Cover of a Soviet book published in 1971 dedicated to life and writings of W.E.B. Du Bois.
In the Letter of an American Communist -- the letter that Du Bois attached to his membership application to the CPUSA when he joined in October, 1961 at the of age 93 -- DuBois wrote that:
Capitalism cannot reform itself; it is doomed to self-destruction. No universal selfishness can bring social good to all.
Communism -- the effort to give all men what they need and to ask of each the best they can contribute -- this is the only way of human life.
He went on to say the Communist Party in the US should work to become the country's third party on a program of:
Public ownership of natural resources and of all capital.
Public control of transportation and communications.
Abolition of poverty and limitation of personal income.
No exploitation of labor.
Social medicine, with hospitalization and care for the old.
Free education for all.
Training for jobs and jobs for all.
Discipline for growth and reform.
Freedom under law.
No dogmatic religion.
These aims are not crimes. They are practiced increasingly over the world. No nation can call itself free which does not allow its citizens to work for these ends.
W.E.B. Du Bois, the scholar, civil rights activist, historian and communist was born February 23, 1868 in Massachusetts. He died in 1963 at age 95 in Ghana after a remarkable life that took him around the world in his fight for justice, equality and freedom.