RED LIVES: Our Years in the U.S. Communist Party | Busboys and Poets Books

covers decades when thousands felt that capitalism was not the answer and sought out and explored different socialist organizations. We think that those experiences, of what people did, what lessons they drew, what victories they won can offer lessons for today. But there were huge set-backs as well from which we can also learn.

Editor Jay Schaffner and contributing author Chris Townsend, who were each part of that movement, are joining us on the Busboys stage to share their experiences and its meaning for our day. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Schaffner and Townsend will be signing following the program.

This event is free and open to all. Doors will open to guests at 6pm. Our program begins at 6:30 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of RED LIVES will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in-person.

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This event is co-sponsored by Labor Heritage Foundation and Metro DC DSA

Jay Schaffner, the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, was born in 1952 and grew up in Skokie, a Chicago suburb. He was in Students for a Democratic Society, the socialist, multiracial W.E.B. Du Bois Clubs and was a founding member of Young Workers Liberation League. In 1970, shortly after the invasion of Cambodia, he was part of a peace delegation, from the YWLL, to then North Vietnam, and the youngest from the United States to visit Hanoi during the war. He joined the Communist Party. In 1968, was elected to the CPUSA national committee, in 1975 and then at every convention until 1991, when he left the Communist Party. In 1990 he became a secretary for Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, later becoming the director of its recording department, and was twice voted to the executive board. A founding moderator of Portside, he continues collaborating with the progressive news website. In retirement, he co-chairs a tenant committee in his housing cooperative. He is an elected member of the New York State Committee of the Working Families Party and is a member of DSA.

Chris Townsend is from Pennsylvania, and is a 47-year union member and leader. He is the retired Political Action Director for the United Electrical Workers Union (UE), and was the new Organizing and Field Mobilization Director for the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU). In the 1980's he was a volunteer organizer and local Board member of ATU Local 1464, a 2 year salt for UFCW District Union Local One, and local organizer for SEIU Local 200-D. Townsend joined the Communist Party in 1979 after belonging to the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) since 1977. He left the Party in 1992. Townsend currently serves on the Executive Committee of the International Workers Institute (IWI), the research, publishing and strategy arm of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), and is the labor columnist for the Marxism-Leninism Today website https://mltoday.com/author/ctownsend2/

Elise Bryant is the recently retired executive director of the Labor Heritage Foundation and founding director of the DC Labor Chorus. Elise is a lifetime member of the Wobblies (Industrial Workers of the World) and a member of the AFM Local 1000. In 2012 she was given the Lifetime Achievement award from United Association of Labor Educators. In 2017 she was elected Vice President of CWA/Newspaper Guild Local 32035 and President of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW). After serving 8 years as president of CLUW, Elise is happy to be CLUW’s President Emerita and will continue her work as mentor, educator, and cultural worker for the labor movement.

Kurt Stand was a founding member of the Young Workers Liberation League (the Communist Party’s youth organization) in 1970, participating in New York City and Milwaukee until leaving the organization in 1978. Beginning in the mid-70s he was an engaged trade unionist including serving as the elected North American Regional Secretary of the International Union of Food and Allied Workers. Arrested in 1997, he spent 15-years in Pr*son on charges of espionage for the German Democratic Republic, charges he unsuccessfully fought at trial and upon appeal. After release, he worked as a bookseller for nearly 10 years. He remains an active member of DSA in Greenbelt, Maryland, serves as a Portside Moderator and writes for various publications.

BOOK DETAILS

Red Lives

Our Years in the U.S. Communist Party (1950-2000), Vol. 1

Coming of Age in the Communist and Labor Movements

Edited by Jay Schaffner, Paul Friedman, Cindy Hawes, Geoffrey Jacques, Timothy Johnson, Carol Pittman, Donna Ristorucci, Daniel Rosenberg, and Jackie Saindon

Contributors: Marilyn Albert, Judy Atkins, Dave Cohen, Frank Emspak, Paul Friedman, Marion Gordon, Joseph Harris, Peter Hodes, Geoffrey Jacques, Robin D.G. Kelley, Rafael Pizarro, Jay Schaffner, Naomi Smith, Sharon Stewart, Chris Townsend, James Williams, Leon Wofsy

March 19, 2026 | Paperback, 412 pages, $27.00

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