Committees of Correspondence (U.S.) Records
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
The Committees on Correspondence was organized in 1992 after the 1991 Communist Party USA convention as a non-Leninist, democratic socialist organization to dispute the policies and leadership of CPUSA head, Gus Hall. The movement centered around the respected veteran communist and former leading CP official, Gil Green (1906-1997). Around 2000, the Committee on Correspondence changed its name to the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. The collection includes: letters, memos, statements, minutes, photographs, archived websites, and emails that document formation of the organization and national leadership meeting minutes.
Historical Note
The Committees on Correspondence was organized in 1992 after the 1991 Communist Party USA convention as a non-Leninist, democratic socialist organization to dispute the policies and leadership of then CPUSA head, Gus Hall. The movement centered around the Communist and former leading CPUSA official, Gil Green (1906-1997). The Committees on Correspondence sought to reach out to others on the left outside of the CPUSA, and held conferences in 1992 and 1994 to formally establish the new organization. Around 2000, the Committee on Correspondence changed its name to the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
Scope and Content Note
The content of this collection reflects the origins of the Committees of Correspondence. Since the split with the CPUSA was in large measure connected to different approaches towards democratic processes within the Party, these procedures make up much of the discussions found in the collection. There is also discussion of the meaning and relevance of socialism and socialist ideas in light of the collapse of the Communist bloc. Discussions of the envisioned character of the new organization are in various forms: letters, memos, statements, executive committee and national coordinating committee meeting minutes, photographs of members, and emails. The national leadership discussions are documented in detailed minutes and handwritten notes by participants; the same is true for the national conventions. Although the Committees of Correspondence consisted of many local branches, it is only the Northern Californians whose activities are reflected here. The correspondence is largely national with contacts to the international leftist scene. The archived websites contain convention materials, editorials by membership, publications, a discussion board, and the Northern California chapter website.
Subjects
Organizations
People
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (and related rights to publicity and privacy) to materials in this collection created by Committees of Correspondence was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Committees of Correspondence (U.S.) Records; TAM 220; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
To cite the archived website in this collection: Identification of item, date; Committees of Correspondence (U.S.) Records; TAM 220; Wayback URL; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials were donated by the Committees of Correspondence in circa 2000. The accession numbers associated with this collection are 2000.010, 2000.011, and NPA.2005.071.
https://www.cc-ds.org/ was initially selected by curators and captured through the use of The California Digital Library's Web Archiving Service in 2007 as part of the Communism, Socialism, Trotskyism Web Archive. http://www.ccds-discussion.org/ and http://www.ncalccds.org/ were added in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In November 2015, these websites were migrated to Archive-It. Archive-It uses web crawling technology to capture websites at a scheduled time and displays only an archived copy, from the resulting WARC file, of the website. In 2025, https://www.cc-ds.org/publications/ccdslinks-4/ and https://archive.constantcontact.com/fs082/1103584185760/archive/1103630604546.html were added. The accession number associated with these websites is 2025.020.
Take Down Policy
Archived websites are made accessible for purposes of education and research. NYU Libraries have given attribution to rights holders when possible; however, due to the nature of archival collections, we are not always able to identify this information.
If you hold the rights to materials in our archived websites that are unattributed, please let us know so that we may maintain accurate information about these materials.
If you are a rights holder and are concerned that you have found material on this website for which you have not granted permission (or is not covered by a copyright exception under US copyright laws), you may request the removal of the material from our site by submitting a notice, with the elements described below, to the special.collections@nyu.edu.
Please include the following in your notice: Identification of the material that you believe to be infringing and information sufficient to permit us to locate the material; your contact information, such as an address, telephone number, and email address; a statement that you are the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed and that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; a statement that the information in the notification is accurate and made under penalty of perjury; and your physical or electronic signature. Upon receiving a notice that includes the details listed above, we will remove the allegedly infringing material from public view while we assess the issues identified in your notice.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Photographs were separated from this collection during initial processing and were established as a separate collection, the Committees of Correspondence (U.S.) Photographs (PHOTOS 208). In 2013, the photograph collection was reincorporated into the Committees of Correspondence (U.S.) Records.
In 2014, the archived website was added to the finding aid. In 2025, additional websites were added and description was updated across the collection.
Revisions to this Guide
Edition of this Guide
Repository
View Inventory
Photographs, 1991-1997, inclusive
Cleveland Meeting of the Initiative, Nov 1991
From "Initiative" to Committees of Correspondence, Nov 1991-Jan 1992
Initiative, Oct 1991-Dec 1991
Letters in Response to the Appeal of the "Ad Hoc Committee", 1991, inclusive
Notes on the Cleveland-Convention by a Dissident, 1991, inclusive
"People's Weekly World" Lockout, 1991, inclusive
Post-Cleveland Position Papers of Committees of Correspondence Members, 1991, inclusive
Statements Concerning the Split, 1991-1992, inclusive
Newspaper Clippings, 1991-1996, inclusive
Financial Records, 1992, inclusive
Committees of Correspondence-Youth Caucus, 1992, inclusive
Correspondence, 1992, inclusive
Correspondence with Japanese Activist, 1992, inclusive
National Coordinating Committee Minutes, 1992, inclusive
National Executive Committee Minutes, 1992, inclusive
New York Committees of Correspondence - Meeting, 1992, inclusive
San Francisco Conference - Endorsements, 1992, inclusive
San Francisco Conference - Reactions and Statements, 1992, inclusive
San Francisco Conference - Speeches, Resolutions, 1992, inclusive
San Francisco Conference - Workshops, 1992, inclusive
Correspondence with German Activists, 1992-1993, inclusive
Kendra Alexander (1946-1993), 1992-1994, inclusive
Committees of Correspondence - Regional Initiatives (California), 1992-1996, inclusive
Correspondence with South African Activists, 1992-1996, inclusive
Committees of Correspondence Flyers, Invites, 1992-1996, inclusive
Press Releases, 1992-1996, inclusive
Committees of Correspondence Videos, 1992-1996, inclusive
Correspondence, 1993, inclusive
National Coordinating Committee Minutes, Jun 1993
National Executive Committee Minutes, 1993, inclusive
Proposals for Structures and Goals of the Committees of Correspondence, circa 1993, inclusive
Correspondence with French Activists, 1993-1994, inclusive
Founding Convention Preparation - Delegates, Committees, Tables, 1993-1994, inclusive
Rules Committee for the Founding Convention, 1993-1994, inclusive
By Laws Committee, 1994, inclusive
Co-Chairs, 1994, inclusive
Convention Advertisement Journals, 1994, 1996, inclusive
Convention Greetings, 1994, inclusive
Correspondence, 1994, inclusive
Correspondence: Post-Convention Thank You Notes, Jul 1994-Aug 1994
Founding Convention - Speaker Invitations, 1994, inclusive
Founding Convention - Speeches, Statements, 1994, inclusive
Name Proposals, 1994, inclusive
National Coordinating Committee Minutes, Jan 1994
National Coordinating Committee Minutes, Nov 1994
National Executive Committee Minutes, 1994, inclusive
Nominations - Convention (with biographies), 1994, inclusive
Programmatic Suggestions for Committees of Correspondence and Founding Convention, 1994, inclusive
Correspondence, 1995, inclusive
National Coordinating Committee Minutes, May 1995
National Coordinating Committee Convention, Dec 1995
South Africa Trip, 1995, inclusive
Co-Chairs, 1996, inclusive
Committees of Correspondence Convention - By Laws, Resolutions, 1996, inclusive
Convention Arrangements (Invites, Registrations), 1996, inclusive
Committees of Correspondence Convention - Comments (Post Convention), 1996, inclusive
Convention - Cultural Event, 1996, inclusive
Convention - Memos, Drafts, 1996, inclusive
Convention - Nominations and Elections, 1996, inclusive
Convention Preparations: Workshops, 1996, inclusive
Correspondence, 1996, inclusive
National Coordinating Committee Minutes, Mar 1996
National Coordinating Committee Minutes, Dec 1996
National Executive Committee Minutes, 1996, inclusive
National Executive Committee Minutes, 1997, inclusive
Archived Websites, October 2007-ongoing
Scope and Content Note
Capture of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism's web presence began in 2007. The website contained their publications Dialogue and Initiative, the Mobilizer, and the Corresponder, dating back to 1997. The website also includes CCDS statements on American politics dating back to 2000, as well as information on their Socialist Eduation Project. In 2009, the CCDS Discussion website was created for their biennial convention. The discussion website contains opinion pieces and comments by the membership on topics such as race, climate change, elections, healthcare, energy, labor, left unity, militarism, Marxism, neoliberalism, police repression, world politics, Wall Street, political economy, and social economy. In 2013, the main website for CCDS redesigned and added obituaries of members and convention materials, including tools for young activists to build solidarity. The website redesigned again in 2014, 2018, and 2021. Their newsletter, LeftLinks, is predominately written and edited by Carl Davidson. The web presence also includes the website for the Northern California chapter of the organization, dating from 2009-2022.
Accruals
http://www.cc-ds.org/ is accrued semmiannually. LeftLinks is accrued weekly.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Due to technical or privacy issues, archived websites may not be exact copies of the original website at the time of the web crawl. Certain file types will not be captured dependent on how they are embedded in the site. Other parts of websites that the crawler has difficulty capturing includes Javascript, streaming content, database-driven content, and highly interactive content. Full-Text searches of archived websites are available at https://archive-it.org/organizations/567.
Externally hosted content
https://wayback.archive-it.org/6338/*/http://www.cc-ds.org/
Externally hosted content
https://wayback.archive-it.org/6338/*/http://www.ccds-discussion.org/
Externally hosted content
https://wayback.archive-it.org/6338/*/http://www.ncalccds.org/
Externally hosted content
https://wayback.archive-it.org/6338/*/https://archive.constantcontact.com/fs082/1103584185760/archive/1103630604546.html
Externally hosted content
https://wayback.archive-it.org/6338/*/https://www.cc-ds.org/publications/ccdslinks-4/
