Party Builder, October 23, 2002

Party Builder

Issued by the Organizing Dept. of the Communist Party USA

October 22, 2002
Number 3

Peace groups, labor, CPUSA protest Bush
By Lee Gloster

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The local peace movement had little warning of President Bush’s planned appearance here Sept. 5. The local newspaper announced it only two weeks before.

The club and the peace movement went into action immediately. The local Jobs with Justice (JwJ) chapter also got in gear for a parallel demonstration.

The Party club here has been involved in the peace movement with the Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition. The MPJC has been very active, holding a vigil every Monday night at the federal courthouse.

The club has had an ongoing project in the coalition to develop a series of fact sheets to use in schools, churches, and mass organizations.

Due to Indiana losing a Congressmember with the 2000 census, redistricting greatly reshaped the new 2nd district. Formerly the 3rd district, it had included South Bend and Elkhart at its center, old industrial cities that made it a traditionally Democratic district.

The new district extends from South Bend and parts of Elkhart to Kokomo in central Indiana, including some conservative rural areas where the Klan has openly operated.

The Republican candidate, Chris Chocola, a businessman, had run against Tim Roemer, the incumbent, a conservative Democrat, coming within a few percentage points of beating him.

When Roemer announced his retirement, it was obvious that Chocola would be the Republican candidate, even though he no longer lived in the district due to the redistricting.

Vice President Dick Cheney had already appeared in South Bend for a Chocola fundraiser and Bush’s visit meant the Republicans needed every vote in the House desperately.

Jill Long Thompson was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1986, running against Dan Quayle. From 1988 to 1994 she served in the House.

While in Congress, she voted against the Gulf War, opposed the Contra war, and had a near-100 percent AFLCIO rating. JwJ members, along with local labor, are the biggest and most mobilized groups for Thompson.

Two separate demonstrations were planned from the outset, but it was not an antagonistic division. Rather, it reflected the different social composition of each.

From the beginning, mutual consultation and communication were established between both organizing groups. The peace forces were offered use of the JwJ permit and full use of all their facilities. The peace demonstration was slated for 3:30 to 5 p.m. and the JwJ rally from 5 to 6.

The Secret Service, informed that we intended to demonstrate against the president, responded by declaring the site of our rally a “First Amendment-Free Zone” (their term!) and moved the site of S the protest to a park across the river from where Bush was appearing.

Despite this attempt to disorient the protests, both groups worked hand-inhand to make the switch as smooth as possible, despite only two days’ time – and completely succeeded.

The peace groups used phone trees, e-mail, flyers, and the weekly vigil to publicize their demonstration. The rally coincided with a retreat by the Christian Peacemaker team at a local Mennonite church and most of the participants joined the demo.

At the conclusion of this rally, demonstrators moved to cross the bridge to downtown South Bend and marched to within one block of where Bush was speaking. When Cheney had spoken earlier, the police had physically blocked the demonstrators from crossing the same bridge.

The JwJ rally had over 1,000 participants, including several bus/carloads of steelworkers from Gary and Indianapolis. The JwJ rally had skits, puppeteers, and focused on domestic economic issues but some of the speakers brought up the peace issue on their own.

The peace rally was acknowledged from the podium at the beginning of the JwJ events.

The peace movement in all of its publicity had asked our participants to remain for the JwJ rally and officially endorsed it.

Make Election Day a referendum: Dump Bush, not bombs!

Our new election brochure is out in the districts, and clubs that haven’t made plans to use it should do so – in addition to distributions at events and on PWW routes, consider a mailing to friends, fellow union members, community activists, local newspapers, etc. Include a copy of the PWW in the mailing – and if your club doesn't have a mailing list, now’s a good time to put it together.

Willing to help “pound the pavement” to defeat those right-wing Republicans? We are working to put together some special “get-out-the-vote teams” to help out in key election districts – this is something everyone is doing, starting with the labor movement, so you can invite members and friends to participate. If you are interested, please email Elena (emora@cpusa.org) or Joelle (ct-cpusa@pobox.com) ASAP!

CPUSA head speaks at University of Wisconsin
By John Gilman

ILWAUKEE, Wis. – CPUSA National Chairman Sam Webb came here to meet with our comrades. They were excited meeting him and discussed many local activities.

Our YCL arranged for a meeting at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that same evening and with little notice 40 people showed up, including 25 people in the audience that we had never met before.

Sam gave an analysis of the Bush administration’s plans to push through a war resolution and he pointed out the importance of fighting for time.

What Sam explained was true because during the debate in the Senate, Sen. Byrd (D-W.Va.) said, “I have heard from tens of thousands of Americans – people from all across this country of ours – who have urged me to keep up the fight. I am only one senator from a small state, yet in this past week I have received nearly 20,000 telephone calls and nearly 50,000 e-mails supporting my position.”

Byrd went on to say, “I want all of those people across the country, who took the time to contact me to know how their words have heartened me and sustained me in my efforts to turn the tide of opinion in the Senate. They are my heroes and I will never forget the remarkable courage and patriotism that reverberated in the fervor of their messages.”

After the meeting ended, at least a dozen students crowded around Sam with many questions, including questions about the Party.

The enthusiasm lasted even after the time limit for the hall expired. Three of the young men were high school students and traveled from Port Washington to hear Sam. I am sure that this meeting will germinate activity down the road.

Blintz Brunch for the PWW
By Gail Ryall

ACRAMENTO – Every year the club here holds an event for the People’s Weekly World fund drive. Last year, it was an 80th birthday party for a trade union comrade. This year it was a “Backyard Blintz Brunch,” with International Secretary Marilyn Bechtel speaking on the international scene.

A PWW reader let us hold it in his back yard, which has a magnificent view. We brought in folding tables, chairs and table cloths, and of course the food: home-made breads and blueberry blintzes, bacon, beverages and fruit salad.

We had sent invitations to our mailing list of 120 and followed up with phone calls. Some who couldn't come sent a donation and we ended up with 25 people for brunch.

After everyone had enjoyed the food, we gave awards to two young people who have a weekly route putting 200 PWWs into racks and bookstores in the downtown area.

Marilyn’s brief talk inspired 45 minutes of lively discussion and, although our admission charge was only $10, we raised over $800 for the People’s Weekly World.

LETTERS: (235 W 23 St. NY NY 10011)

Go get ‘em On Sunday, Oct. 13, the Pittsburgh club distributed the election brochure in one voting district, approximately 500 registered voters, in a key Pittsburgh ward where turnout had been small in the primary and in the last cycle, 2001.

Although Western Pennsylvania is not a targeted area at the federal level, Congress or Senate, we do have a hot governor’s race where turn-out is critical. The Republican candidate is one who deserves to be buried, deeply.

This was a literature drop, although we did speak with several voters and talked about financing for public education and that the Communist Party is alive and well and living in Pittsburgh – that one brought two smiles, a raised eyebrow and a “Go get ‘em, baby. Mellon (bank) is stealing everything.” Denise Winebrenner

Labor to neighbor The campaign to keep the right wing from overwhelming the House of Representatives got a big boost in Conn. Oct. 8 when Rep. Jim Maloney (D-5th CD) voted against war with Iraq. He got a visit the previous week from mostly religious groups and some trade unionists where he was noncommittal.

Three of us trade unionists just got back from the Labor-To-Neighbor walks in Waterbury, sponsored by the AFLCIO and the Western Connecticut Labor Council. Going out door-to-door to union-member households jump-starts conversations on the issues. Three workers plus the unionist at the door makes for an instant lively discussion! Response was excellent with some taking extra leaflets for their workplace.

The push is to oust Gov. John Roland (R) and promote Maloney for Congress in the “new” fifth district. The congressional race is a focus nationally as it pits two incumbents against each other as Conn. lost a congressional district. Rep. Nancy Johnson (R) is the Bushite.

An added plus was being able to promote Blair Bertaccini’s campaign for state senator on the Working Families Party line. Bertaccini is president of the Labor Council here. Nick Bart

Question: How does your club use the People’s Weekly World in relation to election work? Send us your experiences and we’ll print them in the next issue.

The Party Builder editorial committee is Carolyn Rummel (crummel@cpusa.org), Dan Margolis (dmargolis@cpusa.org) in New York and Gail Ryall (gryall@cwnet.com) on the West Coast.

Attached files