On May 12, 2025, the American Communist Party released a video in which executive chairman Haz al-Din detailed the party program, as well as addressed common criticisms and misconceptions. Below is a summary of the video, as well as a full transcription with filler words removed and minor edits for clarity.

Summary

Background and Founding

The ACP was founded on July 21, 2024, claiming to be the legitimate successor to the defunct Communist Party USA. It rejects sectarian splits and promotes the “One Communist Party Doctrine,” emphasizing unity, democratic practice, and building a single, functional communist party in the U.S.

Party Structure

The ACP has a hierarchical but democratically accountable structure:

Executive Board (7 members): highest authority.

Politburo (up to 12): supports the Executive Board.

Central Committee: elected by local chapters; oversees leadership and can replace it via National Congress.

Chapters: locally autonomous but operate within democratic limits to foster practical leadership experience.

Party Ideology

Official ideology is “Marxism-Leninism Unified Tendency,” which:

Affirms Chinese Marxism (including Mao, Deng, and Xi Jinping Thought).

Criticizes Soviet revisionism but recognizes socialist achievements in Cuba, Vietnam, etc.

Emphasizes practical testing over dogma and leaves room for a future American synthesis of Marxism-Leninism.

Chapter Enterprises

Chapters run cooperative businesses (“Chapter Enterprises”) to fund party activities. Profits support the party—not personal gain—and aim to ensure long-term economic sustainability without reliance on donors.

National Question

The ACP views the U.S. and Canada as one nation and rejects U.S. colonial holdings (e.g., supports Puerto Rican independence). It promotes a unified “American civilization” blending Indigenous, African, European, and Latino heritages, rejecting racial separatism.

Revolutionary Strategy

The party expects a U.S. constitutional crisis or civil war and aims to build “dual power”—an alternative governance model that can survive and offer leadership during collapse. It does not seek electoral victory but focuses on local organizing and resilience.

Party Program

Key policies include: total debt cancellation, nationalization of strategic industries, abolition of the Federal Reserve, creation of a People’s National Bank, and promotion of post-capitalist economic models.

How to Join

Prospective members join as “reserve members” (paying dues). To become full “cadre” (with decision-making rights), they must participate actively in local chapter work and pass a vetting process.

Blockchain Ledger

A public blockchain verifies official party cadre and chapter social media accounts to prevent impersonation. Reserve members are not listed.

Party Communication

All official party communication occurs via Telegram (and occasionally Zoom). The ACP does not use Discord for any party business.

Negative Attention

The party attributes criticism to disinformation campaigns, possibly by intelligence agencies, and is pursuing legal action against libel. It urges the public to verify claims critically.

Infrared, Midwestern Marx & Jackson Hinkle

These online personalities helped popularize the ACP but have no formal institutional role. The party is distinct from their personal media projects.

Cryptocurrency

The ACP denies any involvement with cryptocurrency. Its blockchain is non-monetary and used only for verification.

MAGA Communism

Not the party’s official ideology. Described as a speculative meme project by Infrared to provoke political discussion—not a governing doctrine.

Trump & Republicans

The ACP endorses no candidates or parties, including Trump or the GOP. It maintains political independence and focuses on local, not national, electoral politics.

Bigotry and Discrimination

The party constitution bans all discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or private life.

Women’s Issues

Women hold equal status in the party. The ACP takes women’s issues seriously and bans gender-based discrimination.

Culture War & Identity Politics

The ACP rejects “culture war” politics, viewing culture as materially determined. It prioritizes class struggle over ideological prescriptions about identity.

Landlords

The party opposes landlordism as parasitic. While rental properties are technically allowed as chapter enterprises, they are discouraged; all enterprises must be cooperatively and ethically run.

Who Funds ACP?

Currently self-funded by leadership and members via dues and journal sales. No external donors, foreign or domestic.

Freedom of Criticism

Members may criticize leadership and policy openly (via meetings, journal, blog), but must uphold collective decisions once made (“democratic centralism”).

Privacy & Personal Lives

The party does not police private behavior beyond basic societal standards of good character. Communists should live integrated, normal lives within their communities.

Police & Law Enforcement

Law enforcement officers cannot become cadre. Chapters must not collaborate with police. An exception is under review for one rural member who joined before the policy existed.

Military

Veterans, active-duty soldiers, and National Guard members may join as cadre, reflecting the different class role of the military vs. police.

Fascism

The ACP strongly condemns fascism and neo-Nazism. It criticizes liberal “anti-fascists” for defending the capitalist system, which fuels far-right anger.

“Bad” Thinkers

Reading non-Marxist or controversial thinkers (e.g., Heidegger, Dugin) is permitted for intellectual enrichment, but they are not part of official doctrine or required reading.

Internationalism and anti-imperialism

The ACP is globally oriented, opposes U.S. imperialism, and maintains solidarity with international anti-imperialist movements and communist parties.

Non-Marxist Revolutionaries

The party supports non-Marxist anti-imperialist forces (e.g., Iran) as historically progressive and seeks a global united front against imperialism.

Russia

Recognizes Russia as the USSR’s successor state. Supports its sovereignty against NATO, viewing its resistance as part of unfinished Soviet legacy—though Russia is not currently socialist.

China

Views China as a legitimate, modern socialist country under proletarian dictatorship. Xi Jinping Thought is officially endorsed as a key development in Marxism-Leninism.

Other socialist nations

Considers Cuba, Vietnam, DPRK, Venezuela, and Nicaragua legitimate socialist or anti-imperialist projects. Advocates unity among all socialist states despite historical disagreements.

Transcript

I'm Haz al Din, executive chairman of the American Communist Party. Since our party was founded, we have made a lot of headlines and have gained a lot of traction across almost all social media platforms. But something I've noticed is that we've also generated a lot of confusion and uncertainty as far as what our purpose is, who we are, and what we stand for. So I'm making this video in the hopes that we could lay these questions to rest and I could better clarify to the curious public just what the American Communist Party is.

Background and Founding

The American Communist Party was declared on July 21st of 2024, and it was declared as the official reconstitution of the Communist Party USA. Now, if you don't know what that means, it means we regard ourselves as the one and legitimate successor of the now defunct and now liquidated Communist Party USA. We regarded that party as having been liquidated and defunct on account of its usurping of democratic and constitutional protocols at its latest National Convention, to say nothing of the fact that it has no practical results to show for decades, and the fact that more or less, the party is just not in keeping with the times.

That being said, we did not want to set a precedent of sectarianism and splitting, and founding organizations on the basis of ideology alone. So we formulated something called the One Communist Party Doctrine. According to which, within a single country, there can only be one legitimate Communist party, and that everyone should commit to building and improving that Communist Party. Even if the leadership has views you disagree with or even espouses a specific interpretation of Marxism-Leninism you don't agree with, for us the emphasis needs to be on practice and practical commitments. So we think that our claim to being the one Communist party has to be something proven through practice, not just by saying so, to be clear.

But we want to set the precedent to avoid the endless cycle of sectarianism—to just having one Communist party we commit to building and improving, having democratic procedures to allow for correct or wrong opinions to be tested in some kind of way. And this is the purport that is at the foundation of the American Communist Party, if you're interested in what sets it apart from other self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist organizations.

Party Structure

Okay, so as far as how the party is structured, we've got three or four basic levels of leadership, depending on how you look at it. At the top, you have the Executive Board. The Executive Board consists of seven people. This is the highest governing body within the party. Below the Executive Board is the Politburo, which is up to 12 people, and are the deputies of the Executive Board overseeing the departments led by each Executive Board member. The Executive Board is not answerable to the Politburo, although the input of the Politburo and consultations with the Politburo, are considered very important and very valuable as far as the nature of leadership is concerned.

The democratic governing body of the party is the Central Committee. The Central Committee is formed through elections that happen at chapter levels, where they select a delegate and send them to the Central Committee. It is the Central Committee that scrutinizes and oversees the executive leadership. Both the Executive Board and, by extension, the Politburo, are answerable to the Central Committee. What the Central Committee is tasked with doing is making sure that the Executive Board is able to fulfill its plans and promises. If the leadership is not, they have to come up with explanations. They're answerable to the Central Committee. If those explanations are not satisfactory, that is going to weigh heavily in the elections that happen at the National Congress, which will be one or two years after the formation of the Central Committee in the coming months, which will decide whether the Executive Board needs to be replaced.

That is basically the basic structure of leadership. Now, as far as chapters, each chapter has its own executive leadership. The structure of chapter governance and administration is actually relatively decentralized within reasonable democratic limits because we want people to gain practical knowledge of how to associate with one another from scratch. We want there to be both failure and learning from failure, and improvement on that basis. So we want people to learn the best ways to govern from scratch, understand the necessities of collective discipline, and have that be a learning experience. That's not to say it's completely decentralized, but we want a degree of autonomy within the chapters so that at the lowest levels of membership, people understand what it means to govern and lead.

Party Ideology

I've noticed a lot of people are really confused about the party's official ideology. More on that later, but basically, the official ideology of the American Communist Party is something we've called Marxism-Leninism Unified Tendency. What the Unified Tendency basically means is that it's a specific interpretation of the synthesis of Marxism-Leninism that is made on the basis of practical historical contributions to the implementation of the principles and methods of Marxism and Marxism-Leninism across history.

In general, we regard the Sinicization of Marxism, up to Xi Jinping Thought, as legitimate. So when it comes to the Sino-Soviet split, we share the Chinese criticism of revisionism. We uphold even Mao's Cultural Revolution. We simultaneously recognize the significance and contribution of Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening Up. And finally, Xi Jinping Thought is something we regard as the latest synthesis of Marxism-Leninism.

That being said, we don't take a dogmatic approach when it comes to the Sino-Soviet split, for example, in the mid to late 20th century. We don't regard Cuba, Vietnam, and other Soviet-aligned states or the Warsaw Pact as fascist or illegitimate states, regardless of the criticism of Soviet revisionism and Soviet leadership. We think that there is a material fact of the proletarian dictatorship and socialist construction, which represent different variations of implementation and building of socialism in different contexts. The synthesis of Marxism-Leninism demands different contexts. So Che Guevara’s foco theory, which in part at least was proven in the Cuban Revolution, is also something legitimate.

Roughly, the Unified Tendency is based on the foundation of Chinese Marxism-Leninism combined with a more integral and total perspective about the history of Marxism-Leninism in the 20th century.

As far as a new synthesis as applied to the American context, we don't claim to actually have discovered that yet. That's something that can only be proven through a new contribution to history itself, so through practice. So we're leaving an open door as far as how Marxism-Leninism can be synthesized in the future. We just want to be clear about where the record stands and what the story is so far. This is Marxism-Leninism. It contains a lot of wisdom, knowledge, and experience across many different contexts. That is a material fact. It's not just an ideology or an idea; it contains wisdom proven by history.

The importance we place on practice when it comes to how you contribute to that and further that knowledge. And that is our view of Marxism-Leninism and that is right now the official ideology of the party. One consequence of this fact is that there's a lot of room for disagreement, debate, and discussion about what the next synthesis of Marxism-Leninism as applied to the American context in the 21st century will be. All we're saying is that it has to be proven through practice.

We're also saying that regardless of disagreements, there needs to be collective discipline—binding collective decisions made by the party itself. But there's room for people to actually figure this out. We're not claiming to have all the answers. Anyone claiming to have the answer is wrong because they haven't proven it yet. If you have an idea of what direction we should be going in and you can somehow persuade the majority of that, we can actually test it.

We want to build not a receptacle of ideological dogma but a practical framework to experiment and discover what the next synthesis of Marxism-Leninism is going to be, without that leading to splits and divisions. We're all united in that commitment which is deepening, furthering, and inheriting the history of Marxism-Leninism. That is what really sets us apart, I think. The first practical accomplishment we've made so far is unifying people who have ideological disagreements on the basis of a practical commitment.

If you're curious about what our party actually does, watch this to get a brief introduction.

Our strategy as far as building up the Communist Party is concerned is building leadership and good standing locally through community service, through labor organizing, participating in the national labor movement, and getting a foot in the door when it comes to local politics. It's a strategy with many prongs, fundamentally based on creating a new dialogue between Communists and the American working class and the American people at large.

We are trying to take Marxism-Leninism from the ivory towers of universities and internet circles to something that actually can prove its relevance in application in the day-to-day issues and lives of the American people.

Chapter Enterprises

Now a big question is: what's the strategy for getting funding for the party? Well, we don't have huge mega-donors. We don’t have any capitalist patrons. We don't have any billionaires bankrolling us. So we have a strategy that involves a concept called Chapter Enterprises. Chapter Enterprises are cooperative businesses that chapters are going to be running, that’s basically going to give them an economic existence. To have a political existence, you need to have an economic existence. You need a way to support and sustain your activity with resources.

When it comes to labor organizing, community service, or local politics, without economic power, none of these are possible long-term. For some reason, and this still baffles me, some people found this to be controversial; it's just because they don't know about the history of every Communist party on Earth has always had to contend with economic realities. Most Communist Parties content themselves with just collecting dues or donations, but we are in here for the long haul. We think that this is not going to be something overnight as far as the construction of a proletarian dictatorship and the seizure of power.

It's very important that there is a communist voice in American politics, that there is a communist influence, that there is a seat at the table for the American working class politically. And you have to have some kind of economic existence for that to be possible. Chapter Enterprises are central to our strategy to actually be solvent and to be efficient, to allow our activity to actually be funded and given the proper resources that it needs.

Our goal is not profit. If our goal was profit, we wouldn't be running a Communist Party. The income that Chapter Enterprises makes goes into the party itself, to grow the party itself. So that’s basically our model for funding the party.

National Question

Regarding the national question: the Party regards the current territory encompassed by the United States of America and Canada to be one country. We reject all of the territories and colonies held by the United States as part of this country. We reject colonialism outright. We believe in the independence of Puerto Rico for example, and are in solidarity with other colonized peoples seeking independence. And as far as the American continent is concerned encompassed by the United States and Canada, we believe in the promotion of one unique American civilization, which is a mixture, not exclusively but in the main, of African descendants of slaves, indigenous Americans, European immigrants, and also Latino peoples. These are the main groups which we believe constitute one unique American civilization. Of course there are other groups that I have not mentioned. The important thing is that we believe in one unified American nation.

We don't believe in separating people on the basis of race and so on and so on. Of course there are nuances when it comes to the recognition of different IND tribes and so on. But in general, we seek the promotion of a unified American civilization. And that is basically our view of the American national question.

Revolutionary Strategy

Well, we certainly don't believe or anticipate that we'll ever win a presidential election. Our strategy is based on an analysis of the current trajectory of the United States of America, which we believe is headed toward a constitutional crisis and ultimately a civil war. It suffices for us to just build up an organization and a model of governance, a model of organizing human beings that will survive this crisis. As long as we can prepare for that, survive, and endure that, we think that the Communist Party will be a viable alternative form of power. In other words, dual power—that the American people can look to. The important thing for us is the building of dual power. We do not advocate anything illegal. We do not advocate anything criminal. We really think that the United States, by itself, without any need for our help, is headed toward some kind of constitutional crisis and dissolution.

And we believe that the Communist Party needs to play a very, very important role in being at the forefront of the question of any reconstitution. Reconstitution needs to happen on the basis of fulfilling the basic social contract between the American people and the state. We don't anticipate that the forces are in place for permitting that possibility. We don't anticipate that there's going to be a reconstitution that is going to maintain the revolutionary and democratic traditions of the American people.

So, we're very vigilant about the tendency toward state dictatorship, open terrorist dictatorship. By the way, we're not specifically even talking about Trump here because the same tendencies could be seen under Biden.

Party Program

Our party program includes things like total debt cancellation, the nationalization of the strategic industries of the economy, the promotion of alternative economic forms—post-capitalist economics, information economy, fourth industrial revolution.

If you want to know more about our party program, ac.us/program is the place to go, where you'll basically get all of it. We more or less have a program for the abolition of the Federal Reserve, the construction of a People's National Bank, and the revolutionizing of the system of finance that is currently in place.

How to Join

Now, as far as joining the party is concerned, it's actually pretty easy. You go to ac.pp.us/join. And upon joining, you're going to be called a reserve member. Reserve members are obliged to pay monthly dues to the party and are given the opportunity to actually prove if they're willing (they don't necessarily have to; they can just be reserve members). But if you're interested in actually becoming party cadre, where you don't have to pay monthly dues and you can participate in the decision-making processes, then you just have to actually participate in party work at your chapter level. You have to attend in-person meetings, engage in chapter events, and chapter work.

Once you do that, and once there's a minimal vetting process involved—necessary for anyone we consider eligible to represent the party—you can become a full party member. That is more or less how you join the American Communist Party. I should also note that reserve members will not be displayed publicly on the party's public blockchain ledger. So, for more information about that, stay tuned.

Blockchain Ledger

So to protect our party from impersonation by malicious bad faith actors, we have a public party blockchain ledger. The ledger basically records all of the chapter's social media accounts as well as all of the party cadre that are in fact affiliated and aligned within the party.

For example, if someone were to try and impersonate us on social media but their account isn't displayed on our website and attached and recorded on our blockchain ledger, it's safe to assume that they are an impersonator. All cadre are also recorded on the blockchain as being part of the state chapter. Every single cadre has a unique cryptographic identity on our blockchain. If you're just a reserve member, you're not actually going to be on the ledger. So only cadre and only chapters of the party are on the chain.

Party Communication

Our party does not have and currently has no plans to have any Discords or any types of communication whatsoever that involve party business that are outside of Telegram. So, there are no party Discords. The party doesn't manage or run or operate any kind of Discords, never has, probably never will. I want to clarify that because, in addition to there being impersonators on social media claiming to represent us, there's confusion apparently about where party business is actually discussed and what are proper channels of communicating party business. They are exclusively Telegram channels and online meetings, usually themselves, done through Telegram, sometimes through Zoom. But in general, we completely stay away from Discord. Okay? So, now let me take the opportunity to basically address some of the most common misconceptions and questions surrounding our party's views, stances, and so on and so on.

Negative Attention

When you contrast some of the negative attention we receive with what our party actually does, you're probably going to be left pretty confused, baffled even, scratching your head wondering why we receive so much negative attention or even the negative attention we receive at all. Well, all you have to do is ask yourself the basic question: is the internet a free and open place where it's just a bunch of different individuals expressing their opinions? Or are there institutional bad faith actors, primarily ones that come from the intelligence community, who play a significant role in attempting to shape people's perceptions and opinions? If you believe the latter is true—and I think there's been documented evidence already proving it anyway—and I think you'd be naive to think otherwise, then you have to ask the basic question: would they make it that easy for a Communist party that showed any promise? Why wouldn't they make sure that a sustained campaign of libels and attacks and a campaign to destroy its reputation was in full swing?

I understand that some of the personalities, myself included, that were involved in the constitution of the party are controversial for ideological reasons, at least to a significant extent. But as far as the things that are being said about the party by these bad faith actors, it doesn't really line up with that whatsoever. We just ask people to exercise due diligence, actually scrutinize - if any, by the way, usually there's not - any evidence that's being provided to make the accusations and claims that are being made against us. Usually, you'll find that almost all of the negative attention we receive is a combination of exaggerations and lies and just outright made-up BS that people believe because they either want to believe it because they have some kind of mental problems or because they genuinely don't know any better. It's just on the front page of Reddit. But all we can really say is that we're pursuing a very aggressive legal strategy to defend ourselves against libel. And, you know, look, guys, they're not going to make it easy for the Communist Party to make the front page of Reddit without being attacked, slandered, and maligned a bunch. I think you're really naive if you think otherwise. It's really that simple.

Infrared, Midwestern Marx, & Jackson Hinkle

There's also a lot of confusion about what the relationship between the party is and Infrared, Jackson Hinkle, or Legitimate Targets, and Midwestern Marx. So, the latter things I named—Infrared, Jackson Hinkle, Midwestern Marx—these social media platforms have no formal status within the party. You don't have to be fans of any of the channels or accounts I just listed to actually be a member of the party. You just have to agree with the Unified Tendency of Marxism-Leninism. Now that being said, in reality, the social media accounts of Jackson, Infrared, Midwestern Marx—they play an indispensable role in growing the party and directing attention toward it and the communities that have been built up. Specifically, you know, the Infrared community obviously played a very important role, in laying the foundation for the reconstitution that occurred on July 21st, 2024. But formally speaking, there is nothing that attaches the party to Infrared, Midwestern Marx, Jackson. Nothing formally, nothing institutionally. And technically speaking, at our National Congress, the party could be completely divorced from these personalities, from its leadership—myself included. So, formally and institutionally, there is no actual connection. They are not official channels of communication for the party. We exercise a degree of responsibility, obviously, as far as how we use our personal and private media platforms. But it's important to understand there is a distinction.

And why is that important to understand? Because the party is not the sum total of different personalities. It's different personalities coming together on the basis of a shared commitment to an objective principle of collective discipline. A shared practical commitment to building something that is greater than personalities and individuals. That's a very, very important distinction. It is not the sum. It's not a synthesis of these different social media accounts and platforms. It is all of these different personalities that are coming together on the basis of a shared commitment to a shared purpose of constructing the Communist Party in America. And that means we have to prioritize the collective principle over the individual one. And the objective over the subjective. Reducing our party to Infrared, to Jackson's account, to Midwestern Marx, is a big, big mistake because, first of all, the party is a practical commitment. It's a practical purport. We're not claiming to have all the answers. We are just claiming that we have the commitment to building a successful and victorious Communist party in this country.

Cryptocurrency

So, one of the first forms of defamation, actually, when our party launched was the claim that we had something to do with cryptocurrency. We issued a cease and desist letter to the account that made this claim, and they promptly deleted it. But it was something picked up by other personalities. We have nothing to do with any cryptocurrency. Okay? Our blockchain is not monetized. There's no financial significance to it. We've never issued any kind of cryptocoin. We have nothing to do with cryptocurrency. It's really that simple.

MAGA Communism

MAGA Communism is not, in fact, the official ideology of the party. MAGA Communism has no binding or formal significance within the party. By the way, Maga Communism itself is a really misunderstood thing in general. I direct people to read my Substack, but even then, it doesn't fully clarify it. Look, MAGA Communism, among the other speculative projects of Infrared, the Infrared media collective and community, these are not the same thing as official ideologies within the party. Those speculative meme projects served an entirely separate purpose that is not related to the party. That being said, the MAGA Communist strategy and the significance of it, of course, is freely discussed and even debated within the party. But we are not a MAGA Communist Party. The official ideology of our party is the Unified Tendency of Marxism-Leninism. MAGA Communism is one of the many different speculative social media ideological projects of Infrared, the Infrared community, and collective, whose purpose was to shift perceptions. It was to get people thinking bigger ideas and get the ball rolling as far as challenging some of the conventionally accepted truisms, so to speak, on the so-called political spectrum. But that is just not the same thing as an official ideology for a political party.

Trump & Republicans

So we've never actually endorsed any US presidential candidate in the history of US politics. We haven't endorsed anyone in Canada. We haven't endorsed Trump. We have nothing to do with Trump politically. We also have nothing to do with the Republican party or the Democratic party for that matter. We are building up the Communist party. So we are not Republicans. We are not tailing the Republican party. We don't really care about the Republican party because our focus is not even on the presidential elections. We are not yet at the stage in which we're going to be challenging the duopoly at the Congressional or Senatorial levels. We're focusing right now on the most local of politics and we assert the principle of political independence. So nothing tethers us to the Republican party, to Trump, or anything like that.

Bigotry and Discrimination

Our party Constitution, if you read it, bans all discrimination on the basis of sex, on the basis of race, on the basis of religion, or anything else that belongs to someone's private life. So it's really that simple. We don't tolerate any discrimination on the basis of any cultural characteristics or anything like that. Our focus is and has always been on practical work, getting things done, not hyperfixating on different identities. It's that simple.

Women's Issues

As Mao said, women hold up half the sky. So within our party, women occupy an equal status to men as far as their institutional significance, as far as their significance as comrades. We believe in the principle of the political equality of women and the culture within our party reflects that fact. We ban any discrimination toward women whatsoever. And it's really that simple. When it comes to women's issues facing the country, we take those very seriously. Like we said, women are half the population. The issues that are unique and specific to women are very important and taken very seriously by our party at the political level and at the practical level. So really, it's that simple.

Culture War & Identity Politics

So here's our view on the so-called culture war. Our party is not interested in prescribing any kind of culture. We are materialists who believe that culture is defined materially - by the material realities of the people. You cannot create that or prescribe that on an ideological level. So we're not interested in that. We're not interested in participating in the culture war. We're not interested in accelerating it. We are interested in waging the class struggle first and foremost. Now, through the course of building a workers' movement, a workers' politics, and a workers-led class struggle, probably there will be an organic proletarian culture that arises from that. We're not interested in putting the cart before the horse. We're Marxists. We're materialists. We're not interested in culture war gibber.

Landlords

In keeping with the basics of Marxism 101, we regard landlordism as an economically parasitic phenomena. We are opposed to landlords as a class. We represent and reflect the interests of the working class, the proletarian class. So we are not friends of landlords. Our party has nothing to do with landlords as a class.

Now, the reason this confusion has arisen in the first place - and I need to say it - is because I have before said that technically, yes, chapter enterprises can, on a cooperative basis, have rental properties as a form of income to finance the party. This is not something we encourage as a form of chapter enterprise. We encourage productive forms of entrepreneurship. All chapters are cooperatives, so in this case, it would be tenants coming together and managing their properties in an agreed-upon way or something. But in any case, it doesn't seem very viable. We don't encourage it. Technically, though, it's not prohibited. I want to remark upon the hypocrisy of people who took this comment of mine out of context to try and associate our party with landlords when every single major left political party in the United States - including the CPUSA, which we technically don't recognize - and others use rental properties as very significant sources of income. The difference is they don't even prescribe any ethical or humane guidelines as far as how they obtain this revenue. So all chapter enterprises, as far as we're concerned, have to be run on a cooperative basis and abide by basic ethical and humane guidelines. And by the way, if you as a party are obtaining revenue in a certain way and participating in a specific type of economic activity, it doesn't mean that you endorse the social relations accompanying that economic activity, any more than if you go to a store and buy a computer, you endorse child labor in Africa or something. It's just a ridiculous view of the realities of politics and economics and moreover, the nature of class struggle in a capitalist society. You do not somehow make yourself pure and untainted by parasitic forms of accumulation and economic existence that characterize our society. Just by existing in and participating in society, you are tainted by it.

First of all, let's look at the financial sector and the role it plays in people's everyday lives. It's really simple. So, this is kind of a ridiculous question from the very outset. But I guess I was compelled to respond to it because it's one of the nonsensical things said about our party—that we somehow have some relation to landlords. By the way, there isn't a single stream of revenue our party is obtaining right now that has anything to do with rental properties. Meanwhile, these other organizations—it's like a primary form of income for them. So it's a baffling form of hypocrisy.

Who Funds ACP?

Right now, all of the necessary expenses for the national party initiatives are coming out of pocket from leadership, myself included, from the executive board, from the Politburo. It's all out of pocket right now. Notwithstanding the stream of revenue coming from the journal and the newly created dues that accompany the reserve status - that is where our revenue comes from. Nobody is funding our party. We are not being bankrolled. We have no sponsors. We have no big sponsors either abroad or domestically. None whatsoever. We are working to make our party economically efficient so we can have longevity. Right now, it has not achieved that. So we have to work to gain that. We have to achieve it. It's not something automatic. So, it's really just out-of-pocket expenses. None of us are profiting from this or making money from it. We are all putting everything in and getting nothing back. And even when the party manages to really get sustainable streams of revenue, it's all going back into the party anyway. So that's who funds the party. Really no one except ourselves. As far as chapters, they also fund it out of pocket. The chapters come together and pull their money and resources. That's how they fund chapter activity. So nobody's funding us. We are on our own. We don't have millions of dollars coming from Goldman Sachs and the USAID like these other organizations. Nothing. Just us. So, it’s that simple, really.

Freedom of Criticism

The party upholds the democratic centralist principle of freedom of criticism but unity of action. That means everyone is allowed to voice their criticisms. Everyone's allowed to voice their opinions, however distinct they are from leadership. But there are binding practical commitments that come from the collective decisions of the party. Even if you disagree with them, for the sake of party unity and discipline, you carry out the directives. Now, freedom of criticism, by the way, that principle includes leadership. So, in the same way, people can criticize leadership, we can also respond to their criticism. We can also criticize others. And I say that because sometimes people lose their cool and don't like when leadership responds to them polemically. You know, this leads them to basically break ranks, get emotional, and get upset about it. But the facts stand that we've always upheld the principle of freedom of criticism. We've never silenced anyone from being able to criticize us, assuming that it is in the appropriate forum and within appropriate channels of communication.

If you want to engage in criticism during a meeting, you have to schedule that beforehand. If you want to engage in criticism about the party line, you should submit it to the journal or our upcoming blog. This ensures that criticism doesn't spill over into factionalism and distinctions at the level of collective discipline. Again, we want a spirit of open debate and discussion, which simultaneously acknowledges that we are all in this, committed practically to the principle of a united communist party. A collective discipline that is above all of us.

Privacy & Personal Lives

One of the things Mao said is that communists should be among the people like a fish swimming in the sea. So, our party is not interested in invading people's private lives. We're not interested in policing people's private lives. We hold people to the reasonable standard of good character as it has been established by society and is reasonably expected and considered by society. That doesn't mean you can get away with whatever you want and your character doesn't matter at all within the party. It just means that we're not going out of our way to police people's behavior in ways that would be considered unreasonable or ridiculous by society, by their families, and by their communities. We're not interested in isolating people from their communities and their families and close ones. We want the ability to be a communist to be something that's compatible with being a normal human being, who lives a normal human life in a normal society. It's very, very important for us. So, we don't tell people how they should live, how they should consume, or what their tastes should be or anything like that. That being said, the exceptional standards we hold people to, as far as their communist cadre status is concerned, are in line with something that can be concretely relevant and intelligible to normal people. Right? Communists should have good character in the sense of being selfless. They should have good morals. They should demonstrate leadership skills and qualities. So there's that. But it's not something so radically distinct from what could be communicated or understood within the norms of society, to the point where it's totally alien and foreign. So yes, we hold people to certain communistic standards. But those standards are not radically different from the rest of society to the point where they are antagonistic and at odds with what ordinary people consider normal. And I'm not saying this in the sense that people should shy away from calling out injustice and so on. I'm saying this in the sense that there's a lot of wisdom that comes with the norms of society as far as how people live amongst each other and associate with each other. We're not so arrogant as to think we're just going to create a completely new society and community from scratch, let alone within the confines of our party.

That's our stance when it comes to balancing people's personal lives versus commitments to our party. We are not really interested at all in prying into people's personal lives. The less we know, frankly, the better. We want this to be as impersonal as possible as a political party. Leave it at the door. Communist activity and work come from impersonal and selfless activity - your friends, your family, your communities. We want to give people the breathing room to coexist harmoniously with those things

Police & Law Enforcement

As it stands, police and law enforcement in general are not eligible to become cadre of our party. The party, including chapters, is prohibited from working with law enforcement and other institutions of the state when it comes to any kind of party activity, including community service. We have this policy in place, not for the purposes of just antagonizing the police for the sake of it or declaring war on them, but because our strategy of dual power involves building forms of power that are independent from the bourgeois state, independent from the repressive apparatus of the state. Moreover, while we are not a criminal organization and we are committed to following the law, we in principle don't agree with all of the laws we have. We also don't agree with all the ways in which they are enforced. To associate and affiliate with the institutions of law enforcement would contradict the spirit and messaging of our party.

Now that being said. The reason why this policy had to be put in place explicitly is because one of our chapters actually ended up making a mistake by collaborating with a local PD to distribute free turkeys to families in need at a local town initiative that the local chapter of our Communist Party wanted to participate in. We were very quick to correct that mistake. Not because what they did was wrong. They were giving turkeys to needy, poor families running up to Thanksgiving. It just contradicted the mission of our party and the purpose, which is building dual power.

Simultaneously, it was in bad taste to associate with law enforcement in a political and social environment right now in this country where a lot of people associate the institution of police and law enforcement with systemic dysfunction and injustice in general. Additionally, during that same period, we at leadership were informed of the fact that there was an individual within that very same chapter who had the background of being some kind of police deputy in a small rural town of less than 7,000 people. And right at the outset, we were very clear that this was not something we were interested in advertising because of the simple fact that it was such an exceptional and unusual thing that we didn't beforehand know about and which, if advertised, would contradict the overall message of our party when it comes to the question of law enforcement.

And moreover, obviously, it would be something that would be and is actually in fact exploited by bad faith actors to misrepresent who we are and what we're all about. That being said, this individual joined at a time when the policy was not made explicit and clear. So while law enforcement are not allowed to join and become cadre as of us making that fact public, as far as the status of this individual is concerned, we have an ongoing discussion and debate because they have demonstrated good character. They have very good standing within their community. They are well respected and regarded by the chapter itself, by the community in which our chapter operates and works. And while our instinct would be to just unilaterally expel them, that would contradict the principle of seeking truth from facts and uniting theory with practice.

We understand that in Chicago and in big cities it would be completely unthinkable to second guess just expelling them right away. But building a communist party and a communist movement is a process of discovery, learning things you may not have known in the past - that maybe there can be exceptions when it comes to individuals in very exceptional, extraordinary circumstances when they joined not having known what the policy was.

So it's a dialogue and discussion occurring between leadership and the chapter. Our party is a party of discussion, debate, and open discovery. We're not claiming to know it all right at the outset. And we're still debating and deliberating upon the status of this particular individual. But in general, law enforcement are not permitted to become cadre. That being said, other first responders like paramedics and firefighters are in fact fully eligible to become cadre.

Military

When it comes to the question of soldiers and veterans and members of the National Guard in particular, it's a totally different story for obvious historical reasons about what relationship the working class has to the institution of military versus law enforcement. We oppose the institution of the military, but the class character of soldiers and the role they have played historically in class struggles and other politically significant events - like I don’t know, the one that happened in 1917, is entirely different than police. Anyone who's historically literate should know that this really doesn't need that much explanation. Yes, in fact, soldiers, veterans, members of the National Guard are in fact permitted to become cadre of the American Communist Party.

Fascism

The American Communist Party fully rejects and condemns neo-Nazism, fascism in all of its manifestations. As a matter of fact, we regard ourselves as the real and authentic anti-fascists in the spirit of the historical traditions of the popular fronts of the 1930s, of the Great Patriotic War waged by the USSR against Nazi Germany, and today against the rise of neo-Nazism in Ukraine, in particular and the struggle of the people of the Donbass against that. So we oppose fascism completely. We oppose neo-Nazism, racism, and all of its manifestations completely and entirely. And it's necessary, as communists, in fact, as the system collapses and breaks down and spirals into madness, to actually represent an authoritative, credible, and viable alternative to fascism as far as the misled, the discontented, and disgruntled working class, particularly working class youth of this country. That means it is necessary to actually combat this ideology, and ensure that it doesn't mislead people who are angry against the system into pursuing this false alternative.

But the so-called anti-fascists of the left-liberal camp have nothing to do with authentic anti-fascism. For them, they're not even interested in attacking the root causes, and ensuring that anger at the system doesn’t manifest itself in a fascist direction. They choose to defend the system wholesale, thereby contributing to the cause of the neo-fascists. Moreover the left liberals, because they're not even willing to persuade people away from these evil, anti-human, and destructive ideologies, will in the process of us inevitably coming into contact with people who have very incorrect and problematic views, use this to paint us as fascists. So if we are coming into contact with people for the purposes of convincing them away from these ideologies and asserting the dominance of communist principles, they see that as guilt by association. Thereby, they fuel and aid the phenomena of neo-fascism and neo-Nazism. If you defend the system, you are culpable in the rise of these very, very wrong and mistaken responses to the system. That's our position. We regard the so-called left liberals as fascist collaborators for that exact reason. We are completely anti-fascist. We are completely committed to asserting the principles of Marxism-Leninism and communism as the guiding principle of the discontented and angry masses who want to see the system brought down. It's that simple.

"Bad" Thinkers

Now, a cursory glance at the reading lists of our party will find the classics of Marxist-Leninist literature, the canon of Marxism-Leninism. You'll find Marxist philosophers and thinkers. You're only going to find things that are directly conducive to teaching people about the Unified Tendency of Marxism-Leninism. That's what's mandatory in our reading list.

Now, regarding these “bad” or “taboo” thinkers like Dugin and Heidegger, who by the way are bad and taboo because they have wrong political affiliations or at least political affiliations that are not Marxist-Leninist—in the case of Heidegger, that's very clear that his political affiliations were deeply problematic and wrong and worthy of condemnation. In the case of Dugin, people are just not very educated about him. It's separate. But in general, because of the speculative freedom enjoyed by Infrared in consulting a diverse array of different non-Marxist thinkers to better enrich Marxist thinking, people have accused the American Communist Party of being a party of Heidegger. It's a Duginist party. It's this or that. In reality, we are a party whose foundation is the achievements of Marxism-Leninism so far, as recorded by theory and thought. It's that simple.

But you know, the same speculative freedom that is enjoyed by Infrared is also a freedom that the entire party can share and have because we anticipate a new synthesis is coming. Because there's a novel historical situation that's awaiting us. So in order to correctly have clarity as far as what direction we should be headed, in anticipation of this, what's going to aid and facilitate a new synthesis, we must consult a diverse array of thinkers. We must consult a diverse array of literature - politically problematic literature, ideologically problematic literature - that contains rational kernels that point in the right direction. The people that Marx read were not Marxists. They were also people who were very much opposed to Marx's political conclusions or drew radically different political conclusions.

The question of having the correct political line is not always directly the same thing as a philosophical position, an ontological position, a position with respect to the natural sciences and so on. While all of these things are related, they're not directly the same thing. So to say, for example, that just because one is reading Heidegger, that means one agrees with Heidegger’s political conclusions, is an absurdity. You have to demonstrate why that political conclusion is a necessary consequence of drawing out any significance whatsoever from Heidegger’s thinking. Likewise, while Dugin is far from being a Nazi or a fascist, he is not a communist. He's not a Marxist-Leninist. But just because one takes Dugin's thinking seriously and reads him doesn't mean that you're drawing the same political conclusions he is or even drawing the same theoretical conclusions.

But again, the important thing is that none of this has any binding status within the party. Dugin and Heidegger and all of these other problematic thinkers that I am often associated with, and a huge controversy and a big deal is made of - they are not on our reading lists as far as the education within the party. They are not part of any official ideology of the party. But also, look, the party encourages people to familiarize themselves with all of the treasures of mankind, of literature - as Lenin said, you know, not to take this moment to educate. But there was a time in the history of the Soviet Union where there were people in the early Soviet Union who wanted to create a new proletarian culture all from scratch, throw away everything from the past. And Lenin strongly condemned that. He said, no, we have to build atop the foundation. Yes, it may be true that the classics of Russian and European literature are not Marxists and are not proletarian, but they're invaluable still.

So I am against people who try to say that if you read non-Marxist or non-Communists, this is somehow a violation of communist principles. Far from it. The opposite is true, actually. Dogmatism is in violation of the principles of Marxism and Marxism-Leninism in particular

Internationalism and anti-imperialism

As consistent Marxist-Leninist internationalists, we regard having a global perspective, global diplomacy, and comprehending history at a global scale as indispensable. We are Marxist-Leninists. We understand the national form of the class struggle and the national context. We understand the nation as the concrete reality of class struggle. We understand that any and every global perspective needs to be concretely applied to the particular local and national circumstances of the country and the revolutionary traditions of one's own country.

But that being said, we take international diplomacy and our international relations in general with our comrades around the world very, very seriously. We understand that imperialism is a global system and a global hegemony. And in order to better clarify the correct position domestically, one has to actively maintain the correct line, the correct position, and the correct understanding at a global and international scale. So our party, our party's international secretary, for example, does incredible and tremendous work as far as correctly reflecting the global and international alignment of our party. Our party also has a very distinct global and international orientation as well. I have myself traveled to Donbass, to Lebanon, and other places. Jackson Hinkle lives in Russia right now, actually.

So by no means do we consider it a contradiction that our party places such a strong emphasis on the national context and form of class struggle while simultaneously having such a global perspective. Especially if you consider that we are right in the belly of the beast in a unipolar American global hegemony. So maintaining perspective, maintaining correct relations, and solidarity, learning from the sum total of all of the experiences of the international proletariat, anti-imperialist and progressive forces worldwide, is very important for us because this is one global system and one global hegemony. Remember that.

So if you have any position whatsoever, even locally, even that’s only within your nation, applying only to your people in your country, you have to have that perspective to even know and understand what's going on. To understand correctly where the various classes are aligned with and what relations they pose to one another. You have to understand what the system is, what are its vulnerabilities, what are its contradictions. You know, having a global perspective, we regard it as very important. We're internationalists in the simple and traditional communist sense.

Non-Marxist Revolutionaries

Regarding non-Marxist revolutionary traditions, such as the one that is the foundation of the Islamic Republic of Iran and other traditions of resistance and struggle, we stand in full solidarity with all of the forces globally resisting the imperialist global hegemony. By no means do we regard non-Marxist revolutionary traditions as historically illegitimate or lacking a proper historical significance. Although they're not necessarily communists or Marxists, they occupy a historically progressive role that we can see very clearly as a consequence of our comprehension of the science of Marxism.

So we stand in full solidarity with the Islamic Republic. We stand in full solidarity with other non-Marxist, non-socialist, non-communist progressive and revolutionary forces around the world. And we're interested in building a global dialogue, a global popular front, and perhaps comprehending a shared, historical, global revolutionary tradition that contains the insight and wisdom of all of the various revolutionary traditions and understanding the common struggle and the common threads that unite them. After all, the purpose of Marxism is to clarify the development of history, to correctly comprehend the historical laws - the laws that drive change itself. It's not to prescribe an ideological dogma and exclude all of those who do not share the same views.

Moreover, in many cases, such as the case of Iran and the region in general, actually, we have examples often of non-Marxist and non-communist leading the charge. And, historically, some of these are more progressive and more advanced in some cases than self-proclaimed Marxists and communists at certain points in history. So by no means do we exclude dialogue, collaboration, and solidarity in general with non-Marxists and non-communists. We want to build a shared global framework of resistance and revolutionary thought and dialogue in general as the American Communist Party, because we understand that being in America, we are at the heart of a unipolar global hegemony led by the government or deep state of this country.

Russia

We recognize the Russian Federation as the legal successor of the USSR, and we stand in full solidarity with the people of Russia in defiance of NATO and US imperialism to preserve their sovereignty and their historically constituted existence, to preserve their state - a state which, by the way, has not fully dismantled and reversed the material infrastructure built by the Soviet Union. It has not fully succeeded in reversing and dismantling the material foundation of socialist civilization and Soviet socialism.

We're under no illusions about whether or not the Russian Federation is communist. It’s not led by communists ideologically. That much is very clear. And of course, it’s fraught with many contradictions. But the people of the Russian Federation and the post-Soviet space were left behind by neoliberalism and the unipolar world order. Their historically constituted existence is a consequence of the Soviet Union and the USSR. So we understand how closely tied the sovereignty of the Russian Federation, in particular, is to the legacy and to the material contribution to history made by the USSR, by the Soviet Union. And this legacy, again, by no means has it been fully dismantled and reversed. In fact, the key to understanding events like the special military operation lies in just how much the dissolution of the USSR is historically a matter of unfinished business.

We agree with the analysis of communists within the Russian Federation, both the KPRF and other communist thinkers, about the fact that it was never possible to fully dismantle the historical entity that was the USSR - that in one form or another, it is bound to actually return. And the struggle for sovereignty that the Russian Federation today is waging against NATO, against US-led hegemony, is part of that fact. It's an indispensable part of that story of how, in some form, the historical entity - the civilization we know of as the USSR - is bound to return. And, of course, as the American Communist Party, we fully support such a restoration.

But, of course, it’s necessary to keep in mind that the Russian people, the people of Donbass, and other people of the post-Soviet space - that was the foundation of what the USSR is - and those people are still living there. They still exist. The Soviet state may have failed them. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union may have failed them. But they are still living. Their memory is still here. Their existence, their historically constituted existence, remains intact. And they are under attack by the global hegemony of imperialism, for the crime of being a people whose existence is deemed incompatible with the imperial New World Order. With neoliberalism. So we are in full solidarity with them. It’s not a question of ideology for us. It’s not even necessarily a question of them subscribing to communist views or being communists. It’s a principled question of a people defending their existence against the genocidal designs of NATO and US-led imperialism, and the global hegemony at large. This is our view on the question of Russia.

China

Our party regards China as a modern, legitimate socialist country led by a proletarian dictatorship. As a matter of fact, Xi Jinping Thought has an official status within our party as a historically legitimate contribution to the synthesis of Marxism-Leninism. We fully admire China's achievements in building a modern socialist civilization. We regard China as thus far the most advanced socialist country to have ever existed in relation to our unified tendency of Marxism-Leninism.

Other socialist nations

Regarding other socialist nations, we are not dogmatic when it comes to countries like Vietnam, Cuba, and others. We regard them all as legitimate socialist countries led by legitimate proletarian dictatorships, including the DPRK. And we seek to build more dialogue and more fraternal relations between socialist countries, between communist parties, whether they're governing or non-governing. So we have no problem regarding them as legitimate socialist countries. All disagreements between communist states, for us, are not material. They're not relevant to the question of whether, today, in the 21st century, communists worldwide should be united in safeguarding and defending the history and legacy of Marxism-Leninism and taking it to the 21st century—the next stage. We regard Venezuela, Nicaragua, and all of these as unique and legitimate forms of socialist construction and as examples of socialist phenomena in general.