Sam Webb

Samuel Webb (born June 4, 1945) is an American activist and political leader, who served as the Chairman of the Communist Party USA from 2000 to 2014, succeeding the party's longest running leader Gus Hall. Webb did not accept nomination to be reelected as chairman at the 30th National Convention in 2014, at which John Bachtell was elected the party's new chairman. Webb continued to serve on the party's National Committee until 2016 when he renounced his party membership and joined the Democratic Party.

Biography

Samuel Webb was born in Maine and graduated from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1967. He holds an M.A. in economics from the University of Connecticut. He worked as a Communist Party organizer in Michigan from 1978–1988.

Webb led the CPUSA when it made the decision to support some Democratic candidates in the 2004 presidential election. While the Party regarded both major parties as two capitalist entities in a collaborative dictatorship for established financial institutions, it believed that rule by the Democrats was preferable to rule by the Republicans, arguing that the latter puts the interests of working people in considerable danger. During the 2008 election, Webb called President Obama a "people's advocate" and said that some of his early decisions, in reversing some of President George W. Bush's policies, were praiseworthy.

In 2005 Webb wrote Reflections on Socialism, a paper reflecting ideas that Webb first presented at the 2005 Left Forum in New York City. This paper points out that socialism is once again being discussed in the trade union and student movements, in popular magazines and certainly in the halls of power worldwide.

Webb traveled to China, Britain, Cuba, and Vietnam, in order to meet communist and socialist leaders.

On February 4, 2011 Webb published an essay in the Communist Party magazine Political Affairs, "A Party of Socialism in the 21st Century: What It Looks Like, What It Says, and What It Does". It set forth positions that came under sharp criticism from Communist parties across the world, as well as a portion of CPUSA members, as being revisionist, social democratic, and anti-Communist. These parties included the Communist Parties of Canada, Mexico, Germany and Greece as well as the CPUSA Houston club, the Austin Hogan Transit Club of NYC, the CPUSA Tucson Club, the LA Metro Club, and the Communist Party of San Francisco.

In 2014, Webb did not seek reelection as the National Committee's chairman and stepped down from office. At the 30th National Convention of the Communist Party USA, John Bachtell was elected as the new Chairman of the National Committee, thereby ending Webb's 14 years as the party's leader.

In 2015, Webb resigned from the National Committee and renounced his party membership, declaring himself to be in favor of liquidating the party. He came out in full support of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary and condemned Bernie Sanders and his supporters for breaking the unity of the Democratic Party.