Sam Webb, national chair of CPUSA, will open a national teleconference on the fight for jobs, Sept. 27, starting at 8p.m. Eastern. Questions and a brief discussion will follow. Call: 218 339 4300 code: 100111#
The following is Webb’s recent article in PeoplesWorld.org on the fight for jobs and role of the left.
The American Jobs Act is the leading edge of the jobs struggle. It is the ground on which millions can be drawn into the fight to create jobs and rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.
The AFL-CIO is embracing and promoting it. Others will come on board too as the jobs campaign gathers momentum.
The Jobs Act, introduced by President Obama in a well-crafted and passionate address to a joint session of Congress, is not as far reaching as some other jobs proposals. The plans put forward by the Congressional Black Caucus, Progressive Caucus, AFL-CIO and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., are more ambitious, and we recognize that they contain more in-depth solutions. But the hard fact is that none of these stand a chance of congressional approval given the current balance of forces in Congress, and in the House in particular.
The president’s proposal does. The various provisions in the act appeal to a broad constituency, including political moderates in both parties.
Even for this plan the going will be tough. The Republicans, while initially making conciliatory noises, are determined not to give the president a positive record to run on. They figure a president with no accomplishments, especially in a period of crisis, will not be returned to office.
Read the rest of the article at PeoplesWorld.org.
Photo: South Los Angeles resident Christian Del Cid waves banners calling for good jobs, on a bridge in front of oncoming traffic at the Interstate I-110 overpass on a “structurally deficient” bridge to call on U.S. Congress to provide funding for highway improvement projects that would create local jobs Sept. 22, 2011, in Los Angeles. (AP/Damian Dovarganes)