Bumps in the road and the fight for unity

By Sam Webb

The following is the second and final excerpt from a report by the new national chair of the Communist Party USA Sam Webb. Webb was addressing the CPUSA National Committee March 4. For a copy of the full text, e-mail CPUSA@rednet.org.

At first glance it might be difficult for some observers to figure out what is driving the anti-monopoly coalition process we are now seeing. What is behind the enormous growth of anti-corporate feeling and class consciousness, they ask? What was it that brought tens of thousands of demonstrators to Seattle in December?

The answer lies with longer-term economic and political developments, namely capitalist globalization and the far right's many-sided assault on the democratic foundations of our nation. Both factors are driving this process.

To be sure, momentary developments, like the cyclical swings of the U.S. economy, do influence mass thinking and political patterns. But they do not explain in any kind of fundamental way the mushrooming militant anti-corporate consciousness among diverse sections of the American people. They do not explain the "Battle in Seattle."

Historians writing about this period in years ahead will note with irony that the resurgence of labor and its allies occurred during what is now one of the longest economic expansions in the history of U.S. capitalism. It's 108 months long, which is a record for the post-WW II years, maybe for the century.

The present expansion is uneven. We also know, notwithstanding all the claims of the "New Economy" theorists, that U.S. capitalism has not vanquished the economic cycle. In fact, the imbalances, instabilities, and buildup of crisis factors within the U.S. economy are alarming the more sober-minded establishment economic observers. None of them doubt that a downturn is ahead of us. Where they differ is over the nature of the landing.

In the course of class, democratic and anti-monopoly struggles, there are bumps in the road. Some are more serious than others, but in every case, solutions have to be found in a timely way so that the struggle doesn't stall or even become derailed.

One example: the AFL-CIO is engaged in a campaign against permanent trade status for China. We can't support such a campaign. China is a member of the world community of states and should be able to exercise all the rights that are extended to other states. Attempting to treat socialist China or any other socialist country as a "rogue state" is not good for China, not good for the United States or the world community.

Are there labor practices in China, and especially in the export zones that are indefensible? Probably so and where they exist we should not try to defend them. But we also have to make unequivocally clear that the best way to address them is if China is an equal member of the world community.

Furthermore, we should also make clear that China has no monopoly on sweated labor and unfair labor practices. Actually, the problem is a growing global phenomenon, including in our own country.

It is especially acute in the developing countries, but for reasons that sometimes escape the casual observer. The transnational corporations (TNCs), sitting at the commanding heights of the global economy, dictate investment and employment terms to the third-world countries. Almost no one in the developing countries likes it but, then again, these countries acutely need investment and jobs.

To make matters worse, structural adjustment and trade liberalization policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and the governments of the advanced capitalist countries are crippling the third world too. Supposedly designed to bring vigor back to the economies of the developing world, the actual impact has been to make them more penetrable to global capital and to worsen conditions of hundreds of millions of people. Entire continents and regions have been ravaged.

Thus, tearing this issue out of the context of a global economy dominated by imperialism serves to conceal the fundamental cause of sweated labor and super-exploitation. At the same time, the singling out of China hides the fact that export-processing zones are a global phenomenon.

By pursuing this course, the AFL-CIO runs into a number of potential dangers. First, this effort breathes new life into the long-standing campaign of the most reactionary wing of the ruling class to quarantine and eventually destroy socialist China and gives a political platform to fascist-like demagogues like Reform Party presidential candidate Pat Buchanan.

What is more, these same ultra-right forces are determined to scrap the ABM treaty, maintain sanctions on Iraq, oppose the test ban treaty, press for arms sales to Taiwan, prevent the payment of dues to the U.N. and meet any spending request by the Clinton administration for counterinsurgency in Colombia or elsewhere-not to mention break the back of the labor and democratic movements at home.

Another danger is that the China campaign diverts labor and its allies from the task of defeating the extreme right in November and from what made the Battle in Seattle so exciting - its focus on our own transnational corporations and the WTO.

And, finally, labor's anti-China campaign is going to be resented by the other developing countries as well China, thereby making international solidarity against the TNCs more difficult.

Wouldn't a better course of action be the organization of a global conference sponsored by the ILO where the issues of labor standards and export processing zones could be discussed in an atmosphere free of recrimination?

As labor-led coalitions come together
at the local and national level, the political and economic elite may give ground under certain circumstances, but we make a mistake if we think such retreats are anything but tactical.

The ruling class owns the mass media that hourly tries to shape mass thinking and bankrolls think tanks that do nothing but consider ways to gain the upper hand on the working class and people's movements. Corporate capitalism is constantly probing for ways to weaken and divide labor and its allies.

For instance, the spin of the New York Times before the WTO meeting in Seattle was that labor was in a protectionist mood and anxious to wall itself off from its class brothers and sisters abroad.

Or look how the mass media have concealed the conservative and wealthy background of Republican presidential hopeful John McCain. Instead, they suggested that he represents a third way. And now that the China debate is heating up, don't be surprised if we see more of Pat Buchanan.

Each of these examples carry the seeds of division and we should struggle against them. The main form of division, however, continues to be racism.

In New York City an African immigrant worker, Amadou Diallo, was shot 41 times by a special police unit of the NYPD. The outrage over this racist terror was immediate and broad.

Nevertheless, the verdict completely exonerated the four police officers and, by implication, the police department and the mayor. The verdict officially sanctions a vigilante mentality in the police department. In fact, a few days after the verdict the NYPD shot and killed another unarmed Black man just a few blocks from where Diallo was killed. [A week after this report, another unarmed Black man was killed by police in Manhattan.]

Among other things, New York, and most cities for that matter, need a strong civilian control board with comprehensive responsibility for every aspect of policing and tough enforcement powers.

One of the most troubling aspects of the Diallo murder is that it fits into a broader pattern of racist oppression and exploitation. It is part of a steadily intensifying new racist offensive. The Diallo killing is connected to the national outbreak of police killing of young people of color, of immigrants, to a growing assault on affirmative action, to a systematic campaign to undermine voting rights, particularly in the South, to concerted efforts to gut public education, to the militarization of the border and roundups of undocumented immigrants, to the planned execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and to the criminalization of Black and Brown youth, including young people not even in their teens.

This new racist offensive is right-wing inspired and orchestrated. It is an attempt by the extreme right to recover its momentum and regain its mass influence while weakening a growing labor-led people's movement.

But once again, they have miscalculated. Parallel with this new racist offensive is the growth of anti-racist and democratic sentiment among broad sections of the people. With that comes a more conscious and mass fight against racism and for equality. It goes hand in hand with the new upsurge in labor and the broader movements. This sets the stage for a new anti-racist counteroffensive.

Our role should be both ideological and practical. We should help initiate actions that are both broadly based and militant in tone. We should reach out to labor and the main organizations in the communities of the racially oppressed. And we should expose the class essence of racist oppression, exploitation, and terror.