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American Communist Party (2024)
Communist and social conservative party in the U.S. and Canada From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The American Communist Party (ACP) is a communist and social conservative political party in the United States and Canada. ACP formed in 2024 when its members split from the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).[1]
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The party has been described as MAGA Communist, as notable ACP founders Jackson Hinkle and Haz Al-Din have promoted it and similar conservative communist labels since 2022.[28] MAGA Communism has been described as anti-feminist,[30] anti-queer,[31] anti-woke,[32] anti-environmentalist,[33] pro-social services,[34] pro-tax cuts,[35] and pro-Donald Trump.[36] However, ACP has stated that it does not support Trump but rather MAGA voters, arguing that "MAGA is now surpassing Trump",[32] and that communists must "forgive the MAGA masses" because "behind them lies a genuine desire and aspiration for popular sovereignty".[37]
ACP identifies as a Marxist–Leninist party,[40] and promotes socialist patriotism.[41] ACP leaders argue that MAGA Communism is a tool to shift the American working class away from capitalism and toward communism.[44] Both MAGA Communists and the ACP support China within the Sino-Soviet split, view the de-Stalinized Soviet Union as revisionist, support the Cultural Revolution, and uphold Xi Jinping Thought.[45] The party supports North Korea, Iran,[46] Nicaragua,[47] Venezuela,[29] and the Russian "Special Military Operation",[50] stating that "today, as 80 years ago [in 1945 as the USSR], Russia remains at the forefront of the world liberation movement".[51]
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History
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Origins
Prior to 2022, one of the ACP leaders, Jackson Hinkle, was a "Bernie Bro".[53] Another ACP leader, Infrared streamer Haz Al-Din, previously supported the Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns, but did not vote for them;[13] he also held Western Marxist and Bordigist views before embracing Marxism–Leninism.[56] From 2022 to 2024, a group of self-described anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninists led by Haz Al-Din attempted to join and remake the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), in order to "reclaim" the party from "liberals, federal agents and Democrats".[13]
In May 2024, CPUSA's 32nd National Convention passed Resolution 5, which supported a "broad front to defeat Trump, Trumpism, and the MAGA Republicans",[57] despite opposition to the resolution from both the MAGA Communist and the Maoist Unity–Struggle–Unity factions.[58] Through Resolution 5, CPUSA endorsed Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party in the 2024 United States presidential election.[59] Al-Din's group opposed CPUSA's support for the Democrats and claimed that CPUSA had violated democratic centralism by suppressing opposition and limiting debate over Resolution 5.[38]
Split from CPUSA
The American Communist Party (ACP) split from the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), and uses a modified version (left) of the CPUSA's hammer and sickle (right) as its party symbol.
In July 2024, the Infrared-led group split from the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and created the American Communist Party (ACP).[38] The party was founded as "[a] 'MAGA communist' splinter from the old Stalinist US Communist Party".[55] In its founding document, the party accused the CPUSA of "replacing serious Marxist–Leninist education with eclectic seminars given from the liberal perspective, designed primarily to instill allegiance to the Democratic Party". ACP stated that CPUSA's leadership "purged members who refused to support the Biden–Harris campaign".[59]
ACP described itself as "[a] reconstitution of the Communist Party USA",[38] and has since positioned itself as a patriotic alternative to CPUSA.[60] Founders included Jackson Hinkle,[62] Haz Al-Din,[3] and former Party of Communists USA (PCUSA) leader and International Freedom Battalion volunteer Christopher Helali.[38]
Hinkle had previously stated that he had been expelled from CPUSA.[63] CPUSA leadership claimed that Hinkle had never joined the party, beyond signing up for their newsletter, and that Hinkle did not reflect modern CPUSA values.[63] Al-Din was never a CPUSA member.[43]
ACP claimed that 26 CPUSA and PCUSA clubs had changed their affiliations to the new party.[2] Reportedly, the split claimed the majority of some CPUSA clubs.[1] CPUSA leadership denied this,[65] and 10 CPUSA clubs listed in ACP's founding declaration denied signing it on their official social media accounts.[67] In response, ACP claimed "these accounts are controlled by individuals acting on behalf of the [Joe] Sims clique, not by authentic representatives of the clubs".[2] Julia Steinberg later wrote in The Free Press that the ACP "boasts the support of more than thirty CPUSA clubs and cells" across the United States.[3]
According to Aftonbladet, immediately after its foundation, ACP signed a friendship treaty with North Korea as well as with the Georgian Communist Party, concluding the treaty in the house where Stalin was born. Wired Magazine listed Hinkle as one of the most important influencers during the 2024 United States presidential election.[68]
Subsequent history
In July 2024, ACP congratulated Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and recognized him as the legitimate victor of the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election in which ACP founder Jackson Hinkle served as an international observer.[69] It argued that the efforts to challenge the election's result are "part of the hybrid war against Venezuela" and that "Washington failed to change the government in Venezuela". The ACP's international secretary, Christopher Helali, stated: "I was an observer at the previous elections and I can say that the people understood: Maduro’s party will defend the dignity and sovereignty of the country, and the opposition linked to the United States will sell the country. And they chose to be faithful to the ideals of Simón Bolívar and Hugo Chávez, chose independence".[70]
On July 27, 2024, Helali met with the representatives of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF). The PPSF representatives praised the ACP for its "intellectual and political identity" and "its principled positions in support of the Palestinian cause and all just causes in the world", while Helali affirmed ACP's support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with capital in Jerusalem.[71]
In August 2024, ACP joined the World Anti-Imperialist Platform (WAP).[20] On August 3, 2024, ACP representatives attended a symposium on Hegelianism in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York organized by Haela Hunt-Hendrix.[55]
In November 2024, in Orange County, Vermont, ACP leader Christopher Helali won a write-in campaign for high bailiff,[72] a largely ceremonial position,[73] with 5% turnout.[76] This makes Helali the only elected U.S. communist party member in office,[77] as CPUSA member Denise Winebrenner Edwards' and Socialist Alternative member Kshama Sawant's terms both ended in January 2024.[80] The Workers' Cause Party, a Brazilian Trotskyist party which has called the ACP its sister organization, congratulated the party on the election of Helali as a high bailiff, calling it a "historic achievement for the American left".[81]
In December 2024, ACP sent 55 boxes of humanitarian aid to Donbass.[82] In February 2025, ACP and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) provided a diesel generator, food, medicine, and equipment for Donbass forces.[83] In April 2025, ACP representatives attended the KPRF's 2nd Anti-Fascist Forum in Moscow, Russia.[84]
In 2024, ACP's think tank, the Institute for a Free America, hosted a Free America to Free Palestine event in Dearborn, Michigan, which attracted controversy for its unique mixture of anti-Zionist, pro-Russia, and MAGA rhetoric.[87]
Since 2025
In January 2025, Hinkle interviewed Călin Georgescu, Romanian politician who finished first in the annulled 2024 Romanian presidential election.[90] Hinkle praised Georgescu as "the man who leads the fight for sovereignty, Western values and Christianity, who wants to stop World War III";[91] he condemned annulment of the election as a "coup orchestrated by Sorosist globalists and NATO that blocked the campaign".[92] Hinkle then interviewed George Simion, the leader of Alliance for the Union of Romanians whom Georgescu, who was banned from running, endorsed in the 2025 Romanian presidential election.[92]
In February 2025, ACP leaders Helali, Al-Din, and Hinkle attended the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the third Secretary-General of Hezbollah.[95] ACP leaders praised Nasrallah as a "hero of the revolutionary forces and freedom-loving peoples around the world".[96]
In March 2025, on International Quds Day, party founder Jackson Hinkle gave a speech at Al-Sabeen Square in Sanaa, Yemen, during which he pledged the party's support to the cause of the Houthi movement and decried the "terrorist attacks" carried out by the United States against Yemen.[97] Reporting on the speech, Croatian Radiotelevision called Hinkle "the most famous American communist today".[97] Christopher Helali and Hinkle were also speakers at a Houthi-organized conference in Sanaa on Palestine, where along with other guests as Adil Abdul-Mahdi, Zwelivelile Mandela, Clare Daly, and Mick Wallace, ACP leaders called for the liberation of Palestine. Upon returning to the United States, Helali was briefly detained by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Foreign Policy wrote that the incident resulted in Helali "further cementing his credentials".[98]
In July 2025, Hinkle participated in the 2025 Eastern Mediterranean Black Sea Conference, meeting with Doğu Perinçek, the chairman of the Patriotic Party.[99] At the conference, Hinkle announced the partnership of the American Communist Party with the Patriotic Party; he declared: "We are delighted to partner with the Patriotic Party; you have the power to silence and stop imperialist power. The Islamic world will unite against Israel, and the West will stand against Israel. The revolutionary tradition embedded in Türkiye's history is an example for the region. Similarly, if all the forces fighting imperialism come together, as Khomeini did, Russia, China, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will defeat imperialism."[100]
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Political positions
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ACP identifies as a Marxist–Leninist party,[101] adhering to an ideology the party refers to as the "Unified Tendency of Marxism–Leninism".[102] In a 2025 ACP explainer video, Chairman Haz Al-Din stated that ACP regards Xi Jinping Thought "as the latest synthesis of Marxism–Leninism", descending from Deng Xiaoping and Mao Zedong's contributions.[42] ACP defends Joseph Stalin and Stalinism,[3] and declared: "Marxism-Leninism was not born out of pure speculation, but rather emerged from historical practice. The theories of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao were not the fantasies of intellectuals divorced from reality, but rather the integration of thought and practice." Observers noted that this contrasts with CPUSA, which does not mention Stalin or Mao in its program.[103] While Stalinist, the ACP also has fraternal ties with the Workers' Cause Party, a Brazilian Trotskyist party.[81]
Political publications presented various views on the party's political position – The Free Press described the ACP as "a new branch of the radical right that sticks ideas from the left and the right into a blender",[3] while the China Media Project argued that Hinkle combines "right-wing nationalism and nativism" with the "far-left authoritarianism of the Chinese Communist Party";[27] in contrast, Svenska Dagbladet described Hinkle as a "far-left ideologue".[104] The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles states that while some "describe Hinkle and his co-thinkers as right or far-right," the ACP members "really are creatures of the left".[9] Leonardo Sinigaglia of Katéchon described the ACP as a representative of the "Marxist left", arguing that "it is in no way a 'fascist,' 'far right,' or 'ambiguous' party".[10] Cuadernos de Educación described Hinkle and the MAGA Communist movement as part of the "red segments on the left", noting the movement's adherence to Stalinism and ties with the Venezuelan government.[69]
Russian ultranationalist political philosopher Aleksandr Dugin described Hinkle and Al-Din as "allies of conservative Tucker Carlson", "Marxists who support Trump", and "committed to dismantling liberal dominance".[13] Communist Party USA, from which ACP split, alleges that the ACP's ideology is influenced by "Russian National Bolshevism" and that it promotes a "red–brown alliance".[64] Kathleen Hayes of The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles described ACP as sympathetic to "Middle Eastern jihadism" and seeking to forge a "red–green alliance" with Islamists.[9] According to Mundiario, the party "mixes Marxism-Leninism with Trumpist nationalism".[105]
ACP has been described as a MAGA Communist party.[106] Al-Din stated that he started the MAGA Communism movement to reject the American left's association with alternative sexualities and lack of patriotism.[13] In an interview with the RCWP-CPSU, Al-Din argued that MAGA Communism held the lineage of historical American socialist movements dating back to the Shakers and other utopian socialist groups, and asserted that "European communism itself has some origins in America".[107]
Alexander Reid Ross, author of Against the Fascist Creep, described MAGA Communism as "a far-right agenda placed in an anti-imperialist environment",[25] with a "vitriolic, terminally online, troll culture".[13] The Anti-German Jungle World alleged Haz Al-Din to be "not left, not right, but fascist".[15] The Charnel-House described MAGA Communists as "post-fascist Stalinists" but "not fascists proper".[55] Mundiario described MAGA Communists as "communist conservatives" who use the MAGA movement to attract the working class to communism without embracing Trump.[105] Yanis Varoufakis labelled Al-Din and Hinkle "neofascists".[110] L'Antidiplomatico criticized Varoufakis's view as one that "indulges in an uncommon superficiality", and wrote that defining ACP as fascist comes "from a fundamental misunderstanding of what a communist party is".[111] Leonardo Sinigaglia argued that ACP "is in no way a fascist, far right, or ambiguous party, but a communist party".[10] ACP positions itself as an anti-fascist party, which opposes "racist nationalism" and "authoritarian repression".[112]
Domestic affairs
ACP's program calls for the nationalization of large corporations; the cancellation of all debts; abolition of the U.S. Federal Reserve in favor of a "People's National Bank"; "AI-driven national economic planning"; "the abolition of the University-Industrial Complex"; a right to refuse vaccination; an end to "mass immigration" in favor of "population exchanges on a rational and planned basis"; and a ban on genetically modified food.[113] The party supports and upholds Socialism with Chinese characteristics, and postulates an analogical model of Socialism with American characteristics, which would adapt to the "nation's history, our values, and ultimately, create a communist order unique to the United States".[32] The ACP also supports patriotic socialism.[41]
The party is described as socially conservative,[114] with the party rejecting and criticizing "woke culture";[32] one of the well-known declarations of the party is that "Marxism is not woke".[68] ACP's founders are closely associated with MAGA Communism, a conservative communist ideology.[9][3][24] Hinkle argued: "Communism and Marxism historically have been conservative [...] It’s a new era in the West that made it adhere to liberal-leftist values. This is not true Marxism. It’s Marxism funded by George Soros".[59] The ACP notes that values promoted by other American communist parties, such as supporting "social justice warrior" causes or promoting "transgenderism", were opposed by historical communists.[59]
Al-Din argues that his political movement is not against women, but opposes the "effeminization" of men,[13] while Hinkle stated he would "protect our youth from trans terrorists and propagandists".[115] Hinkle also wrote: "The US celebrates 'Pride Month' on June 1st. America is run by pedophiles, [while] Russia celebrates International Day for the Protection of Children on June 1st".[3] ACP opposed Cuba's legalization of gay marriage.[24] Hinkle's personal list of political demands included banning "ANTIFA street terrorism", introducing "patriotic education", pardoning participants in the January 6 Capitol attack, and "deporting" the Bush family, Clinton family, Barack Obama, Mike Pompeo, and John Bolton to the International Criminal Court.[3] At the same time, Hinkle and Haz Al-Din argue that "the most absurd aspects of wokism" were intentionally designed to prop up "dissident right", cautioning that this right is "‘dissident’ only in the most superficial and empty sense of the dominant order."[116]
ACP leaders have described America as "occupied by" a Zionist "international monopoly cartel",[15] and argued that the American working class must ally with the MAGA movement to fight "globalists" like George Soros.[117] ACP leader Jackson Hinkle clarified that ACP supports MAGA voters rather than Donald Trump, arguing that "MAGA is now surpassing Trump" and "if Trump does bad things, they'll abandon his own movement". He added: "That's why I didn't vote for Trump. I didn't support Trump. But I think the MAGA movement is very interesting".[32] Similarly, Haz Al-Din argues that Trump has "irreversibly changed US politics" in a way that makes an alliance between "voters who previously didn't speak to each other" possible. According to Haz Al-Din, while Trump is anti-communist, by attracting working class and anti-establishment voters and questioning the dogmas of "political correctness" and globalization, he created a movement that can "achieve more left-wing transformations than the left itself". Al-Din states that communists must choose between remaining in "ideologically pure but irrelevant spaces, subjugated by wokism", or "taint themselves with the real contradictions of contemporary America".[118]
International affairs
ACP is an anti-Zionist party and opposes U.S. support for Israel.[119] ACP also opposes U.S. support for Ukraine and Taiwan.[120] Party leaders are noted for expressing Russophilic,[19] Sinophilic,[13] and pro-Chinese Communist Party views.[27] The party supports the Houthis,[97] Hamas, Hezbollah, Haitian resistance led by Jimmy Chérizier,[121] and the Irish Republican Army.[123] ACP's program calls for the "unconditional destruction of NATO" and annexation of Canada into one Pan-American "United Republic".[113]
The party opposes NATO and supports an anti-imperialist "multipolar axis" that they describe as including Russia, North Korea, Iran,[124] Nicaragua,[47] and Venezuela.[29] In an interview with the Yevgeny Prigozhin-backed United World International website,[125] ACP chairman Al-Din stated: "The [main] problem [in the world] is what Michael Hudson calls Super-Imperialism, a system in which the United States acts as both creditor and debtor in the global economic system".[126] Al-Din argues that there is an internal conflict of interest between maintaining or revitalizing the competitiveness of U.S. industry and the responsibilities of maintaining the U.S.-dominated global system.[127] Speaking on Turkey, he also stressed the need for non-Western countries to establish economic sovereignty:
The goal of the American Empire is to subjugate, enslave, and destroy people. It can do this quickly, as in Libya and Iraq, or it can do it slowly, through economic warfare or cultural destruction. Complete obedience to the ruling financial capitalist class or sovereign, national development. This is the choice for all nations today. Türkiye has no need to emulate America or the West. For centuries, Türkiye was the envy of the entire European world. It has surpassed them in culture, technology, science, and economy. The West, due to its own arrogance, will never accept Türkiye. Trying to resist this reality is a great national humiliation. [...] There is no safety, security, or dignity in being a vassal of the American Empire. There is no pragmatism in it either.[127]
In its statement on Palestine and Israel, the ACP declared that it "does not recognize the illegitimate entity called Israel", calling it "the Zionist project, whose fascist character has long been evident to the world" which "has always been fundamentally contrary to the historical process by which nations acquire legitimate and authentic existence". The party calls for Palestinian independence, stating that the Palestinian struggle "is closely linked to the struggle for sovereignty and self-determination at the global level".[128] It demands an independent Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital. In July 2024, Helali met with the representatives of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, who praised the ACP for its "principled positions in support of the Palestinian cause and all just causes in the world".[71]
It cooperates with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF). In February 2025, it met with the representatives of the KPRF and Russian Left Front.[129] The ACP supports Russian forces in the Russo-Ukrainian War, arguing that Ukraine represents the legacy of fascism while the Russian Federation follows the legacy of the Soviet Union in providing assistance to socialist and developing countries.[130] The party stated that the people's militias of Donbass "embody the American traditions of fighting for freedom".[131] The ACP asserts its full support for the Russian "Special Military Operation" and has provided humanitarian aid to Donbass "to make the lives of people there better and help them fight NATO aggression".[132] In May 2025, together with the Left Front, the party made a declaration that "today, as 80 years ago, Russia remains at the forefront of the world liberation movement".[51] ACP further stated:
The ongoing Special Military Operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine is the main epicenter of the modern anti-fascist struggle. The multi-vector policy of the Russian Federation, aimed at overthrowing Western globalist hegemony and building a new, just world order - such a policy corresponds to the spirit of the Great Victory and should be supported by progressive left forces around the world.[51]
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