I would be pretty disapointed in an activist of that era who didn't at least claim to be a communist (not necessarily a Communist). If he was some type of moderate "reformer" we wouldn't be talking about him.

I would have expected O to have been influenced by more recent (and more radical) activists, but he is really just a mainstream politician. Progress is sometimes slower than we would like. At least it's now safe for a politician to associate himself with a "communist" from 50 years ago without any negative reactions from anyone who matters.