On Sunday, August 14, the Detroit Club of the Communist Party USA was actively involved in two significant events organized by the people’s forces. This has been a culmination of on-the-ground organizing, meeting, and struggling alongside the independent political forces in the city of Detroit. The Detroit Club showed up in solidarity for the people’s interests and demonstrated humility, earnestness, and the perspective of Marxism-Leninism. In our circles, we call this the Communist plus.

The first event was the Unite Against Imperialism Forum Part II organized by the Michigan Peace Council. The MPC brought together organizations and activists to discuss the nature of imperialism, its role in our daily life and in the world, and what can be done to combat it. The first meeting was held in June, with speakers representing the Detroit Club, the Yemeni Liberation Movement, the General Baker Institute, the League of Revolutionaries for a New America, and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. This time around, the panelists included representatives from the Young Communist League, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Green Party, and Michigan Peace Action.

During the Unite Against Imperialism Part II public forum, our YCL comrade spoke on the Leninist definition of imperialism, which holds that imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism, or the monopoly stage. This stage sees the merger between big industrial capital and finance capital. The role of monopolies and cartels grows significantly, and the imperialist powers seek to redivide the world in search of new markets and resources to exploit. Our comrade spoke on the necessity of combating imperialism at home and not diverting our attention away towards the actions of other country’s governments. An attendee astutely commented, “We don’t have a Russian embassy in Detroit to petition anyways. We need to be focused on our own government’s spending on war, nuclear weapons, and drawing the planet closer to annihilation.”

Our YCL comrade also drew the connection between the enormous Pentagon budget, the incentives of the monopoly bourgeoisie to extract ever greater profits, and how this process further exploits the American working class, their communities, and their families. The comrade pointed out that the money spent on fighter jets could be used to make our public schools and infrastructure better.  To achieve these ends, the YCL emphasized the need to integrate ourselves into community and progressive organizations as a method of constructing a broad democratic force for peace. Overall, the event proved to be a success and the Detroit Club CPUSA gained new members following the forum.

At the same time, just outside City Hall, tenants and housing advocates, including the Detroit Club, held the first orientation meeting for the Detroit Tenants Association, an outgrowth of the Seward Avenue Tenants Association (where our Party members have been involved since day 1). It was a large community gathering featuring more organizations of political independence. The co-sponsors included Detroit Eviction Defense, Detroit Club CPUSA, Detroit Will Breathe, East Michigan Environmental Action Council, Detroit Action for a New Economy, and the Moratorium NOW! Coalition. The goal of the orientation meeting was to inform the community about their rights as tenants and the power of collective action, as well as provide organizers an opportunity to begin signing up tenants to join the DTA.

A representative from the Detroit Club spoke at the public forum, detailing the struggles of tenants. The comrade brought attention to the large-scale purchasing of homes and rental units by Wall Street investors and the monopoly bourgeoisie, and how a united, working-class struggle can shift the balance of forces away from the landlords and put power back in the communities. The comrade called for a popular front, one in which the broad sections of Detroit’s people unite around common self-interests and move these interests forward in collective action. Organizers emphasized the need for an immediate struggle against landlords, as well as a political struggle for policies such as rent control and a truly affordable and democratic public housing system. As the comrade said, “There are more of us than there are of them, and I am confident that we can eventually win this fight!”

We hope that these two events will help our club become more embedded in our community and earn the respect of our neighbors in struggle. We aim to show that the Communist Party is the political party that represents the interests and aspirations of our people. We are proud of the work our community leaders, the organizations we work in coalition with, and our comrades did to ensure these events were successful and safe and provided a path forward in the struggle for peace, democracy, and socialism. We are extremely humbled by the opportunity to learn from the brilliant working people and legacy residents in our communities.

All power to the workers! People and planet before profits!

Images:  People demonstrating (Pixabay); Anti-imperialism meeting, Detroit Tenants Association forum, photos by Detroit Club.

Comments