USA - Communist Party of USA

This Web site is a pretty straightforward matter. Their logo is nice, as an idea, but severely beat up by scaling. Otherwise it's simple, but also boring. Grey text and red star bullets, which have become a communist classic. A link to their weekly newspaper is provided; I always thought the name "People's Weekly World" was unfortunate, just too close to "Weekly World News".

 

Japanese Communist Party

Not too much to go on here, since I can't view Japanese characters. If you expect hip Japanese futuristic design, you'll be disappointed. The logo looks more like a Chinese shampoo advertisement. Claris Home Page was used to create the Site.

 

KKE - Communist Party of Greece

KKE's Web site shows some skill. The use of frames is excessive. There are six, which in this case is too many. The aesthetics are quite amazing, third world style. The socialist jpeg mural and the texture background are a clear match though. If you click on the linked images to the left, the center frame fills up with question marks!

 

Communist Refoundation Party (Italy)

The geographical closeness to Greece shows, especially in the "posters" (touched up with the Photoshop lens flare filter) to the left. The site has merit but some typical mistakes show up such as misty text as image.

 

Communist Party of Israel

With its blood red background, it's the Rosetta stone of communist Web pages: their name written in Arabic, Hebrew and English. The Arabic and Hebrew gif is kind of fuzzy. The party logo is very inviting... hammer, sickle and... white dove!? A couple of lines down: "the struggle goes on". The transparent gifs of stars (as bullets, again) look pretty crummy, especially with Explorer.

KPD - Communist Party of Denmark

Very simple and clean. The thing I love the most is that it's an unofficial Web site! In the US, young people make unofficial Web sites for Alicia Silverstone and Leo de Caprio, in Denmark... the Communist Party - cute. The site is very friendly and inviting - seventies socialism - there's even the obligatory "woodcarving" of Danish "hygge" with cigar smoking and socializing.

 

New Communist Party of England

Definitely one of the better ones. A simple and clear use of frames and a straightforward interface make the site very comprehensive. Ironically, while loading, a Geocities sponsor banner showed up: "there is a life after menopause". I guess everything has a price.

 

SACP - South African Communist Party

My clear favorite. Simplicity at its best - the logo rules. It's made by professional Web designers which clearly shows. The style is corporate and the site also has a merchandise section! Where you can buy T-shirts and caps.

 

PCP - The Portuguese Communist Party

In their arrid native land, they're called "the angels of dust." Just kidding, I couldn't help it. This site is pretty good. Nice and consistent use of icons that are clear and understandable. Very basic. Not much more to say.

 

The Communist Party of Canada

Counter: total hits 00027! The logo is of course classic (everything with the red maple leaf looks good), but the typography is terrible. Even worse is the use of "borrowed" icons which is the most inconsistent I've seen in a while. The front page looks like Czech cartoons from the sixties.

 

PCPV - Communist Party of the Valencian Country

This page is a mess. It is "under construction", but links are inactive and images don't load. Actually, it is so bad that if it wasn't for the fact that the doubter can listen to the salutary "the International", I wouldn't have reviewed it. (Along with other totally sucky sites like CPBM - Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia.)

 

Communist Party of Turkey

These Web pages show it: it can't be easy to be a Communist in Turkey.

 

PCF - Parti Communiste Francais

Don't expect an English version here. The Web designers of this poor site don't seem to have understood that HTML allows the browser to show text as text. Gif animations and a big white space right in the middle of the page!?

 

CC - Communist Party of Cuba

The PCC logo is great; it always has been and always will be. It's therefore disappointing to see the context it's been placed in. Peel off corner, uh... and lack of tables when it's really needed. What are they doing with the state money? I don't get it. What is also bad is that none of the pages yield any information about who created them, or who you can contact (to complain, or become a member).

 

CPI(M) - Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Not very glamorous but well functioning and clear navigation. Frequent use of 3-D hammer and sickle. A nice little home page detail is the photo gallery. It has four pictures: EMS Namboodiripad, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Jyoti Basu and Lenin(!). A minus is the text colors: light blue against light grey is really hard to read.

 

Tudeh Party of Iran

Not very hip, but made with thought and consideration. The English and the Farsi are side by side on a relief background of the party logo - a red rose. The English typography is a little bit strange, but could be worse. The section of the history of the Tudeh party is in English and is very informative.

 

KPÖ - Communist Party of Austria

Minimalism at its worst. Only in German. I'm sleeping already.

 

DKP - Communist Party of Germany

Straightforward and a little boring. It's well organized and has an image of Karl Marx, which I always appreciate. Check out the link to the posters. The poster of Che and the Happy Star made me physically sick.

 

Communist Party of the Philippines

Also very simple but clear and attractive. The logo is crude but the index list is both very extensive and well organized. All the documents are also in English. Large photo Gallery and a section for Arts and Culture is a great initiative! One of the best sites in terms of content.

 

Communist Party of Brazil

Only in Portuguese, which makes it seem very cluttered. I guess the design has merit, but it is totally without oomph! Looks like a Web page for an HMO.

 

Communist Party of Russia

It is interesting and I suppose symptomatic that the Communist Party of Russia uses Geocities as a service provider and thus the user gets windows with messages "from our sponsors". It's not surprising to find the biggest gifs and the largest type on this site. As imagined this is not the place for subtleties or humility.

KT - Communist Workers Party (Finland)

Wins the award for the cutest logo. Only a few English pages. The Finish pages have nice background images of light wood of course. No AK-47's here! You can almost smell the birches and the sauna.