Communists consider ‘new terrain’

>Archive - PWW Print Edition Archive - 2007 Editions - April 7, 2007


 

NEW YORK — The Communist Party USA has issued a new political assessment, “New Times Require Fresh Politics and Flexible Tactics,” the text of a report delivered by CPUSA National Chair Sam Webb and discussed and adopted at its National Committee meeting last month here.

CPUSA National Organization Secretary Elena Mora said, “The report is about the political moment that we are in, and we are in it with the rest of the movement that is trying to overcome years of Bush and the Bush agenda. It’s about how we see winning gains in this period.”

The report includes an assessment of the “new political terrain” five months after voters handed Democrats control of Congress. It analyzes the balance of class and social forces and the prospects of ending decades of ultra-right rule.

Tactics to end the Iraq war, including the debate in the peace movement over bills that give Bush money for the war but also for the first time set timetables for troop withdrawal, make up a large portion of the report.

Webb singles out what are likely to be the main issues of struggle in the immediate period: labor rights, immigration, health care and peace. While other forms and areas will also play a big role, Webb argues that Congress will be the main arena of struggle in this period.

Libero Della Piana, chair of the New York state CPUSA, said the report comes at a time when all the varied activists and movements are grappling with having beaten back the ultra-right and won a Democratic Congress, but still having Bush in the White House.

“Bush is still bound and determined to carry out his agenda,” Della Piana said. “People are really struggling with how to work in that situation.”

“We have something special to add to these conversations,” Webb said. “Communists mix radicalism with realism probably better than anybody else.”

The report is not only about what is happening right now. Webb also discusses the broader role and use of tactics, the core forces of social change, the eventual development of a people’s anti-monopoly party, and the role of the Communist Party.

For a copy of the report, visit www.cpusa.org, e-mail sdelgado @ cpusa.org or call (646) 437-5304.

dmargolis @ pww.org