationalist enthusiasm within the CPUSA for this historical disaster. The original source of this article or pamphlet is unknown, though it was probably not published by the CPUSA.]   Searchable PDF format   [580 KB]  

Afro-American National Question

• “Lynching”, by H. Haywood and M. Howard, (NY: International Pamphlets #25, 1932), 16 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [274 KB]
• “The Struggle for the Leninist Position on the Negro Question in the U.S.A.”, by Harry Haywood, The Communist, September 1933. (Reprint, 15 pages.)   Searchable PDF format   [128 KB]
• [Book:]   “The Negro Question in the United States”, by James S. Allen, (NY: International Publishers, 1936), 232 pages. This is the Marx2Mao reprint version.   Searchable PDF format   [3,781 KB]
• “Negro Liberation”, by James S. Allen, (NY: International Publishers, 1938), 48 pages. (Based on a smaller pamphlet put out in 1932.) This is the Marx2Mao reprint version.   Searchable PDF format   [357 KB]
• “The Communist Position on the Negro Question”, by the CPUSA, (NY: New Century Publishers, 1947), 65 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [5,925 KB]
• [Book:]   “Negro Liberation”, by Harry Haywood, (NY: International Publishers, 1948), 264 pages. This is the Marx2Mao reprint version.   Searchable PDF format   [1,672 KB]

Art, Literature and Music

• “Sidney Finkelstein: An appreciation of the great Marxist cultural critic”, by Daniel Rosenberg, People’s World, January 19, 2018, 15 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [823 KB]

Other Pamphlets and Documents

• “Social Security in a Soviet America”, by I. Amter, (NY: Workers Library Publishers, 1935), 48 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [3,777 KB]
• “Party Building: A Handbook for Branch Officers”, by the Organization Department of the National Committee of the CPUSA, n.d. (but during World War II), 16 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [591 KB]
• “America at the Crossroads: Postwar Problems and Communist Policy”, by Eugene Dennis, (NY: New Century, Dec. 1945), 50 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [4,529 KB]
• “Socialism: What’s In It For You”, by A. B. Magil, (NY: New Century Publishers, April 1946), 66 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [6,167 KB]
• “Study Course on the Communist Party, the Working Class and Industrial Concentration”, Outline and Guide for Schools, Classes, Study Groups, issued by the National Education Department, Communist Party (USA), not dated (but probably circa late 1949), 24 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,069 KB]
• “On Guard Against Browderism, Titoism, Trotskyism”, by John Gates, (NY: New Century Publishers, 1950), 16 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,777 KB]
• “The Philosophy of Communism”, by James E. Jackson, (NY: New Century Publishers, Jan. 1963), 18 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,262 KB]
• “The Communist Party, Now More Than Ever”, speech by Henry Winston to the 21st National Convention of the CPUSA, June 27, 1975, pamphlet edition, 24 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,337 KB]

Recent Materials

• “Reflections on Socialism”, by Sam Webb, National Chair, CPUSA, (CPUSA, n.d. [but apparently 2005]), 29 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,624 KB]

Dissidents in the CPUSA

• “The Fight Against Revisionism in the U.S. Communist Party”, by Burt Sutta, New York City, (Self-published, n.d. [circa 1947]), 36 pages. Sutta was one of several members expelled from the CPUSA around 1946 for continuing to oppose its revisionism even after Browder was dumped.   Searchable PDF format   [31,516 KB]

CPUSA Periodicals   Separate Page

MLM Criticism of the CPUSA

• “A Comment on the Statement of the Communist Party of the U.S.A.”, Renmin Ribao editorial, March 8, 1963, (Peking: FLP, 1963), 26 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [26 pages; 269 KB]

Other Commentary On the CPUSA

• “Revolutionary Communism in the United States”, by Gordon S. Watkins, Univ. of Illinois, American Political Science Review, Vol. 14, #1, February 1920, 22 pages (missing page 27).   PDF format   [554 KB]
• “‘Death for Negro Lynching!’ The Communist Party, USA’s Position on the African American Question”, by Timothy Johnson, American Communist History journal, Vol. 7, #2, Dec. 17, 2008, 13 pages.   searchable PDF format   [412 KB]

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