The CPUSA National Committee meeting on Feb. 2 coincided with the launch of the 2025 People’s World Fund Drive. National Committee members personally pledged over $12,000 toward the $200,000 year-end goal.

The crisis facing mainstream mass media, particularly its inability (or refusal) to combat and accurately report the unfolding fascist Trump–Musk coup, is part of a broader multi-sided constitutional and democratic crisis.

The expansion of a vast right-wing media-propaganda ecosystem funded by fascist billionaires has misled and bewildered millions by disseminating disinformation, constructing information silos, and steering public discourse with lies, racism, misogyny, and xenophobia.

This is combined with the monopolization and domination of legacy media by a few oligarchs and the raiding of Wall Street hedge funds, which have hollowed out and liquidated traditional capitalist media.

Moreover, big business media is capitulating to Trump or overtly aligning with the administration’s authoritarian agenda out of fear of repercussions, even resorting to paying tens of millions in outright bribes, attempting to stave off Trump’s attacks. Meanwhile, it is normalizing the fascist threat, as well as racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and corruption, or neglecting to cover these issues, which are critical to the masses of people in the United States and globally.

The Trump attack on the media is straight from the fascist playbook: use state power to coerce the mass media into compliance, suppress independent voices, spread mass propaganda, and elevate right-wing media as state media and the source of “official news.”

These developments threaten Constitutionally protected bourgeois-democratic rights, as an independent and free media is a vital pillar and institution in any democratic society, whether bourgeois or socialist.

These developments are part of a new level of ideological warfare, or a “battle of ideas,” which is essential to the intensifying class and democratic struggle.

Defending the existence of a free press while championing an independent, pro-labor, pro-democracy, and anti-corporate media is vital for establishing a united front majoritarian alliance and executing the CPUSA’s strategic policy in these more challenging conditions.

The capitalist media cannot be relied upon to defend constitutional democracy and its existence. The pro-democracy alliance itself must establish its own independent, pro-democracy media ecosystem. This should occur alongside forming people’s struggle alliances (including in the electoral arena), strengthening organized labor, supporting grassroots immigrant defense committees, and collaborating with other mass democratic movements, the CPUSA, YCL, and the broader left. We are not alone in acknowledging this task.

People’s World and CPUSA provide essential platforms for resistance voices today. Our mission is to report on and amplify the growing people’s resistance and opposition at both national and grassroots levels, expose the ongoing Trump coup, and provide a radical alternative outlook in economic, political, and foreign policy areas.

It is enough to say that our challenge is not only to resist in this authoritarian and fascistic moment, but also to renovate and modernize ourselves as a multimedia platform encompassing print, podcasts, videos, and audio articles. We need to expand and enhance our coverage while deepening our Marxist-Leninist analysis. We must undertake this task in order to grow as a powerful alternative media voice that reaches new audiences, including those disillusioned, alienated, or swayed by the right-wing media ecosystem.

Therefore, we propose the following:

Our primary organizational challenge is achieving our projected $200,000 fundraising goal for 2025. This goal represents the gap between our operational costs and current funding.

In 2024, we raised about $180,000 under very challenging circumstances. We want to express our deepest gratitude to the CPUSA districts, readers, and supporters for their generous donations, which helped make the PW possible.

Therefore, despite the ongoing economic and political uncertainties, we are confident that we can reach a $200,000 goal this year.

We propose a concerted effort to raise $140,000 by May Day, and an additional $60,000 by the end of the year. Once again, we are confident in our ability to achieve this goal, as we have exceeded it multiple times over the past five years.

Fundraising will occur throughout the year, but we need to meet the majority of our overall goal by May Day. Monthly sustainers will account for a significant portion of the remaining funds, though we must plan fundraising events for the fall. The fundraising calendar reflects life’s natural rhythms and movements, acknowledging that it’s impossible to conduct a continuous, high-intensity fundraising campaign year-round.

District goals are crucial for achieving our national objectives regarding donations and new sustainers. In 2024, fifteen districts set goals, and thirteen of them were successful. In 2025, we need every district to establish their goals and plans in advance. Currently, New York, Michigan, and Maine have set their goals. We have established a deadline of February 24 for all districts to submit their goals.

We encourage districts and clubs to establish realistic yet challenging goals for donations and sustainers. As a result, they need to convene as soon as possible to assess their capacities, set both individual and group pledges, and develop concrete plans to achieve these goals, including fundraising from non-party readers and our allies.

Today marks the official launch of the drive. People’s World encourages National Committee members to lead by example through generous pledges. We also plan to establish a fundraising committee composed PW staff and key stakeholders to oversee the drive. Our plans include phonathons, regular appeals, the May Day digital greeting booklet, district events, and more.

I’ll conclude with a shout-out to PW staff writer and cultural critic Eric Gordon. Eric sets a fantastic example by taking individual initiatives to raise funds. Recently, he turned 80 and organized a birthday party, during which he raised $5,000 for People’s World. Eric successfully reached out to readers, friends, and family, garnering both large and small donations.

Although the rest of us may not be able to do exactly what Eric did, we can all do something to ensure the future of People’s World!

Image: Fred Barr / CPUSA

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