I get that CPUSA has some bad reputation. This clip is a part of a call-in show. It features 4-5 calls from American hogs and the CPUSA guy responds to their questions. I think that this interview was interesting at least. I will post more information in a comment.
video link
https://www.c-span.org/video/?536104-4/joe-sims-communist-party-usa-campaign-2024=
Yeah, the reputation of CPUSA being full of feds is also a reflection of the extent to which the US state has repressed the organization. There are things I disagree with about the CPUSA's politics and strategy, but state repression isn't something that CPUSA members chose and it is unfair to most of its members. Sadly, I do think that it has still had a very real negative effect on the party and the way it has developed and who has remained. It is sad because it is a reflection of the tremendous impact the party once had.
Well, I think we're getting back into the swing of things, but trust me when I say: many CPUSA members, especially older members, don't reveal their membership specifically because of previous harassment, especially during the Cold War, but even during the 1990s and 2000s.
I remember hearing of one district that didn't use the Internet till, say, 2011 or something; they just met in the woods or some place that was obscure, some rural place.
I think such things have ham-strung us, if anything, hence why some of the politics seems "conservative" compared to, say, perhaps PSL or FRSO.
I respect Nat'l Committee and what they've been through and they are very talented; hell, I love their books especially and their scholarship.
But it often seems like the right-wing conspiracy theory "that Communist Party members are literally behind the scenes guiding things rather than being open about what they do" ... because, in some ways, they are. Like, local civil rights and trans rights and labor union heads are Communist Party members, they just don't say so.
Also, I just saw in the video that Maurice Isserman was quoted. He's a pretty anti-communist historian and, unfortunately, I've seen even leftists quoting him, at least at times. Well, perhaps they were liberals, not leftists, but you get what I mean.