NEW YORK—Spotlights aren’t typically red, but that’s the color they’re glowing this week as the Communist Party USA steps onto the national stage in a way not witnessed in several years.
Within the space of just 72 hours, the CPUSA found itself on the lips of top right-wing politicians and on the television screens of viewers watching one of the country’s most popular comedy news shows.
This weekend, in an attempt to undermine the credibility of the massive Oct. 18 “No Kings Day” protests, leading Republicans—led by Sen. Ted Cruz and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson—alleged (baselessly) that the Communist Party was the master manipulator of the demonstrations that brought out seven million people to oppose the policies of President Donald Trump.
Then, on Monday evening, the Reds became a late-night TV feature when The Daily Show’s Desi Lydic interviewed CPUSA Co-chair Joe Sims at party headquarters in Manhattan. In the segment, Sims and Lydic talked about Zohran Mamdani’s run for New York mayor, red-baiting, and, in the words of producers, “how we’re using the C-word all wrong.”
The CPUSA has been a fixture in the U.S. labor movement and on the American political scene for over a century, earning far more than the proverbial 15 minutes of fame.
At various times, it has been nationally recognized as a significant force for progressive change—such as during the organization of major industrial unions in the Depression years, the fight against Jim Crow segregation and fascism, the struggle to free political prisoners like Angela Davis, or during the resistance against the Vietnam War.
At other times, the party has been the target of reactionary politicians and big business forces who sought to isolate it from other democratic and social justice movements, like during the Red Scares of the 1920s and 1950s. It was that tradition which was revived by Cruz and Johnson when they claimed that Democratic Senators were going to No Kings rallies “sponsored” by the Communist Party because they had to “appease these radicals.”
Outside of some pivotal moments, though, the CPUSA has often been completely ignored by the mainstream corporate media or treated like a political oddity or some Cold War-era historical hangover. With opposition to the fascist direction of the White House growing, however, interest in the ideas of socialism is on the rise.
While Trump has been talking about “Marxism,” “Communism,” and the “radical left” for years, the attack by GOP leaders this week was the first time lately that the CPUSA has gotten specific mention. The anti-communist smears appear to be gaining little traction outside of the MAGA faithful, though. Mainstream media paid barely any attention to the Republicans’ fear-mongering.
When it came to the Daily Show segment with Sims, the right’s rhetoric earned nothing but ridicule. Lydic, in the deadpan style that’s the trademark of the spoof news program, opens by informing Sims that Zohran Mamdani is a communist.
Rolling with the skit, Sims responds, “How come nobody told me? I’m the co-chair of the Communist Party.” His interviewer then responds with feigned shock, “Co-chair!? They really make you share everything, don’t they?”
The humorous exchange transitions into discussions about distinctions between democratic socialists and Communists, the need to replace capitalism, left electoral strategy, and popular misconceptions of communism.
But between the jokes, Sims gets in some solid points about why Mamdani and other progressive leaders are often accused of being communists. “Mamdani champions affordability,” Sims said, “and any effort to put forward an idea of a more equitable distribution of wealth is labeled socialist or communist in an effort to just dismiss it out of hand. It’s called red-baiting.”
The goal of anti-communism, he argued, “is just to divide people.”
Later, a series of street conversations has Lydic sharing all the information she just learned with supporters of Mamdani’s opponent, Andrew Cuomo, who repeat the Trump-inspired claims that the pro-affordability candidate may be a secret red. She tries to put them at ease, telling them that the Communist Party co-chair has just assured her that Mamdani is not actually a communist. Needless to say, they’re unconvinced.
Comments from viewers online suggest that The Daily Show’s treatment of the CPUSA struck a positive chord. Many were surprised to see the party presented in a way at odds with the stodgy gray stereotype of communism that the press has so often repeated.
One YouTube user commented, “Wow, a non-belligerent interview with a communist on a major cable show? Genuinely shocking.”
Another said, “You have to give it to the Daily Show…they went to the actual communist party and produced an informed episode.” Impressed by Sims’ performance, one wrote, “They should offer a regular segment for CPUSA!”
One viewer also couldn’t help but notice the hypocrisy of the right’s red-baiting, writing, “It’s interesting that no liberal politician accused of being a communist is actually a communist but a whole lot of conservatives accused of being Nazis turn out to be actual Nazis.”
As for Sims, he spoke directly to the red-baiters recently, asking in a video message to Cruz and Johnson, “What are you guys afraid of? This idea that Communists control everything is such a worn-out, tired, false, fake, counterfeit notion that’s been abandoned time and again by the American people.”
Sims’ interview with The Daily Show can be viewed on YouTube.
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