Electoral

Report to International Conference of Communist & Workers Parties, given on behalf of the CPUSA in Athens, Greece, 8 - 10, October, 2004. "As we meet here in Athens, the US is in the middle of a gigantic electoral contest... back home, it is seen as perhaps the greatest and most important battle of our lives."

The Republican Party and the right wing are waging a well-financed campaign to weaken and destroy the impact of the African American vote. This campaign is in direct violation of the Voting Rights Act (1965) and the principle of one person, one vote. It is one of the clearest examples of the racist nature of the Bush administration.

As the November 2 election nears it is clear that Latino voters will be a critical element of the growing forces opposing the Bush administration and Republican control of Congress.

Several months ago most pollsters predicted that the margin of difference between Kerry and Bush would be razor thin. I can’t recall anyone projecting a landslide for either candidate, let alone a major political realignment nationwide. Guess what? They were more right than wrong. (First published in People's Weekly World Newspaper http://pww.org/article/articleview/6100)

In the past month, several phony reports have been circulated by right-leaning papers and websites -- making various false claims about the Communist Party position on the 2004 elections... The red-baiting forgeries are just another part of the Bush campaign which is running on lies and fear. So, for the record, the CPUSA position on the 2004 elections:

Across the country there is a growing anti-Bush feeling, but that alone is not enough. To win requires that millions be convinced that the differences between Bush and Kerry are real, substantial and consequential to their lives on the whole range of issues.

The countdown is 125 days from today to November 2nd when our country will elect a new president, senate, house of representatives and state legislatures. Mobilization is at a high level.

There are so many reasons to defeat Bush. Here are our top ten. Just click the link above to read them and download the PDF flyer in English or Spanish. Then print, and use with voter education and mobilization efforts.

"All Out to Defeat Bush" must become a living-fighting slogan for us. What we need is a class struggle approach to the '04 elections to help guarantee that the enormous power of the multiracial US working class, especially its organized sector, the racially oppressed along with other allies is felt in the street and at the ballot box next November 2nd.

The Communist Party USA meeting in New York City June 28-29, 2003 concluded that the most urgent task facing the working class and its allies in the next 17 months is mobilizing a broad people's coalition to defeat George W. Bush and the ultra-right Republicans in the 2004 elections.

As the seemingly endless lies and betrayals of the Bush administration come into the light of day, the insidious nature of the right-wing agenda is becoming more widely understood. Many national leaders now speak of the intent of the Bushites to bankrupt government; dismantle every public entity from education to Medicare; destroy union representation, civil rights and civil liberties; appropriate the spoils of the earth and dominate the entire world.

Our country and the world are going through an exceedingly dangerous period. I suppose one could imagine a more ominous time, but I can’t think of one. We have fought two wars in the space of six months and two bloody, costly, and coercive occupations have followed. No exit strategy is under consideration in either Afghanistan or Iraq.

Some are saying that the never-ending war policy may render Bush unbeatable in 2004. In reality, the Bush administration and the Congressional Republicans are very vulnerable. Their defeat is of the greatest importance for the future of our country and the world.

The details of the defeat of Cynthia McKinney in Georgia's 4th Congressional District primary and Earl Hilliard in Alabama's 7th Congressional District primary should serve to sound an alarm about the assault being carried out by the right-wing in particular against the Black vote, and overall to weaken, split and destroy progressive representation.

At the beginning of the 2002 election cycle, we set three inter-related goals for ourselves: 1) to play a part toward defeat of the ultra-right; 2) to build political independence; and 3) to build the Communist Party at the grass roots.

While much will be said about the 2002 elections in the days and weeks ahead, one immediate conclusion that we should draw is that the outcome is no clear-cut mandate for the Bush administration’s right-wing agenda. There was no sea change in the political landscape of the Congress – a tilt to the right to be sure, but no right-wing electoral landslide.

The results of the 2002 elections are not in the bag for the Bush Republicans. It would be a fatal mistake to come to that conclusion at this critical moment, six weeks before Election Day. The Bush Republicans are engaging in tactics of desperation. This election is too close to call as of today.

Web Sites of Some National Organizations Working Locally to Defeat the Right-Wing
in 2002