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The '''Communist Party of the United States of America''' ('''CPUSA''') was a Moscow-controlled [[Marxist-Leninist]] party in the [[United States]].  It nominated a candidate for president from 1924 through 1984, sometimes with funding from the communist [[Soviet Union]].  With the collapse of the Soviet Union it became a hollow shell and has urged voters to support the Democratic Party.<ref>http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/government/elections/president/timeline.htm</ref>

The '''Communist Party of the United States of America''' ('''CPUSA''') was a Moscow-controlled [[Marxist-Leninist]] party in the [[United States]].  It nominated a candidate for president from 1924 through 1984, sometimes with funding from the communist [[Soviet Union]].  With the collapse of the Soviet Union it became a hollow shell and has urged voters to support the Democratic Party.<ref>http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/government/elections/president/timeline.htm</ref>

Membership in the CPUSA was a high maintenance commitment--the Party demanded full control of people's ideas, friendships, jobs and activities.  There were repeated in-depth investigations, humiliating interrogations, forced confessions, and purges. Many sympathizers (or "fellow travelers") supported Communist goals but refused to become members.  Of those who did join turnover in membership was very high, with most people staying less than a year before they quit in disgust with the intellectual and social regimentation of the party and its structure as a top-down dictatorship that took orders from Moscow.  The CPUSA did not execute anyone, but many--probably most--of the American Communists who traveled to Russia were killed there.<ref>''The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia'', Timotheo Tzouliadis, Penguin Press, August 2008. [http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/64569/robert-legvold/the-forsaken-an-american-tragedy-in-stalins-russia Review by Robert Legvold,] ''Foreign Affairs'', November/December 2008.</ref>  

Membership in the CPUSA was a high maintenance commitment--the Party demanded full control of people's ideas, friendships, jobs and activities.  There were repeated in-depth investigations, humiliating interrogations, forced confessions, and purges. Many sympathizers (or "fellow travelers") supported Communist goals but refused to become members.  Of those who did join turnover in membership was very high, with most people staying less than a year before they quit in disgust with the intellectual and social regimentation of the party and its structure as a top-down dictatorship that took orders from Moscow.  The CPUSA did not execute anyone, but many--probably most--of the American Communists who traveled to Russia were killed there.<ref>''The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia'', Timotheo Tzouliadis, Penguin Press, August 2008. [http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/64569/robert-legvold/the-forsaken-an-american-tragedy-in-stalins-russia Review by Robert Legvold,] ''Foreign Affairs'', November/December 2008.</ref>  

==Early years==

==Early years==