ACLU Roots

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU

Hat tip: Ban The ACLU This was found on youtube and it's pretty short at 3 minutes. I wish I could find more footage somewhere. It is an accurate account of the ACLU's founding. Does the ACLU's communist founding mean anything about what the ACLU is today? Well, if you plant a lemon seed would you expect the tree to produce peaches? Compare their current goals to the 45 communist goals in the Congressional Record and decide for yourself.



One of the greatest myths about the ACLU is that they started out as a noble cause. The roots of a tree go deep. There is no question that it was founded on communist/socialist principles. There is no question to the founder of the ACLU, Roger Baldwin's, ideals.

“I have been to Europe several times, mostly in connection with international radical activities…and have traveled in the United States to areas of conflict over workers rights to strike and organize. My chief aversion is the system of greed, private profit, privilege and violence which makes up the control of the world today, and which has brought it to the tragic crisis of unprecedented hunger and unemployment…Therefore, I am for Socialism, disarmament and ultimately, for the abolishing of the State itself…I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class and sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal.”

Only after the Nazi-Soviet Non-Agression Pact of 1939, which allowed Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party to take over much of Eastern Europe, did Mr. Baldwin become disenchanted with the Soviet version of Communism. Yet Baldwin held Communist/Socialist sympathies to the end of his life. Later in life, he said,...

"Anti-communism never affected our civil liberties very much. And the Communist party in the United States was certainly never strong enough to be a menace at any time in any way. The only menace was the people who believed in a Communist dictatorship, which is a denial of civil liberties. They did not belong with us in a leadership position."Source

Baldwin rid the ACLU board of overt Communists because of his anger about the Nazi-Soviet pact, establishing a policy that read, in part: "The Board of Directors and the National Committee of the American Civil Liberties Union....hold it inappropriate for any person to serve on the governing committees of the Union or its staff, who is a member of any political organization which supports totalitarian dictatorship in any country, or who by his public declarations indicates his support of such a principle." Source

While Mr. Baldwin made a great show of the Communist purge in 1940 he never let go of his passion for socialist ideals. Neither did the ACLU. In 1961 numerous communist connections were entered into the Congressional Record. In November of 1964 the ACLU came to the defense of Communist-front organizations. The Union argued that there was a fundamental difference between a Communist-action organization and a Communist-front group.

Throughout the 1960s many members of the ACLU took umbrage at the principles of the 1940 Resolution. According to William Donohue's book, The Politics of the American Civil Liberties Union, a 1967 Resolution was viewed by many on the board that voted for it to supersede and effectively rendered the 1940 Resolution impotent. In April of 1967 the ACLU board voted to rescind the 1940 decision of ousting Elizabeth Gurley Flynn for her uncompromising support for Communism. More important than the vote to recognize Flynn was the board's conclusion that "the expulsion of Ms. Flynn was not consonant with the basic principles on which the ACLU was founded and has acted for fifty-four years." The board also agreed that language should be drafted to indicate its happiness with the removal of the 1940 Resolution from the ACLU constitution in 1967."

Today's ACLU still espouses the ideals of socialism under the guise of liberalism. They still defend Communist propaganda. One of the goals of the Communist agenda is to abolish all loyalty oaths. It is interesting that the ACLU celebrate the fact that they will not sign oaths promising not to support terrorism.

Whether today's ACLU is a communist/socialist organization or not their goals most definitely align with the ideologies of socialism. Regardless of what one label today's ACLU there are many dangerous positions in practice that have never changed with them. Their unflinching support of abortion, euthanasia, their strange position on the Second Amendment and their open border policy are just a few examples. They consistently work to thwart the government's efforts to protect its citizens, undermine America's sovereignty, and defend America's enemies. They have defended traitors funding Hamas, the PLO, and confessed Al-Qaeda operatives. All of these seem to support their founder's goal of abolishing of the State itself.

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