[bcthomas]

So, apparently the FBI had a large file on Zinn, with loads of information that he was a CPUSA member.

And this is shocking how?

I respect Zinn's work. He was a voice for a lot of people. But, anyone shocked by this news has to be either illiterate or just dumb. It cracks me up that this is actually getting play.

Headlines tomorrow:

Stevie Wonder is Blind!

Turns out, the boy wasn't actually in the balloon. [/Irishman]

[BearDownUofA]

In other news, the Pope is a Catholic from Germany.

[Travis7401]

It doesn't surprise me that he was a CPUSA member, or had communist ties, but I'd put him more in the "socialist" category of the spectrum anyway. He definitely fell short of full Marxist communism, as he seemed to advocate compensation at least partially based on individual merit or contribution. Based on what I've read from him, I'd call him a Utopian Socialist, as he was always pointing out examples through history of small socialist communities (many Native American communities). He liked to try and extrapolate from those small communities to a larger scale, that's why his writing certainly had a "Utopian" socialist flavor.

Anyway, you are exactly right, anyone who didn't already know this simply cannot read. The FBI probably didn't have to do much work to gather information, since he unabashedly published his thoughts on the issue. I do find it a little ironic that the FBI had a large "file" on him, as it just stinks of the McCarthy-esque government stance against non-capitalism that he was always railing against. Many times in his writing he brought up the fact that the government treated communists and socialists as "threats," even if they were completely peaceful in advocating their beliefs.

The only thing that bothers me, is that this will obviously be used as justification for keeping his books out of curriculum, which is too bad, because they provide a nice counterpoint for the traditional history texts. Even if this does hurt his reception, his book already changed the way history is taught, as the mainstream textbooks now incorporate a lot more perspective than they did 20 years ago.

My favorite part:

Quote

In the 1960s, the Bureau took another look at Zinn on account of his criticism of the FBI’s civil rights investigations.

ORLY? That is just scary to me. Zinn's criticism of the FBI's civil rights investigations was spot on, and instead of addressing the situation, the FBI tried to diminish his credibility by using the old communist scare tactic. Yeah Ad Hominem attacks.

[Draxion]

Was I the only one that thought of Invader Zim?