Son of Soviet spies: Make Obama like us

Michael Meeropol

The activist son of a notorious pair of convicted Soviet spies is urging a mass "progressive" movement to pressure Barack Obama toward enacting policies that make America more socialist.

"All the stories about Obama's economic team and his economic instincts mean is that we on the left have to shout loud and clear to make the policies move in our direction," writes Michael Meeropol on the far-left leaning Rag Tag blog.

"I think to a large extent, we ought to stop discussing whether Obama is being 'good' or 'bad' and focus on the policies we want his administration (and Congress) to follow," Meeropol writes.

Meeropol was born Michael Rosenberg, son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the first civilians executed for espionage in American history. Though many have long claimed the couple was innocent, the Rosenbergs were found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage for passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.

After the execution of his parents, Meeropol was adopted by Abel Meeropol, a liberal activist and writer.

Meeropol, who is involved in an organization that includes among its ranks former Obama mentors, has now called for a mass activist movement modeled after the Communist-led labor "people's organizations" of the New Deal-era that were instrumental in bringing about drastic concessions from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

"That's what the socialists and communists did during the Depression and though the New Deal 'saved' capitalism – it also made it a lot more 'worker' and 'people' friendly." Meeropol writes. "I think living in the America of 1945-1972 was better than living in the America of 1902-1929.

"It wasn't revolution, but that didn't stop the socialists and communists of the 1930s from fighting for the right to organize unions, for anti-lynching legislation, for the minimum wage law, etc. etc.," Meeropol writes. "And it didn't stop the Civil Rights Movements of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s from demanding the most minimal rights already guaranteed under the capitalist constitution."

Meeropol warns that whether Obama "stays" in what he termed "Clintonian mode" or adopts policies that significantly move away from a "right-wing economic concensus" depends on "us and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party."

He adds, "Joe Hill said, 'Don't mourn for me, organize.' We should say, 'Don't mourn Obama's leanings – organize to push him the other way.'"

The New Zeal blog documents that Michael Meeropol has connections to Obama mentors through the Movement for a Democratic Society, a far-left leaning activist organization. Meeropol is a leading member of the MDS alongside former Weathermen terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, whose deep connections to Obama sparked controversy during the presidential campaign.