Was Picasso the world's wealthiest Communist? Apart from heada of
Communist states, who may not have been personally wealthy, but who
had access to stolen riches. Picasso was undoubtedly the most
financially successful artist.
   If it is said he was not formally a Communist, then exactly what was he?

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 09 Oct 2006 09:29 PDT

I think your question will require the reference to dates in order to
make comparisions. Are you, for instance, referring to Picasso's
wealth at his death or at some other specified period of time (WWI
era, WWI era, post-world war, Cold war eras, etc)? Picasso's wealth
varied throughout his life as did his enthusiasm in political parties
and his affiliations with them.

tutuzdad-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 09 Oct 2006 09:31 PDT

Sorry, the second era I mentioned should have read: "WWII era"; but
I'm sure you get my drift.

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Clarification of Question by knowitall22-ga on 09 Oct 2006 10:26 PDT

The intent concerns his estate wealth at his death.  
  Also, I misspelled *heads* of Communist states.

Billionaire Armand Hammer might be a good candidate for the title
"world's wealthiest Communist."

At the time of his death, I would think that Picasso was a disillusioned
Communist, if even that.

I would agree with Pink that Armand Hammer was probably the wealthiest
Communist to date.

Jean-Baptiste Doumeng, the "Communist Billionaire" might qualify as the
richest living Communist.

...OK, Pink or denco: Post as an answer. Was Armand Hammer an avowed Communist?
K22

I'll leave this to my colleague and friend Denco. Although Armand
Hammer certainly did a great deal of work promoting Communist causes,
I haven't found any proof that he was actually a member of the
Communist Party.

From this site, Armand Hammer's father was a socialist and then
communist, which probably facilitated Armand's contacts and work in
Russia.  If he was a communist, and it doesn't appear that people are
saying he was a card carrier,  it would appear that as a
wheeling-dealing tycoon he never had anything but his own interests at
heart.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armand_Hammer

Here is a juicier site: 
http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/armand_hammer.htm

Wikipedia says Picasso joined the Communist party in France in 1944
(German Wikipedia) and remained a memeber till his death:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso

Being from the Depression era, I have this quaint delusion that
hundreds of millions of dollars makes one wealthy. One billion is a
small step toward real wealth today. So, Picasso was not actually
wealthy...just rich, and probably not the wealthiest Communist. Armand
Hammer is a strange case...perhaps too smart to profess Communism.
Also, I confess to a particular animus to Picasso on my part. He was a
venomous, vicious, ungrateful slimeball. I would have liked to nail
him on the issue in my question, but I suppose it won't fly.
K22