“Bourgeois politics” and the mature left

“Bourgeois politics” and the mature left” first appeared on PeoplesWorld.org on August 5, 2014. Read it on PeoplesWorld.org.

Below is a section of the keynote to the Communist Party USA 30th National Convention, June 13-15, 2014, delivered on the convention’s opening day by outgoing National Chair Sam Webb. The newly elected national chair is John Bachtell, who previously served as Illinois organizer for the party.

This article discusses one of six challenges for the party and progressive movement. (See previous articles here, here and here.) We will feature other sections in the coming weeks.

How do we get out of this mess?

“How do we get out of this mess?” first appeared on PeoplesWorld.org on July 25, 2014. Read it on PeoplesWorld.org.

Below is a section of the keynote to the Communist Party USA 30th National Convention, June 13-15, 2014, delivered on the convention’s opening day by outgoing National Chair Sam Webb. The newly elected national chair is John Bachtell, who previously served as Illinois organizer for the party.

This article discusses the second of six challenges for the party and progressive movement. (See previous articles here and here.) We will feature other keynote sections in the coming weeks.

Communists in convention: What our mission is and isn’t

“Communists in convention: What our mission is and isn’t” first appeared on PeoplesWorld.org on July 1, 2014. Read it on PeoplesWorld.org.

Below is a section of the keynote to the Communist Party USA 30th National Convention, June 13-15, 2014. It was delivered on the convention’s opening day by outgoing National Chair Sam Webb. The newly elected national chair is John Bachtell, who previously served as Illinois organizer for the party. We will feature other sections of the keynote in the coming weeks. – Editors

Good afternoon everybody, and a special good afternoon to our international guests. Thank you so much for coming.

Exploratory thinking on economic stagnation, non-traditional labor and points of strategic engagement

“Exploratory thinking on economic stagnation, non-traditional labor and points of strategic engagement” first appeared on PoliticalAffairs.net on May 28, 2014. Read it on PoliticalAffairs.net.

This article is based on a report to the National Board of the Communist Party USA.

Several months ago Lawrence Summers, a major economic thinker in establishment circles and leading operative in the Clinton and Obama administrations, in a short speech to the International Monetary Research Conference made some startling observations:

“We have all agreed,” Summers said, “… that a remarkable job was done in containing the 2007-2008 crisis; that an event that (was) worse than the fall of 1929 and the winter of 1930, ended up in a way that bears very little resemblance to the Great Depression.”

Want a better world? Get on board with the new labor movement

“Want a better world? Get on board with the new labor movement” first appeared on PeoplesWorld.org on May 21, 2014. Read it on PeoplesWorld.org.

Social change, and especially deep-going social change in a progressive, left and socialist direction doesn’t just “happen.” It requires, first of all, real, active, and politically far-seeing social movements on the ground.

And the labor movement — energized, growing, membership-driven, and class and democratic minded — is an essential cornerstone of those social movements.