Archive of CR-CPUSA documents and directives
Due to the cult’s highly secretive practices and tight control over the flow of information, it has been difficult to obtain copies of internal documents. However, I have managed to collect a number of key items revealing the inner workings of the cult, its ideology, and Jared’s character. This is the first time many of these have been published anywhere. They demonstrate Jared’s domineering, manipulative, and grandiose rhetoric which positioned himself as an authority– impressively, to those who didn’t know better, especially young people and those lacking prior political and historical education. Intelligent and studious, Jared was able to compose polemics and ideological theses that appeared grounded in an expert grasp of political theory and history, despite his actual inexperience and inability to produce any meaningful contributions to Marxism or the revolutionary movement in the US.
If you have further information I can add to this archive, please contact me!
Internal documents
A letter Jared wrote from prison, attacking devotees for not writing to him sufficiently, and demanding them to compel his wife to focus on him
A lengthy document fundamental to understanding the cult’s control over members. I have highlighted some of the most significant passages in this copy.
Circulated alongside the Manual, these directives include policies like “war communism” and “militarization” which served to dramatically consolidate Jared’s total control. Highlights = mine.
Proceedings from a “people’s trial,” a cult kangaroo court orchestrated by Jared, in which he defends a sexual predator remaining in the organization.
Guiding principles/orders required to be memorized and obeyed by members, serving as both propaganda and thought-terminating cliches.
Doctrine regulating members’ housing, meals, social activity, and lives generally. Relations and activities within members’ homes are to follow military order, undergo regular inspection, and have their level of compliance reported to the “Cadre Development and Control Commission” to assess if “rectification” is necessary.
A blog post that publicly described the cult’s initial approach to thought reform, drawing on ideas from AA/NA, of which Jared and several top leaders had been a part.
When Jared entered prison, he had to step down as editor of the cult’s primary newspaper/mouthpiece. To keep the interim leaders in line, Jared wrote this letter framing them for problems he himself had directed. This letter was circulated, its true author kept anonymous, so rank and file members would criticize the interim leaders and await the glorious return of Jared.
A directive which frames people struggling with mental health problems (many of them, it turns out, related to being in a cult) as making excuses for ideological and character deficits, and urges people to commit more fully to “class struggle” (work for the cult), rather than self-help groups or therapy.
A letter whose language expresses devotees’ charismatic relationship with Jared, reverence for his “historic leadership.”
A letter sent by the editor of Tribune (who was also the chairman of the cult), to members in Phoenix who asked for Tribune’s policy on nonbinary people. See also this Struggle Session article responding to similar emails the editors received.
A pledge RAE members were required to swear before they could speak at meetings. A similar pledge was sworn by Party members as well, but I don’t have a copy of its exact wording.
An example of a written self-criticism, by someone in charge of “political prisoner support” (Jared being the primary “political prisoner” and recipient of this organization’s fundraising), showing what the cultic practice of confession looked like in the CR-CPUSA. This document also gives a look into the impossible workload expected of members.
Directives on labor organizing whose content was derived almost entirely from Communist manuals prior to 1940, largely copying the J. Peters Manual on Organization. Anachronistic and ineffective, the requirements of the directive sabotaged even strategically positioned and initially promising efforts at organizing workers.
A frankly psychotic directive from Jared after his wife tried to leave him and members in Los Angeles protected her, taking a stand Jared’s more reactionary policies. In this letter, Jared attacks his wife Lisa as a “renegade cadre” and “2nd Right Opportunist Line” (Luis, leader of Los Angeles, being the “1st”), gloats over his control of all aspects of the organization, and gleefully details procedures for military tribunals and expulsion or rectification processes which all his enemies, including his wife, will be forced to undergo.
A directive on developing the “concentric construction” of the organization, a Gonzaloist theory of party building emphasizing militarization.
A criticism made by local leaders in Austin on the eve of the collapse, exposing over a dozen severe cases of mistreatment and exploitation of women members by the Politburo.
This page focuses on the cult’s tenant/neighborhood front organization, UNDM. It discusses it in deeper detail beyond what is presented on the Timeline and links to various internal documents, newsletters, and former member testimonies and criticisms, including a summation written by Politburo member Luis attempting to sway members back under cult leadership.
See UNDM page for more details. Jared’s personal position on gentrification and tenant organizing, revised in 2020, dictated to UNDM and the rest of the organization.
External Supporting Documents
Contemporaneous criticism of Jared’s behavior (the “cadre” described in the text) and problems with the Red Guards, by a collective in St. Louis.
A foundational piece of propaganda by the cult, this collection of speeches and writing served to expand the cult’s influence and help it convert and recruit many other organizations within the Maoist movement.
Legal US court document referencing Jared’s assault on a cult member and his conviction for possession of firearms as a felon.
An early and contemporaneous expose of the cult from an apparent former member or close affiliate.
Pigheadism: The U.S. Maoist Milieu and their Problems
2020 (based on an initial post in 2019)
Another contemporaneous criticism of cult behavior from a former member in Kansas City.
Condemned to Win
2016
A highly influential position paper published by the cult in its early years, putting forward its initial program. A “Condemned to Win II” was later circulated, but I have not been able to track down a copy.
Public documents
Along with directives to its internally organized members, the cult also circulates its calls to action and polemics through its news and blog organs. Some of the most worthwhile sources for further study would be the Red Guards Austin blog, Tribune of the People News, and Struggle Sessions.
Photos
Jared Roark
An actual pig’s head hung by Red Guards Austin outside the meeting space of the DSA
Jared Roark’s personal shrine to Chairman Gonzalo, featuring a rosary with Gonzalo’s face on it
An early cult march, by Red Guards Austin
CR-CPUSA members march for May 1st in 2020
The cult’s May 1st march in 2021, Austin TX
Jared Roark’s art
Referencing his history of addiction and mental illness, Jared’s art focuses on nihilistic themes, fetishized violence and radical groups, including gangs and cults. Although you can’t make a judgement about a person just based on their art, knowing Jared went on to lead a violent, abusive organization, makes these pictures, pulled from his Instagram, especially disturbing.
Ex- Red Guards and CR-CPUSA Hub 