|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Archive
National Meetings
28th National Convention CPUSA July 2005
Pre-Convention Discussion - Educational Papers Series
I would, though, like to think a little about how we can reach out to people who are eligible to vote, but don't, and, also, think about segments of the Bush coalition who might be more naturally allied with us. My political experience has mainly been as a grassroots activist within anti-war, anti-imperialist, and environmental mobilizations. How can we strengthen these movements, and, in so doing, reach out to those who are disenfranchised, disheartened, and/or misled and misinformed? But even before going into that, I want to say that I am less shocked by Bush’s election and the Republican sweep than I am by certain other developments. I understand that capitalism induces a state of alienation and hopelessness on some level in just about all segments of society. Mass media gives voice to demagoguery and posturing that translates into Republican votes even among working class people, and the ruling class employs all manner of racism, sexism, homophobia -- all kinds of tricks to divide us. I am dismayed by the return of Jim Crow and purges of African Americans from voter roles, along with extensive efforts to intimidate potential voters of color, working class voters, progressive voters -- but I’m not surprised. What shocks me is the level of pure racism that has become so rampant among large segments of voters, and the virulent racism that is reemerging in everyday, common society. A few events have especially troubled me. In Arizona, where I’ve lived for 22 years, the passage a couple years back of a proposition attacking bilingual education was a blow to our state and an attack on the Chicano/Mexicano culture that has preceded Anglos here by hundreds of years. This development has gone hand in hand with a growing vigilante movement that harasses undocumented workers on whom our economy is oppressively dependent. Alas, the forces of racism are never satisfied in their hate. The recent passage of Prop 200 has no other purposes than to turn these workers into virtual slaves, and to greatly inhibit the ability to recruit and register new voters. The proposition would deny the most fundamental and necessary services to undocumented workers. But, further, it requires the submission of identification, including birth certificates, for the registration of voters. This means no more door-to-door registration, no registration in public places -- unless one happens to have a Xerox machine in one's back pocket -- and potential voters happen to have their birth certificates handy. Meanwhile, voters in my home state of Alabama have refused to remove Jim Crow wording from the state constitution. I honestly thought, despite the conservatism of the state, that even the Republicans and the good ol’ boys had moved beyond such crass bigotry. My regular travels back to Alabama have indicated to me that a positive social transformation had taken place throughout the South in regards to racism. Now I have my doubts. I honestly don’t know how to assess these developments except to say that we must not flag in our fight against racism, that we must speak out against it whenever we see it, and that, when such despicable ideas first appear, we must start organizing against them right away as our top priorities. The one thing that I surmise from these developments is that myself, and many activists, need to connect with people in places other than traditional political arenas, in order to really understand how people are thinking and being misled. Bowling clubs, churches, PTA's, neighborhood associations: I'd suggest we join them and really listen to what people are saying, join in the conversations. And as inane as television has become--it should be a Communist duty to check in on popular culture at all levels, even if it means watching some reality TV here and there. Yes, I am shocked at these crass examples of racism. But it is also true that we are part of a large and mighty left-center coalition, as well as a party with the best analysis going. And it is true that a majority of Americans –- Including the millions of disenfranchised and alienated non-voters, want much of what we want: good jobs, health care, clean environments, peace, an end to racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of division. How do we, as progressives, as Communists, connect with these? People are attracted to our ways of thinking and our vision mainly because they see us in action. Again and again, union leaders, candidates for office, activists-they know they can count on Communists to get important work done. By being active, by listening, and by sharing our ideas, we touch people's minds and hearts People are confused, and anxious to hear good news and truth. Many may not recognize that it is Capitalism that is causing so much structural failure. But working people know when something is wrong. I'm strongly in favor of studying the classics, but--I know I don t need to understand Marxism to know I’m getting the shaft with all the potholes on my neighborhood streets. I know that the kids around town are going to schools that are so poor, they have to share their textbooks with other classes. I know I’m barely making it on the wages I earn. And I know that most my neighbors are feeling the same way. If I go up and start talking, first thing, about globalism and stopping the war and the coming environmental catastrophe -- hey, a lot of folks may be sympathetic, but many are just going to drift away, their eyes glazing over. But if we start talking about filling in those potholes, and wondering why there are so many around; if we start talking about the pipe that was busted for weeks, pouring open sewage into the river nearby; if we talk about the only emergency room on the southside getting closed down -- then we find that communication is pretty open. Who knows -- by the time we’re done, we may have touched on the military budget, environmental racism, and the Bush agenda -- all within the context of how it effects us, right here, right in our neighborhood. Most US citizens, most people in the world, are watching the erosion of their (our) ways of lives. We are watching the most intensive threat to the environment, and, therefore, to life on Earth, EVER. We are watching our cultures dismantled, our proud histories ignored, our good jobs cut, our health care denied, our farms foreclosed, our factories shut down and/or relocated, our wages diminished, our safety nets slashed -- while we see tens and hundreds of billions spent on an unpopular war against the people of Iraq. We are watching our wishes and needs ignored, our democracy disappearing, our civil rights going up in smoke. This is why the message and the examples of Communists are so important. People are hungry for something other than fear and despair. Sam points out that perhaps the most important aspect to building the Bush coalition was the house that Karl Rove built: a broad coalition playing on the fears and insecurities of the post-9/11 world. As Communists, we need to listen to and legitimize people’s fears and offer an alternative vision for real security based on meeting people's needs and allaying, not exciting, fear. One area in which I believe Communists need to make their presence more known is in the environmental movement. Certainly Communists have always been involved in environmental concerns. However, the movement has not translated into a sustained mass mobilization or coalition -- and Communists have good skills on how to get this done. When such coalitions have come together, as in the struggles against corporate globalization, environmental racism, and in various smaller examples of union-environmentalist coalitions -- Communists have been in the thick of it all. In Tucson, where I have a long history of environmental activism, we got word that President Bush was coming to town, following a catastrophic fire in the nearby Catalina Mountains, to push his Healthy (sic) Forests Initiative. I began approaching environmental groups here about organizing for this around a month or so before he came. My experience is that environmental groups, generally, are very good at lobbying, filing lawsuits, and direct actions. But the movement is largely petty-bourgeois and lacking in skills to build the grassroots toward mass mobilization. Finally, a couple of weeks before Bush showed up, a couple of groups got moving, came up with some money, and hired 5 of us to put a demonstration together. There has been some tension among environmentalists here in the past about working closely with Communists. That seems to have diminished significantly, because I was one of the ones hired. By the time today’s children reach adulthood, the number one crisis in the world will be a crisis of water: literally clean water to drink. The struggle to save the environment will soon weigh heavily on every person’s mind -- the coming decades will make this unavoidable. Communist have much to add, and much leadership to give. The coming environmental crash will leave millions and billions of people willing to consider alternatives to Capitalism and the status quo. Let's be ready. People and Nature Before Profits, the Environmental Program of the Communist Party USA, written by Dave Zink and Marc Brodine, is a document which every club should study in depth. It is an insightful look at environmental issues which gives an all too missing emphasis to the exposure to pollutants suffered on job sites, and by targeted communities of color, and working class communities. This is bolstered by a strong call for the kinds of environmental-labor-community coalitions that could transform into a mass movement for real environmental protection. However, I have one strong criticism of the document. Both this new edition and the first, 1994 (pre-Zink and Brodine) edition include this statement: "No new nuclear plants. Close existing plants for inspection by impartial, non-corporate specialists. Any plant's reopening contingent upon approval by a committee representative of the people in the vicinity with help from independent scientists and engineers." This statement could compromise our status among the most conscientious and committed environmentalists. There is no reason to ever reopen any nuclear plants. SHUT THEM DOWN!!! We do not need even the remotest danger that something could go wrong, we do not need the nuclear waste that these plants create, we do not need to use any kind of nuclear technology ever again except for medical applications. There are alternative, clean sources of energy to explore. Nuclear power is not one of them! Furthermore, I’ve been told that the CPUSA has a decades-old, policy against nuclear power. How is it possible, then, that this policy could be amended without intense internal debate at the club level? The CPUSA should stand fast against nuclear power -- period. Communists have played a major role, and continue to do so, in the anti-war movement. During the period leading up to the elections, many anti-war events tended to become, quite naturally, demonstrations against the Bush agenda. But where do we go from here, regarding the anti-war movement? That's a question we should fully explore. One idea I've been ruminating on is how we can really take over the issue of "supporting our troops"--something beyond the "Support Our Troops--Bring Them Home" slogans. After all, given the economic realities and the level of ignorance and conditioning from media and schools, it is the most downtrodden segments of society who are recruited disproportionately into the military. Maybe we could use a new kind of ROTC--a Respect Our Troops Coalition. Let's take the wind out of the sails of those who say we undermine our troops, by becoming the most vocal allies on their behalf. These are three points we should prioritize in our peace work: 1) FAIR WAGES, BENEFITS, AND OPPORTUNITIES--restore cuts to veterans benefits, better wages, treatment, and recompense for those serving now, an end to the concentration of people of color on the front lines of combat; 2) NO DRAFT OF ANY KIND--this includes poverty draft, green card draft, the back-door draft of extending combat duty beyond what soldiers are signed up for, and all forms of coerced military participation--jobs and educational opportunities for all our youth, rather than empty promises from the military to youth who are constantly denied opportunity in civilian society; 3) DO NOT SEND OUR TROOPS INTO HARM'S WAY TO FIGHT WARS BASED ON LIES AND DECEPTIONS--bring the troops home, stop the wars on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Haiti, and expose the lies behind these unjust wars. We already talk about these things. But I'd like to seen demonstrations and call-in days, for instance, that demand the restorations of benefits to veterans as a primary point. Of course, wars for imperialism, the runaway expansionism of capitalism, and environmental destruction would all be dealt one decisive, fell blow by the establishment of real People’s Democracies such as exist in Cuba, and are being established in places like Venezuela. As Communists, our work is indeed cut out for us in exposing the double-speak emanating from the US ruling class about democracy and freedom. If one were to take Bush’s last State of the Union address at face value, one might actually think he believes in these concepts! But we know these lies. We know that the US has a history as the number one destabilizer of democracies around the world and at home. Whether it’s the intentionally mis-named National Endowment for Democracy subverting elections and supporting coup planners in Haiti, Venezuela, and elsewhere, or the Republican Party purging African-Americans from voter roles -- democracy is under siege. We must loudly distinguish between the Sham-ocracy of the US ruling class, and real, People’s Democracy, where the people of a nation, the people of an ecosystem, get to decide how their lives will be governed and how their natural resources will be used. An important struggle is taking place now in the labor movement for real democratic internationalism. While the AFL-CIO has been working people’s most powerful voice in the struggle for democracy at home, the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center is still being used to funnel funds from the NED to subvert elections and democracies abroad. The Solidarity Center funded people behind the failed coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and against the company-called illegal work stoppages there, as well. The Solidarity Center is part of a web of institutions seeking the destabilization of Cuba. Now the Solidarity Center is being used to pour millions of dollars into Iraq, in what is widely expected to foster unions amenable to occupation, and the colonizing of the Iraqi economy by US corporations. The Solidarity Center also does some very good and useful work, such as its support for Colombian trade unionists. However, this does not excuse its use as a cover for subterfuge by the US State Department, through the NED. The passage last summer by the California Labor Federation of the Building Unity and Trust Among Workers Worldwide resolution is a tremendous step forward. This resolution calls on an end to Solidarity Center dependence on NED funding, and to basing funding, rather, on union dues, making the Solidarity Center open and answerable to its rank and file constituency. Every union local should endorse this resolution, and every union member should join in this struggle to stop NED funding through the AFL-CIO. Passage of this resolution would lead to a greater unity of vision for the AFL-CIO not only among its rank and file, but in regards to its internationalist solidarity around the world. Finally, a word about getting the word out. There is nothing more important that we can do than to support and distribute the People’s Weekly World. That’s it. Also, we must not underestimate the power of word-of-mouth activism. Word of mouth can go where Fox News can't. If nothing else, the one concrete proposal I would make in this whole discussion is that every Communist commit to developing a route or some other means of circulating bundles of the People’s Weekly World. Educational Papers Series – A Communist Party Education Commission project for the pre-convention discussion period leading to the CPUSA 28th National Convention July 1–3, 2005, Chicago Illinois
<< Previous page
| 1
| < 2 >
| 3
| Next page >>
| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend | |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CPUSA: cpusa@cpusa.org 235 West 23rd Street New York NY 10011 ph: 212-989-4994 |
 |
Related websites: People's Weekly World Political Affairs Young Communist League |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
