Club Educational Study Guide: on the Main Report to the 28th Convention of the CPUSA

Every club should organize a special meeting where the discussion of this report is the main point on the agenda. At least one-and-a-half hours should be allowed for this educational discussion. All club members and invited guests should have a copy of the Main Report to the CPUSA Convention presented by Sam Webb and the educational discussion guide prior to the educational discussion date. Additional copies of the educational guide should be available at the meeting. A discussion leader should be selected who will present a brief opening and move the discussion along from question to question. A recorder should note the highlights of the club’s discussion on each question. A copy of the notes should be sent in to the National Education Commission c/o the National Office ( cpusa@cpusa.org or 235 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011).

Discussion Questions

1. What is the approach outlined in the report to end the war and the U.S. occupation of Iraq? What are the four points we need to emphasize to those who are not convinced of withdrawing now? What can your club do to move its constituency in support of this approach to ending the war and occupation?

2. What is strategy? What is the substance of the Party’s present strategic policy? How is the call for an all-peoples’ front against the most reactionary section of the monopolies different from yet similar to the call for an anti-monopoly coalition?

3. What are the core forces of the all-peoples’ front against the ultra-right and the Bush administration? What are the many issues around which these core forces are needed to produce a power base to organize majority support? What is the decisive organizational task which confronts these core forces and why? Why is the threat to split organized labor an especially serious problem in this connection?

4. Why does racism persist? What does Comrade Webb mean when he says, “racism is fluid and adaptable. It doesn’t live alone, but mingles with backward anti-working class, anti-people, and pro-imperialist ideologies and practices. They come as a package.” What are some of the effects of racism? Why is the struggle against racism important to the working class movement?

5. What is the role of the Party and the Young Communist League (YCL)? What contribution does the Party make to mass struggle? Why is it important to grow the Party, YCL, and the readerships of the PWW, PA, and the Dynamic? What is key to your club growing?

Click here to read and print out Sam Webb's Keynote Address to the 28th National Convention