CPUSA leader addresses communism in politics
Students protested communism as government, not the speaker.
Published Nov. 13, 2009
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Jarvis Tyner, executive vice chairman of the Communist Party USA, speaks in Ellis Auditorium about politics in America. Tyner iterated how President Barack Obama was not a communist but a healthy choice for America during rough times.
Students camped out Thursday in Speakers Circle in protest of communism, incited by speaker a visit to MU by Jarvis Tyner, the executive vice chairman of the Communist Party USA.
The talk, sponsored by Organization Resource Group and the MU Karl Marx Reading Group, was intended to give a perspective to the possibility of socialist actions in U.S. politics.
"It's necessary, to have deep in your heart, the sense that total equality is realizable," Tyner said.
Tyner, born in Philadelphia in 1941, has been active in civil rights and labor movements since he graduated high school in 1959. He ran for vice president in 1972 and again in 1976 on the Communist party ticket. Tyner said he has fought for equality throughout his life.
During his speech, Tyner spoke on issues facing the Obama administration and Congress, including health care, the war in Afghanistan and the economy.
"We needed to make fundamental, strategic changes to the country," Tyner said. "We're the ones who have to change this political climate."
He also emphasized the need for cooperation between liberals and communists on these issues and all liberal parties need to match the intensity of conservative messages.
"That greed revolution grew out of that certain ideology and how in the course of that, they brought this economy down," Tyner said of conservative policies.
The emphasis of the CPUSA stretches beyond the economy, Tyner said, and includes issues, such as racism, classism and sexism. The party is constantly looking for total equality, he said.
Before Tyner spoke, students organized a mock-gulag in Speakers Circle to highlight the dangers associated with certain communist regimes.
Sophomore Megan Roberts, who helped organize the protest, said students were not there in protest of Tyner, but of the communist ideals he represents.
"Let me be clear, this is not a protest against Mr. Tyner himself, nor is it a protest against one's rights to believe in Communism," Roberts said in a news release issued by the protesting students. "Rather, we are protesting what we believe to be a dangerous and oppressive form of government. We cannot accept the vast threat to human life and liberty that is communism."
Comments (5)
11:19 a.m., Nov. 13, 2009
Jack Buthod said:
I'm with MU's Karl Marx Reading Group, the group that organized the event last night, and we'd like to offer the following response to the handful of anti-communist protesters outside the event last night: The American population has experienced decades of propaganda intended to paint Communism as inherently un-democratic. Marx, in his 'principles of communism' and his 'critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right' endorsed universal suffrage and stated that 'the state ought to reflect the will of its subjects, rather than force its subjects to carry out its will.' The modern conservatives' claim that Marxist ideology necessarily leads to authoritarianism is as faulty as past British conservatives' fear that liberalism would always result in the bloodshed it caused during the French Revolution. The CPUSA has no guillotines. We might knock on your door to encourage you to sign a petition though. The horror.
11:47 a.m., Nov. 16, 2009
Sean said:
Jack, I can't say that I agree with you. History often serves as a valuable insight into the future, which I think is a point we both may agree on. In looking through history, I know of no government that was 'communist' which was not also authoritarian. This is not to say that I don't agree with equality, and so on and so forth. The crux of the matter is: who decides? Christianity, more specifically the Apostles, practiced a form of communism. They sold their possessions. What each had so did the other. They chose to do so. The Bible encourages others to do the same. At no time, however, is anyone compelled to do so less they be at peril of losing something - whether it be freedom of speech, right to liberty, or money in the case of the individual mandate on purchasing health insurance. Endorsing universal suffrage and the will of the 'subjects' as you call us, however, is not enough to convince me that your argument is sound or logical. Democracy provides both of these, all while granting infinite possibilities to those who are its citizens (not subjects).
3:46 p.m., Nov. 16, 2009
Nate said:
I'm glad Mizzou is allows for all opinions to be heard and expressed freely on campus.
8:35 p.m., Nov. 27, 2009
Maria said:
Sean: First off, there has never been a true communist society that followed the Marxist theory. The greed and selfishness of people got in the way of that. Second, the Bible is never a defense of any political views. Separation of church and state is supposed to prevent that. Democracy obviously isn't doing its job if there are still people in our country living in poverty and enslaved.
7:02 a.m., Nov. 13, 2009
Joel said:
Nothing better to protest? How about capitalism?