RED LIVES: Our Years in the U.S. Communist Party | Busboys and Poets Books
Date and Time
May 21, 2026 6:30 pm
Location
Takoma
235 Carroll St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20012
May 21, 2026 6:30 pm
Takoma
Red Lives: Our Years in the Communist Party, 1950-2000 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.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
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/
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
