The

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

has held thirty official conventions including nomination conventions and conventions held while the party was known as the

Workers Party of America The Workers Party of America (WPA) was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. Background As a legal political party, the Workers Party accepted affiliation fr ...

, the Workers (Communist) Party of America and the

Communist Political Association The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

. There were also a number of congresses held by the earlier (though often underground) organizational predecessors of the party, including the

Communist Labor Party of America The Communist Labor Party of America (CLPA) was one of the organizational predecessors of the Communist Party USA. The group was established at the end of August 1919 following a three-way split of the Socialist Party of America. Although a legal ...

, the

United Communist Party The United Communist Party (UCP; russian: Объединённая коммунистическая партия; ОКП; ''Ob'yedinonnaya kommunisticheskaya partiya'', ''OKP'') is a communist party in Russia created at the founding congress in Mo ...

and two groups known as the

Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Re ...

. The Communist Party's 30th National Convention took place on 13 to 15 June 2014 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Left Wing Conference

A resolution for a national conference of left leaning organizations within the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...

had been adopted by the Boston Local in May 1919 and endorsed by a number of other locals. Admittance as left-wing was defined as endorsement of the Left Wing program adopted by the Left Wing Section of Greater New York. When the conference met the delegates divided between a group around the periodical '' The Revolutionary Age'' that wanted to infiltrate the Socialist Party's convention in Chicago that September and those who wished to create a Communist Party immediately. The minority withdrew and formed the National Organization Committee for a Communist Party. This group was mainly made up of the suspended language federations and the

Socialist Party of Michigan The Socialist Party of Michigan (SPMI) is the state chapter of the Socialist Party USA in the U.S. state of Michigan. A party by the same name was the affiliate of the Socialist Party of America from 1901 until the national party renamed itself in ...

. The majority formed a National Left Wing Council and attempted to arrange a take over of the socialist party's convention. However, by late August the majority decided to forgo this plan and joined with the National Organization Committee to create a new party at a convention in Chicago. A minority, led by

Ben Gitlow Benjamin Gitlow (December 22, 1891 – July 19, 1965) was a prominent American socialist politician of the early 20th century and a founding member of the Communist Party of the United States, Communist Party USA. During the end of the 1930s, Gitl ...

and John Reed split with the majority and attempted to infiltrate the Socialist Party convention alone.''Revolutionary Age Vol II'' #7 Aug 23, 1919

''Revolutionary Age'' Vol II #1 July 5, 1919 Includes manifesto, program, reports, and preliminary minutes of the conference

''Revolutionary Age'' Vol II #5 July 5, 1919 Includes first half of the official stenographic proceedings of the conference

''Revolutionary Age'' Vol II #6 August 9, 1919 Extracts from the remainder of the record

Communist Party of America (1919)

Communist Labor Party/United Communist Party

Communist Party of America (1921)

Workers Party of America

Workers (Communist) Party of America

Communist Party USA

Footnotes

* William Z. Foster ''History of the Communist Party of the United States'' New York: International Publishers, 1952 Appendix A. Gives starting date of all conventions up to 1951.

External links

Early American Marxism
has extensive information about the earlier conventions. {{DEFAULTSORT:National Conventions Of The Communist Party Usa Political conventions in Chicago