Congressman John Lewis' Socialist Ties

Frontpage reports:

Yes, we all know about Lewis's days as a good guy in the early Sixties, when he took part in the Freedom Rides that challenged segregation across the South, and when he was arrested and beaten for his participation in civil-rights actions in places like South Carolina and Alabama.

But in addition to that, are we, by any chance, allowed to also remember that from 1962-64 Lewis was a vice chairman of a Communist Party USA front group known as the National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee? Trevor Loudon's extraordinary research has laid bare this fact and many others about Lewis's past.

How about the fact that in 1964 Lewis praised Norman Thomas—a six-time U.S. presidential candidate on the Socialist Party of America ticket—as a man who “has symbolized to millions of Americans the ideals of peace, freedom and equality”? Are we permitted to be unsettled by that?

Is it okay if we find it curious that in 1965 Lewis became the first honoree to receive the annual Eugene Debs Award, named for the founder of the Socialist Party of America?

Are we allowed to raise an eyebrow over the fact that in '65 as well, Lewis penned an article for a Communist propaganda magazine in which he lauded Paul Robeson, a Communist Party member who had been a devoted admirer of the late Soviet dictator and mass murderer Joseph Stalin?

Is John Lewis still a socialist?