Is the ACLU a Communist or Left-Wing Organization?
PRO (yes)
Pro
Stephen Flick, PhD, Executive Director of the Christian Heritage Fellowship, in an article titled “ACLU Rattles Lifeless Bones of Communism,” available at christianheritagefellowship.com (accessed Dec. 1, 2017), wrote:
“In an effort to resist the conservative agenda of President Donald Trump, the ACLU organized everything from mass rallies to weekend house parties, where thousands were reported to have gathered over the weekend. Participants received a nine-point plan to resist established law and turn America into a network of ‘freedom cities’ that resist the Trump presidential agenda and the vote of the American people in the election of 2016. Uniting with Muslim congressman, Keith Ellison who also called for ‘mass rallies’ to stop Trump’s conservative agenda, the ACLU hopes to turn America Democratic ‘blue’ by forcing its liberal Socialistic and Communistic agenda upon all America.”
Dec. 1, 2017
Pro
Warner Todd Huston, commentator, wrote in the May 16, 2006 article “Is the ACLU evil?,” for the RenewAmerica website:
“Sure the ACLU has done a few good things, but their bad things far outweigh the good. Not only that, but they have an agenda that is antithetical to the USA. This organization was started at the turn of the last century, and is today perpetuated by, communists/socialists who wish to destroy just about everything that makes our nation great only to have it remade on a communist/socialist model. This aim of the ACLU is antithetical to all our interests as well as our culture and history.”
May 16, 2006
Pro
William H. Donohue, PhD, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said in his Aug. 23, 2006 interview with Stop the ACLU, that:
“I believe that the American Civil Liberties Union is based upon a noble purpose. However, they often work against that very purpose due to a radical interpretation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights… They are an arm of the radical left. In my first book… I also exposed just how phony their claim of being non-partisan is…. Its record is far from showing impartiality. It is full of attempts to reform American society according to the ideals of liberalism.”
Aug. 23, 2006
Pro
Devvy Kidd, Founder and Director of the Project on Winning Economic Reform, wrote the Dec. 3, 2004 “ACLU Fulfilling Communist Agenda,” for World Net Daily, that said:
“For the past few decades, the ACLU has been on a major crusade to destroy Christianity in America, promote filth under ‘freedom of speech and expression,’ and of course, vigorously defend the homosexual culture of death…
Anyone who has been following the destructive path of the ACLU can easily see how effective these communist goals have been implemented to ‘promote democracy’ and protect your ‘civil rights…’ Perhaps it’s time to recognize the ACLU as the American Communist Lawyers Union instead of their disingenuous ‘civil rights’ stage name.”
Dec. 3, 2004
Pro
Ralph de Toledano, PhD, Former Editor of Newsweek, wrote the July 1, 2002 article “What The ACLU Doesn’t Want You To Know,” in Insight on the News, that:
“The ACLU has from its inception encouraged political and moral anarchy. This curious organization wraps itself in all kinds of lofty rhetoric designed to separate some of our more soft-headed financial nabobs from the coin of the realm… Meanwhile it prefers that no one smarten up the chumps about the aims and principles of its founder, Roger Baldwin, who wrote in 1935 that ‘Communism is the goal.’ In its early days, the ACLU was not shy about making known its agenda.”
July 1, 2002
Pro
The 1943 “Report of the California Senate Fact-Finding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities” stated:
“The American Civil Liberties Union may be definitely classed as a Communist front or ‘transmission belt’ organization. At least 90% of its efforts are expended on behalf of Communists who come into conflict with the law. While it professes to stand for free speech, a free press, and free assembly, it is quite obvious that its main function is to protect Communists in their activities of force and violence in their program to overthrow the government.”
1943 -“Report of the California Senate Fact-Finding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities”
CON (no)
Con
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), wrote in response to the question “Does the ACLU Have Communist Roots? Was Co-founder Roger Baldwin a Communist?,” on the FAQs section of their website, aclu.org (accessed Sep. 11, 2017):
“Throughout the organization’s history and particularly during the McCarthy era, the ACLU, its members, staff and founders have been accused of being Communists. The ACLU has no political affiliations and makes no test of individuals’ ideological leanings a condition of membership or employment. Members and staff of the national ACLU and its affiliates may be Republicans, Democrats, Communists, Federalists, Libertarians, or members of any other political party or no party at all.
What the ACLU asks of its staff and officials is that they consistently defend civil liberties and the Constitution.”
Sep. 11, 2017
Con
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Nebraska, in its Frequently Asked Questions on its website (accessed Jan. 29, 2007), responded to the question “What is ACLU Nebraska?,” that:
“The ACLU is nonpartisan. It believes that the only way to protect freedom is to stand fast for the idea that everyone, no matter how unpopular, has the same rights — that liberty is preserved only if principle stays ahead of the politics of the moment.”
Jan. 29, 2007
Con
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachussetts, in its Frequently Asked Questions on its website (accessed Sep. 25, 2006), stated in response to the question “Is the ACLU a left-wing organization?”:
“No. In fact, the ACLU is in many ways our nation’s most conservative organization. Our main job is to conserve America’s original civic values as written in the Constitution and The Bill of Rights. Historically, we have agreed with conservatives on some issues and with liberals on others. For example, we worked with the National Rifle Association to defeat a proposal by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that would expand wiretapping authority… The ACLU also filed a brief on the right of Oliver North not to incriminate himself when he testified before a congressional committee.”
Sep. 25, 2006
Con
The Kalamazoo Gazette wrote the editorial entitled “A Sure Sign of the Apocalypse?” on Jan. 10, 2007, which stated:
“Although many conservative groups rally their base by calling the ACLU as anti-Christian, communistic and anti-American, the truth is that the ACLU has gone to bat for anyone whose constitutional rights are in danger of being eroded — Christian, Jewish, Muslim, liberal, moderate or conservative.”
Jan. 10, 2007
Con
Burton Caine, JD, Former President of the ACLU Greater Philadelphia Branch, wrote “ACLU in Communist China?,” posted on the ACLU of Pennsylvania’s website (accessed Sep. 25, 2006):
“I rarely associated ACLU and the government except as adversaries… In response to the accusation of ‘conservatives’ I maintained that ACLU is the most ‘conservative’ organization in the country because it stands up for the nation’s oldest document – the Constitution, and ‘laws… in Pursuance thereof’ enforcing civil liberties as ‘the supreme Law of the land.'”
Sep. 25, 2006
Con
Edward R. Murrow, former broadcast journalist for CBS News, stated in his Mar. 29, 1954 special report “A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy”:
“The [Mar. 1953] Reed Harris hearing demonstrates one of [Senator Joseph McCarthy’s] techniques. Twice he said the American Civil Liberties Union was listed as a subversive front. The Attorney General’s list does not and has never listed the ACLU as subversive, nor does the FBI or any other federal government agency. And the American Civil Liberties Union holds in its files letters of commendation from President Truman, President Eisenhower, and General MacArthur.”
Mar. 29, 1954
