“New Political Terrain Requires New Tactics” first appeared on PoliticalAffairs.net on June 24, 2007. Read it on PoliticalAffairs.net.

The new balance of forces in Congress, the greatly weakened position of the Bush administration, and the growing activity of the labor-led people’s coalition have rearranged the political playing field in our country. Everyone involved in politics has to adjust their tactics to these new realities.

Those of us on the left are no exception. Some sections of the left have adjusted, others are in transition, but some are still stuck on an outdated approach that doesn’t serve either them or the larger movement well. Below I outline some of the Communist Party’s thinking on tactics taking into account the new realities and opportunities now shaping our nation’s political life.

“Class, Race and Women’s Equality- a Strategic View” first appeared on PoliticalAffairs.net on April 27, 2007. Read it on PoliticalAffairs.net.

Editor’s note: Excerpted from The Nature, Role and Work of the Communist Party. See for the full article.

We look at the world through a class lens. The class struggle is the mainspring of the historical process.

As Marx and Engels observed, “the history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of the class struggle” (Communist Manifesto) Up until then, the historical process was seen as accidental and arbitrary. In constructing a new theoretical model, they persuasively argued that historical change was in large measure the outcome of the collective struggle of millions against their class oppressors rather than the whims of dominant classes and individuals or historical accidents. Their insight provided people in every corner of the globe with a new way to understand as well as influence history. 

“Election 2006: The Stakes Are Very High” first appeared on PoliticalAffairs.net on April 16, 2006. Read it on PoliticalAffairs.net.

Excerpted from a March 4 speech to the national committee of the Communist Party USA.

Last fall, I noted that the cumulative weight of an increasingly unpopular war, Katrina, indictments, incompetence, corruption, scandals, cronyism, and deeply felt anxiety with energy costs and the economy had taken its toll on the standing of the Bush administration. For the first time since 9/11, I said, it governed from a position of weakness and its support had narrowed to its most diehard backers. It spoke with far less political and moral authority. I went on to say that this downward slide in Bush’s political fortunes was more than a momentary blip.

“Fighting racism is at the heart of our struggles” first appeared on PoliticalAffairs.net on March 4, 2006. PoliticalAffairs.net.

From People’s Weekly World Newspaper   For the past six years, millions of Americans have been battling the Bush administration and its policies of pre-emptive war, economic austerity, usurpation of democratic rights and racism.

Yet a sober look at the political landscape yields an inescapable conclusion — though the movement has grown in breadth and depth, though this administration is greatly weakened and though some victories have been won, Bush and his right-wing counterparts in Congress continue to drive the nation’s political agenda.