The Road to Socialism USA:
Unity for Peace, Democracy, Jobs and Equality

Download PDF: CPUSAProgramWEB.pdf

1. Introduction

Working people around the world have always sought a future without war, exploitation, inequality, and poverty. They strive to build a brighter future, one based on democracy, peace, justice, equality, cooperation, and meeting human needs. That future is socialism, a system in which working people control their own lives and destinies, and together build a better world. The Communist Party USA is dedicated to the struggle for socialism in this country. This document is our Party’s program, a statement of our principals and goals and a guide to action along the road to Socialism USA.

Socialism will usher in a new era in this county. The great wealth of the U.S. will for the first time be for the benefit of all the people. Foreign policy will be based on mutual respect, peace, and solidarity. The people’s democratic rights will be guaranteed and expanded. Racial, gender, and social equality will be the basis of domestic policies and practices. Socialism is not a dream, but a necessity to working people’s lives. Only socialism has the solutions to the problems of capitalism in this country.

We, the working people of the United States, face tremendous problems today: exploitation, oppression, racism, sexism, a deteriorating environment and infrastructure, huge budget deficits, and a government dominated by the most vicious elements of big capital and its political operatives. This government, despite its rhetoric about making Americans safe, has wasted hundreds of billions on the invasion and occupation of Iraq while it cut money for maintaining the levees—leading directly to the disaster that Hurricane Katrina wreaked on the people of New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast. Their callous disregard for African Americans, for poor people, for the elderly, and for all those unable to evacuate on their own exemplifies their inhumane disregard for the lives of all working people.

We as a country face serious choices: militarism and imperialism or peace, increased wealth for the few or justice and equality for the many, increased power in the hands of the super-rich or expansion of democracy for the vast majority, ultra-right domination of all branches of government which deals with problems by increasing exploitation and oppression or progressive electoral coalitions that seek real solutions in the interests of all working people.

The working class and all who work for a living—the vast majority of the people—face a relentless, vicious, and amoral enemy: the capitalist class. Our country is oppressed by one of the most controlling, despicable, entrenched capitalist ruling classes ever, concentrating enormous political, economic, and military power in the hands of a few transnational corporations. These corporations seek to steal, embezzle, extort, and scheme all wealth from the tens of millions of working people, from small businesses and family farmers, from men, women, and children, from seniors and youth, and from the employed, underemployed, and unemployed. They exploit people as workers on the job and the same people as consumers at the checkout counter. Their foremost weapon to maintain their dominance is racism, used to divide working people and achieve extra profits. They work hard to extend ultra-right control over the government and government policy.

The ultra-right is led by the most reactionary, militaristic, racist, anti-democratic sectors of the transnationals. They gain support for their ultra-right agenda from other political trends and social groups, most of which are misled as to their real interests, sometimes blinded by the propaganda of fear and scapegoating.

Every movement for change and progress is challenged by the power of the corporations. Workers face corporate power in every contract negotiation. African Americans, Mexican Americans and all other Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and women all face corporate power when they seek real equality on the job and in their communities. Youth face corporate power when they seek free quality education for all. Environmental organizations face corporate power when they try to stop pollution, stop the dumping of industrial waste, or stop the ravaging of the remaining wilderness areas for profit.

The corporations and their paid hacks in the media constantly proclaim that “competition” requires lower wages, fewer benefits, fewer holidays, gutted pension plans, continuing wage differentials and discrimination, and the free export of capital and jobs to other countries. We don’t think that is so. “Free trade” agreements, placing supra-national committees of capitalists above the laws of any country, require ending environmental protections, allow the “free” export of capital and jobs, and remove the ability of countries to restrict the rights and activities of corporate managers. Such agreements are only free in that they give a “free” bonus of super-profits to the already rich and powerful at the expense of democracy, sovereignty, and workers rights.

All this is normal to the functioning of the capitalist system, but greatly intensified by the dominance of the most reactionary section of the capitalist class. The solution to this ultra-right domination lies in building the broadest, most inclusive unity among our multinational, male/female, multigenerational working class, starting with the labor movement, racially and nationally oppressed people, women, and youth. We must unite lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and straight people; professionals and intellectuals; seniors; and the disabled; and the mass people’s movements including the peace, environmental, health care, education, housing, and other movements. This all-people’s front to defeat the ultra-right is in the process of developing, learning, and being tested in giant struggles for peace, to protect social programs and services, to win health care for all, and to win control of all three branches of government from the right wing.

Our country, our people, and our environment are all being destroyed by the greed of a few obscenely wealthy capitalist groupings. Our world is threatened by the ravages of capitalist globalization, by relentless efforts to drive wages down to the lowest possible level, by attempts to destroy unions and all protections won by workers through struggle, by the spread of toxic wastes, and by imperialist war. We can’t and won’t let this continue.

We need radical solutions, real democracy, and real unity. We, the workers and our allies, need to take power from the hands of the wealthy few, their corporations, and their political operatives. We need real solutions to real problems, not the empty promises of politicians and corporate bosses. We need peace, justice, and equality. We need socialism.

The United States has a proud history of radical and revolutionary struggles, of mass movements demanding and winning economic and social programs to meet the basic needs of the people, of protecting and expanding democracy, and of uniting to overcome obstacles with initiative, energy, and innovation. The Communist Party is a proud part of this country’s radical tradition.

We believe that the millions of working people have the power, if organized and united, to run this country, to create a government of, by, and for the people. The people of our country have the right and responsibility, faced with an exploitative, oppressive economic system, to alter or abolish it. We can eject the fat-cat financial donors from the election process, throw the scavengers out of the banks, eject the CEO’s from their golden parachutes, and elect regular, honest working people to represent us in government instead of corporate lawyers and multi-millionaires.

The struggles for the immediate demands and reforms needed by working people today are essential steps toward our ultimate goals of the revolutionary transformation of society and the economy, toward socialism and then communism. The constant battles over issues large and small are where workers learn the lesson that more fundamental changes are necessary and that people need socialism to have a truly humane society.

We, the working people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, need socialism, a system based on people’s needs, not on corporate greed.

The Communist Party has a program to get us there.

2. Capitalism, Exploitation, and Oppression back to top

The capitalist class owns the factories, the banks, and transportation—the means of production and distribution. Workers sell their ability to work in order to acquire the necessities of life. Capitalists buy the workers’ ability to labor, but pay them only a portion of the wealth they create. Because the capitalists own the means of production, they are able to keep the surplus wealth created by workers above and beyond the cost of paying worker’s wages and other costs of production—unpaid labor that the capitalists appropriate and use to achieve ever-greater profits. This surplus is the source of profit. These profits are turned into capital which capitalists use to further exploit the sources of all wealth—nature and the working class.

Capitalists are compelled by competition to seek to maximize profits. The capitalist class as a whole can do that only by extracting a greater surplus from the unpaid labor of workers, by increasing exploitation—what capitalists often call “increasing productivity.” Under capitalism, economic development happens only if it is profitable to the individual capitalists, not for any social need or good. The profit drive is inherent in capitalism, and underlies or exacerbates all major social ills of our times. With the rapid advance of technology and productivity, new forms of capitalist ownership have developed to maximize profit and exploit new markets.

The working people of our country confront serious, chronic problems because of capitalism. These chronic problems become part of the objective conditions that confront each new generation of working people.

The threat of nuclear war, which can destroy all humanity, grows with the spread of nuclear weapons, space-based weaponry, and a military doctrine that justifies their use in preemptive wars and wars without end. Since the end of World War II, the U.S. has been constantly involved in aggressive military actions both big and small. These have cost millions of lives and casualties, huge material losses, as well as trillions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. Threats to the environment continue to spiral out of control, threatening all life on our planet.

Millions of workers are unemployed, underemployed, or insecure in their jobs, even during economic upswings and periods of “recovery” from recessions. Most workers experience long years of stagnant and declining real wages, while health and education costs soar. Many workers are forced to work second and third jobs to make ends meet. Most workers now average four different occupations during their lifetime, many involuntarily moved from job to job and career to career. Often, retirement-age workers are forced to continue working just to provide health care for themselves and their families. Millions of people continuously live below the poverty level; many suffer homelessness and hunger. Public and private programs to alleviate poverty and hunger do not reach everyone, and are inadequate even for those they do reach. With capitalist globalization, jobs move from place to place as capitalists export factories and even entire industries to other countries in a relentless search for the lowest wages.

Racism remains the most potent weapon to divide working people. All workers receive lower wages when racism succeeds in dividing and disorganizing them. Institutionalized racism provides billions in extra profits for the capitalists every year due to the unequal pay racially oppressed workers receive for work of comparable value. In every aspect of economic and social life, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, Arabs and Middle Eastern peoples, and other nationally and racially oppressed people experience conditions inferior to that of whites. Racist violence and the poison of racist ideas victimize all people of color no matter to which economic class they belong. Attempts to suppress and undercount the vote of African American and other racially oppressed people are part of racism in the electoral process. Racism permeates the police, the courts and prison systems, perpetuating unequal sentencing, racial profiling, discriminatory enforcement, and police brutality.

Capitalism causes other chronic problems in addition to racism, starting with ideological poisons used to divide the working class and allies from each other: sexism and male supremacy, national chauvinism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, and anti-communism. Much of this is spread by way of the mass media, increasingly owned and dominated by monopoly corporations. The economics of the media are based on the promotion of consumerism—turning everything into a commodity and advertising to sell more goods whether they are needed or not.

The democratic, civil, and human rights of all working people are constantly under attack. These attacks range from increasingly difficult procedures for union recognition and attempts to prevent full union participation in elections, to the absence of the right to strike or even unionize for many public workers. They range from undercounting minority communities in the census to making it difficult for working people to run for office because of the domination of corporate campaign financing and the high cost of advertising. These attacks also include growing censorship and domination of the media by the ultra-right; growing restrictions and surveillance of activist social movements and the Left; open denial of basic rights to immigrants; and violations of the Geneva Conventions up to and including torture of prisoners. These abuses serve to maintain the grip of the capitalists on government power. They use this power to ensure the continued economic and political dominance of their class.

The legal system is thoroughly racist and anti-working class. U.S. prisons are bursting with over 2 million prisoners, with virtually no serious efforts at prevention or rehabilitation. Prisoners face widespread abuse and the anti-labor exploitation of prisoners for sub-minimum wages. Many are subject to the threat of the death penalty, which is never justified and which is frequently used against innocent victims. At the same time, capitalist crime is on the increase, and these “billionaire” criminals are usually not apprehended, prosecuted, or punished. Corruption, speculation, fraud, market manipulations, and theft on a massive scale are all increasing, while enforcement of laws against them is cut.

Women still face a considerable differential in wages for work of equal or comparable value. They confront barriers to promotion, physical and sexual abuse, continuing unequal workload in home and family life, and male supremacist ideology perpetuating unequal and often unsafe conditions. The constant attacks on social welfare programs severely impact single women, single mothers, nationally and racially oppressed women, and all working class women. The reproductive rights of all women are continually under attack ideologically and politically. The ultra-right projects an ideology of Christian fundamentalism, which promotes restrictions on the role and activity of women in society. Violence against women in the home and in society at large remains a shameful fact of life in the U.S.

Youth, especially working class youth and racially and nationally oppressed youth, have inadequate public education and are increasingly priced out of higher education. Young people lack job training and face great uncertainty in the job market. Their cultural, recreational, and sports needs are largely unmet. Youth also face in their own ways racism, sexism, and attacks on civil liberties. Poverty and lack of opportunity compel large numbers of young people to enter the military and face possible loss of life in one war after another. Taken together, this constitutes a complete denial of a secure future for youth.

Seniors, retired and often no longer able to work, face shrinking and disappearing employer pension plans, while Social Security and Medicare experience repeated attacks. Seniors who have worked all their lives are threatened by the ultra-right push to end “entitlement programs” and by the lack of or exorbitant cost of health care and assisted living facilities.

Over 45 million people are continuously without medical coverage—over 70 million are without medical coverage for at least one month each year. Out-of-pocket costs are soaring even for those with coverage. Unionized workers are forced to negotiate lower wages to pay for their health benefits or face benefit reductions and increased co-pay.

The crisis of the cities is chronic and growing and embraces all aspects of living. Financial burdens are steadily transferred from the Federal government to the states and then to the cities, causing crippling budget deficits. As the majority of racially and nationally oppressed people live in urban areas, the crisis of the cities also reflects institutional racism. There is a chronic and growing shortage of affordable housing across the country, and a constant deterioration of public education, health care, mass transit, and infrastructure in our cities.

Most of rural and small town U.S.A. is in continual recession. Hundreds of thousands of family farms have been put on the brink of extinction, squeezed by agricultural corporations, banks, wholesalers, and retailers. Thousands of family farms disappear each year to bankruptcy and sale, swallowed by agribusiness and corporate development. Predatory lenders, monopoly corporations, and the insurance industry also conspire to put the squeeze on family farms, and urban and rural small businesses, as well as professionals and intellectuals.

Capitalism in the Era of Monopoly and Imperialism back to top

The chronic problems working people face today are rooted in the birth and history of the capitalist system itself. “Free” competitive capitalism was replaced at the end of the nineteenth century by monopoly capitalism. Great amounts of capital were assembled in a few companies in each industry, both in our country and internationally. At the same time, industrial and banking capital merged into finance capital, dominated by banking capital. These monopolies proceeded to divide up the world economically, each with their own sphere of control. To insure the stability of investment, corporations sought to dominate the governments within their spheres. The monopolies succeeded in backing up their economic division of the world with the military-political division of the world. Africa, most of Asia and Latin America, and parts of Europe were divided into colonies or semi-colonies of the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the other monopoly capitalist states.

Vladimir Lenin, founder of modern communism, predicted that wars would break out to redivide the world, making the era of monopoly capitalism also the era of modern imperialism. The then existing division of the world could not satisfy those countries whose economies were growing most rapidly. The search for economic domination led to wars and world wars, which killed and maimed millions and subjugated whole peoples under extremely repressive and inhumane conditions.

Soon the monopolies and the government in the U.S. (and the other imperialist countries) became intertwined, transforming into state monopoly capitalism. The state became a direct instrument to accumulate capital for the monopolies. As is often the case with reforms under capitalism, government regulation which resulted from popular struggles and were intended to alleviate some of the problems that afflict working people and society as a whole also had the effect of stabilizing the capitalist system and benefiting sections of monopoly capital. Some regulation has no broader social goal, but is used as a tool to partially overcome the self-destructive anarchy of private capitalist competition for the purpose of providing economic stability and greater profits for the corporations. The state also became a source of economic stimulation through tax collection from the whole people to finance military spending, “cost-plus” profits, and wars.

Internationalization of Economic Life, Transnationals and Capitalist Globalization back to top

Following World War II, a scientific and technological revolution took place that resulted from the drive to maximize profits through advancing technology and productivity. It centered on new materials, on new means of transportation and communication, and more recently on information technology. These achievements enabled a new stage in capitalist globalization, a further socialization of world economic life, and a qualitative shift in the internationalization of production, still under private capitalist ownership.

The capitalist world economy at first could not fully utilize these new developments—the existing forms of capitalist ownership were too restrictive. Signs of economic stagnation marked the mid-1970s. The capitalist answer was the growth of monopoly corporations into transnational corporations, whose reach extends beyond any one country’s sphere of influence. Stimulated by the internationalization of economic life and the scientific and technical revolution, these transnationals control many economic stages from financing to research and development, to sources of supply, to production, to wholesale and retail distribution. Internationalization gave the monopolies many more alternatives for resource extraction and production based on which country is cheapest for each operation. This enabled greater coordination and planning within the bounds of a single transnational and in temporary cartel-type arrangements with other transnationals. This process achieved a partial, temporary overcoming of some of the anarchy inherent in private capitalist ownership of production and distribution.

Today, a few more than 500 transnationals worldwide, some 300 of them based in the U.S., dominate the capitalist world economy, the capitalist governments, and their international institutions. There are transnational banks, transnational industrial manufacturers, transnational arms dealers, transnational wholesale and retail distributive monopolies, transnational entertainment and publishing giants, and transnational conglomerates which own so many businesses it is almost impossible to tell what their main business is. By the 1980s, transnationals dominated economic and political life in the U.S. and around much of the globe.

Combined with capitalist globalization, there has been the concurrent and related increase of chronic relative overproduction, unused capacity, and currency imbalances and speculation, leading to increased levels of unemployment and underemployment in all the major capitalist powers, and greater instability in most developing countries. The gap between rich and poor is growing both internationally and within the major capitalist countries, to unprecedented levels.

World Balance of Forces back to top

Historical Developments

The Soviet Union and the socialist countries of Eastern Europe and Mongolia collapsed at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s. This resulted from a complex combination of internal and external factors. The world communist movement and the Communist Party USA are still studying and discussing the relative importance of the various causes of the demise of the socialist states in order to best learn for the future.

Previously, when the socialist countries, the national liberation movements, and the working class and peace movements in the developed capitalist countries were united, they could significantly impact the outcome of most international struggles and win victories in many cases. The Soviet Union especially acted to prevent world nuclear war, maintained peaceful coexistence and competition between the capitalist and socialist countries, and played decisive roles in the defeat of fascism and in support of national liberation movements. The socialist countries helped make possible the victory of national independence in many countries and the emergence of the non-capitalist path of development in some developing countries. In the socialist countries, living conditions more or less steadily improved from the end of World War II. The social benefits provided in the Soviet Union were one factor in strengthening the fight of workers in developed capitalist countries for increased benefits and pressuring capitalists to consider making concessions to workers. Imperialism has been unable to end the path to socialism in countries that had socialist revolutions and are now in various stages of development: China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba.

During the period of struggle for peaceful coexistence between U.S. and world imperialism on the one hand, and the Soviet Union and other socialist countries on the other, our Party and the worldwide communist movement concluded that the balance of forces had reached the point where world war and smaller scale wars were not inevitable, but could be prevented by mass struggle. At the same time, it is evident that imperialism still gives rise to destructive and dangerous wars; and we have as yet been unable to prevent all wars.

Among the results of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries returning to capitalism were major setbacks for the progressive forces on a world scale and a shift in favor of imperialism headed by the U.S. With the demise of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, Cuba, China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Laos face severe new problems. A number of former colonial countries that had chosen non-capitalist paths of development were forced back toward capitalist development.

Wars of liberation became stalemated militarily due to U.S. intervention, in some cases even prior to the Soviet Union returning to capitalism. National liberation movements had to give up much of the gains they had won, facing powerful imperialist-supported forces. The ability of new countries to choose socialist development became much more limited. The communist parties and the movement toward socialism in the developed capitalist countries suffered substantial losses. The transnationals gained the possibility of direct expansion and control within the former socialist countries, whose peoples suffer drastic decreases in their standards of living. The mass immiseration of people in the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries and the gangster capitalism there are new proof that capitalism doesn’t work for the vast majority, but only enriches a handful.

With their new economic and political dominance over most of the world, a sharpening of competition developed among the few hundred gigantic transnationals for control of the new areas and to redivide economic control worldwide. The transnationals have become increasingly intertwined with the governments of the leading imperialist powers and multi-state institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and others, while coming to politically and economically dominate or divide up influence in many developing countries and in countries with a middle level of development.

The International Front for Peace and Progress

The socialist countries once formed the core of the world anti-imperialist front. With the demise of the Soviet Union, there is no longer a consistent international alliance of the forces for peace and progress against the forces for war and reaction regarding international and social issues. With each major international issue of struggle comes a new balance of forces. But there is an immense and growing front of world public opinion and of states against U.S. hegemonic power. There is growing worldwide resistance to U.S. military action, to military action by the other imperialist powers, and to solving international problems by military means. On some issues, only a handful of client states side with the U.S., because there is growing recognition that U.S. policies threaten not only world peace but increasingly threaten the very existence of humanity. The most egregious examples are the U.S. imperialist invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The peace front consists of overwhelming world public opinion in all countries against war and for peaceful solutions, along with organized peace and social movements working directly to accomplish these aims. It also consists of the existing socialist countries, and developing countries that maintain some degree of independent policies. Even most other developed imperialist powers often recognize that military options result in highly dangerous consequences and seldom are useful or lasting means even for their imperialist aims. The peace front is increasingly reflected in the United Nations. The U.S. ultra-right ignores the existing world balance of forces for peace at the expense of weakening its general international influence.

There is also a growing resistance to U.S. international economic actions in international, bilateral, and multilateral relations, and a strengthening alliance of developing countries which resist the worst aspects of economic imperialism. Often it is the U.S. and the other big capitalist powers against the socialist countries and most of the developing world in economic relations. With nearly all of the socialist and developing countries now members of the WTO, IMF, and other international trade alliances, struggle also takes place within these organizations. Increasingly, the developing countries have challenged the trade alliances’ aim to regulate international economic relations in the interests of the transnationals and their “home countries,” particularly the U.S., resulting in set-backs to schemes, such as the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas).

There is a growing recognition that the internationalization of economic and social life means that social problems anywhere in the world impact all countries, including the richest ones. Mass poverty and hunger; several billion people living on less than $2 a day; extremes of wealth and poverty between classes and nations; international debt; lack of education; absence of health care in the face of pandemics, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis; and the severe and growing threats to the world’s environment are international problems facing all of humanity and requiring international solutions.

Some sectors of transnational capital recognize to some degree that there are problems that threaten the existence of humanity as well as their ability to maximize profits. This is also true of some imperialist powers. However, so far they have provided only limited funds for such problems as AIDS and such agreements as the Kyoto Protocol. When they do agree to take some positive action, it is usually to benefit their own bottom lines.

Other crises are virtually ignored by the major capitalist powers, such as the special plight of sub-Saharan Africa, which is suffering famine, drought, health epidemics, and malnutrition. Since there is no money to be made, it is left to private and world charities whose resources are far too limited to seriously address the problems.

The socialist countries, the developing countries, and the working class and social movements of the developed capitalist countries continue to press for real and extensive action. Gradually these forces are becoming more united and determined about the need to confront international problems. On all these issues, the U.S. ultra-right opposes any meaningful action and tries to slow and divide the pressure for real measures. There is, however, the slow growth of a common world front of states and social forces for progress.

Part of this recent positive change in the world balance of forces is the resurgence of a leftward movement in several parts of the world. This trend is most notable in much of Latin America, with the election of Left and Left-Center governments, the rejection of imperialist “free trade” schemes, the expansion of social benefits, political rejection of U.S. domination, and some countries moving in a socialist direction. In a number of the developed capitalist countries, the labor movement has become a more militant force in both economic and political arenas. There is some renewed strengthening of socialist and other Left forces—including the communist movement—associated with the international and regional progressive social and economic forums in recent years. The movement leftward is not a simple direct movement toward socialism, Marxism, and the communist parties. It is rather multi-faceted and eclectic. These are not uniform processes and there are countries where the ultra-right has gained ground, or where the ultra-right continues its political dominance, as in the U.S.

On the world scale, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa are developing as major economic and political players, mostly in a positive direction, providing some counter-balance to U.S. imperialism. China’s economic growth provides an alternative to trade with imperialist countries for developing and socialist countries, including Cuba and other progressive Latin American countries.

In Europe, there is a sharpening of inter-imperialist conflicts with the U.S. and among the European powers. There is a growing opposition by much of the labor movement and Left of further European integration at the expense of working people.

Among the countries of Asia, China, India, and Vietnam all have rapidly growing economies, and provide some moderating balance to U.S. imperialism in their region.

In the Middle East, there is a growth of resistance to U.S. attempts to dominate military, political, and economic life, through its own direct intervention and invasion and through support for the Israeli occupation and military control of the territory that must belong to the Palestinian Arab people under the necessary two-state solution.

U.S. imperialism is the leader of world imperialism and home to the bulk of the dominant transnationals. It seeks control over the entire world, including its fellow imperialist powers. Under ultra-right political leadership, U.S. imperialism has immense instruments for winning its aims—ranging from its military preponderance to its various means of economic domination and political pressure, from bribery to ideological weapons. But even with all of these instruments, U.S. domination is slowly weakening.

The need for international working-class unity is more important than ever. U.S. imperialism, particularly under ultra-right dominance, is increasingly warlike and belligerent. There are similar trends in some competing imperialist powers. In their attempts to spread economic, political, and military control across the globe—in short, to spread their empires—some capitalist nations do not hesitate to declare war on weaker nations. We cannot rule out the danger of war between imperialist powers in the future, though the destructive effects of modern weaponry, the overwhelming military superiority of the U.S., and the certainty of internal political opposition all serve to discourage ambitions for direct military imperialist conflict. Working people are the victims on both sides of all imperialist wars and military adventures.

Like other forms of unity, international unity must be built on respect, trust, and joint action on issues of common interest. International working-class solidarity and unity is not built in the abstract but in specific struggles, in reality.

The politics of the Communist Party are rooted in proletarian internationalism—we recognize that the working classes of the whole world have common interests in their mutual understanding, liberation, peace, and development. We share a common enemy: world imperialism, particularly U.S. imperialism, its most reactionary transnationals, and the governments they dominate. We support the broadest possible unity of the international working class. We also support international solidarity with other forces, peoples, and movements struggling for liberation worldwide.

Since the 1970s, changes in science, technology, and transportation have reinforced the dominance of transnational corporations within capitalism. The ever-more-rapid capitalist globalization of the world is an increasing threat to working people around the world. Giant transnational corporations and the governments that back them are racing to expand their markets and access to resources. They are destroying national sovereignty, workers rights and environmental protections in order to increase their profits. Only much greater unity and solidarity by the labor and people’s movements internationally can counter the ravages of capitalist globalization.

A new level of international unity and struggle emerged from the protests of the November 1999 meetings of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, Washington. Environmental groups, student organizations, women’s groups, and others came together with the labor movement and allies from around the world to say “NO!” to capitalist globalization. There exists today a much higher level of international consciousness among working people and a much greater level of functional international unity than in recent memory, united in stating, “A Better World is Possible.”

Present Features of Capitalism back to top

A correct and thorough understanding of capitalism, of its essential features and durable conditions, and of the political balance of forces are key to guiding class and democratic struggles for progress.

The absolute and relative exploitation of the working class is at an unprecedented level and continues to grow rapidly. Each transnational corporation now exploits not only its own employed workers in many countries and the entire working class of its home country, but the entire working class of the world. At the same time, the working class is growing worldwide.

The movement of capital around the world in search of maximum profit is ever faster, whether in terms of the location of production, the supply of raw materials and other resources, research and development, mass distribution, currency, or price manipulation and speculation.

Disproportions in the world’s highly interdependent economy spread and are harder to control because of the transnationals’ dominance. Regulation by any single country has less effect. International trade agreements in some cases even overrule national sovereignty in favor of the transnationals. Economies are therefore more vulnerable to supply and currency manipulations. Relative overproduction—while millions starve—and gross trade and currency imbalances are among the chronic disproportions in the world capitalist economy. The result is greater instability and volatility, more severe boom-and-bust cycles, and prolonged stagnation. Therefore, the contradiction between the increasingly international social character of production and distribution on the one hand and the concentration of capital among fewer and fewer on the other hand sharpens economic and social problems and contradictions.

It also sharpens the class struggle. The advance of the means of production connected with the globalization of economic and social life under domination of the transnational monopolies requires higher levels of environmental protection, education, health care, culture, housing, and family care to produce the quantity and quality of labor now needed. This is in contradiction to the greater quantities of capitalist profit needed to sustain the growth of the giant transnationals, which only comes from higher rates of exploitation of existing workers and from the exploitation of growing numbers of workers worldwide. Intensification of the class struggle and sharper attacks on the living conditions of the working class are inherent in the dominance of the transnationals. The increasing merger of the transnationals with the state in the main imperialist countries means that capitalist globalization is both an economic and a political process.

The development of modern capitalism requires the strengthening of the economic and political organizations of the working class and all working people both within our country and internationally.

The peoples of the world need a new economic order, one which helps countries to develop at the expense of imperialism and the transnationals. This will require replacement of the current capitalist international economic institutions with ones led by anti-imperialist countries.

In developing strategy and tactics for each stage of struggle, the main objective conditions must be considered. These objective conditions include the major features of today’s capitalist economy. They also include the world and domestic balance of forces. These balances, reflecting the outcome of struggles of the contending class and social forces and states, place limits on what can be achieved until the balance undergoes a qualitative shift as a result of the accumulation of quantitative changes. In that sense, the overall qualities of the current stage of struggle are also an objective limitation determining what strategy and tactics can accomplish until a new political environment replaces that overall balance.

3. The Working Class, Class Struggle, Democratic Struggle, and Forces for Progress

The Working Class and Trade Union Movement back to top

Workers always seek to solve the chronic ills they face. Whether individual workers are conscious of it yet or not, the ultimate outcome of this struggle is socialism. To determine the strategy and tactics required for immediate progress and more basic change, it is necessary to be clear about what propels progressive change and about which struggles, classes, and social forces have the potential to play decisive roles. The history of our country and the experience of struggle worldwide in recent years confirm the Marxist assertion that the struggle of the working class against the capitalist class is the chief driving force for fundamental progressive change.

The working class is compelled to resist increased exploitation. It seeks to improve living conditions by increasing workers’ share of the new value they create at the expense of the capitalists. This class struggle takes place in the factories where commodities are produced and in the venues of distribution and sale of commodities. This is the economic side of the class struggle. The class struggle also has a political side. It plays out in struggles over governmental action or inaction, over social spending and tax policy, over elections, and ultimately over which class or formation of class and social forces becomes dominant in holding and exercising political power. The class struggle also exists in the realm of ideology, that is, between social and political ideas and values that justify the political and economic policies of the contending classes.

The class struggle starts with the fight for wages, hours, benefits, working conditions, job security, and jobs. But it also includes an endless variety of other forms for fighting specific battles: resisting speed-up, picketing, contract negotiations, strikes, demonstrations, lobbying for pro-labor legislation, elections, and even general strikes. When workers struggle against the capitalist class or any part of it on any issue with the aim of improving or defending their lives, it is part of the class struggle.

There is no limit to the range of issues that are part of the class struggle: peace, democratic liberties, for full equality and against racism, health care, decent schools, public housing, social security, environmental protection, and more. The class struggle takes on more conscious forms in strike struggles, which are expressions of trade union consciousness. The class struggle reaches full class and socialist consciousness only when the alliance of class and social forces is built under working-class leadership in order to win power and construct socialism. The activity of the Communist Party is based on building full class consciousness, which includes socialist consciousness.

The working class is the only force capable of becoming the general leader of the struggle for full social progress and socialism. Capitalism’s dependence on the working class to create all wealth gives it a strategic role in the production process and great potential power.

The size of the working class and its experience of collective labor and collective struggle prepare it to lead the struggle for progress. In the words of the Communist Manifesto, the working class is “the only truly revolutionary class,” because only the working class has no other interest than ending capitalism completely and replacing it with socialism. These qualities and experiences also make the working class fertile ground for the ideas of socialism and Marxism and for Communist Party membership.

The working class of the U.S. is vibrant and diverse. The working class constitutes the great bulk of the country’s population, and is continually growing—workers and their families are a substantial majority of the total population. The diversity of the working class includes skilled and unskilled labor, white-collar and blue-collar workers, people of all ages, organized and unorganized, employed, underemployed, and unemployed. Our working class is almost evenly composed of men and women. Most nationally and racially oppressed communities are more heavily working-class than the country as a whole, and together constitute more than 25% of the working class, a percentage that is rapidly increasing. Despite its increasing diversity, ours is a single working class, a class whose unity is growing and deepening.

The Communist Manifesto declared: “Workers of the World Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.” From the smallest of class struggles to the largest, unity is the key to victory. The experience of working people in their workplaces and neighborhoods is such that only by joining together to fight for their common interests and demands can they win. This is the guiding principle of all unions and people’s organizations: in unity is strength. Organization is the characteristic weapon of the working class and popular movements.

The Communist Party seeks to build broad unity to achieve the strategic and tactical goals of the working class. The major obstacle to working class unity is capitalist class-promoted racism, which must be fought by all—full unity will only be built when substantial numbers of white workers participate in the fight for full equality and against racism, based on an understanding of their self-interest in class unity.

This principle is not just true in struggles in the workplace, on the campus, or in the neighborhood, but is equally true at the ballot box, in the larger political and social struggles, and in the battle for the hearts and minds of the public. Only by joining together can the working class and its allies win the larger struggles for dignity, rights, and power. The working class cannot achieve its ultimate goal—socialism—without fighting for its leading role in the context of unity with other class and social forces.

Working class unity is fundamental to all key social and political victories. It is essential to the class struggle. In recent decades there has been a decline in the percentage of people in the workforce who are union members. One of the most crucial ways of increasing the strength and unity of the working class as a whole is organizing the unorganized. Working-class unity depends on uniting all the diverse sectors of the multiracial, multinational working class in the U.S.

Likewise, unity between various unions, between unemployed and employed, between industrial and service workers, etc., will strengthen the labor movement and increase its ability to fight for bigger demands and victories. Only by uniting with workers in other countries can we successfully confront the transnationals.

The working class plays a leading role in the struggle for various demands, but many of the key needs of working people cannot be won by the trade union movement or the working class alone. Unions must engage in coalitions with community, civil rights, women’s, student, senior, and other organizations in order to increase their combined ability to win against a powerful enemy. From strike struggles to legislative initiatives to the fight for the White House, labor must build unity with other social forces to achieve victory. Only the unity of millions of working people led by the working class can win a revolutionary struggle.

The unity of labor and community cannot be based solely on the demands and leadership of labor. Labor must take up the fight for the demands of its allies on the basis of mutual trust and commitment. This allows for the working class to establish its leading role among the mass movements as a whole. The Communist Party always seeks to build principled unity among the working class and all progressive social forces to further their interests and power.

New levels of unity and new alliances and coalitions have developed in the working class movement in the recent period. The common struggle against capitalist globalization has ushered in an advanced phase of working unity between the labor movement, the environmental movement, the student movement, and others. Shifts in labor’s immigration policy have allowed a new level of unity with immigrant rights organizations. Labor has increased its support of and work with labor/student solidarity organizations in recent years. There is a constant need to reinforce and defend this unity on the basis of common work, mutual respect, and understanding.

At all strategic stages of struggle from the present to the construction of socialism, the working class is the most important and consistent class and the only one whose interests are entirely on the side of progress and socialism. That does not mean that at every moment, in every struggle, it will in fact be the leader. But the working class will tend more and more to become the leader of struggles for progress and socialism.

The working class, however, cannot be the sole force in these struggles, because its opponents at each stage are powerful, with great resources at their command. There are other major social forces whose interests substantially parallel those of the working class as a whole. Only with the maximum of unity and powerful alliances can victory in a peaceful manner be assured.

The labor movement is the organized sector of the working class and is the key strategic factor to achieving fundamental social change. The diversity of the labor movement is growing in composition and leadership in recent years. The working class is constantly being joined by some who were once independent professionals—including doctors and engineers— but are now employees of vast corporations. The labor movement is no longer limited to “pure and simple” trade union struggles. It plays a major, often leading role, in legislative and electoral struggles and has developed a large and increasingly independent labor electoral apparatus. It has developed on-going relationships with organizations of the nationally and racially oppressed, women, students, and others. It is increasingly seeking forms of international labor cooperation.

Though the labor movement has shrunk in the U.S. (and some other developed capitalist countries in recent decades), labor has become the leading force for progress on many social issues and in the electoral arena. Speeding up the organization of unorganized workers is one of the most important challenges to labor and all progressive forces. For nation-wide success in new organizing, unity of the labor movement is crucial, overcoming narrow and sectarian interests in the interests of the working class as a whole. Organizing the unorganized by itself, however, is not sufficient—continuing to win unions and their memberships to class struggle trade unionism and to broad trade union unity are also required.

The overriding interests of the whole working class in confronting the power of corporations mean building trade union unity across all lines of craft and industry and across national borders.

The Democratic Struggle and Its Relation to the Class Struggle back to top

Democratic struggles take place all the time throughout the U.S. and the world. They are struggles to enlarge democracy in every aspect of life for all working people to improve their real life options. They include the struggle to prevent deterioration of living conditions. The democratic struggle is not only about democratic rights, civil liberties, and electoral democracy. It also includes struggles for peace, equality for the racially and nationally oppressed, equality for women job creation programs, increased minimum wage, adequate health care, education, day care, housing, social security, pension and other retirement benefits, environmental protection, protection of family farms and small businesses, the needs of youth, cultural programs and independent media, progressive taxation, sharply reduced military spending, and more. The struggles of all class and social forces that seek to curb the power of the transnationals are democratic struggles.

The class struggle and the democratic struggle are closely linked; they overlap and intertwine. However, they are not identical. The class struggle in an immediate sense pits workers against a particular company or sector at the point of production and against the capitalist class as a whole in broader social and economic struggles. The aim of the class struggle in the longer term is the winning of power in order to construct socialism. The aim of the democratic struggle is to widen the democratic space for all working people as much as possible so long as capitalism exists. The interaction of these two streams of struggle advances the struggle to the eve of socialist revolution. After a revolution, a qualitative change happens, with democracy progressing in a planned and guaranteed process in harmony with the working class as the new ruling class.

On the eve of socialism, the class struggle reaches its decisive turning point and goes beyond the limits of the democratic struggle under capitalism. The victory of socialism will open a new stage in the continual development of democracy.

Every specific class struggle is also part of the democratic struggle because in those struggles, the masses of workers seek to enlarge or protect democratic possibilities. Often, class battles are played out in the political arena where the democratic action of millions of workers can powerfully affect the battle’s outcome.

The democratic struggle brings together the working class and other class and social forces for common struggle against one or another sector of the capitalist class. The democratic struggle is where alliances and coalitions between labor and other forces take place. This is one reason why the ultra-right seeks to curtail and limit democratic rights. As the battle against the ultra-right intensifies, ultra-right attacks on democratic rights also intensify.

The U.S. Constitution, as originally written, placed many restrictions on democracy, so from the time of the country’s founding there has been a continual battle to extend democracy. From demanding that the Bill of Rights be included in the Constitution to legal battles to ensure that all people have inalienable rights, from eliminating property requirements for voting to outlawing poll taxes, from not only freeing the slaves but enrolling them as voters to extending the franchise to women, from the Voting Rights Act to lowering the voting age, our history has been one of masses of people demanding their right to full participation in the decisions which affect their lives. Many victories have been won in this struggle, but it is far from over. Democratic rights in a capitalist society are always under attack.

The struggle to protect and expand democracy is the way to defeat the ultra-right. It is the way to prevent fascism. It is the path of curtailing the power of the monopolies. In and through the democratic struggle, the class struggle advances toward victory. Democratic struggle is the way to bring the working class and people’s forces to the brink of socialism.

Our country’s revolutionary traditions and history are filled with sharp struggles to protect and expand democracy. The desire of all people to actively participate in the decision-making of society drives battles for voting rights, for expanding the electorate, for reforming the electoral system, for protecting civil liberties, for guaranteeing civil rights, for an end to all forms of discrimination, and for eliminating the power of large financial contributions, which enable the rich to dominate elections. These democratic struggles are often entered into by working-class forces that see the value to workers of expanding their political power and opportunity. The democratic struggle embraces class and social forces other than or in addition to the working class in struggles against one or another sector of the capitalist class and its dominant transnational monopolies.

The Constitution provides for political democracy, which though limited, is under attack by the ultra-right. Protecting and expanding democratic rights are crucial struggles which communists support. But we go further—we demand economic democracy and freedom from exploitation and oppression. We want the lives of all working people to be free not only of unwarranted governmental power but also to be free of unwarranted corporate power.

Often, class battles are played out in the political arena, where the democratic rights of millions of workers can powerfully affect the outcome. Every democratic struggle, by weakening the capitalist class or a section of it, objectively helps shift the balance of forces, strengthening the working class. The struggle to defend and enlarge democracy is therefore the only path to socialism in our country—any other path will fail and is politically indefensible. As Lenin said, “All ‘democracy’ consists in the proclamation and realization of ‘rights’ which under capitalism are realizable only to a very small degree and only relatively. But without the proclamation of these rights, without a struggle to introduce them now, immediately, without training the masses in the spirit of this struggle, socialism is impossible.”

Special Oppression and Exploitation back to top

The most important of the potential allies of the working class are those who suffer special oppression and exploitation due to capitalism. All specially oppressed communities are well represented as part of the working class and also include people from other classes. Those who are part of the working class suffer the exploitation and social problems of all other workers, and in addition suffer from special oppression that is not solely based on class, such as racism, national discrimination, and male supremacy. Some people experience triple and quadruple oppression since they face several layers of intense exploitation, discrimination, and oppression.

The racially and nationally oppressed, women, youth, and immigrants all face types of special oppression, as do seniors, the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) community, the disabled, and the mentally ill. Many features of special oppression cut across class lines and affect to some degree all members of each oppressed social group. They affect not only those who are workers or part of the professional and small business groups but to some extent even those from sections of the capitalist class. This common experience of oppression creates a wide basis for unity within each group and among all groups facing discrimination and oppression.

Capitalists directly gain from special oppression. Extra profits are extracted by the special oppression and exploitation of each group and from the disunity caused among working people. Capitalists and their apologists use ideological poison to justify and cover-up both special oppression and the exploitation of all workers. Working class members of specially oppressed peoples play a key role in building alliances between the working class and their oppressed group as a whole, since they are an important part of both.

Multiracial, Multinational Unity for Full Equality and Against Racism—Core Forces for Progress back to top

The foremost potential allies of the working class, through the various stages of struggle all the way to socialism, are the nationally and racially oppressed peoples. At the same time, racism is the single most important weapon of the ruling class to weaken class and democratic struggles. It is a classic divide-and-conquer tactic. Spreading division within the working class and between the working class and its allies weakens all movements and struggles. Against this division, we must build multiracial unity with antiracism and the fight for full equality at its core. The working class is the most multiracial, multinational class in our society, and multiracial unity is key to building unity within the working class as well as in society as a whole.

Racism in its many forms continues to play a negative but central role in every aspect of U.S. life, including keeping the ultra-right in power, producing super profits, and developing, justifying, and maintaining institutional discrimination.

The working class must fight against racism, for full equality of all nationally oppressed, and for affirmative action, if it is to unite internally and enter lasting alliances with the organizations and movements of racially oppressed peoples. By the same token, the nationally and racially oppressed groups must support labor’s demands in order to unite internally and to ally with labor.

The U.S. is perhaps the most multiracial and multinational country in the world, with about 300 million people including almost every race, nationality, and ethnic group on the planet. Racially and nationally oppressed people live and work in every region, in every state, and in every major city. They are primarily working-class and generally occupy the lowest-paying, most exploitative jobs. Among the nationally and racially oppressed are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans and other Latino peoples, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Arab and Middle Eastern peoples.

From its inception, the United States was built on racism. From the displacement and near genocide of Native Americans, to the enslavement of African Americans, to the theft of huge sections of Mexico, to the racist exclusion of Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants, to the current xenophobic hysteria against Arabs and South Asians, racism has been a convenient tool for the maintenance of power and super-profits by the ruling class at the expense of oppressed people and all workers.

Racism affects the unity of the working class at all levels. Racism is a tool that not only exploits racially oppressed people; it aids in the exploitation of white workers as well. Racial discrimination in hiring, racist wage and salary policies, and racial stratification of various industries and trades undermine the interests of all workers. The ability of employers to pay workers differently based on skin color, country of origin, immigration status, or hire date in two-tier wage systems exerts downward pressure on the wages of all workers. It allows bosses to extract even higher profits from racially oppressed workers. Racism is good for business, but is bad for working people of every race. White workers have a powerful self-interest in fighting racism—white workers will gain greater victories to the degree that they unite with nationally and racially oppressed workers. Multiracial unity in the workplace and on the shop-floor is the key to winning victories for all, to lifting wages, conditions and dignity for every worker.

The workplace is not the only place where building multiracial unity is essential. Multiracial unity is necessary at all levels of class and democratic struggles. This is the reason for the long-standing coalition between the labor and civil rights movements. Not only do these movements have common enemies; they have a common agenda of expanding economic, social, and civil rights. The working class and racially oppressed people have common interests in housing, employment, education, and other areas.

White people must take an initiating role in combating all instances of racism and national oppression wherever and whenever they occur and provide support to people of color who are in leadership of movements and organizations. These acts are the building blocks of grassroots unity and trust. They prove the struggle against racism is not for racially oppressed people to combat alone. It is in the self-interest of all workers, leading to greater unity, respect, and strength for the labor movement and all other movements.

African Americans

Historically and continuing today, African Americans and their organizations play a tremendous role in democratic and class struggles and in building alliances with progressive movements, especially the labor movement. As well, the struggle for equality and against racism in relation to African Americans has played a central role in the entire struggle for democracy and progress. The reasons for this key role include:

• the central role played by slavery in providing capital for U.S. political and economic development;
• the central role resistance to slavery played in winning the Civil War, the “Second American Revolution”;
• the central role played by the Civil Rights revolution in defeating Jim Crow laws and practices, mobilizing virtually an entire people and their allies, challenging and defeating entrenched reaction in the South, forcing changes in the voting laws to expand democracy, and setting the stage for movements of other oppressed peoples, exemplified by the role played by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the history of our country;
• the exceptionally high percentage of African Americans who are working class;
• that African Americans are among the largest of nationally oppressed peoples;
• the level of coordinated struggle that the labor movement and the African American people have already achieved;
• the bell-weather role played by the successes and the setbacks in the struggle for African American equality with respect to the struggles of all other oppressed peoples.

The African American people play a big role in national politics. Their concentration in large urban centers, high working-class composition, heavy concentration in the labor movement, and high level of political/social organization, including churches and mosques, civil rights organizations, and social and fraternal organizations, all make it possible for these groups to politically mobilize millions, including many beyond the African American community.

In national elections, African Americans vote overwhelmingly against the ultra-right, more than any other group. There are thousands of Black elected officials nationally; almost all run as Democrats. Because they vote almost unanimously as a block in most elections, African Americans have a level of influence beyond their actual numbers.

Mexican Americans

Mexican Americans together with African Americans are the two largest nationally oppressed peoples in the U.S., with Mexican Americans being one of the fastest growing sections of the population. The Mexican American population is concentrated in the U.S. Southwest, land that was originally stolen from Mexico, with U.S. domination being imposed on the many Native American and Mexican American people living in those areas.

Among the problems faced by Mexican Americans are language discrimination on the job and in schools, cultural suppression, anti-immigrant laws and abuses, lack of full political representation, and inferior job and social conditions in every area of life, in addition to police brutality and hate crimes.

Mexican Americans have played an important in U.S. history, from resistance to U.S. imperialist annexation to struggles for full civil rights for immigrants, from resistance to cultural domination to the struggle for a holiday honoring Caesar Chavez and his ground-breaking example in organizing farmworkers, and from community battles for bilingual education to struggles for voting rights and full participation in the electoral process, among many others.

Mexican Americans mainly vote Democratic and have a major and growing impact on national elections. They have emerged as perhaps the most decisive group of voters in California and the southwestern states. Nationally, there are thousands of Mexican Americans holding public office, most elected as Democrats. The Mexican American people are overwhelmingly working-class and are a major force in the trade union movement nationally. There are also many large national, regional, and local mass organizations among the Mexican American people that have a big impact on the U.S. political scene, especially with the increase in the Mexican and Mexican American population all over the country.

Puerto Ricans

There are four million Puerto Ricans in the U.S. This oppressed national minority is the second largest Spanish-speaking Latin American population in the country, Mexicans and Mexican-Americans being the largest.

The overwhelming majority of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. are an integral part of the working class. Puerto Ricans have a higher rate of union membership than the general population. Puerto Ricans unite with other Latinos, as well as with African Americans, to fight against national oppression. In fighting for their self-interests on the important issues that affect them, Puerto Ricans fight for all peoples

While concentrated in New York, especially New York City, Puerto Ricans are found in every state of the Union. New York, however, is where Puerto Ricans first organized for political and labor representation as well as for issues dealing with their homeland.

The features of the Puerto Rican national minority in the U.S. cannot be completely understood without taking into account Puerto Rico as a U.S. colonial possession. Puerto Rico is an oppressed colonial nation. Colonial oppression takes many forms, from control of the economy by subsidiaries of U.S. corporations to imposition of U.S. death penalty laws on Puerto Ricans. This colonial oppression is the main reason Puerto Ricans have been forced to immigrate to the U.S.

The first step to freedom from this oppression is the acquisition of their internationally recognized right to independence and self-determination for Puerto Rico.

U.S. colonialism has forced Puerto Rico’s economy into dependency. In order for Puerto Ricans to exercise their right to independence, it must be able to break with the colonial dependency that the U.S. has forced on them; otherwise independence would be a sham. We support the full transfer of all powers to the Puerto Rican nation and monetary compensation with no strings attached to Puerto Rico to make up for the super-exploitation of Puerto Ricans and for colonial oppression. Usage of those funds is to be wholly decided by Puerto Ricans so that Puerto Rico can develop freely.

A free and independent Puerto Rico would not mean that all Puerto Ricans in the U.S. would go back to Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans in the U.S. are a historically constituted community that has permanence.

American Indians

There are many unique features to the national struggles of American Indians in the U.S. Issues of sovereignty and treaty rights, language and cultural rights, fishing and hunting rights, land rights, health care, and education give a different character to these struggles, which vary from nation to nation. Also, abuse and mismanagement by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), as well as tribal government issues, impact on Native American forms of organization and struggle. Native Americans have played an important role in the ironwork, construction, and other industries in some regions of the country and have a long history of struggle for survival and democratic rights.

The attempted genocide of Native Americans must be recognized and acknowledged by honoring treaties and tribal sovereignty, by reparations and affirmative action for Indian nations as well as for urban Indians, and by the replacement of the BIA with a body composed primarily of representatives of Indian nations.

Some tribes play an active, vigorous role in the electoral process. The growing political clout of some tribes contrasts with the most vicious effects of racism on the living conditions, education, employment, health, and survival of many American Indians, who on some reservations are subjected to the worst possible living conditions, highest infant mortality rates, highest rates of disease and suicide, and highest unemployment of any nationality. The growth of gambling casinos on many reservations has not alleviated conditions for the large majority of American Indians and is not a solution to the racism and national oppression they face.

Other Indigenous Peoples

Other indigenous peoples, including Aleuts, Inuit, and native Hawaiians, have their own cultures and traditions. Hawaii, one of the most multi-racial states, had its independent monarchy overthrown by an invading army and was a colony of the U.S. for many decades. Native Hawaiians face national oppression in addition to the problems faced by Hawaii as a whole, with distinct language, cultural, and economic issues.

The U.S., contrary to mythmaking in many U.S. histories, maintains several colonies around the world. To hide this fact, the government uses the term “protectorate” or “commonwealth” to describe the occupied nations. The U.S. maintains colonies in Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Samoa, whose populations have no vote, no say, and no sovereignty.

Immigrants

The labor movement has in recent years embraced the importance of unity between immigrant and native-born workers. Not only did anti-immigrant sentiment and racist repressive laws allow bosses to relegate immigrant workers to near-slavery conditions with no recourse, but it also undercut the attempts by native-born workers to organize unions and win concessions from management. Attacks on immigrants in farm fields, at the borders, and by law enforcement lay the basis for undermining everyone’s rights. Raids against so-called illegal immigrants often also impact legal immigrants and members of families that have been citizens for many generations.

The U.S. has large communities of immigrant workers. These workers are often super-exploited, working in the most primitive, unhealthy, non-union conditions. Each immigrant group faces its own national oppression, and many face racial oppression as well. Basic human and labor rights are often denied them. Thousands of undocumented, mainly agricultural workers crossing the border with Mexico are subjected to the murderous policies of the Border Patrol and racist vigilantes. They are hounded and chased down like criminals. Hundreds have tragically died or been murdered, especially in border areas, for simply trying to unite their families or find a better life. Many immigrants come with advanced degrees but are relegated to the lowest paid jobs, such as housekeepers, street vendors, taxicab drivers, kitchen crews, and similar occupations.

Latinos are extremely diverse culturally and in terms of national origin. For most Latinos, the common use of Spanish and the shared experience of discrimination in the U.S. are forging unity among them. At the same time, some immigrants from Latin America speak an indigenous language as their first language or do not speak Spanish at all. Over half of all Latinos in the U.S. are foreign-born and face discrimination as immigrants, including Brazilians whose language origins are Portuguese.

Many people come to the U.S. as a result of wars with either direct U.S. military involvement or surrogates financed and trained by the U.S. People from many countries emigrate to the U.S. because of dire economic situations in their home countries. Reactionaries use this immigration to bolster their claims that the U.S. is a beacon of freedom. But it is actually a condemnation of U.S. transnationals and their crass exploitation abroad. People often immigrate to the U.S. looking for economic survival, and are refugees from the economic policies of U.S. imperialism, and from the neo-colonial, neo-liberal “free trade” exploitation experienced around the world.

Many refugees fled their countries due to right-wing dictatorships and death squads supported and trained by the U.S., such as in Guatemala, El Salvador, and elsewhere in Central America.

Many immigrants from the Caribbean are trying to escape the U.S. stranglehold on their home countries. They include Dominicans, Haitians, Jamaicans, and others who play vital roles in many communities in the U.S.

Haitian immigrants, from one of the poorest countries in the world, have experienced U.S. support for dictators and death squads, U.S. attempts to subvert and co-opt popular democratic movements, and direct exploitation by U.S., French, and other transnationals. Once in the U.S., they face continued impoverishment, heath crises, racism and discrimination.

There are increasing populations of immigrants from countries in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe, who have come to the U.S. in recent years, fleeing economic oppression, war, decreasing living standards, lack of opportunity, famine, and genocide.

Arabs and Middle Eastern Peoples

More than six million people of Arab ancestry live in the U.S., including such nationalities as Palestinians, Iraqis, Lebanese, Syrians, Egyptians, Algerians, Yemenis, and Saudi Arabians, concentrated in communities in Michigan, Illinois, California, and New York. Most are workers, with many active in the labor movement and otherwise active politically. Thousands of Iranian Americans also live in the U.S. Some people from all these nationalities have been citizens of the U.S. for generations; at the same time, many are recent immigrants.

As a result of U.S. aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq and support of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and refusal to accept the existence of a co-equal Palestinian Arab state, a substantial majority of Arabs, Muslims, and South Asian peoples in the U.S. have become active opponents of the ultra-right. Discrimination against them, which dramatically increased following 9/11, has intensified their opposition to the current course of U.S. domestic policy. This heightened discrimination and oppression includes racist violence, registration with the FBI, imprisonment without due process or legal counsel, and mass deportations.

The demonization of Arabs, Muslims and South Asians does not make anyone safer. It is in reality a support for the aggressive military policies of the U.S. government and a racist justification of oppression. It has provided an excuse for stepped up racial profiling, which affects not just Arab and Middle Eastern peoples but all people of color.

Asians and Asian Americans

Asian Americans come from many different nations, with different cultures, different histories, different languages, and different politics. The widely varying conditions in their homelands have a big impact on the consciousness, level of organization, and integration into U. S. society of the different Asian immigrant groups. While a large number of Asian Americans are foreign-born, millions of Asian Americans are from families that have been living in the U.S. for generations.

When immigrants arrived in the U. S. and under what conditions are big factors in the level of political consciousness of Asian American communities. During World War II, many Japanese Americans, most of whom were citizens, wrongly faced forced incarceration in internment camps. They have a different life experience and political history than Vietnamese who immigrated during the turmoil of the defeat of U. S. armed forces in the mid-1970s. Filipinos whose parents or grandparents came to the U. S. in the 1920s to work in the agricultural fields of California have different national issues than South Koreans who immigrated following World War II. Cambodians, Laotians, Indonesians, Koreans, and national minorities from within those countries endure virulent racism, discrimination, and forced exclusion from major parts of society.

For several decades during the last century, the Philippines was a “protectorate” of the U.S., and many Filipinos immigrated during that time and subsequently, many to work in the agricultural and canning industries. Filipinos played important roles in early efforts to unionize farmworkers on the West Coast and in Hawaii.

Pacific Islanders also come from countries and lands with widely varying political and economic conditions, from colonies of the U. S. like Guam, to independent nations like Fiji, to hundreds of smaller islands which are still struggling to create and maintain their own national identities. Samoans, Fijians, Micronesians, and other Pacific Islander nationalities all face national discrimination and particular forms of racial discrimination.

As more recent immigrants from Asia live in this country for longer periods, they increasingly face and understand the racial and national discrimination rife in the U. S., and increasingly struggle against that oppression. The national questions faced by Asian Americans are thus complex, varied, and need specific attention.

The Complexity and Interconnection of National and Racial Oppression

This discussion of national and racial oppression is not intended to be comprehensive or limiting. These are complex issues, intertwined with each other and with class exploitation and oppression. There are many variations in national oppression, not just broad categories—for example, different Indian nations have distinct histories, cultures, languages, resources, treaties, and territories, so within Indian communities there are many different national questions, not one. Within groups, too, there are variations—for example, people of Japanese descent whose ancestors came to the U.S. during the latter part of the 1800s do not face identical issues as those who came following World War II. People from Caribbean countries who have English as their first language have different issues than those from the Caribbean whose first language is Spanish or French. We can’t ignore or reduce these complexities. We have to understand, appreciate, and respond to them.

People of many nationalities face special oppression related to their national origins—issues of language, culture, history, immigration rights and status, professional status or lack thereof, historical and colonial oppression, the various reasons and pressures for their immigration, and more. Another complexity is that though most discrimination which followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S is directed at Arab and Middle Eastern peoples, many Latinos face racial profiling due to claims that they “look like” people from the Middle East. For example, African immigrants have their own specific national issues but also face the generalized discrimination directed against African Americans. For example, Mexican Americans whose families have been citizens for centuries face harassment from immigration authorities due to racist assumptions based on skin color.

Our purpose is not to artificially separate discrimination and oppression into either national or racial categories, but to understand the ways they are interconnected and understand these different facets of the oppression faced by individuals and peoples.

The Struggle for Full Equality for Women

Working class women suffer additional forms of oppression and exploitation than do male workers. The capitalists gain super profits as a result—billions of dollars each year. They also gain greater profits from male workers when male supremacy helps the capitalists divide male and female workers, weakening the struggle for all workers’ rights. The decrease in real wages is one of the factors forcing more women into the workforce, often into low-wage jobs or into holding two or three jobs. As a result, more women and children are pushed into poverty.

Like racism, sexism is a key tool of the ruling class against all women and against the working class as a whole. The wage differential remains between men and women in similar jobs, resulting in billions in super-profits. The gendered stratification of the job market ensures that many women are relegated to the lowest-paying, least secure jobs. Under capitalism, women workers are doubly oppressed, once as workers and again as women. Racially and nationally oppressed women face triple oppression. Women continue to be compelled to shoulder the predominate burdens of childcare and domestic household work. Treatment of women as sexual objects also brings additional profits to the capitalists and divides men and women. Cuts in social welfare programs hit single mothers and their children especially hard, with rapidly growing numbers of single mothers being driven further into poverty. Rapid increases in health care and housing costs impact single women and their children most sharply. These cuts hit women of oppressed groups even harder.

Among the forms of oppression women experience are attacks on their reproductive rights; lack of quality, affordable day care; inequality in child rearing and household work; sexual harassment on the job; and domestic and sexual violence. The special oppression of women also cuts widely across class lines, affecting promotions for women in management and networking and contract opportunities for women small business owners. This provides the potential for a progressive role for women as a whole, as an ally of the working class and the nationally oppressed. Generally, women are more politically advanced than men on many issues, including issues of war and peace and social welfare.

Women workers play a key role in assuring an alliance of the women’s movement with the working class, while nationally oppressed women play such a role in the alliance with the nationally oppressed. There are long-standing and growing relationships and coalition partnering between the main women’s organizations, the labor movement, and other major progressive organizations. This is an important element of building the all-people’s front against the ultra-right.

There is an ultra-right ideological attack on women’s role in society and the family, trying to force women to revert to a submissive role, to limit them to issues of family and children, and to assign blame for the high rate of divorce and the feminization of poverty on women. This “blame the victim” approach seeks to divert attention from the ways the system oppresses women.

Men should take an initiating role in combating all instances of sexism and male supremacy in the labor and people’s movements as well as in the family. Women need and deserve an equal place in the ranks and in the leadership of the labor movement and all the people’s mass democratic movements, including the Communist Party. Men have a strong self-interest in this—greater principled unity means greater victories for all. The main expression of the unity of men and women must be in the united struggle for women’s rights and equality. It is in the interests of the labor movement to stand up for the rights of working women in particular as well as of women generally. It is in the interests of all the people’s movements to defend reproductive rights and basic equality for women against right-wing attack.

Youth and Students

Under capitalism, youth and students experience special oppression and exploitation. Once again capitalism gains extra profits from the special exploitation of youth by two-tier contracts providing lower wages for new hires and by extremely low minimum wages which mostly affect young workers. Capitalists also gain from pitting generations of workers against one another. Capitalism deprives youth of free access to quality education, of cultural and sports activities, and of living wage jobs and entry-level training and apprenticeship programs, and threatens young people’s hope for a secure future.

Capitalism seeks to use youth as cannon fodder in its imperialist adventures. Working class youth and students are in a position to be a key link between youth and the working class; they are the core of a labor/youth alliance. Similarly, youth who are also specially oppressed can help ally youth with the other core forces in the struggle for social progress. The forces of ultra-right reaction attempt to appeal demagogically to the young generation, but increasingly the desire of youth for a secure future and their high social ideals move youth into on-going alliance with labor and its allies and push the youth movement in a leftward direction.

There is an ultra-right ideological assault on youth, especially youth of color. It attempts to criminalize the young generation, including the massive incarceration of African American and Latino males and also attempts to pit youth against seniors and to assign blame to youth for various social ills, such as drugs, crime, and sexually transmitted diseases. Simultaneously, there are efforts to mobilize youth to support the ultra-right, especially on college campuses and in the military.

Additional Social Forces for Progress back to top

Gays and Lesbians

Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgendered—the LGBT community—face discrimination in housing and employment, lack full legal and civil rights, and are frequently the victims of hate crimes. As do all other people, gays and lesbians demand and deserve full and equal civil rights, including the right to marry.

The LGBT community consists of people from all classes, all sections of the country and economy, and increasingly votes against the ultra-right. LGBT organizations play an important role in many coalitions and are increasingly allied with many progressive organizations and the labor movement.

The ultra-right uses homophobia and attacks on gays and lesbians as wedges to divide its opposition. Using false notions of “morals” and “family values,” the right attempts to use homophobia to gain allies for its corporate agenda among the working class and other social forces.

Those leading the attack on gay rights also attack labor and advocate slashing budgets for social programs. The real threat to working families is not gay marriage but the ultra-right agenda of maximum profits and war. Homophobia was one of the weapons of the McCarthy-era attack on democracy, and continues to