Communist Party USA Convention Call

The Communist Party USA will convene its 29th National Convention in New York City, May 21-23, 2010. It comes in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Millions of working people have lost their jobs, their homes, their means of survival. Hunger and homelessness stalk the land. Desperation and anger are growing. Our convention must address this worsening humanitarian crisis.

The U.S. Senate must immediately pass the $174 billion ‘Jobs for Main Street’ bill already approved by the House, that extends unemployment compensation and creates new jobs. This can be won.

We join in the powerful movement now springing up demanding a massive public works and public service jobs program to create millions of green jobs and rebuild America, to demand a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions.

The key is broad united action, overcoming all obstacles that hold the movement back, getting a massive vote against the ultra-right in the primaries and in the midterm general election Nov. 2.

The convention comes in the 90th anniversary year of the Party’s founding. We look back on nine decades of the Party’s deep engagement in the struggles of our working class and people, a proud record of building a broad multiracial, multinational movement for democracy, jobs, equality, peace, and socialism. Among our proudest achievements was initiating the Councils of the Unemployed and spearheading the struggle for public works jobs, a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, unemployment compensation and Social Security in the 1930s. We are as deeply engaged in those life and death struggles today as we were in 1919.

New York City, citadel of finance capital is also our nation’s largest city with the largest concentration of organized workers and national minorities. The CPUSA has joined in the struggles of the city’s working class, from the election of city councilmembers, Pete Cacchione and Ben Davis to the integration of Brooklyn Dodgers to leading in the organization of the New-York-based Transport Workers Union, The National Maritime Union, the Fur & Leather Workers Union and New York healthcare workers unions.

Our convention will be held at the CPUSA’s magnificent, redesigned “green” headquarters building in the Chelsea district of Manhattan. We will take advantage of the new electronic media, broadcasting parts of the convention to audiences all across the nation.

This is a time of transition and renewal. The election of President Barack Obama and ending Republican majority rule in the House and Senate has opened many padlocked doors. The long nightmare of right-wing misrule could be coming to an end. Our nation’s political landscape is changing. The possibilities for transformative, progressive changes are enormous.

This past year of struggle for national health care reform proves that the ultra-right, bankrolled by Wall Street and the big corporations, will stop at nothing to filibuster meaningful change. They are a ferocious enemy. Yet the struggle was advanced and the foundation was laid for a health care victory in the months and years ahead.

The main arena of battle in 2010 is the midterm elections. The Republican right is amassing a huge war-chest in hopes of recapturing majority control of the House and increase their ability to use the filibuster in the Senate . They want to misdirect the mass anger over the continuing economic crisis towards the administration, minorities and immigrant workers. Our convention will chart a fight back strategy to defeat this rightwing threat. We align ourselves with the broad multi racial, politically diverse coalition that delivered the historic victory in the 2008 election. The challenge now is to consolidate, widen and deepen that victory which can help open an era of progressive change.

As we enter a new year — and a new decade — we are confident that the democratic, progressive majority can win the day. The struggle for green jobs and to end the plague of foreclosures can be won. Racial and gender equality can be advanced. All forms of bigotry, so poisonous to any democratic process, can be set back. The building of a much larger trade union movement and all people’s movement is within our grasp. And we can end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that cost thousands of Iraqi, Afghan and U.S. lives and a trillion tax dollars needed to rebuild our country.

A larger Communist Party and YCL and a greatly expanded readership of People’s World and Political Affairs on the internet is necessary and possible in this period. Given a fair hearing, our vision of Bill of Rights Socialism will be embraced by broad masses who are more and more determined to have a better life for themselves and their families.

See you in New York, May 21!