In This Issue:
*Convention Evaluation
*Convention Web Site
*Globalization Report
*Jobs with Justice Conference
*Recruiting Pamphlet
*Welfare Reform Hearings
*Cuba Solidarity
*Legislative Updates
*Books for Sale
*Conference
to Stop Star Wars
*Protect Legal Abortion
*Vieques
*Fall Calendar
ONLY 1,426 days left until the next
Convention!! Maybe that’s not something you’re ready to think about, but
we are! And if you attended the Convention either as a delegate or a guest,
we need your input on how it went. You can find the Evaluation Form at
https://www.cpusa.org/27th_convention/evaluation.html
If you have any questions about it, please let me know.
(Note: The 1,426 is a guesstimate, as a date has yet to be chosen for
the next one….)
Also on the Convention Web site (which
can be found at: here):
*The Keynote Address (text
and audio)
*Special Reports
*The Declaration of Independence
from Capitalism
*Veterans Tribute (audio)
*And much more being added each week!
Scott Marshall, Chair of the Labor Commission, recently
gave a report to the National Board entitled, "Globalization and
the Class Struggle Today."
To read it, go to: this page
The annual national conference of Jobs w/ Justice is being
held in Cleveland September 6-9. Registration and an opening reception
will be on Thursday, pre-conferences on Friday, plenary session and workshops
on Saturday, closing plenary Sunday. Registration fee is 0, for
students, low-income, striking workers. Registration forms can be obtained
from your local JwJ or from the national office at 501 Third St., Washington
D.C.20001, phone 202-434-1106.
All Party members who can do so are urged to attend the
conference, and to talk with friends and co-workers about going. JwJ is
the most important national organization at the center of building labor-community
coalitions and mobilizing mass solidarity actions in support of labor’s
right to organize. Here is a great opportunity to learn from experiences
around the country, make new friends, and consolidate new contacts.
For more information, please e-mail Wally at wallyk@ncweb.com
Hot off the presses is a new, popular, well-designed recruiting
pamphlet.
Included within it:
*The recent stolen election
*Our work in coalitions
*Who Communists are and what we fight for
*How the CP is different from other left and progressive organizations
*A brief history of the CP
*Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
*A "join" form
Let Elena know how many you would like to order for your
club or district by e-mailing her at emora@cpusa.org
Grassroots Policy Briefing on TANF (Welfare) Reauthorization
September 11, Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.
Nearly 20 grassroots leaders will address members of Congress
and their staff at a policy briefing in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday September
11. Co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO, United Church of Christ, the Applied
Research Center, National Immigration Law Center, and Grass Roots Organizing
for Welfare Leadership (GROWL), the briefing will highlight the experiences
of mothers on welfare in the last five years and assert progressive proposals
for change.
GROWL is also helping organizing town hall meetings on
TANF Reauthorization around the country this fall, along with the National
Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, the Western Regional Welfare Rights
Activist Network, etc. The meetings will give mothers and families directly
affected by the new welfare laws a chance to tell their stories to decision
makers in Congress and advocate for progressive welfare policies.
To get an organizing kit or more information, e-mail GROWL
organizer Daniel HoSang at
dhosang@ctwo.org or call 510 533
7583 x12.
Join in on a direct challenge to U.S. policy on Cuba.
Come to the Maine border with Quebec, to Coburn Gore, on August 18, 2001.
On noon that day, LET CUBA LIVE, a group of Maine citizens who oppose
U.S. policy toward Cuba, will cross the border with a shipment of humanitarian
aid for the people of Cuba, mostly medical supplies. Pastors for Peace
of New York will continue its record of vigorous opposition to the blockade
by also sending supplies with this shipment.
LET CUBA LIVE neither asks for nor will accept the license
for humanitarian aid that U.S. embargo laws require. The system of blockade
is wrong in its entirety, and acquiescence with anything that has to do
with cruel and immoral laws is unthinkable. Sometimes, like Rosa Parks
did, we need to take matters into our own hands. Besides, why do you have
to ask permission to help a neighbor?
LET CUBA LIVE attempted to take humanitarian aid across
the border at Coburn Gore on July 2, 2001. Almost 40 boxes of donated
material were handed over the border to members of a Quebec group in solidarity
with Cuba who were waiting for the LET CUBA LIVE caravan. Fifty other
boxes were seized by U.S. Customs officials, and they are still confiscated.
LET CUBA LIVE returns to Coburn Gore for three reasons,
to:
* Lend a hand to the Cuban people who suffer shortages and hardship due
to the U.S. blockade.
* Challenge laws and policy that are wrong.
* Demand the release of humanitarian supplies seized on July 2, so that
they can be sent to Cuba.
LET CUBA LIVE states that those unable to go to the border
on August 18, 2001 can assist by publicizing the event, by asking for
support from public officials, and by supporting the project financially.
For information call: 326-4405, 273-3247, 743-2183, or
786-4325, all in area code 207.
It’s never too late to sign up for Legislative Updates,
a service we provide that culls information from the Congressional Web
site about important bills. E-mails are sent the day after each day Congress
is in session (or soon thereafter). If you would like to be added to this
list, just write to hwitham@cpusa.org
with the request. Before their August recess, bills regarding agriculture,
abortion, immigration rights, labor, and many, many others important to
our movement were introduced.
Each district should consider having someone receive these
updates and be responsible for following up them as needed.
The Reference Center for Marxist Studies has just added
over a hundred new titles to its list of hard-to-find and out-of-print
books for sale. Check them out at:
https://www.cpusa.org/rcms/book_sale.html
Also, please note the new Web address for the Reference
Center:
https://www.cpusa.org/rcms
CONFERENCE TO STOP STAR WARS
Keep Space for Peace — Coming Soon
A national conference to build the movement to stop Pres.
Bush’s National Missile Defense Program (popularly known as Star Wars)
will take place in Cleveland, Ohio from Friday, Oct. 12 through Sunday,
Oct. 14. The conference coincides with international actions scheduled
to take place in cities throughout the world.
The conference is called jointly by Global Network Against
Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and National Peace Action. A highlight
of the conference will be remarks by Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D- Ohio)
who plans to introduce a bill in the House of Representatives in the fall
calling for an end to"research, testing, manufacturing, production
and deployment of all space-based weapons systems and components by any
person, agency or contractor of the U.S. government." In announcing
his plans to introduce the bill Kucinich said:"We must work toward
the elimination of all nuclear weapons, and an end to policies which cause
this country to move toward the weaponization of space." By introducing
the bill, Kucinich is providing a way for people all over the U.S. who
oppose Star Wars to take concrete action against Bush’s national campaiagn
in support of the bill.
Other conference speakers include: John Ryan, Executive
Secretary of the Cleveland AFL-CIO Federation of Labor, who will discuss
the stake of the labor movement in defeating national missile defense,
Steve Cagan, Director of Jobs With Justice in Cleveland, and Congresswoman
Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, who will welcome participants to the conference
. Leading experts on the nuclearization and weaponization of space will
speak, including Joseph Gerson, Bruce Gagnon, and Karl Grossman, author
of a new book "Weapons in Space." The conference will include
a mix of workshops and plenary sessions.
On Friday, Oct. 12 there will be a debate at the Cleveland
City Club between a proponent and an opponent of national missile defense,
which will be broadcast in cities all over the U.S.. There will be a vigil
on Friday afternoon at the national headquarters of TRW, one of the biggest
space weapons contractors in the country. On Sunday morning there will
be a march outside of this facility.
The cost of the conference is per person, for
students and low-income people. Registration includes breakfast, lunch,
and a social hour. The conference will take place at Cleveland State University,
and is co-sponsored by the CSU Political Science Department and the campus
Vindicator Newspaper.
All day parking is . There is also on street parking
available. Those needing more information, including information about
local union hotels or the availability of home hospitality, can contact
Global Network at:
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in
Space, P.O. Box 90083,
Gainesville, Fl 32607, e-mail: globalnet@mindspring.com.
Phone: (352)
337-9274. www.space4peace.org
PROTECT LEGAL ABORTION: The
Million4Roe Campaign
In 1973, the Supreme Court legalized abortion.
In 2001, Bush wants a recount.
As many as two U.S. Supreme Court justices may retire
soon, giving President Bush the opportunity to pack the court with anti-abortion
Justices who would vote to OVERTURN Roe v. Wade, relegating women to back
alley abortions. To prevent this, the Feminist Majority has launched a
new online campaign – MILLION4ROE – to gather 1 million signatures in
support of a SENATE FILIBUSTER in the event that Bush nominates an anti-choice
Justice.
Please click on the link below or copy and paste it into
your browser to sign the petition, donate or find out more:
http://207.228.234.134/elandslide/edonate.cfm?campaign=million4roe
Join Gillian Anderson, Dolores Huerta, Ashley Judd and
one million voices at Million4Roe.com and tell Washington: WE WON’T GO
BACK!
For equality,
Eleanor Smeal President, Feminist Majority
It is a key time to call or write to the White House and
Congress.
Points to consider including in your letter or call:
IMMINENT BOMBING
* The Navy has announced it will resume bombing exercises in Vieques on
Wednesday, August 1. President Bush should issue an order to stop it.
DEMOCRACY
* Vieques residents voted overwhelmingly – 68% – to stop the bombing and
clean up the land.
* Unlike communities affected by bombing ranges in the United States,
who can vote for congressional representation, Puerto Rico is a colony.
This referendum was a way for Vieques to express its democratic will.
IT’S ILLEGAL
* The Navy9s violations of environmental and civil rights laws in Vieques
have led to half a dozen lawsuits and nearly 2,000 administrative tort
claims, in addition to more than a thousand cases of civil disobedience.
HEALTH CONCERNS
* According to the Puerto Rico Cancer Registry, Vieques residents had
a 26.9% higher incidence of cancer than other Puerto Ricans for 1985-1989,
the last period in which data are available.
* A study last year showed that 44% out of 49 Vieques residents who were
tested had toxic levels of mercury in hair samples (the same method used
by the FBI in forensic investigations).
* A study released in January found excessive levels of lead and cadmium
in
vegetables and other plants grown in the civilian area of Vieques – levels
above critical values for human consumption as defined by the Food and
Drug Administration. The study found high levels of nickel, cobalt, magnesium
and copper in edible plants grown in Vieques. The same metals are found
in the constituent elements of ordnance fired or dropped in Vieques.
* No other potential source has been identified for these environmental
carcinogens.
THE NAVY’S CLAIMS THAT VIEQUES IS NEEDED FOR TRAINING
* A study by the Center for Naval Analysis in August 2000 demonstrated
that the Navy can and does use other facilities on the Eastern Seaboard
for the training conducted in Vieques (primarily in North Carolina, Virginia
and Florida).
* If the United States accepted the rule of law and used diplomacy instead
of bombing in conflicts with Iraq, Yugoslavia and other nations, it wouldn’t
need to practice firing bombs anywhere.
NEED FOR CLEANUP
* A cleanup will be necessary for the protection of public health, whether
the land is preserved as ecological refuges, developed for social use,
or dedicated to a balanced mixture of uses.
For more information, contact:
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean
2017 Mission St. #305, San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel: 415-495-6334
Web: http://www.forusa.org/
FALL CALENDAR (WORK IN PROGRESS)
September 1 — 82 anniversary of the Communist Party USA
September 3 — Labor Day! PWW distributions, picnics, etc.
September 6 – 9 Jobs with Justice conference, Cleveland
September 11 — Hearings on welfare reauthorization
September 22-23 — NATIONAL BOARD MEETING, Chicago
September 24-October 1 — National actions against globalization and Bush
administration, Washington DC (see next PartyBuilder for details — there
will be many events, on women’s equality, immigrant rights, against the
IMF-World Bank policies, global economy teach-in, and more!)
September 26-29 — Congressional Black Caucus Legislative weekend
October 1/2 — Party meeting in North Carolina
October 13-14 — Conference against weapons in space, Cleveland
October 20-21 — NATIONAL COMMITTEE MEETING, New York City
October/November — District seminars (organized around the Convention
keynote and other materials, more on this to come!)
November 9 — International actions against globalization
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