Comrade General Secretary Emeritus Angelo D’Angelo spoke at the Third Congress of the Party of Communists USA (PCUSA). Comrade Angelo is a founding member of the PCUSA, and he was the General Secretary of the Party for the first ten years of its existence.

The transcript of his speech is given below:

Pete Seeger’s father was in the Party, the Party that I was in for 42 years, the old Party which I still love. Your first love comrades, you don’t forget your first love. [laughter]

Apparently the current leadership [of the Communist Party USA] is not Communist; I have nothing to do with the current leadership.

But we own this place [Arrow Park, site of the Third Congress] through our organization the IWO – International Workers Order. You see the banners that they got from the IWO? That big red banner. The American Russian Organization of Workers section here got it from the IWO.

The IWO was very important during the Popular Front period. I’ll never forget Comrade Gus Hall – he said, you throw a pebble into the water in a lake. The pebble falls to the bottom of the lake, but the ripples keep going until they reach the middle of the lake. The Ripple Effect – Gus Hall told us that. And that’s what our mass organizations are – the IWO and all our mass organizations.

You all know that the history of this organization came out of US Friends of the Soviet People. Very important. We are working on the precious Soviet Films there, which we received through the work of comrade Dan. I met Dan at a Left Forum meeting from US Friends. He got us the Soviet films, which we have now going to our center in Vermont. You can’t get these films anymore. They’re all made in the Soviet Union.

The statues outside. They were given to Arrow Park by the Soviet government. Not the Russian government – the Soviet government.

Right now, the Communist world unfortunately is divided again. It is divided again as it was during the period of Mao Zedong and the Sino-Soviet split, which affected every Communist party in the world. It put us back. Two things happened right after each other – Khrushchev’s speech attacking Stalin, and right after that Maoism. They came hand in hand. One came from the right of the center, the other came from the left of the center. But the result was the same. It weakened us tremendously.

In the 1950s, the Capitalists tried to decapitate all of our organizations. They put Browder in prison. They put the leaders of the Communist Party, including Comrade Gus Hall and Comrade Henry Winston, in prison. The theory was that if you cut off the head of a snake, the snake dies. That’s what the FBI said, and that’s why they did that. They come after the leaders. Remember that.

But the leaders also can cause a problem. Don’t forget Gorbachev. Michael Lucas, one of my heroes in Canada who passed away, Northstar Compass Magazine. I met Joti’s [Brar] father in Canada – two or three meetings there. He did excellent books on perestroika, by the way.

You have to understand what that did to us. It’s called destroika, not perestroika. Destroika! [applause] Everybody was saying how great Gorbachev is. Reagan and Thatcher loved him, and so did the Communist leadership in many parties of the world. They thought this guy was the best thing since sliced bread. You young people don’t know what that means. [laughter]

They all thought this guy was great. I heard him speak at the UN in 1985. In 1985 Gorbachev came to the UN, and he talked about “universal human values”. That’s when I knew something was not right. The head of a Communist country, a worker’s state, talks about universal human values, what we all have in common. We have nothing in common, comrades, with the Capitalists. Zero. Your boss and you have nothing in common. Don’t ever forget that. So when this guy Gorbachev was saying that, I knew something was wrong. And that’s when I started to contact other people in the Party against Gorbachev. And I was sent down to 23rd Street [the headquarters of the Communist Party USA], put in a seat with a light in a ceiling. I felt like I was in the FBI, being interrogated. The leaders of the Communist Party were there – Jarvis Tyner, Esther Moroze. They said, “You cannot do this. You cannot go around and attack perestroika. We all agree with perestroika.” I said, “Well we never talked about it at a Congress. Nobody ever agreed with perestroika, comrades.” There was no Congress decision on it. It was all done by the leadership on their own outside of the Central Committee.

So be careful. How did someone like Gorbachev get to the top of the heap? Ask yourself that question. There had to be something wrong. Now, of course, he only got in by one vote. It was Kosygin. And where does Kosygin come from? He originally came from Nikita Khrushchev. By one vote, he [Gorbachev] got to be the General Secretary, and he destroyed everything.

He went to East Germany, the great German Democratic Republic. Many of us love the German Democratic Republic. The first time an anti-fascist German state on German soil. He went and he kissed Honecker at the 40th anniversary celebration. Gorbachev kissed him on both sides. Well, if you’re an Italian like I am, you know what that means. [laughter] When you get kissed on both sides of the cheek, it’s the kiss of death. That means the mafia is going to get you. [laughter]

And that’s what Gorbachev did. He sold Nicaragua down the road. He sold Ethiopia down the road. He sold out the Afghanistan socialist government. He sold the German Democratic Republic, every single country down the road. In fact, Comrade Fidel said there’s something wrong with this guy. Don’t trust Gorbachev. He’s a plant. And he [Castro] stopped all Soviet periodicals talking about perestroika from coming into Cuba. It’s interesting. So what Fidel saw, many of us others did not see.

I’ll end it with this. It’s easy to be a Communist for one day. “I’m a Communist!” You know. [laughter] It’s harder to be a Communist for a week. It’s harder still to be a Communist for a month. And those of us know what I’m talking about in our Party. It’s even harder to be a Communist for three months. Many people can’t do it. It’s just too much. So to be a Communist for 60 years, to me is miraculous. It’s so important. Bertolt Brecht, you know who he is, German communist put in a concentration camp by Adolf Hitler, he said very clearly: “To struggle for one day is good. To struggle for a week is better. Even a month. But to struggle your whole life for the Communist movement, that is indispensable.” That is indispensable. Those are the people. The Brar people is a perfect example of that in England. Those are the people that kept our red flag flying. So I just want to mention that everybody here, like my friend Dan from way back. He had hard times in the old CP, they gave him hard times. But he’s still here. Kamryn is here. Everyone here. When I first met Alex, I told him “You’re a diamond in the raw”. [applause] And anyone should be grateful to have you. And so I grabbed him right away. [laughter]

Just looking around – Jake. When I first met Jake, he had been living in Japan. He had been from a background of one parent was Jewish and one parent was not. So he was not brought up with any Jewish history or traditions the way I was brought up, an Italian. A “goy” as we say in Yiddish. A goy! I was brought up with this. Everybody in the Party where I grew up in New York was Jewish. I found maybe one or two Italians. Ernest DeMaio and Pete Cacchione were Italian. But everybody else – I was brought up with these Jewish traditions, foods, everything like that. So I came across this guy, and I said he needs to get back to his roots, and I’m glad to say he has gotten back to his roots. [applause] And he said that it’s great that I have found my roots as a Jew in the Communist movement. [applause]

I want to add to that. I found the Party because of my Christian background. That’s how I found the Party, and that’s why in Nicaragua there’s a connection between the religion and the government. Because what the Communists did during the Vietnam war, the old Jewish communists in the streets with the rain coming down, singing Yiddish songs against the war in Vietnam. They were in their 80s, and all the 80 year old Christians that I knew went to Church on Sunday, and I never heard from them again. Everything you heard from them was “Black this, Jew this.” Remember, I come from a background where Italian-Americans were anti-Jewish. They said that the Jews killed Christ. This is what I was brought up with. And remember the Pope during World War II was called the Fascist Pope. He had the bells ringing in Austria when they had the Anschluss and Austria joined Germany. He told the Catholic Church to ring the bells in joy. So that’s the background I had come across. And I see these people marching for peace, fighting against racism, and for labor unions. These are the real Christians.

I’ll end it with this. Thirteen years old, I read a book that changed my life. You’ll never believe the book. J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, [laughter] wrote a book called “Masters of Deceit” in which he said the Communists are in everything. They’re in the peace movement. They’re in your churches. They’re under every bed. [laughter] I said, wait a minute, you’re talking about people involved with peace and churches, working men, labor unions? How can these be bad people? They’re fighting for good causes, so they must be good people. That is the reason why I’m a Communist and I’ve been a Communist for 64 years, the best years of my life. [applause]

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The first day of the encampment featured a Passover ceremony, as well as speeches from various student organizations.

As of April 24th 2024 (the third day), the UC has not released a statement yet on the encampment, nor have the police been called.

Party of Communists USA (PCUSA) and League of Young Communists USA (LYCUSA) members from Northern California have participated in the encampment since the first day, and continue to stay there in solidarity with the students.

The American Student Union (ASU) will also be participating in encampments along the East Coast for the same cause.

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To our Soviet Ukrainian comrades who fought Fascism in 1945 and continue to fight Fascism in 2024 against the current usurpers who have taken over the Ukrainian government. May the flames of friendship continue between the former Soviet peoples and the American people!

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There is a widespread tendency to blame this dangerous situation on science and technology. However, the real source of the problem can be found elsewhere. It lies in the very nature of the profit oriented capitalist system under which we are forced to live.

The U.S. military has the largest carbon footprint of any single organization on the planet, and higher than that of over 140 countries. In addition to the U.S. military’s extreme greenhouse gas emissions, it has an ongoing track record of supplying foreign regimes with cluster bombs and depleted uranium. This depleted uranium can make areas where they are dropped hazardous for decades. The budget of the U.S.
military could be reduced by 70% and the U.S. would still be spending more on its military than any other country.

The main impulse of our social system is the quest for profit. The result is unplanned, anarchic production, which allows the pollution and indiscriminate plunder of our natural resources. The ones responsible are the monopolies, the corporations, who have made enormous profits while they pollute and destroy our environment. It is estimated that hundreds of billions of dollars will be needed just to remedy the pollution and destruction wrought by the monopolies and their predecessors.

The major victims are the working people, who suffer from the effects of pollution every minute of their lives.

The irony of the situation is that the only remedies now being proposed by the corporations will bring additional profits to the corporations. Working people, however, always seem to foot the bill for the new technology.

Ultimately, the only solution, of course, is the creation of a planned economy in which the quest for profits has been denigrated and the results of science and technology are prioritized for the benefit of the people.

Party of Communists USA League of Young Communists USA
Environmental Commission

League of Young Communists USA Environmental Commission Political Bureau of the Central Committee

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I travelled to People’s Korea to participate in the celebrations of the 112th anniversary of the birth of President KIM IL SUNG and in the international seminar on the Juche Idea on the theme of Independence, Justice and the Future of Humanity organized by the Korean Association of Social Scientists and the International Institute of the Juche Idea. The seminar attracted delegations from more than 20 countries such as Brazil, Britain, Austria, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Democratic Congo, Japan and other countries. Some countries sent more than one delegation, for example there were two delegations from Brazil; the Brazilian Centre for the Study of Songun Politics headed by comrade Lucas Rubio and the delegation of the Brazilian Centre for the Study of the Juche idea. Russia also had several delegations. The fact that so many delegations travelled to Pyongyang proved that it is a lie that the DPRK is isolated or that there is no support for the DPRK outside the country. Indeed the Juche Idea is attracting interest from around the world.

Arriving at the Air Koryo (the DPRK’s national airline) check in counter at Beijing Airport on the morning of the 11th of April, I ran into many veteran supporters of People’s Korea such as Martin Lotscher of KFA Switzerland and Javed Ansari from Pakistan as well as newer friends of People’s Korea such as Lucas Rubio of Brazil.

In the course of our stay in the DPRK we visited the Korean Art Museum, the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace, the Kangdong Greenhouse Vegetable Farm, the Natural History Museum at Pyongyang Central Zoo, the Pyongyang Metro, the Tower of the Juche Idea, the National Gift Exhibition House, the Monument on the Mansu Hill, the Pyongyang Circus, the Korean Stamp Museum and we enjoyed an orchestral performance at the Moranbong Theatre as well as participating in an international friendship gathering. Some of the delegates attended an excellent dinner hosted by the DPRK Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.

I arrived at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport on the afternoon of the 11th of April and was met by my guide Mr. O Su Jin of the Korean Association of Social Scientists. We travelled by coach to the excellent Pyongyang Koryo Hotel.  Sometimes it seemed hard to believe that I was really back in the DPRK, it seemed like everything was in a dream.

During the visit I witnessed that the situation in the DPRK is calm and stable. The DPRK had closed its borders for 4 years but survived, a truly amazing feat when you consider that some countries would only last weeks or even days with their borders closed. However, the DPRK is based firmly on self-reliance and the independent national economy.

Despite the sanctions imposed by the US and its lackeys on the UN Security Council and the COVID 19 pandemic the DPRK is carrying out massive construction work, it is going through another great Chollima upsurge (Chollima was a flying horse of legend in Korea and gave its name to the mass movement for increased productivity in the DPRK in the late 1950s). A new street, Hwasong Street which is the size of a small city has appeared in Pyongyang. On the day of our arrival our coach to the hotel passed through and later in the visit we drove through Hwasong Street both during the day and at night. Hwasong Street looks very modern and of good quality. It would cost billions to build in a Western country, but the DPRK gives homes to people free of charge. Whilst we were staying in the DPRK the second stage of Hwasong Street was opened on the evening of the 16th of April in the presence of the supreme leader of the DPRK, respected Marshal KIM JONG UN. Also, a new street is under construction in the Sopho district and was visible when we were going back to Pyongyang Airport on the 18th of April.

In fact, construction was going on all over Pyongyang. Opposite the Pyongyang Koryo Hotel there was a new block of flats under construction and several other blocks of flats under construction were visible in the near distance as well as in other parts of Pyongyang. I think that I can truly say that although it was my 19th visit to the DPRK, I had never previously seen construction work on such a scale before. What is significant is that all this is being achieved without the so-called ‘aid’ of imperialism or the south Korean puppets. During the emergency situation that arose in the spring of 2022 when the south Korean puppets deliberately spread Covid 19 into the DPRK, the DPRK rejected ‘aid’ from the south Korean puppets, the UN and the US. The daily newspaper of the Workers Party of Korea later described the ‘aid’ of imperialism as a ‘poisoned candy‘. The rapid development of People’s Korea by relying on its own resources and labor is destroying the myth that outside assistance, particularly from US and other imperialists, is somehow essential for a country ‘s development.

We visited the newly built Kangdong Greenhouse Vegetable Farm which was some 34 kilometres outside Pyongyang. It had only gone into operation in March this year. It was opened on the 15th of March in the presence of respected Marshal KIM JONG UN. The farm had been built on the site of the former Mirim Airbase of the Korean People’s Army. One myth about People’s Korea created by the mainstream media of the imperialists is that resources are diverted away from civilians to the military but the construction of the Kangdong Greenhouse Vegetable Farm shows that in fact this is simply not true. The farm has an area of 100 square hectares with 8 types of greenhouses. The farm has 1,800 workers. We were able to taste cucumbers produced by the farm. Significantly the Kangdong Greenhouse Vegetable Farm is not a co-operative farm but actually a state farm which means that it is owned by the whole people. The aim is to create a similar farm in each county or province of the DPRK. Vegetables from the farm were supplied free of charge to Pyongyang citizens. Also, dwellings for the workers of the farm were given free of charge to the farm’s workers. It can be truly said that the DPRK is actually advancing towards the higher stage of socialism and communism. 

In recent years a false narrative about the DPRK has been created by some sections of the mainstream media and by so-called ‘academic experts‘ on the DPRK who in reality know nothing at all about the DPRK. The false narrative is that the DPRK is adopting ‘market reforms‘ and abandoning Juche-based socialism, this aimed at confusing and disillusioning supporters of People’s Korea. The fact that the DPRK is developing a network of state-owned farms to supply vegetables to the population shows that the DPRK is actually strengthening the planned economy and system of state ownership.

Although there have been massive changes in the DPRK since the last time I visited, what remained unchanged was the DPRK s constituent anti-imperialism and adherence to socialist principles. Red flags were flying on street corners and there were many revolutionary slogans in large Korean characters. Postcards of anti-US posters could be found in the bookshop of the Pyongyang Koryo Hotel and Korean Stamp Museum. A friend of mine who had been with me in the DPRK in 2017 and 2018 remarked that he had been worried about what he might find in the DPRK after an absence of 6 years but was quite relieved as well as positive when he saw that there had been no ‘reform’ and ‘opening up‘ in the DPRK and there was a complete absence of Western influence.

Prices in the hotel shop were the same as in 2019. Needless to say the NK News “250 dollar banana” could not be found and my guide just laughed and said “ridiculous” when I told him the story. There were no homeless people and I saw no one begging Housing is given to people free of charge. My guide, Mr O, told me that he had lived in Mirae Scientists Street with his parents but when he got married he was given a new flat. The streets were spotlessly clean with no litter. There were no drug addicts, prostitutes, lumpens or decadent people. I was able to leave money in my hotel room and it was still there when I returned in the evening or afternoon.

As to tales of “human rights violations”, the DPRK actually has a fairly minimal police presence compared to many other countries. The police only direct traffic. The situation seemed quite normal.

I was able to make a speech at the seminar on the Juche Idea on the theme of “Independence , Justice and the Future of Humanity “, which was held on the 15th of April. There were 10 speakers including DPRK social scientists as well as speakers from Russia, Mongolia, the Democratic Congo and the International Institute of the Juche Idea. In my speech I pointed out that “People’s Korea under the leadership of the respected leader Marshal KIM JONG UN represents the future of humanity. Rapid advances such as the construction of new housing as well as the launch of the DPRK’s first ever military reconnaissance satellite are taking place one after the other. People’s Korea is a country without unemployment, without beggars and without drug addicts. It is a society free from the decadence of modern capitalism which is rotten to the core.”

A follow up course was held on the 16th of April with lecturers from the Korean Association of Social Scientists.

I was sad to leave the DPRK on the 18th of April but very glad that I went.

My thanks to the Korean Association of Social Scientists for the invitation and for their work in organizing the visit, to my guide Mr. O Su Jin, to the staff of the Pyongyang Koryo Hotel and to the DPRK Committee for Cultural Relations for the excellent dinner.

See you again Pyongyang!

Dr. Dermot Hudson

Chairman, British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea 

Chairman Korean Friendship Association of the UK

Anglo-People’s Korea/Songun: Return to the Land of Juche Korea ! by Dr Dermot Hudson (juche007-anglo-peopleskoreafriendship.blogspot.com)

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