Communist Party USA
The following report was presented by Joelle Fishman, Chair of the Political Action Commission, to the National Committee meeting on Feb. 13, 2022. Joe Sims has laid before us the urgency, dangers, and possibilities of the current political situation and the 2022 elections. We have the responsibility and opportunity to be in the thick of the fight for basic democratic rights and for the needs and future of the multi-racial working class and planet. The 2022 and 2024 elections are a critical arena for all of the battles sweeping the country today—for essential workers risking their lives under COVID, for miners and other workers on strike, for fast food workers and warehouse workers organizing for a union, for the rights of Black youth and all youth to live and thrive, for the rights of immigrants, addressing climate change and an end to the war economy. Most of all, a huge turnout of progressive voters in 2022 will be decisive to uphold the basic right to vote and repel attempts to overturn elections. The example of Georgia’s runoff for U.S. Senate in 2021 that elected Senators Warnock and Osoff even in the midst of COVID and restrictive voter laws, led by Stacey Abrams and with all-out participation by the Unite Here! union, shows what is possible when voting is connected to long-term organizing for people’s needs and a collective voice. The present danger of an anti-democratic fascist takeover led by the Republican Party and corporate backers requires an all-out grassroots education mobilization and voter turnout in battleground states, rural areas, and every corner of our country. There are recent examples in rural America of local school board and other elections rejecting right-wing, fascist-minded candidates. One is in Sequim, Washington, where Tim Wheeler plays a leading role in building the kind of broad united front of all democratic-minded forces that can win. The Political Action Commission has mapped out a plan for the year intended to assist the Party organization in this fight. Our strategy is centered on building unity of all democratic forces while at the same time enlarging the strength of labor and anti-racist progressive representation and increasing the size of the Communist Party and the understanding of our socialist vision. Quoting three excerpts from the framework in the Commission’s plan: This broad united front that defeated Trump must continue to expand and broaden in order to overcome obstruction by the corporate right-wing in Congress and State Houses, to defend past gains, prevent further harm, and to win transformational changes. . . . We need a massive turnout of progressive voters all across the country including major electoral breakthroughs. This will require us to come up with scenarios to bring the vote out, along with a massive ground game by the Party and allies, with special efforts in working class areas and in nationally and racially oppressed communities. We have to prioritize early on which races to concentrate on, and how to win those seats. We need more street action tied to electoral and state legislative actions. . . . The Biden administration’s policies that favor working class people deserve support, but require much wider mass mobilizations in order to get passed. Cold War–like imperialist policies must be opposed. The commission is working to identify key races where our clubs and members can make a difference, not only for the election of a candidate, but to expand the electorate, build a lasting movement, and enlarge our Party as a result. How to do this? The best way is to work within the structures of the labor movement, community organizations,…
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All-out in the fight for democratic rights!