Readers of the Democratic National Convention’s policy platform could be forgiven for mistaking the 2020 version with 1980, during the depths of the Soviet era.
A draft of the platform, obtained by the Washington Examiner, projects an implicit anti-communist sentiment in the first sentence.
“America is an idea — one that has endured and evolved through war and depression, prevailed over fascism and communism, and radiated hope to far distant corners of the earth,” the draft platform preamble states.
“Just as we came together to stand up to communism and respond to global terrorism, we will come together with Europe to confront the existential challenge of climate change,” reads a section about European foreign policy.
It is the first mention of communism in the Democratic Party’s national platform in more than a decade and contains the most uses of the word in its platform in nearly three decades.
The mentions subtly pit the party’s stated principles against those of far-left activists and rioters who share some principles with Democrats, such as calling for studying slavery reparations, but who display communist symbols such as the hammer and sickle during marches and demonstrations. And it could shield Democrats from right-wing attacks on the basis of allies of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a socialist who also draws support from more radical leftists, having a hand in crafting large portions of the platform.
Democratic platforms in 2016 and 2012 did not use the word “communist” or “communism,” nor did those in 2004 or 2000.
The new draft preamble echoes the 2008 platform preamble that also praised U.S. endurance: “We come together at a defining moment in the history of our nation — the nation that led the 20th Century, built a thriving middle class, defeated fascism and communism, and provided bountiful opportunity to many.”
Communism was not mentioned elsewhere in the 2008 platform, but it is in the 2020 draft.
In addition to the Europe section, the draft platform’s Asia-Pacific foreign policy states that the approach to China would be “guided by” American “strengths” such as an open society and strong alliances and that undermining those “would be a gift to the Chinese Communist Party.”
The 1996 Democratic platform had a quick reference to “support for reform in former communist states.”
The 1992 version, however, took an implicit stance against communism and is the most recent Democratic platform before 2020 with more than one mention of the term. It flaunted how President Harry Truman approached “containing communism with the NATO alliance and in Korea,” discussed countries “struggling to make the transition from communism to democracy,” and expressed support for sheltering those escaping human rights abuses such as “Vietnamese fleeing communism.”
— Naomi Lim contributed to this report.
