Electoral

This report will focus on our three-part strategy in this year's election: to defeat the Republican ultra-right; to build political independence; and to make a turn in the Party so that building the clubs is at the center of our work.

Even as George W. Bush was delivering his chilling war buildup state of the union address, filled with empty words about jobs, education and health care, a bus load of Enron workers robbed of their jobs was wending its way from Texas to Washington, D.C. "The morning after" these courageous workers entered the halls of Congress to demand a full investigation of Enron, and immediate survival for themselves.

Any idea that there is no difference with right-wing control ignores the appointment of Ashcroft and Ridge and the assault on civil liberties, civil rights and labor rights; and ignores the failure to respond to needs of laid off workers; and the impact of the economic recession. The life threatening consequences are felt sharply in states, cities and towns across the country, as hunger and homelessness rises, healthcare becomes inaccessible, public education and social security are endangered and what remains of the safety net is decimated, leaving women and their children stranded, and hurting disproportionately communities of color.

The horror and shock of planes crashing into the World Trade Center did not slow down the push by the Bush administration and the extreme right-wing to achieve their anti-worker, anti-people agenda.

Our Party is committed to and actively working for greater political independence of the working class and all the progressive forces. We are working for the establishment of a united multiracial labor-based independent people's electoral party that could ultimately challenge and win against the dominant capitalist parties, in every state in the union. We consider it a necessary goal, on the road to Socialism.

The struggle for political independence is interconnected with, and in opposition to, the ruthless drive for increased profits by transnational corporations. It is part and parcel of the striving of working class families for survival, to realize hopes and dreams and to determine their own destiny.

What's developing is tremendous. Palm Beach will never be the same again, and neither will the people's movements or the Communist Party. I want to appreciate the work of the comrades in Florida and in Palm Beach where I was earlier this week. Their small, rather quiet town filled with senior citizens was suddenly catapulted into the center of the struggle against the ultra-right, with the whole world watching. They are rising to the occasion, as they have throughout their lives. This is a passionate struggle to stop George W. Bush from stealing the presidential election. It is a fight that can be won, despite the courts and the right wing. People in Florida came to the polls in large numbers on the issues.

Joining with Los Angeles and other Southern California areas, the greater Bay Area counties, where the population is concentrated in Northern California and the labor movement is strongest, helped give Gore a big win in the state. With the exception of one county with 50 percent, Gore took the greater Bay Area by margins of 60 to 76 percent depending on the county, helping offset more conservative areas of the state.

In Philadelphia, the vote was unprecedented. Gore's vote of more than 435,000 to a Bush vote of just over 98,000 is what helped to win the state of Pennsylvania as a whole. Philadelphia's very high voter turn out produced a 95% African American vote for Gore. While we do not have concrete figures, I suspect the Latino vote was similar.