Analysis

A qualitatively new form of transnational capital has clearly emerged. Its features include enormous new concentrations of finance capital, new forms of transnational monopoly, huge changes in the technology of mass production and manufacturing, a new global division of labor, and increasing poverty and decline for workers of the world in a global race to the bottom. Some individuals now own wealth greater than that of smaller countries.
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The Road to Socialism USA: Unity for Peace, Democracy, Jobs and Equality is the Program of the Communist Party USA. Our program is our strategic guide to the current political moment and the tasks at hand. The program defines the main political tasks, the main forces for social change, and the main enemy of this particular epoch. Today, our main challenge is to defeat the Ultra Right and expand democracy on the road to an anti-monopoly coalition and socialism. Read our Program and join with us.
Download PDF: CPUSAProgramWEB.pdf

For the Sake of the Union: Change Congress in November
A Statement of the National Board of the Communist Party, USA

The State of the Union is in grave danger. President Bush’s uninspiring State of the Union speech was a smokescreen to conceal this administration’s criminal actions. It was a cover for feeding corporate greed as oil, gas and other corporations report record profits. Bush said the nation is “addicted to oil.” The real story is: oil corporations are addicted to profit...

Tim Wheeler - Slideshow: Tribute to CPUSA Veterans

Winamp playlist with all speeches

Or, click one-by-one below:
John Bachtell - Welcome
Denise Miles - Intro the Keynote
Sam Webb - Convention Keynote 1
Sam Webb - Convention Keynote 2
Jarvis Tyner - Main Political Resolution 2
William McNary - Greetings from the President of USAction
Judith Le Blanc - Peace and Solidarity
Judith Le Blanc - International Solidarity Night
Scott Marshall - Labor Report
Elena, John, Juan, Joelle - Panel on Party-building
James, Erica, Bruce, Bobbie - Panel on Labor

Selected international greetings will be posted soon

We gather on the eve of the day marking the revolution that founded our nation. U.S. communists take enormous pride in this great struggle that at once severed our colonial dependence on Britain and radically transformed the life of our country. Notwithstanding conventional wisdom, Marxism doesn’t cast a scornful eye at our democratic heritage nor thumb its nose at earlier achievements of humankind....

We are now winding up one of the more fruitful pre-Convention discussion periods. The publication of the Draft Main Political Resolution and the Draft Program early in the discussion period was a significant factor in its productivity. ... A small scattering of members around the country expressed similar but not identical differences with the direction of the Party leadership.

Though "the main political task at this moment is to ... defeat Bush and his counterparts in Congress and elsewhere," Communists, writes Webb, should not "push the mute button on the socialist alternative. To the contrary, we should bring our vision of socialism into the public square; we are, after all, the Communist Party and socialism is at the core of our identity."

The ruling class, not surprisingly, shows no reticence in shaping popular (mis)understanding of socialism. In fact, establishment think tanks, in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, have said that socialism is not simply damaged, but damaged beyond repair....

Never in my lifetime have I participated in an election in which the stakes were so high, the opposing sides so clearly defined, the forms and methods of struggle so creative and wide-ranging, and the battle so bitterly contested and so consequential to the lives of billions on our planet. The results weren’t what we had hoped for, but we should be immensely proud that we were engaged and tireless participants in this monumental struggle.

We are sincerely thankful to the Communist Party of Greece for once again hosting this vital meeting of fraternal Parties and for the opportunity to share thoughts and learn from our collective experience so that we may heighten our unity in action.

As the seemingly endless lies and betrayals of the Bush administration come into the light of day, the insidious nature of the right-wing agenda is becoming more widely understood. Many national leaders now speak of the intent of the Bushites to bankrupt government; dismantle every public entity from education to Medicare; destroy union representation, civil rights and civil liberties; appropriate the spoils of the earth and dominate the entire world.

Our country and the world are going through an exceedingly dangerous period. I suppose one could imagine a more ominous time, but I can’t think of one. We have fought two wars in the space of six months and two bloody, costly, and coercive occupations have followed. No exit strategy is under consideration in either Afghanistan or Iraq.

May Day, much like other holidays, is an occasion to break bread with family and friends in a festive atmosphere. Who in their right mind could be against that? What makes May Day different from other holidays is that it hasn’t been drained of its meaning and commercialized by corporate interests.

Some are saying that the never-ending war policy may render Bush unbeatable in 2004. In reality, the Bush administration and the Congressional Republicans are very vulnerable. Their defeat is of the greatest importance for the future of our country and the world.

Since the start of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration and its supporters in the media have been working overtime perpetuating an old myth that protesting a war is unpatriotic and against our troops whose lives are on the line. Nothing could be further from the truth. The U.S. people have a patriotic duty to object to the rogue-nation policies of George W. Bush and his “Republican Guards.”

With layer upon layer of misrepresentation, exaggeration, and outright lies, George W. Bush and his war cabinet have recklessly flung our nation into an illegitimate, illegal, and unnecessary war.

A lot has happened in the world since the last time we had a major discussion of the labor movement in the National Board. In preparation for our National Convention in 2001, we had quite an extensive and lively discussion of a new Labor Program for our Party.

The details of the defeat of Cynthia McKinney in Georgia's 4th Congressional District primary and Earl Hilliard in Alabama's 7th Congressional District primary should serve to sound an alarm about the assault being carried out by the right-wing in particular against the Black vote, and overall to weaken, split and destroy progressive representation.

We are living through a very dangerous period. The Bush Administration and most Republicans in Congress are using the events of September 11th to push their reactionary agenda: imperialist aggression abroad, racism and austerity at home. We are in the middle of a deepening economic crisis made worse by the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, the great corporate scandals of 2002, and the right-wing policies of the Bush Administration.

After months of intense activity, a broad people’s movement came up just a little short at the ballot box on November 5. What would have been a breathtaking victory, especially given the unfavorable political atmosphere and circumstances, turned into a victory for the Bush administration and the Republican Party.

While much will be said about the 2002 elections in the days and weeks ahead, one immediate conclusion that we should draw is that the outcome is no clear-cut mandate for the Bush administration’s right-wing agenda. There was no sea change in the political landscape of the Congress – a tilt to the right to be sure, but no right-wing electoral landslide.