The following report was given to the party’s National Committee on July 13, 2025 by Anita Waters on behalf of the CPUSA Organizational Department. More NC reports here.

The organizational needs of the party involve the infrastructure of the party. Our infrastructures are the paths of communication, permanent collectives, and divisions of labor that make our political work possible without reinventing the wheel. When I gave my report to the National Committee last February, we had just had a successful mobilization for the January 18 March on Washington. Then, we focused on three aspects of the infrastructure: strategic planning, communication, and organizational structures. These three categories are still important today.

Strategic planning

The party has always been planning strategically, but not always making it explicit or putting it in writing. In our collectives, we tend to have a general idea of what we want to, what we should do, in the next period of time. Making it explicit does mean that we have a better chance of accomplishing our goals. The Political Action Commission, the Education Department, and other commissions and collectives have made explicit plans of work, and it’s a practice that we should build on. We need to do better in planning future national events, like National Committee meetings and our allies’ conventions, and building in reminders in the weeks beforehand to prepare. By the way, the next National Committee meeting is scheduled for the weekend of October 11–12 in New York City.

Communication

Our party’s communication issues are not ones that can be solved in four months. Regular opportunities for club and district leaders to meet virtually is one goal we discussed. Our last club and district leaders’ meeting was in February, when we talked about dues, our Legacy Giving program, the People’s World fund drive, and social media guidelines. I’m proposing that we have club and district leaders’ Zoom meetings on the second Wednesday of each month, starting September 10. The Organizational Department proposed to make the first one a training especially for new district leaders and leaders of statewide organizations, and subsequent meetings can focus on specific challenges that district and club leaders face.

One of the first challenges that district leaders mention is fundraising and working with financial resources. The Org Department will work with the Finance Committee to develop guidelines for districts and states to handle finances. This will be the subject of an upcoming club and district leaders’ meeting.

Organizational structures

The Organizational Department has taken on new tasks relating to structures, the third area. We’ve had extended discussions about the roles and responsibilities of district committees and how state organizations can develop a district in their area. As the party’s membership grows, and it is growing quickly with each new outrage that the Trump administration inflicts on working people, we need to have structures in place that will enable party unity, both ideological unity and concerted collective action across the whole nation (as we’ve experienced with the Rapid Response initiative).

To that end, the Org Department added four new members and now almost every state is covered, ensuring that any new member from parts of the country where we have no club or district has some link with the Organizational Department. The Org Department also gets regular reports from International Publishers and discusses plans for new pamphlets. The Org Department hasn’t yet written its own plan of work, but it’s on the agenda.

Mass work

Finally, we have an important opportunity in the current political climate of discontent to engage in mass work with organized labor, civil rights organizations, and faith communities. We need to make clear to clubs and districts that participation in demonstrations — as Communists, if possible — is valuable for strengthening movement-wide coalitions. This is especially true for nationally coordinated, locally executed efforts like this Thursday’s Good Trouble rallies.

We need to work with local organizations at the state level to agitate for a Solidarity Day march on Washington led by organized labor, and work with African American organizations like the NAACP and National Action Network to boycott Target stores across the country. It is experience with mass struggle that we should prioritize in recruiting new, active members to our ranks.

Party-wide activities like the Peace Conference Organizing Committee’s work on a Program for Peace are important in getting us all on the same page ideologically, as well as fostering agreement about plans for future struggle. Please mark your calendars for the evening of November 6 and the afternoon of November 8 to take part in that important discussion.

Image: CPUSA 32nd Convention (CPUSA)