Brief report presented to the November National Committee Meeting CPUSA from the National Education Commission.

Please allow me to be very brief and very specific in discussing our ideological/educational work.

We are long overdue for a more  lengthy report and discussion, which we promise to facilitate sometime in the near future.  Of the few ways we have to combat backwardness (voting against one’s interest and not understanding how one’s interest is connected with others, for example), is the promotion of the development of class and socialist consciousness. This is a decisive contribution we, as the Party, are expected to make.  Our very reason for being is tied directly to this task.  Suffice it say, we have to strengthen our work in this arena.

First, in many instances, the challenge for us is to fundamentally grasp how important our role in offering Marxist education and ideological training really is to the struggle for social progress in our country.  We call on those who are in a position to help with classes, lead article and book discussions, and in any way possible make a contribution to our effort to promote our Marxist educational work, that you step forward now:  email me at dee@cpusa.org.

We face the challenge of finding interesting and creative ways to “go back to basics” to examine how the foundational ideas of Marxism apply to today:  not if they apply, but how they apply.  Toward that end, we are proposing a weekend gathering of the minds in late January or February to:

1. A) explore the foundational concepts of Marxist strategy and tactics;
2. B) further develop our strategy and tactics in deciphering the way forward given the 2016 election results; and,
3. C) strengthen our ability to discuss our approach to strategy and tactics. I am appealing to the National Committee to help make that weekend fruitful, productive, and a major contributor to our ability to confidently move forward to face the battles ahead.

Second, I want to talk about our ideological/education work in this period.  There are 2 things we need. We need, as I mentioned earlier, to rapidly expand our ideological/educational offerings online and in our districts and clubs.  We need readers’ clubs, online article and book talks, 1 and 2 session online classes on just about everything under the sun related to struggle and working-class culture.  We need Martin Luther King, Jr., Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and May Day online activities, and these online activities do not conflict at all with any face-to-face activities that are organized as well.  We need club educationals, district and regional schools, weekend think tanks, and national schools.  The point is you have to help us make all of this happen.  We need people to step forward when it comes to facilitating the discussion of an article or book or leading a class themselves, as well as helping us to identify and reach out to authors, scholars, and just regular folk who have done the work and want to discuss a particular issue, concern, historical period, or Marxist classic.  Step up and send  in what you would like to do, or work to get someone else to do, to Dee at dee@cpusa.org.

Lastly for this brief report, we also need to grow participation in our online educational activities.  We have gone over 100 people registering but we have not gone over 100 participants in any of the online educational activities.  We are ready to purchase the ability to have 200 people participate, which should be immediately doable for us, so we are asking for your help.  When educational activities are announced, it means for each and every one of us we have to find people to join in and participate. We need you to help us get people to register to participate.  Even if they don’t show up, they can receive the recording, so all is not a waste.  We all understand that it is a must that we do everything possible to continuously broaden and deepen our reach concerning the spread of the Marxist idea and the Marxist project.

You are the National Committee; I am letting you know we need your help now!  Rather than despair, let’s fill our hearts with the fervor of conscious, mature, strategic resistance.  Let’s share our working-class science far and wide without hesitation.

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