Which specific communist texts most closely match items on Skousen's '45 Goals' and what do experts say about those parallels?
Executive summary
Cleon Skousen’s “45 Goals” originate in his 1958 book The Naked Communist and were later entered into the Congressional Record in 1963, but they are Skousen’s synthesis and not a verbatim product of a single Communist manifesto or official Soviet text [1] [2]. Historians and analysts who have examined the list argue that some items echo real Communist Party platforms and Marxist strategy—especially interwar CPUSA language from the 1930s and Gramscian cultural strategy—but many of Skousen’s formulations are Cold War advocacy rather than direct quotations from canonical communist texts [3] [4] [5].
1. Origins and provenance: Skousen’s list, the Congressional Record, and older party platforms
The 45 goals first appear in Skousen’s book and were later read into the Congressional Record by Rep. Albert Herlong in 1963, which preserved Skousen’s list in official transcripts but did not convert it into an intelligence finding or an archival communist manifesto [1] [2] [5]. Multiple commentators trace Skousen’s language back to US Communist Party platforms and related materials from the 1930s, meaning some items reflect historically documented CPUSA aims of that era rather than the programmatic writings of Marx, Lenin, or later Soviet leaders [3] [6].
2. Which communist texts most closely match Skousen’s items: CPUSA platforms and tactical manuals
The closest documentary parallels cited in secondary reporting are the Communist Party USA’s 1936 platform and internal tactical guidance about influencing unions, education, and culture—areas Skousen highlighted such as control of teachers’ associations and influence over textbooks [3] [7]. Analysts and advocates who repost the list often point to CPUSA manifestos and party strategy documents from the interwar and early Cold War periods as the nearest primary sources, rather than Marx’s Capital or Lenin’s State and Revolution, because many 45-goal items are operational prescriptions for influencing civil society rather than theoretical expositions [3] [6].
3. Gramsci, cultural strategy, and scholarly caution about direct attribution
Some modern readers, and even later re-examiners of Skousen, note that the idea of “softening” society through culture—schools, arts, and unions—resonates with Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony and long-term ideological struggle; Skousen’s interpretation appears influenced by that model rather than quoting a specific Soviet manual [4]. Importantly, recent scholarship and analysts stress provenance matters: Skousen’s list is Cold War advocacy and should be treated as a period political argument and synthesis, not as a sourced list of directives from Moscow or from canonical Marxist texts [5].
4. Expert readings: agreement, critique, and the politics of use
Commentators who defend Skousen argue many items map onto tactics historically used by Communist parties—entryism into unions, legal protections for communist parties, and promotion of international institutions—which can be corroborated in CPUSA documents and historical practice [6] [8]. Critics and fact-checking analysts counter that Skousen conflates diverse phenomena, sometimes recasting broad or benign political trends as conspiratorial “goals,” and that the list has been repurposed by later political actors without demonstrating direct textual lineage to Marx, Lenin, or official Soviet doctrine [9] [5].
5. What can and cannot be concluded from the sources
The available reporting supports a measured conclusion: several Skousen items resemble positions in mid‑20th‑century CPUSA platforms and tactical literature, and the Gramscian cultural model helps explain the focus on education and arts, but there is no single canonical communist text identified in the sources that directly contains Skousen’s 45 items as an official plan [3] [4] [5]. Where reporting is silent—such as a direct one‑to‑one match between each Skousen goal and a named Soviet or Comintern directive—this analysis does not assert such matches and notes the limitation in the documented provenance [5].