Jewish Champions of First Amendment or something

[Volokh, Eugene]

	The CPUSA weren't abstract communist theoreticians; they were
expressly supporters of the Soviet system of Communism, which both in
effect and by design involved suppression of bourgeois values such as
free speech.   As David pointed out, it was certainly possible for some
deluded lower-level (and especially short-term) members of the CPUSA to
fail to grasp this about the CPUSA, and thus to adhere to the Party
notwithstanding their commitment to free speech.  It's hard to see how
this could be possible for CPUSA leaders.

	Eugene

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Howard Schweber [mailto:schweber at polisci.wisc.edu] 
> Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 8:23 AM
> To: Volokh, Eugene; Conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu
> Subject: RE: Jewish Champions of First Amendment or something
> 
> At 07:49 AM 9/12/2006 -0700, Volokh, Eugene wrote:
> >     The American Communist Party didn't just support a repressive 
> > foreign regime -- its stated purpose was to help implement 
> Communism 
> > everywhere, including in the U.S.
> 
> 
> Which is not at all the same thing as wanting to implement 
> the Soviet government everywhere, including in the U.S.  
> Communism is a system of political economy.  It can be 
> accompanied by a regime fully committed to free speech, or a 
> regime that is tyrannically opposed to permitting the 
> expression of criticism.  As I mentioned earlier, throughout 
> the 20th century, various communist writers in various places 
> presented formulations of a communist system of law and 
> politics that had nothing to do with the model of Soviet 
> totalitarianism.
> 
> Howard Schweber
> 
>