They have to be or have been a US citizen.
This is the answer I was looking for so I'll go with old Du Bois
John Brown. Look at what he managed to do with a small militia and imagine him with a proper military.
Inventing a larger Time Machine so I can give John brown a Sherman firefly
I know he would be bad on a lot of stuff in terms of domestic policy because of religion, but he’d definitely be on the ground in Gaza if he were alive today.
Side note: John Brown going communist and being head of state would definitely result in revolution export. He’d do Che style heroics except with the military going with him.
Huey P Newton.
Seems like everyone else has beaten me to the punch, but I’m still dropping his name. I’ve learned a lot from him, and I hope there’s an alternate timeline where he’s the fourth stage of Marxism after Maoism.
Me, the One True Leftist
I think the obvious answers are probably Huey Newton, Fred Hampton or Eugene Debs.
It wouldn't be communist, but I think Nat Turner or John Brown's revolts succeeding and establishing some sort of state would put us on a better path than we're on right now
As others have said, Huey Newton, Fred Hampton, and Debs are all great choices.
I think Malcolm X would have been a great leader to have as the head of a communist state. Towards the end of his life, Malcolm was like an inch away from arriving to socialism as the answer. Had he not been assassinated, there's a good chance he'd come to a Marxist conclusion. God help any reactionaries if he got his hands on a copy of Capital or State and Revolution. The man liked to read and would have devoured that shit.
Other Americans eligible for president who were communists (but wouldn't want to hold public office) include: Dalton Trumbo, W.E.B. Du Bois, Angela Davis, Earnest Hemingway, Frank and Kitty Openheimer, Tupac Shakur, and Lucille Ball.
Also, I vote for Lee Harvey Oswald as CIA director.
Other Americans eligible for president who were communists (but wouldn't want to hold public office) include: ... Angela Davis...
Why wouldn't she want to hold public office? Wasn't she the CPUSA Vice Presidential Candidate in the '80s?
She was, but she hasn't ran for/held office since then AFAIK. I kind of assumed she wanted out of public life since so many of her friends and loved ones have gotten murdered by the FBI.
Little Turtle, since I assume as it tradition the new communist state will have to fight a war against capitalist powers immediately after its founding.
Debs probably but malcom x or newton would be killer too
Black Red Guard, he's very in the know about Marxism.
Same. Americans ain't leading any revolution I want to be a part of
i would NOT