The following report was given by Joelle Fishman on behalf of the Political Action Commission to the CPUSA National Committee on Feb. 2, 2025.

Thank you Joe for the wonderful direction and analysis with so much to study and explore.

This two-week dastardly rampage is meant to terrify, distract, and divide. It aims to destroy all democratic structures for equality, workers’ rights, and human rights, in order to seize even more wealth and control for the billionaires and corporations.

We are in an organizing moment like never before. We have to realize that we are not alone. The ranks of those determined to stand together against these white supremacist fascist acts and cruelty are growing. And our own membership is growing as well, as the raw racism and exploitation of capitalism is on grotesque display.

We know from history and from our own experiences that when we organize together, when we fight together and mobilize together, we win together. And that’s what will get us through.

The MAGA right blitzkrieg is intended to scare and discourage us. But we also know that it is possible to have victories even in such conditions of all-out class warfare.

For people to become galvanized there has to be hope and a strong sense of community and solidarity. There has to be a vision for the future. Our Party embodies all of that.

To slow down the blitz, to stop as much as possible, and blunt the rest requires that we organize in a coordinated and consistent way on all fronts: in the streets, in the courts, and in legislative bodies — from town councils on up to state legislatures and Congress.

Our Party’s role

From the day after the elections, when hundreds of organizations began holding mass calls on Zoom attracting many thousands of people, our Party has been part of this growing movement. Our wonderful contingent at the People’s March was part of it. Our outreach with immigrant communities getting trained and building solidarity, and our ten point action plan developed by the immigrant rights subcommittee has been part of it.

And our Rapid Response mass texts and emails to call Congress have been an important part of it. It has served to push us nationally into a unified Party of action, while enhancing the ongoing work of our clubs in the community, in solidarity with union organizing and strikes.

The sixty-day campaign launched at the last National Committee meeting has transitioned into these weekly calls to action urging our members, friends, and allies to send a message to Congress important to protecting democracy nationally. We’re learning a lot. A committee has been formed. A beautiful Rapid Response template has been designed, and a regularized schedule has been established so the messages arrive every Friday afternoon.

Our first message opposed the bill allowing any nonprofit to be labeled “terrorist” by the Treasury Department. A first vote was held in the House and 54 Democrats voted “Yes” along with all Republicans. Immediately, over 300 organizations — from the AFL-CIO to Indivisible — made so many calls that 39 of the Democrats changed their votes to “No” in one week. It wasn’t enough to defeat the bill in the House, but it was a very dramatic result. It illustrated the kind of united pressure needed to get Democrats in Congress to vote as a solid block against Project 2025’s fascist agenda.

Rep. Rashida Talib said the results confirmed the need to continue this method of resistance and even ramp it up.

That is one of nine weekly messages sent to date, coinciding with efforts by our allies. What were the other results?

The biggest win was the Social Security Fairness Act, the last bill signed by Biden, which ended the discrimination against public workers that reduced their earned Social Security.

The most recent Rapid Response calls on members of Congress to take a public stand and mobilize against another illegal and unconstitutional stop in federal funding by the Trump administration. It tells Senators to deny confirmation to Russell Vought, chief architect of Project 2025, for Office of Management and Budget. Undoubtedly, these calls from Public Citizen and many others contributed to Senate Democrats’ public boycott of Vought’s hearings. A crescendo of mass pressure is continuously needed.

Two messages to remove Cuba from the terrorist list added to the pressure that brought Biden to do so at the last minute, even though the move was short-lived, as the new administration vows to destroy Cuba.

Three messages called for the defeat of the Laken Riley Act, which outrageously requires any non-citizen accused of committing even a minor refraction, like shoplifting, to be detained indefinitely without trial. Trump played it like a Willie Horton moment, creating a vicious narrative that all migrants are criminals. While some votes were changed, in the end 12 Senate Democrats and 46 House Democrats joined with all Republicans to pass the bill, allowing Trump to sign it into law. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said each member has to respond to their own constituencies. But in fact, this bill lays the groundwork for the vicious raids and deportations everywhere, adding to it a racist vigilante component.

We are tracking the votes. Where we have clubs in the districts of House or Senate members who voted wrong, delegations can be organized, or public meetings can be held. We have to help change public opinion and build the opposition to right-wing extremism. That will take united action and a flat refusal to allow divisions of one against another.

We are developing a message around the Crucial Communism Teaching Act and another act labeling Antifa, and any associated group, as domestic terrorist organizations, and a broad range of protest actions as crimes of domestic terrorism. We are also paying attention to the national struggle to protect D.C. home rule.

Bringing the Party forward

We have to put forward our Party’s advanced platform which will swell the numbers of people engaged in the resistance against the destructive and fascist Project 2025 agenda. Our platform represents true democratic, working-class values aimed at changing priorities to meet people’s needs, address inequalities and injustices, tax billionaires and corporations, and shift money out of the military budget into working-class communities and climate justice.

More clubs are now considering running candidates for local office. The Political Action Commission is focused on encouraging and uplifting these efforts. It’s very exciting and inspiring to hear from clubs in smaller towns with nonpartisan elections — in Ohio; Maine; Western MA; and Ithaca, NY; as well as larger cities like Philadelphia, where involvement around education issues, the environment, “just cause” eviction protections, or union organizing are developing into candidacies. These fights and campaigns at the local level take on added importance in light of the balance of forces nationally.

Our Party has a huge responsibility at this moment. People are hurting and frightened. Individuals and whole communities are also showing great courage in the resistance. Collectively, we can wage the fight. It isn’t easy, but I am confident that we are up to the task, if we stay laser-focused and keep our eye on the prize.

Image: The letter carriers protest the attack on USPS by People Who Work (X)

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