Rep. Allen West has their number. About 70, or is it 80, or maybe 81?
I’ll let Hunter at Daily Kos handle this one, I’ve got to go to work.
[And so as not to deny an enterprising business the fruits of their labor–You can get your very own copy of this vintage advertising poster at Northern Sun( their products are guaranteed Union Made, Bolshevik-Free).]
Kmareka.com 
There are a pretty good number of Democrats who belong to some organization that has the words “international socialists”in the name-whether that makes them communists is debatable,but I know Gerrold Nadler and Bobby Scott are members among others.
that beats Allen West, you are naming names. Can you name the organizations? I’m not snarking, just asking.
Yes-I should -I’ll try to look it up-as i recall quite a few Dem Congresspeople belonged.
OK-here it is-I was wrong on “international”-the organization is Democratic Socialists of America-just google that with “congress”and you’ll be able to access the names(as of 2010) of one senator and almost 70 reps who are members.
I can’t honestly say they are communists but they are pretty radical.
Communism vs.socialism is a matter of degree,not a huge difference in basic philosophy.
The epitome of an unreconstructed communist regime is North Korea.That is a rarity today,but there are varying degrees of socialist regimes in the world-China allows private enterprise and acquisition of personal wealth but no political dissent for instance.
You can read DSA’s own description of their aims and decide for yourself what they are.
I googled that, and checked out Democratic Socialists of America. I didn’t see on their site that they post a list of Congress members, though other sites are posting a list. I’ll shoot them an email and see what they say.
Yeah-the names of Congressional members was from another site.
Sigh. This is what comes of so few people knowing history: we are, indeed, doomed to repeat it….
The list of seventy Congress people is from Gateway Pundit. They say it was taken from Democratic Socialist of America in 2009, but the link they provide leads to Socialist Voter, which seems to be a listserve. I got a nice response to my email from David O. Knuttunen at the Boston chapter of DSA, but he referred me to the national chapter, so I’m trying to reach them now. The DSA seems to be heavy on the democracy, and to see socialism as a remedy to privatization, and to be committed to working through the American political system via the vote. Barabara Ehrenreich is one of their members, and her book, Nickeled and Dimed is a classic look at low-wage working America.
In any case, they are not Communists, and that was the word Allen West used. I think you may be right, though, that West got his ‘facts’ from Gateway Pundit.
The remedy to excessive privatization is to let functions which should be governmental remain so-I don’t see how socialism even comes into that discussion.
As I’ve said I have no problem with privatized trash pickup,but I do with privatized Medicare,Social Security,VA Benefits,or corrections,or any law enforcement for that matter.
What’s a “listserve”?
it’s a group email, so maybe the site was something else. it seemed to be a collection of links to other sites. I’m waiting on a reply from DSA, the New York chapter that was probably closed for the weekend when I called.
I got a call back from Maria Svart, the national director of Democratic Socialists of America. She says their membership is small, and 70 members of Congress joining would improve their numbers greatly. She says that even Bernie Sanders is not associated with their organization, he is an Independent. Maria says that DSA has published lists of Congress members who support a particular issue, and that there are copycat sites that publish the lists claiming it’s a membership list. Maria says DSA doesn’t publish their membership list. I think the Gateway Pundit linked to one of those fake sites.
I took your tip to Google DSA. Thanks. I think you are right that Allen West was, in a confused way, quoting Gateway Pundit’s misinformation.
I wish I could get 70 members of Congress to read Kmareka.
LOL-maybe they should because it would keep thier minds agile-they already have a great gym.
It turns out West was talking about the Congressional Progressive Caucus-liberal,yes-communist?Nah.
I don’t think so. I think he was talking about the copycat site that published the list of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and claimed it was the SDA membership list. The Nation has an article about it, I haven’t had time to read it, what with making calls and emails to direct sources. I’m familiar with leaders who save really wack stuff when they are preaching to the choir. I am an ex-Pentecostal.
I don’t think West is the first person to bring this up-it was around WAY before he was in Congress.
Hey-Maxine waters and former Rep Alan Grayson make some pretty insane allegations themselves-it’s not a conservatives only thing.
My favorite is some rep who thought Guam would”capsize”if we put too much equipment there.And this guy votes on laws.