“Stand Up For Workers’ Rights, Jobs and Peace” first appeared on  PoliticalAffairs.net on April 22, 2011. Read it on PoliticalAffairs.net.

Wisconsin: ground zero

Not in our lifetime have we witnessed such a deep going assault on the rights and conditions of the American people.

But neither have we seen such a broad surge of struggle of labor and its allies against this assault.

The enemy was joined in Wisconsin. What the Republican governor assumed would be a minor battle turned into a stunning display of people’s power and solidarity. It was truly awesome.

“Fighting for Jobs Against Republican Obstructionism” first appeared on PoliticalAffairs.net on June 11, 2010. Read it on PoliticalAffairs.net.

Editor’s note: Below is an excerpted and slightly edited portion of Sam Webb’s main political report to the Communist Party’s national convention held last month. Read the full speech at CPUSA.org.

In the past, I said we are entering an era of reforms and possibly radical reforms. In hindsight, I overstated the nature of the election victory. The right, while undeniably weakened, wasn’t decisively defeated. That remains to be done.

“Mass Movement Building in the Obama Era” first appeared on PoliticalAffairs.net on June 10, 2010. Read it on PoliticalAffairs.net.

Editor’s note: The following is excerpted from the main political report delivered to the Communist Party USA’s 29th national convention, held in New York city on May 22. Sam Webb chairs the CPUSA. The full report, titled “A way out of the deepening crisis,” can be found at CPUSA.org

What a difference between now and five years ago when we convened in Chicago!

“Eight Rough and Random Thoughts on Socialism” first appeared on  PoliticalAffairs.net on April 22, 2010. Read it on PoliticalAffairs.net.

(1) Socialism has its material roots in the inability of capitalism to solve humanity’s problems. Working people gravitate toward a radical critique of society out of necessity, out of a sense that the existing arrangements of society (people don’t necessarily call it capitalism) fail to fulfill their material and spiritual needs. It is no coincidence that around the time of the economic meltdown last fall, public opinion polls showed growing support for socialism.