Jackson Hinkle is a political commentator known for hosting The Dive with Jackson Hinkle and Legitimate Targets with Jackson Hinkle, in which he has spoken out about a variety of issues ranging from the failures of neoliberal economics to the perils of American imperialism. An American Marxist-Leninist, he currently serves on the plenary committee of the American Communist Party, where he serves in a leadership position. He recently joined me for a discussion regarding such matters as his background in the world of politics, the perception of the American Communist Party abroad, and what makes the American Communist Party unique as far as political movements are concerned, among other topics.
Grant Klusmann: I would like to begin by asking what political activities you were involved in before you realized you were a communist.
Jackson Hinkle: That’s a good question. I came out of the Bernie Sanders movement. So, I guess my foray into politics, generally speaking, was through the Bernie Sanders campaign, which I think many young people can probably relate to right now. I wasn’t particularly interested in the woke agenda. I was more interested in him talking about sanctions, policies that the U.S. has instigated, and ending the wars. He talked a lot about U.S. involvement in coups in foreign countries. I was born in 1999, so I grew up with the U.S. constantly being at war.
Grant Klusmann: Regarding foreign policy, as someone who resides in Russia, have you mentioned the American Communist Party to the locals there, and if so, what is their reaction to the party?
Jackson Hinkle: Well, in Russia, there are a lot of Orthodox communists. And for the most part, I would say that these Orthodox communists are Orthodox Christians. So, they’re open-minded and supportive of what we’re doing. Supportive in terms of word and spirit, nothing else. But honestly, I haven’t engaged with any of the party leadership of the KPRF. I think some others have met with them at some point. I’ve just been talking to random people that I meet and whatnot. You know, there are others, like, for example, Zakhar Prilepin, an Orthodox Christian communist who’s very on point. I think he is as close as you can be to one-hundred percent alignment with my worldview and what we're trying to do with the American Communist Party. He’s brilliant, very talented, and probably the best-selling author in Russia right now, and he’s been involved in politics. But there is another strain of politics, which is the more mainstream wing of the political sphere, which is those that are just pro-Putin, and maybe they have fond memories of the Soviet Union, maybe they don’t. Perhaps they thought some things were good and others were bad about the Soviet Union, Stalin, or Lenin. But I would say that those people, the majority of the country, are a mixed bag but strong supporters of President Putin. They look at us as the American Communist Party, and what they care the most about is not that we are necessarily communist. What they care about is the same thing they care about with different local groupings and political movements in Latin America or Africa. The people in Russia don’t care who it is who’s challenging the Western system of unipolarity and Western dominance. Of course, they prefer people who are going to be good allies of all of Russia’s allies, people who would be good allies of Russia’s allies in the Middle East, or good allies of North Korea, or good allies of President Maduro in Venezuela, they prefer this definitely because they’re looking at the situation objectively within these countries and these leaders and these people. But I think they also appreciate some of the right-wing sentiments in Europe and those standing up against the system of Western dominance and the globalist threat. To the Russians, the word communism doesn’t scare them. They simply understand that, if you were to look at the world today, China’s the most successful economy, China arguably has the most or one of the most powerful militaries in the world, and China’s serving its people and trying to have good relations with all of Russia’s allies, even India now. So, they look at us and say, “You guys are doing great work.” There’s no one else in American politics who’s entirely trustworthy. No one here has any false notions about who Donald Trump is and how untrustworthy he can be. But they love the American people, and they understand we speak to the American people, and they understand we’re not woke, and we don’t care about the culture war. We simply care about fixing America at a time of crisis, stopping the endless wars, and engaging in good faith with other groups around the world.
Grant Klusmann: On leaving the culture war behind, how has the American Communist Party brought together many people from different ideological backgrounds to form a unified movement?
Jackson Hinkle: Well, if you look at the party’s leadership, everyone comes from diverse backgrounds, you know, religiously diverse, ethnically diverse. We are not so diverse regarding our income levels because we don’t have any big money funders, but you know, we are also politically diverse. That’s the most essential part. So, I think when you look at certain people within the party, everyone in the party, including the rank-and-file members, is attracted to different personalities more than others. So, some people look at me and say, “You know, that's not my cup of tea,” and that's fine. Some people may look at someone else and think they resonate more with them. Ultimately, we all have the same mission and motive when doing the work. So, my rhetoric or the way Haz, Eddie, Noah, Carlos, or whoever talks doesn’t make a difference in what we’re doing on the ground; it doesn’t make a difference in our goals. We’re not trying to fit these molds and act like robots. That caused this unique and pleasing array of minds to come together. And I'll lastly say there are even some people in the party who in the past have had disagreements with each other or maybe didn’t see eye to eye on something and then now that everyone is doing the work all across the country, everyone’s like, “Screw whatever disagreements we had, you’re doing fantastic work doing hurricane relief!” And so, everyone is getting along and focused on actually showing our communities what communism is, who communists are, and what we intend to do in the future.
Grant Klusmann: Who would you say is the primary adversary of the American Communist Party, politically speaking?
Jackson Hinkle: Rhetorically, our main enemy would be those who support every single war and genocide and think that America is perfect and that there’s no reason to make America great or make it great again. But many of those people are propagandized, not politically engaged, and can eventually be one over. However, I think the main enemies are those in the media class and those from the managerial class who have close ties to the intelligence community and government. They see us as a problem for more than one reason. These are usually your buttoned-up, very woke types of people. If you look at my Wikipedia page, those quoted the most in attacking are people who work for major media outlets or NGOs funded by questionable groups with links to the intelligence community or the government. And these people are attacking us because we stand for something. So, I think that the main op is not necessarily a single political group or movement in America. Most of these political groups in America are based on a set of personalities or a single personality, and they don’t offer any vision for the future. They might be very good at critiquing the current system and pointing out its flaws, but they don’t present any vision for the future. The people that I mentioned earlier do present a vision for the future, and their vision for the future is more war, more suffering for the people, depopulation, neoliberal economics, and concentration camps if you're not woke.
Grant Klusmann: What do you believe the future holds for the American Communist Party?
Jackson Hinkle: Well, I don’t think we know what will happen tomorrow. I always say if Trump had been killed, and God forbid anything happens to him or any other political leader, I don't want anything like that to happen to anyone; I think maybe we would have seen some form of civil unrest or civil war, or breakdown of our country. And there’s no way of knowing what would have happened. But ultimately, I think that we as communists and we as a party need to be ready to rise to the occasion of whatever is presented to us if the deep state hawks in D.C. want to take us to World War Three. We as communists need to be prepared to say, “Okay, what do we need to do to serve our community and show people that we are the ones with the answers to ending all this madness if we reach this fever pitch?” If something domestic happens, we need to be there to do a similar thing and just say that we’re the ones who aim to provide stability in a crazy world. As for where the party will be in however many years, I don’t know how many years we have left until we have a complete economic collapse, something terrible happens to a political leader, and all hell breaks loose, or World War Three breaks out. Ultimately, we need to be ready to rise to the occasion of whatever is presented before us and whatever the deep state cooks up.
Grant Klusmann: One thing is for sure. The American Communist Party is on the rise, and it has many plans for the future as Americans tire of the two-party duopoly. I look forward to seeing what the future has in store for the party, and I thank you for taking the time to speak with me.
Jackson Hinkle: Thank you too, Grant. I appreciate it.
Filed under grantkl.substack.com.
