Vijay Prashad, the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research — a Marxism-pushing propaganda outfit bankrolled by Shanghai-based billionaire Neville Roy Singham — also holds a position as a "senior non-resident fellow" at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. That institute is run by a 20-year Chinese Communist Party member and operates as a pipeline for CCP influence operations known as United Front work. But sure, it's all just academic research.
Nothing to see here, folks. Just a Marxist activist on the payroll of a CCP think tank while running an organization that spreads anti-American propaganda across the globe.
The Chongyang Institute isn't some dusty university department. Its dean, Wang Wen, is a card-carrying CCP member of roughly 20 years who also serves as a council member of the Western Returned Scholars Association — an organization the House Select Committee on the CCP has identified as "subordinate to the United Front Work Department." Wang Wen himself said the quiet part out loud when he was added to the association's board: "As a scholar from a Chinese think tank, one of my important tasks over the past few years has been telling China's story to the world."
Telling China's story. That's CCP-speak for propaganda, in case your Mandarin is rusty.
As reported by Just The News, the connections between Prashad, Singham, and the Chinese Communist Party go deep. Prashad has called Singham "one of my oldest & dearest friends" and described him as "a Marxist with a massive software company." After Singham sold his company Thoughtworks, the proceeds became "the original source for Tricontinental's endowment." Since its founding in 2017, Tricontinental has been what House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Missouri) called an organization "responsible for spreading Marxist and anti-American rhetoric across both the United States and the globe." Smith sent a letter to Prashad in February 2026 demanding answers.
Prashad's response to scrutiny? He told the New York Times back in 2023, "we do not and have never received funds or instructions from any government or political party." His Substack bio, however, reads: "Writing is my joy, revolution is my passion." Pick a lane, comrade.
The Chongyang Institute where Prashad holds his fellowship isn't just connected to the CCP — it IS the CCP's intellectual arm. The institute has participated in over 100 policy advisory meetings, conducted more than 20 research trips to the United States, and hosts a "Party Building Work" page with over 100 news updates promoting the Chinese Communist Party. Another senior fellow there, John Ross, has been on staff since 2013, has over one million Weibo followers, and wrote in 2023 that "if I fulfilled the legal criteria, I would immediately apply to become a CPC member."
These aren't academics. They're recruiters.
Michael Sobolik, a China expert at the Hudson Institute, connected the dots cleanly: "These activities and associations are hallmarks of united front entities, and increase the already significant concerns about the Singham Network."
The Singham Network has long been dogged by calls that it should register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing in February 2026, Singham was accused of using shell companies and donor-advised funds to channel over $20 million from China to far-left groups in the United States — groups like the People's Forum, the ANSWER Coalition, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. His wife, Jodie Evans, co-founded Code Pink. The man lives in Shanghai. His money flows through CCP-aligned channels. His top lieutenant holds a fellowship at a CCP think tank doing United Front work.
At what point do we stop calling this a "network" and start calling it what it is? A foreign influence operation with an American mailing address.
Prashad, Singham, Wang Wen, John Ross — they're not hiding. They're publishing papers together, appearing in videos together, and attending each other's weddings. In October 2024, Singham and Ross co-authored a piece republished by Chongyang titled "Big data from 210 economies reveals the secrets to global and Chinese economic growth." They're not even pretending anymore.
We spent four years being told that Russian memes on Facebook were the greatest threat to democracy. Meanwhile, a literal Marxist propaganda network funded by a Shanghai billionaire, staffed by CCP think tank fellows, and connected to United Front operations has been operating in broad daylight. The connection isn't a conspiracy theory — it's a business card.