Fresh off of Easter Sunday festivities, CPI held an inspiring 4-day workshop retreat from April 26-29 in a beautiful forest venue in Vermont. The successful lecture series covered the material of our brand-new textbook, Out of the Movement, To the masses!: Anti-Imperialist Organizing in America, now available on Amazon. At this event, CPI members forged real human bonds, community, solidarity, and a shared vision for our country, along with having a lot of fun, fellowship, and recreational activities in a lovely, peaceful setting.

Around 30 people in total participated, representing a diverse range of ages, backgrounds, religions, and races, including several non-members and a few whom were completely new to our organization and political ideas.

Attendees praised the positive workshop atmosphere and valuable education. “My first impression was great – good people, food, and location,” said new member Philip High of New York City. A retired former EMT and long-time democratic socialist, Philip met CPI founder and ideological leader Caleb Maupin at their local Christian church and came to this retreat not knowing what to expect. He “really liked the camaraderie and conversation,” and loved the forest setting, even spotting a black bear in the woods.

CPI member Nate K, a 20-year old resident of Chicago, had this to say: “In my opinion, the classes were an outstanding success. I was very happy that I went. I flew in, and I learned a lot of new things that I didn’t know before, like when I learned for the first time about certain American Communist leaders in Caleb’s class ‘Roots of The 1970s New Communist Movement’” (viewable here). Nate excitedly went on: “It made me feel really good that I met a lot of new people coming out of the retreat, because I stayed the whole time… and I met a lot of very interesting people.”

A welcome surprise was the last-minute addition of a new member who drove down from Canada and brought his entire family. When his wife requested more information on the topic of Christianity and Marxism, Caleb Maupin happily obliged with a special Monday morning session.

Another hard-working contributor to CPI, Christina, still in her mid-20s, brought along her friend Laura, who was also completely new to the group. Christina valued seeing the event and our literature through Laura’s fresh eyes and even turned her onto reading a speech by Mao Zedong. The unfamiliar event was fascinating but somewhat challenging for her. “All of these ideas are so new to me; I’m open to what you promote but honestly, I feel a little lost.” Laura remarked. However, she was interested in learning more, saying “Maybe someday I’ll join.”

One remarkable event was the talent show on the last day. “One of the songs that played is something that you’ll never hear at another communist rally. We played “God Bless The USA”… everyone was singing along. It was a great bonding moment. That was the moment that stuck out,” said Nate K.

Other members agreed. Caleb Maupin was clearly moved and uplifted as he sang along with the crowd. “I was brought to tears that last night as we all started to sing along with that song,” said Philip High. “I feel that it was so powerful because we ended up turning a song that was originally written to support the first Persian Gulf War in Iraq into our own patriotic song for peace and socialist progress,” Philip continued. “I felt that it was the culmination of the wonderful 4 days we had shared together out there in the woods.”