Defeat Senate Bill 1881
The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) strongly urges that you contact your senators to ask that they not support or pass Senate Bill 1881, the “Nuclear Weapons Free Iran Act,” introduced by Senators Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) and Mark Kirk (R-Illinois).
In a major breakthrough last year, the U.S., the UK, Germany, China, France and Russia reached a tentative agreement with the Iranian government for negotiating to end the long impasse over the possible future development of nuclear weapons capacity by Iran. Direct negotiations for a long term solution are due to begin soon. The passage of S 1881, which would impose new economic sanctions on Iran, is likely to completely derail this promising initiative which is the best hope we have seen in many years for advancing the cause of peace in the Middle East.
Nothing in international law prohibits Iran from developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes, and there are many doubts as to whether Iran actually wants to develop nuclear weapons. The CPUSA opposes sanctions, such as those already imposed on Iran, that harm the interests of ordinary working people. S 1881 would try to stop Iran from developing nuclear power even for peaceful purposes, would harm ordinary Iranian working people, and might force the United States into a war situation with Iran in support of Israel, even if Israel initiated the conflict.
Iranians opponents of the current regime, including the communist Tudeh Party of Iran and others on the left, strongly oppose sanctions, which they see as harming innocent working people.
At the moment of writing, 59 Senate cosponsors have signed onto the bill, including 16 Democrats and all the Republicans. This is close to a supermajority, so action is very urgent to stop it.
The Obama administration has strongly urged that this bill not be passed, but the Senate might pass it anyway and even have enough votes to override a presidential veto. The House already passed related legislation last year.
Please immediately contact both your senators and request that they oppose S 1881. If they are already signed on as cosponsors, please request that they remove their names from the cosponsors’ list and oppose passage of the bill. If they have not signed on, thank them and ask them not to sign on to the bill or support it for passage.
Look up contact information for your Senators and Representative on the Congress website.
A number of petitions are circulating opposing the passage of S 1881. Please sign as many of them as you can an spread the word:
The following petition requests that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) use his authority to block passage of S 1881. Please sign this as well.
PHOTO: Iran nuclear talks, Fall 2013. Some rights reserved by UN Geneva
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The Communist Party USA is a revolutionary working-class political party founded in 1919 in Chicago, IL.
The Communist Party stands for the interests of the American working class and the American people. It stands for our interests in both the present and the future. Solidarity with workers of other countries is also part of our work. We work in coalition with the labor movement, the peace movement, the student movement, organizations fighting for equality and social justice, the environmental movement, immigrants rights groups and the health care for all campaign.
But to win a better life for working families, we believe that we must go further. We believe that the American people can replace capitalism with a system that puts people before profit — socialism.
We are rooted in our country's revolutionary history and its struggles for democracy. We call for "Bill of Rights" socialism, guaranteeing full individual freedoms.
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