Party Builder 13 Aug 2001

In This Issue:
*Convention Evaluation
*Convention Web Site
*Globalization Report
*Jobs with Justice Conference
*Recruiting Pamphlet
*Welfare Reform Hearings
*Cuba Solidarity
*Legislative Updates
*Books for Sale
*Conference to Stop Star Wars
*Protect Legal Abortion
*Vieques
*Fall Calendar

ONLY 1,426 days left until the next Convention!! Maybe that's not something you're ready to think about, but we are! And if you attended the Convention either as a delegate or a guest, we need your input on how it went. You can find the Evaluation Form at http://www.cpusa.org/27th_convention/evaluation.html

If you have any questions about it, please let me know.
(Note: The 1,426 is a guesstimate, as a date has yet to be chosen for the next one....)

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Also on the Convention Web site (which can be found at: here):
*The Keynote Address (text and audio)
*Special Reports
*The Declaration of Independence from Capitalism
*Veterans Tribute (audio)
*And much more being added each week!

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GLOBALIZATION REPORT

Scott Marshall, Chair of the Labor Commission, recently gave a report to the National Board entitled, "Globalization and the Class Struggle Today."

To read it, go to: this page

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JOBS WITH JUSTICE CONFERENCE

The annual national conference of Jobs w/ Justice is being held in Cleveland September 6-9. Registration and an opening reception will be on Thursday, pre-conferences on Friday, plenary session and workshops on Saturday, closing plenary Sunday. Registration fee is 0, for students, low-income, striking workers. Registration forms can be obtained from your local JwJ or from the national office at 501 Third St., Washington D.C.20001, phone 202-434-1106.

All Party members who can do so are urged to attend the conference, and to talk with friends and co-workers about going. JwJ is the most important national organization at the center of building labor-community coalitions and mobilizing mass solidarity actions in support of labor's right to organize. Here is a great opportunity to learn from experiences around the country, make new friends, and consolidate new contacts.

For more information, please e-mail Wally at wallyk@ncweb.com

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RECRUITING PAMPHLET

Hot off the presses is a new, popular, well-designed recruiting pamphlet.
Included within it:
*The recent stolen election
*Our work in coalitions
*Who Communists are and what we fight for
*How the CP is different from other left and progressive organizations
*A brief history of the CP
*Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
*A "join" form

Let Elena know how many you would like to order for your club or district by e-mailing her at emora@cpusa.org

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WELFARE REFORM HEARINGS

Grassroots Policy Briefing on TANF (Welfare) Reauthorization
September 11, Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.

Nearly 20 grassroots leaders will address members of Congress and their staff at a policy briefing in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday September 11. Co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO, United Church of Christ, the Applied Research Center, National Immigration Law Center, and Grass Roots Organizing for Welfare Leadership (GROWL), the briefing will highlight the experiences of mothers on welfare in the last five years and assert progressive proposals for change.

GROWL is also helping organizing town hall meetings on TANF Reauthorization around the country this fall, along with the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, the Western Regional Welfare Rights Activist Network, etc. The meetings will give mothers and families directly affected by the new welfare laws a chance to tell their stories to decision makers in Congress and advocate for progressive welfare policies.

To get an organizing kit or more information, e-mail GROWL organizer Daniel HoSang at
dhosang@ctwo.org or call 510 533 7583 x12.

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CUBA SOLIDARITY

Join in on a direct challenge to U.S. policy on Cuba. Come to the Maine border with Quebec, to Coburn Gore, on August 18, 2001. On noon that day, LET CUBA LIVE, a group of Maine citizens who oppose U.S. policy toward Cuba, will cross the border with a shipment of humanitarian aid for the people of Cuba, mostly medical supplies. Pastors for Peace of New York will continue its record of vigorous opposition to the blockade by also sending supplies with this shipment.

LET CUBA LIVE neither asks for nor will accept the license for humanitarian aid that U.S. embargo laws require. The system of blockade is wrong in its entirety, and acquiescence with anything that has to do with cruel and immoral laws is unthinkable. Sometimes, like Rosa Parks did, we need to take matters into our own hands. Besides, why do you have to ask permission to help a neighbor?

LET CUBA LIVE attempted to take humanitarian aid across the border at Coburn Gore on July 2, 2001. Almost 40 boxes of donated material were handed over the border to members of a Quebec group in solidarity with Cuba who were waiting for the LET CUBA LIVE caravan. Fifty other boxes were seized by U.S. Customs officials, and they are still confiscated.

LET CUBA LIVE returns to Coburn Gore for three reasons, to:
* Lend a hand to the Cuban people who suffer shortages and hardship due to the U.S. blockade.
* Challenge laws and policy that are wrong.
* Demand the release of humanitarian supplies seized on July 2, so that they can be sent to Cuba.

LET CUBA LIVE states that those unable to go to the border on August 18, 2001 can assist by publicizing the event, by asking for support from public officials, and by supporting the project financially.

For information call: 326-4405, 273-3247, 743-2183, or 786-4325, all in area code 207.

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LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

It's never too late to sign up for Legislative Updates, a service we provide that culls information from the Congressional Web site about important bills. E-mails are sent the day after each day Congress is in session (or soon thereafter). If you would like to be added to this list, just write to hwitham@cpusa.org with the request. Before their August recess, bills regarding agriculture, abortion, immigration rights, labor, and many, many others important to our movement were introduced.

Each district should consider having someone receive these updates and be responsible for following up them as needed.

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MORE BOOKS FOR SALE

The Reference Center for Marxist Studies has just added over a hundred new titles to its list of hard-to-find and out-of-print books for sale. Check them out at:
http://www.cpusa.org/rcms/book_sale.html

Also, please note the new Web address for the Reference Center:
http://www.cpusa.org/rcms

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CONFERENCE TO STOP STAR WARS
Keep Space for Peace -- Coming Soon

A national conference to build the movement to stop Pres. Bush's National Missile Defense Program (popularly known as Star Wars) will take place in Cleveland, Ohio from Friday, Oct. 12 through Sunday, Oct. 14. The conference coincides with international actions scheduled to take place in cities throughout the world.

The conference is called jointly by Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and National Peace Action. A highlight of the conference will be remarks by Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D- Ohio) who plans to introduce a bill in the House of Representatives in the fall calling for an end to"research, testing, manufacturing, production and deployment of all space-based weapons systems and components by any person, agency or contractor of the U.S. government." In announcing his plans to introduce the bill Kucinich said:"We must work toward the elimination of all nuclear weapons, and an end to policies which cause this country to move toward the weaponization of space." By introducing the bill, Kucinich is providing a way for people all over the U.S. who oppose Star Wars to take concrete action against Bush's national campaiagn in support of the bill.

Other conference speakers include: John Ryan, Executive Secretary of the Cleveland AFL-CIO Federation of Labor, who will discuss the stake of the labor movement in defeating national missile defense, Steve Cagan, Director of Jobs With Justice in Cleveland, and Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, who will welcome participants to the conference . Leading experts on the nuclearization and weaponization of space will speak, including Joseph Gerson, Bruce Gagnon, and Karl Grossman, author of a new book "Weapons in Space." The conference will include a mix of workshops and plenary sessions.

On Friday, Oct. 12 there will be a debate at the Cleveland City Club between a proponent and an opponent of national missile defense, which will be broadcast in cities all over the U.S.. There will be a vigil on Friday afternoon at the national headquarters of TRW, one of the biggest space weapons contractors in the country. On Sunday morning there will be a march outside of this facility.

The cost of the conference is per person, for students and low-income people. Registration includes breakfast, lunch, and a social hour. The conference will take place at Cleveland State University, and is co-sponsored by the CSU Political Science Department and the campus Vindicator Newspaper.

All day parking is . There is also on street parking available. Those needing more information, including information about local union hotels or the availability of home hospitality, can contact Global Network at:

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, P.O. Box 90083,
Gainesville, Fl 32607, e-mail: globalnet@mindspring.com. Phone: (352)
337-9274. www.space4peace.org

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PROTECT LEGAL ABORTION: The Million4Roe Campaign

In 1973, the Supreme Court legalized abortion.
In 2001, Bush wants a recount.

As many as two U.S. Supreme Court justices may retire soon, giving President Bush the opportunity to pack the court with anti-abortion Justices who would vote to OVERTURN Roe v. Wade, relegating women to back alley abortions. To prevent this, the Feminist Majority has launched a new online campaign - MILLION4ROE - to gather 1 million signatures in support of a SENATE FILIBUSTER in the event that Bush nominates an anti-choice Justice.

Please click on the link below or copy and paste it into your browser to sign the petition, donate or find out more:
http://207.228.234.134/elandslide/edonate.cfm?campaign=million4roe

Join Gillian Anderson, Dolores Huerta, Ashley Judd and one million voices at Million4Roe.com and tell Washington: WE WON'T GO BACK!

For equality,

Eleanor Smeal President, Feminist Majority

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VIEQUES

It is a key time to call or write to the White House and Congress.

Points to consider including in your letter or call:

IMMINENT BOMBING
* The Navy has announced it will resume bombing exercises in Vieques on Wednesday, August 1. President Bush should issue an order to stop it.

DEMOCRACY
* Vieques residents voted overwhelmingly - 68% - to stop the bombing and clean up the land.
* Unlike communities affected by bombing ranges in the United States, who can vote for congressional representation, Puerto Rico is a colony. This referendum was a way for Vieques to express its democratic will.

IT'S ILLEGAL
* The Navy9s violations of environmental and civil rights laws in Vieques have led to half a dozen lawsuits and nearly 2,000 administrative tort claims, in addition to more than a thousand cases of civil disobedience.

HEALTH CONCERNS
* According to the Puerto Rico Cancer Registry, Vieques residents had a 26.9% higher incidence of cancer than other Puerto Ricans for 1985-1989, the last period in which data are available.
* A study last year showed that 44% out of 49 Vieques residents who were tested had toxic levels of mercury in hair samples (the same method used by the FBI in forensic investigations).
* A study released in January found excessive levels of lead and cadmium in
vegetables and other plants grown in the civilian area of Vieques - levels above critical values for human consumption as defined by the Food and Drug Administration. The study found high levels of nickel, cobalt, magnesium and copper in edible plants grown in Vieques. The same metals are found in the constituent elements of ordnance fired or dropped in Vieques.
* No other potential source has been identified for these environmental carcinogens.

THE NAVY'S CLAIMS THAT VIEQUES IS NEEDED FOR TRAINING
* A study by the Center for Naval Analysis in August 2000 demonstrated that the Navy can and does use other facilities on the Eastern Seaboard for the training conducted in Vieques (primarily in North Carolina, Virginia and Florida).
* If the United States accepted the rule of law and used diplomacy instead of bombing in conflicts with Iraq, Yugoslavia and other nations, it wouldn't need to practice firing bombs anywhere.

NEED FOR CLEANUP
* A cleanup will be necessary for the protection of public health, whether the land is preserved as ecological refuges, developed for social use, or dedicated to a balanced mixture of uses.

For more information, contact:

Fellowship of Reconciliation
Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean
2017 Mission St. #305, San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel: 415-495-6334
Web: http://www.forusa.org/

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FALL CALENDAR (WORK IN PROGRESS)
September 1 -- 82 anniversary of the Communist Party USA
September 3 -- Labor Day! PWW distributions, picnics, etc.
September 6 - 9 Jobs with Justice conference, Cleveland
September 11 -- Hearings on welfare reauthorization
September 22-23 -- NATIONAL BOARD MEETING, Chicago
September 24-October 1 -- National actions against globalization and Bush administration, Washington DC (see next PartyBuilder for details -- there will be many events, on women's equality, immigrant rights, against the IMF-World Bank policies, global economy teach-in, and more!)
September 26-29 -- Congressional Black Caucus Legislative weekend
October 1/2 -- Party meeting in North Carolina
October 13-14 -- Conference against weapons in space, Cleveland
October 20-21 -- NATIONAL COMMITTEE MEETING, New York City
October/November -- District seminars (organized around the Convention keynote and other materials, more on this to come!)
November 9 -- International actions against globalization