Texans Comment on Communism

Dear Comrades,

After much careful consideration, I have decided to make my application to the CPUSA. Although my political leanings have tended toward the left, my fear of the policies of our current disturbingly volatile presidential administration has functioned as a major catalyst in my decision to join a political organization. I have weighed the benefits and potential consequences of my actions, and have come the conclusion that the positives outweigh the negative.

In my opinion, the most beneficial of these "positives" is the knowledge exchanged through dialogue with like-minded individuals. As a Texan, most of my friends are, not surprisingly, of the right-wing persuasion--that, or they're unsure of their persuasion at all. However, I find myself in an interesting position in my social circle, one in which I'm able to discuss issues without projecting a threatening appearance. In short, for whatever reason, my friends do seem to listen to me.

I'm not certain what role I can play in the Party. For the time being, I am content to discuss political and economic concerns
casually with friends, but my desire is to eventually aquire a more active, possibly public, role.

--A Houstonian

I was a member of CPUSA a couple of years back when I lived in another state. I'm not sure if you have that on file or what. Consider this a membership renewal. Anyway I can get a membership card?

--Resident of a small Texas stown

Dear comrades,
I am originally from another country. I have always believed in the fact that, one day, we humans will achieve the
highest level of living; Communism. I think I can help you guys with communicating with communist parties and people from those parts of the world. We shall, one by one, increase in number, and prepare for that one big day.

A student

Jim,
I am still considering joining the CPUSA, now more than ever. However, I have a few questions and concerns. Is there any danger these days to members of the party? I mean, with the fear of terrorism, I'm concerned that my association with the Communist Party might jeopardize the safety of my family.

Is this a reality, or am I letting my letting my imagination get out of hand? It might seem like a dumb question, but oh well...
Thanks, Activist in Plano

//It's not a dumb question. I wish everybody would ask it. Frankly, I think half the people I know would join the party today if they weren't so afraid of their government.

During the 1950s, communists were harassed by the FBI and some employers caved in and fired them. I don't really know the extent, but it happened. In the case
of Hollywood film workers, it was very high-profile.

The laws used to intimidate communists have all been ruled illegal since then; and I don't know of anybody who has lost anything since I've been around (1984).

The Homeland Security and Patriot acts are giant steps backward in civil liberties, but even they don't say anything that would legalize harassing people for their ideas.

Nevertheless, most people are scared of their government and their government has given them plenty of cause. That is why many people participate in the progressive movement only to the extent that they feel comfortable. At one end of the spectrum are people who give anonymous donations of money. At the other end are people who stand up at press conferences and represent the Communist Party. Almost everybody is somewhere in between.

Just personally, I try to get everybody to get a subscription to the newspaper. To me, that's the first meaningful step, because the newspaper is how we find out what's important to work on. But we actually have donors who don't subscribe! I guess they read the web pages.

The main thing is to get to work; there's an emergency forming. Do what you can. Don't worry about feeling intimidated, everybody feels that way to one degree or another. At the same time, we can't just lie down and let them run over everybody.

I can call you one weekend if I have your phone number and if you want to talk further.
love & solidarity
Jim Lane in Dallas//

Jim,
I liked the page you spoke of. One of the problems people have when confronted with Communism is the terminology. There are too many terms that are too unfamiliar to them and are not used except by communists. proletariat and
bushuazi (I can barely pronounce it much less spell it) to industrialists, businessmen and employees. It would be more eagerly received by the classes you are trying to reach. Lets face it, to make communism work the semi literate
classes must be reached on terms they can deal with easily because most of their
time is spent on survival.

--Activist in Houston

//There's too much French being used. "Proletariat" is "worker," and that other word is "capitalist."// --Jim

Dear Jim,
...Thanks for your coverage of labor and the social justice movement in Texas. One reason that I continue to subscribe to PWW is because you do a good job of covering what's going on around the state. Keep up the good work.

I've actually been meaning to write you for some time. Last November, after the election, you wrote a brief article about the important role that Texas labor played in the ill-fated elections. While I agree that there was significant progress made by labor this year, I think the overall optimistic tone of your article needs some correction. Labor did do more, but there was so much more that needed to be done, and I'm not sure if labor's leadership understands this or is up to the task for making the changes that will be necessary for future elections.

One important element missing from the election work was the lack of a member-to-member strategy. What has made the national AFL-CIO political program so successful is that shop stewards take the message directly to those with whom they work. They give them information provided by the union, they talk to them about the issues, and they get them to the polls on Election Day. They also set up phone banks that allow activists members to talk directly to other members, and they mail information about the issues to members.

I didn't get the sense that this was done by the unions here in Texas. I think that business was pretty much conducted like it always has been. We sent a couple of mailings to members informing them whom the leadership was endorsing. Some unions did some phone banking. … Some unions sent recorded messages to-members; but my sense is that this was the exception rather than the rule.

I also don't think that the central labor councils did much effective work. Don't get me wrong, people worked hard. There was some leafleting at work sites, but not nearly enough, and there was some other mobilizing work done. But it looked to me like the main thing …was to make signs for candidates and put them up at polling stations on Election Day.

One of the things that seems to be missing is the lack of effective job site organizations. I don't get the feeling that most unions have a strong steward system…. A lot of the phone numbers provided for phone banking were inaccurate. If we were doing a good job of keeping in touch with our members, we'd know when they move or change phone numbers and make these changes immediately to our database. I have the feeling that the same may be true of other unions.

I a1so thought that labor's voter registration efforts were spotty and ineffective. In my city, voter registration work began late in the summer, and most unions didn't have any organized effort to register members. Coordination by the central labor council was non-existent.

I think that now is the time to start taking steps to correct these weaknesses. Local unions should work on building stronger organizations on the job. For example, unions need to lobby the Texas legislature during the session just starting. …I'd like to see unions have more workplace meetings.

It's difficult for people who work between eight and 12 hours a day to come to union meetings held at night or on the weekend. I think that regular lunch-time meetings should be held at all job sites. We also ought to be developing leadership at the steward or work-site level. A strong steward system would allow us to build better communications networks on our job, which will help us to mobilize members when we need to. Finally, we ought to bring back the Committees for Political Education at the local level. These committees could raise COPE funds but more importantly, they could do ongoing political education work among members.

Also it seemed to me that labor was too willing to take a back seat to the Democratic Party's state and local apparatuses. As a result, our main role was as sign builders and sign deliverers. We need to develop our own issues, educate our members, and mobilize them to support candidates who support us in actions rather than words.

In the long run our guiding principle should be to fight for socialism. But I'm a realist and know that that fight is not in the cards for now or for the foreseeable future. But what we can do now is to build a base for progressive political change and labor rights among those with whom we work. If we do this work right, it will payoff in some electoral progress in the future.

--A Texas union activist

Jim,

The web pageis lot more organized since the first time I saw it. The ABSOLUTE thing I found most important was the theory part. The best thing about this section, I thought, was the link to Dialectical Materialism. It was good because you didn't just throw some plain text under the link. It was very interactive. A lot of the times if there is something lenghthy text to read on the computer, it gets a little tiresome and your eyes start hurting. The pictures and animation made learning about dialectical Materialism simple and entertaining.

I think the theory part of the website is important for two reasons. First, a lot of people might just be looking at a communist site out of curiosity. And if they are anything like me, they grew up learning to have feelings against the "Evils of Communism". But what these people miss out on with that kind of mindset is how benevolent communism is. If they are surfing this site for whatever reason, maybe they will see this in the theory section. Secondly, it is really good for people looking to absorb as much knowledge as they can about the party and the theories that it is based on. Great job and I look forward to more great stuff on the website.

--Outside Texas

Jim,

My schedule makes it hard for me to interface with the rest of the world!! I appreciate your sending me emails, hopefully something I can participate in will someday fall on a Sunday or late Saturday afternoon! I really enjoy the web page and find it highly educational. How do I get a subscription to the People's periodical? Thanks for bearing with me.

--Ft Worth

//Bearing with you is no problem at all. Everybody who wants to help is important these days. I always try to get everybody to get a subscription. Send $20 to Long View Publishing, 235 W 23rd Street, NYNY 10011-2383.//

Jim,
I just wanted to say that the demonstrations you are taking part in are very important, not just for the innocents in Iraq, but also for the soldiers that will have to be taking place in the war. I read in the PWW, someone was quoted as saying
that it will be the working class that is fighting this war. It is absolutly true. The future is very uncertain, but it means a lot to me that not only fellow comrades, but many other people are fighting against this unjust war. Please continue in this appreciated action and keep in mind your comrade in the military service.

--an American enlistee

**

We had our butts kicked. (trade unionist in Dallas)

I am not sure that going along with the Democrats is the best strategy for
the Communist --or any-- political party. The Democrats have a failed ideology, and ideology that has lost its touch on more and more Americans. Americans are coming out of the Great Depression, perhaps at long last, and it is perhaps times for the Democrats to change ideology. Changing strategy doesn't appear to have any last result for the Democrats.

The Democrats appeal to what is base, to what is low, in the American people --the Democrats appeal to race, and say that this one or that one has more than you have.

...We should live Marxism, not just in caucuses and conventions, but in our
daily lives, living as role-models so that people will be drawn to our message. Not needlessly screaming, beating the wind as we box imaginary adversaries, but standing up, proud of the road Socialism leads.

Ms. Jackson Lee is not a role-model. To be like she is, to act as she does,
is to walk like the worst Industrial Revolution Era capitalist, to walk like
a slaveowner with Black skin.

The Democrats worship her, Establishment Unions reverence her, but that is
because she serves their interests, special interests of Grand Capitalist
Establishment. Why are we walking that tired road? Why are we turning our
backs on the sunrise that is Socialism and walking to the fading sunset of
the Democrat Party?

--(office worker in Houston)

Response from Jim Lane:
I wasn't aware that the Democrats only had one issue and I don't think the unions worship Sheila Jackson Lee. I, for one, really appreciate her vote against the Iraq war powers resolution. I think there were 8 Texans who voted against, and I believe all of them were re-elected -- some, like Lee, by big majorities.

Race is always an issue. Historically, the Democrats came to it pretty late, being the party of slavery. Communists, on the other hand, have always considered racism a primary division of the working class and one of the handiest tools of the capitalists.

**

"I look forward to information from all points in Texas about the elections just past and, more importantly, how deal with the future."...has made me want to respond to this forward (since i live in texas and have an idea of how to deal with the future)...and as always...my ideas are basic and may have already been discussed and/or addressed...but if you have time please give them some consideration...

i heard a statement the other day from some official govt agency that declared " 40% of the adult u.s. population reads below the official 'basic adult reading' level "...and i asked myself..." does that percentage have any bearing on american politics and/or culture in general ? "...and i believe the answer to that question is a very big YES...in trying to figure just exactly how it may impact political culture i started out with the u.s. voting age population total (which is approximatly the same as the adult working population) - 100 million...and using that as a 'bench mark' number to analyze the impact of the 'functionally illiterate' 40% the following occured to me...

the vap currently seems to be...for the most part...uninterested in 'participating' in u.s. politics...and your numbers demonstrate that -National turnout 37.6% 39% of voting-age citizens- for mid term elections...and a rough average of 50% turnout for presidential election cycles...which obviously results in an approximate 10% reduction in participation during 'mid-terms'...thereby giving a four year average of 45% participation...

evidently 55 million adults don't think that 'participating' in 'any' election is as important as surviving the daily grind of their existance...45 million adults think that 'participating' is as important as anything else that is dear to them...now...where in the hell do these functionally illiterate 40%ers fit in ? ...do they exist in one or the other...or both ?...of the 55 million that don't vote...do they 'not vote' because the are 40%ers or do they understand politics well enough to know who's doing who and don't want to be involved in such a thing ?...well...even if all the 40%ers were in the 55 million that do not 'participate' that would still leave 15 million 'non-participaters' reading at or above the 'basic adult reading' level...

most of the people i have met...and know well...who read at or above the basic adult level 'participate' in some way in politics...good, bad, or ugly...and for those that i have known who read above the adult level and who do not 'particpate' in politics dismiss it as a 'big boys' arena rife with corruption and graft...you know i'm not making this up...you've been there...from time to time i still work to support union represention on the job when it is...needed...and those who do not support the union usually do not 'participate' in politics either...and i have also noted that the 'hew and cry' of the union membership when a strike is brought up for discussion is more about loss and debt than it is about breaking the back of the company(et al)...what was it that i read once upon a time..."you have only your chains to lose..."...30 year mortgages...6 year auto loans...18.9+ apr easy credit ripoff...consumer debt mainlined straight to the family balance sheet...and labor contracts that only range from 2 to 5 years...that's the rub g...not only are 40% of the the vap functionally illiterate...almost all of them are in debt up to their ears! ...and if they are 'sole bread winners' the burden is even greater...30 to 90 days and they are virtually 'out in the street'...massive consumer debt has made the 'strike' a very risky business for the membership and nothing but a blip (in most instances) on the company's(et al) bottom line...

then...i had what i like to call 'a secular epiphaney'...well...for me at least : ) ...why would 60% of the vap (who read at or above the basic adult level) strap themselves with crushing debt ?...why would they voluntarily become virtual 'indentured servants' ? i really think that 'consumerism' and 'consumer debt' in particular are the greatest obstacle to the progressive movement of the masses...we are all 'indoctrinated' in one fashion or another to debt as children - watching our mothers and fathers struggle to pay the bills...as young adults - seeking to fund our education or our new family...and...as income increases - so too does our debt burden...and all along we are taught to believe that 'credit' is good and that running our books in the black is only for millionairs, misers and communists...being debt free for a number of years now myself i can honestly admit that i much prefer the challenge of 'saving' my largess rather than to sign my future off to some corporation for the use of their monies...i'm probably preaching to the choir here...but hear me out...two points...
#1 - how to teach an 'old dog' new tricks
#2 - how to teach a 'puppy' new tricks

#1
well...working within the inferred context of the 'old wives tale' concerning the 'old dog'...you CAN'T teach an 'old dog' new tricks...or perhaps it is excruciatingly difficult to do so : ) ...100 million 'old dogs'...what to do ? ...can they be turned from their 'debt addiction' ? the quickest way to get a junkie off of heroin is to give them something else to replace it...what the hell smells better than a new car when you drive it away for a small down payment ? yes...'what' indeed...maybe it's a peaceful day in the world with all the children fat and happy to be playing while mothers and fathers struggle to bring more peace and happiness into their family's lives ? i don't know...maybe it could be that there might exist a more easily influenced population group...approximatly 285 million u.s. citizens make up the total population...100 million comprise the vap...leaving 185 million u.s. citizens under the age of 18...who...by the way...posess a greater potential to read at or above the 'basic adult reading' level than the vap...

#2
the greatest hope for our world comes with every new born child blessed with the guidance and wisdom of attentive elders...the greatest crime in the world is allowing a child to exist within a world that offers little or no 'reasoned' and 'loving' guidance...in one way i admire you g for giving up your career in pedagogy over the issue of 'corporal punishment'...yet in another way i am unsettled that you gave up so much and lost the opportunity to demonstrate an alternate form of dicipline to the children as well...and it is because of your deep convictions concerning that issue (and others as well) that i wanted to bring this thought to your attention...'teaching puppies new tricks'...

welfare to work has created many intended and unintended consequences for the recipients and also the agencies that run the programs...one of the consequences (intended or otherwise) is the great need for daycare among the young single mother population...which can account for more dollars spent on daycare than dollars earned in the marketplace and unless subsidised in one way or another daycare would not be available and 'welfare to work' would create even more problems than it already does...so...for who knows how many hours of the day the children of 'welfare to work' mothers (and indentured servants) are often given over to virtual strangers and entrusted with their flower and future...that...my friend...is a crime...yet also an opportunity to bring hope to this world...

nadezdya krupskaya(?spelling) worked long and hard on her efforts to bring about an effective pedagogical program for her new nation and for the most part i believe that she was on the right track...and i also truley believe that if as much effort was afforded the pedagogical issue by american progressives as by krupskaya and the early s.u. we could possibly see some real changes in our lifetime g...volunteerism is like a drug for we 'progressives'...we do not function well without it...nor can this nation or world function without it...'progressive daycare' offered for free or discounted or for profit would go along way in solving the 'basic adult reading' level problem...it would also allow for community exposure to progressive education (something sorely lacking as you well know)...it could fill the need of an after school care facility...it could keep kids out of jail...it could recommend to working mothers and fathers progressive groups to help them deal with issues related to the workplace...public school...child rearing...debt elimination...etc...i don't know how many children are actually in the daycare environment...but to be sure...there are more than there ought to be...i have heard that cuba has a higher literacy rate than the u.s....what could they possibly be doing to make that a reality ? ...and as for dealing with the future...allow the promise to the huddled masses to be fulfilled...give the children an education that allows them to reason and contemplate...i strongley suggest that american progressives take this generation and the next in hand or suffer the consequences of ignoring this opportunity...and may king george the 'W' have mercy on our souls...

thanx for listening.
--(truck driver in Dallas)

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