Claim:
An image shows U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' membership card to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Rating:
Fake ( About this rating? )
Context:
The image purportedly sourced from Soviet archives actually comes from a website that allows anyone to create Soviet-era identification cards.
In late August 2024, a purported photo of a membership card identifying U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris as a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was shared on multiple social media platforms and websites :
The image was often shared alongside a photograph of printed text explaining that the membership card was "a unique document" recently released by the State Archives of the Russian Federation:
On August 19, the official Telegram channel of the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF) published the CPSU party card of US presidential candidate Camille [sic] Harris, which she received during her first visit to the USSR in 1984.
It turned out that the American politician at the age 16 joined the Communist Party of the USA and in the mid-1980s she came to Moscow and Voronezh at least three times through the All-Union Komsomol Organization.
"To dispel all the controversy surrounding Comrade Harris, today we will publish a unique document from our archival fund - her party card, which was personally presented by the second secretary of the Komsomol in June 1984," senior researcher at GARF Matvey Streltsov told reporters.
Harris herself refused to comment, but according to The New York Times, her campaign headquarters will not demand a refutation - the US presidential candidate was indeed a member of the CPSU and paid party dues until 1991.
These claims have no basis in reality. The documentary evidence provided as proof that Harris is or was a communist — this alleged Soviet-era membership card — is actually conclusive proof of a forgery.
Images of purported CPSU membership cards carrying the same ID number and payment record (the columns on the right side of the image) have been shared on social media for nearly a decade . That's because it's the number used on an image produced by a Russian website that allows users to put anyone's name and face on such a card — about as far from "a unique document" as one could get:
The photograph used in the Harris forgery, which was purportedly from 1984, was taken at Howard University in 1986 . There is no evidence outside of this forgery that Harris traveled to the Soviet Union or joined any communist organizations at this time.
A search performed by Snopes of recent New York Times articles about Harris revealed that no articles match the one described in social media posts as additional evidence for the legitimacy of the claim.
Because this image originated from a website that produces variants of the same "membership card" used in this claim and not, as alleged, the State Archives of the Russian Federation, the claim is rated as a "Fake."
Snopes has written several stories about similar false claims concerning Harris' and her campaign's alleged support of communism.
Sources:
BOOOOM!!! Bombshell: Communist Party of Russia – Membership Card of the HARRIS Kamala, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Voronezh) – The Scandal That Could Destroy Her 2024 Presidential Campaign - Amg-News.Com - American Media Group. 27 Aug. 2024, https://amg-news.com/boooom-bombshell-communist-party-of-russia-membership-card-of-the-harris-kamala-russian-soviet-federative-socialist-republic-voronezh-the-scandal-that-could-destroy-her-2024-presidential-ca/ .
Liles, Jordan. "Fox News Aired Graphic Listing 'Tim Walz's Communist Agenda,' with a Tax on Couches?" Snopes, 9 Aug. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/fox-walz-communist-agenda/ .
---. "Harris and Walz Posed with Revolutionary Communists of America Sign?" Snopes, 12 Aug. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/harris-walz-communist-sign/ .
Palma, Bethania. "Copypasta Falsely Claims Kamala Harris Is 'Marxist by Association.'" Snopes, 19 Jan. 2021, https://www.snopes.com//news/2021/01/19/kamala-harris-marxist/ .
PressReader.Com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions. https://www.pressreader.com/usa/orlando-sentinel-for-pr-sunday/20201018/281633897719474 . Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.
Партийный Билет Члена КПСС. https://www.stalinanavas.net/kpss/ . Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.
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