CPUSA MEMBERS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS CURRENT ACTIONS AND EVENTS; CHAIRPERSON WEBB CALLS FOR BROAD COALITIONS TO DEFEAT THE ULTRA-RIGHT

 

THE OKLAHOMA WORKERS’ MONHTLY SPECIAL REPORT ON:

THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 By Liam Wolfe

Staff Writer

New York, NY – At the Second Annual Member’s Conference on April 21-22, hosted at the Communist Party headquarters in New York, members from across the country gathered to share two days of special reports and focus on addressing the strategy for the 2012 election cycle laid out by party Chairman Sam Webb. In his keynote address, Chairman Webb outlined the party’s program, The Road to Socialism in perspective of the current 2012 elections, emphasizing the need to build an electoral coalition composed of “the left, progressives, independents, and moderates” in order to defeat the “racist and anti-democratic” reactionary positions of the Republican candidates. In response to criticisms regarding the efficacy of voting in the current two-party system, and the call for a third party candidate or abstaining from the political process at all to focus on revolution, Webb stressed the “sacred duty” of voting, the focus of the working class and organized labor on the Democratic Party as a “vehicle of reform,” and a broader perspective of the stages, which are unique to each country, on the road to socialism. He directed Party members to focus on voter registration, anti-racism, and women’s rights. The response from the assembled comrades was mixed. One member questioned, during the plenary discussion afterwards, the wisdom of participating in what is essentially a rigged election system controlled by corporate money, and supporting a party which has betrayed the working class repeatedly with failed promises and hollow platitudes. Others enthusiastically supported Chairman Webb’s position, expressing the urgency of defeating the Ultra-right, and the potential for the rise of Fascism if the Republicans score a victory in November.

Vice Chairman Juan Lopez’s address focused on combating racism and the outbreaks of hate crimes and racist violence since President Obama’s election in 2008. He pointed to the continuance of racial profiling, and the dangerous and reactionary legislation passed by the Ultra-Right such as the Stand Your Ground law in Florida, which gave a legal defense George Zimmerman in the horrific murder of Trayvon Martin. Lopez expressed his support for Chairman Webb’s broad coalition, saying: “There is no room for cynicism if we expect to win against Republicans who are exhibiting fascist tendencies. The defeat of Obama would be a dangerous setback on every front of struggle, especially against racism and for equality for women. It would show that white people were not ready for an African American president, after all."

Ana Maria Prestes Rabelo, a delegate from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Brazil, spoke to the conference, offering her Party’s support and solidarity, and ended by presenting the party a hardbound book of photographs of Brazil as a token of friendship between the two parties. Other key speakers that weekend were Judith LeBlanc, and Executive Vice Chair Jarvis Tyner.

The two-day conference also featured presentations from the party’s growing Yong Communist League (YCL), and their actions over the last year including a “Little Red Bus” cross-country tour in 2011, involvement in the Occupy movement, and a growing online presence and a call to utilize social media for promoting the Party’s message. There were also cultural offerings from talented members, including spoken word poetry by Baub Bidon, a reading by long-time member Beatrice Lumpkin, the hip-hop stylings of the YCL group The Union, and Andy Valenzuela leading the conference in Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” and closing with “The Internationale.”