The economic emergency & the class struggle (part 2) by Gus Hall This article was reprinted from the February 8, 1997 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits. (The following is excerpted from the report of Communist Party National Chairman Gus Hall to the CPUSA National Committee Jan. 25. Part I appeared last week.) One of the biggest hoaxes on the American people is that the economy is in great shape, that things have rarely ever been better, that our economic future is secure. Clinton's people recite over and over statistic after statistic to convince us that we never had it so good. But this is a tough sell to the many millions at the bottom of the economic life line. The nearly 40 million people who live in poverty are understandably suspicious of such claims. The 30 million who earn less than $7.50 an hour also find this hard to swallow. The millions who are part-time, contingent and contract labor are skeptical of the good news. The millions of workers whose paychecks have been stagnant or declining for two decades are also not yet ready to believe that they never had it so good. Mothers moving from welfare to workfare are not buying the notion that the U.S. is a fabulous job-creating machine. More of the real not-so-good news is that the economic gap between rich and poor is widening. The 20-25 year decline in real wages continues, a decline that is now steepest in the higher-paying jobs. All signs indicate the decline will continue in the new year. In spite of these facts, the Federal Reserve's Allan Greenspan, admitting we have just come through a long period of "small wage increases," warns corporate America: "the central bank sees a strong possibility of larger wage increases starting to fuel rising prices later in the year, which the Federal Reserve is determined to squelch." Greenspan always keeps his eye on corporate profits. He knows that keeping wages down means bigger surplus value, bigger profits. The number of jobs will continue to decline, including basic industrial jobs. There is no growth in public sector, civil service government jobs. There will be some increase in welfare-related "workfare," which will be non-union, below- poverty level, no-benefit, dead-end jobs. Appearance & essence It is true that the economy has been growing for the last two quarters. It is also true that overall unemployment is now at 5.6 percent, down from over 7 percent. So, on the surface it appears that the economy is in better shape. But we know that appearance is only one aspect of reality, which to the unsuspecting eye can hide and distort the inner essence of phenomena. Thus, we must penetrate beneath appearances to get at the underlying processes that are shaping the economy. If we do that we must say that neither cyclical or structural crises have been overcome. Economic reality We can also say that great imbalances and instability exist in the economy. We must also say that U.S. capitalism has NOT overcome the long-term slowdown in economic growth that overtook it in the early 1970s. There have been other moments when our nation's bourgeois economists claimed that the U.S. economy was entering a golden age. They did in the late 1920s, in the 1930s and again in the 1960s. But in all these instances deep crises followed. They were overcome only after the militant actions of tens of millions. I am not necessarily saying that a new economic crisis is knocking at our front door. But I am saying that it is definitely in our front yard. First of all, we haven't overcome the last crisis. Despite the cyclical upswing, many problems from the previous crisis remain unresolved. Wages lag behind production and profits, a gap that will grow wider, at least in the short term. And long-term layoffs continue unabated in nearly every sector of the economy. I can't resist the temptation to insert here a bitter irony of capitalist politics. New York Sen. Alphonse D'Amato's special Senate committee spent some $20 million and two years investigating the firing of seven White House employees. But not one penny was spent by any Congressional committee on investigating the downsizing of 40 million jobs. Laws & contradictions Our focus as a Communist Party has to be on the longer-term processes in the economy and the conditions of life of our class, our people. Capitalism has not overcome its laws and contradictions. They continue to operate, but in a new setting. Thus, while we should not ignore temporary and momentary shifts in the economy which are important especially in a tactical sense, we should not give them greater significance than they deserve. Nor should we lose sight of the main direction and underlying trends of the economy, for example, the new problems arising from processes like monopolization, conglomerization and privatization (see last week's issue). In practice, our focus in the months ahead should be on the economic issues and struggles: the fight for higher wages; organizing the unorganized; the fight against gutting welfare and food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security; the fight to save public education; the fight for the Martinez Public Works Jobs Bill. The fight for the Martinez bill is even more important with the passage of the welfare bill. The fight for public works jobs at union wages and with affirmative action is an offensive response to the massive cuts in welfare. This bill can potentially win the support of the majority if organized in a broad way. The building of a national movement to pass the emergency $250 billion public works jobs bill has now become a matter of life or death. Only the passage of this bill can prevent the massive hunger and homelessness in every area of our country, every sector of our people - Black, Brown and white - which will inevitably develop as a result of the cutbacks in welfare and the horrendous anti-immigrant bill. It is this economic reality that should weigh most heavily in our assessments of the economy, that should determine our political priorities and tactics, as well as our policy of working with the new trade union movement. Trade union movement We cannot develop a new policy without taking into account the new trade union policies and the new level of relations between the Party and the trade union leadership. There are two sides to these new relations. We should cultivate both. On the one side, it is possible to work with the trade union movement on the level of their struggles. On the other, it is necessary for the Party to conduct political and ideological struggles that are on a higher level than trade union struggles, even the more militant class struggles. It is true the new 1997 AFL-CIO program is strong, with a few exceptions. It will greatly increase the potential for political independence and lay the basis for a labor-led, anti-monopoly party. It is important for our party to do all we can to help implement this program. However, important as this work is, we must not allow ourselves to become consumed by trade union work to the point where we forget and neglect the "Communist plus" - our unique contribution in relation to the role of the working class, the class struggle, our approach to racism and the struggle for equality, capitalism and socialism. Thus, besides working with the trade union movement, the Party must conduct struggles on the level of the Communist plus. If we carry out our responsibilities in relation to the two sides there need not be any contradiction between them. A Communist can, simultaneously, be a good trade union leader, an advanced strike leader and at the same time an advocate of socialism, especially "Bill of Rights" socialism. It should be clear to all of us by now that there is a distinct decline in anti-communism, especially in the trade union movement, which makes it much easier to conduct all sides of the class struggle. However, this does not mean that workers are no longer afraid of losing their jobs, especially in today's circumstances of no job security at all. We have to change how we conduct our work in the new objective situation. Then, we have to put it into practice. Then, we have to study how we work, how we carry it out. We have to learn from experience. Trade union leaders are much more willing to work with Communists. However, we should not expect all trade union leaders to adopt all the policies of the Party. Most of the trade union leaders are not yet ready to become advocates of socialism. But, they will join with us on just about all questions related to the class struggle. We should be aware that workers in general, and trade union leaders in particular, evaluate our party based on what we contribute to the class struggle, what we contribute to tactics, to unity, to picket lines, to election campaigns. Workers will join the Party mainly on the basis of what we do to make their struggle more effective. We have to develop special approaches to winning workers to the Party. It takes more time to convince workers to join the Party because we have to win them to our politics and ideology. Communists & communities There is more than ever a desperate need for local, community organizing of the unemployed, homeless, hungry people and families. Millions more, including young children, are facing loss of welfare checks, food stamps, rent control, health care and continuing layoffs. They are facing hunger, homelessness, joblessness, illness. They are desperate and angry. And they are mainly unorganized in their communities. They would respond to a call for militant struggle and fightback of all kinds on a regular, daily basis. There is a crying need for forms that will bring people together to fight for the right to live and to work on a local level. Our clubs should immediately take steps to initiate the formation of such groups. People in trouble, in poverty and in a state of everyday crisis will respond to a different kind of organized, united, protest action that can win local struggles, and at the same time help people assert their will to fight. There is no organization better equipped to initiate, help form and build such new, working class kinds of organizations. We should take the same kind of initiatives to organize unity in struggle of the elderly and youth, farmers and agricultural workers. We should urge unions to initiate alliances between workers, farmers and agricultural workers. We should take initiatives in every struggle, wherever we are, to organize forms of struggle against racism on everyday issues like racist police beatings and killings, church burnings, anti-immigrant attacks, affirmative action, etc. Fight to win In addition to such community initiatives, we should help the trade unions, locals and central labor bodies to establish committees that will go out and organize struggles of the unemployed, hungry and homeless around immediate, often life-and-death issues. Many of the jobless and homeless were once workers and members of unions. All local Party club initiatives could start as just loose committees that gradually become more organized forms of united people's struggles on every day basic needs and rights. These local committees need not be in contradiction or try to substitute for the work of broad, national organizations in all these areas. They should complement them, add a local, militant, community-based struggle ingredient to each area. In fact, good relationships between the Party and national organizations should develop as one result of the Party's work. And it is just such club involvement in organizing people into protest action on immediate demands that can lead to the very best kind of mass recruiting. Such organizing initiatives will make it easier for the Party clubs to become actively involved and a part of the daily lives and activities of their communities - if possible, as an open, public, political party of working class and poor people united in struggle. Next Week: Part III - The Struggle for Equality and Working Class Unity _________________________________________________________________ Read the Peoples Weekly World Sub info: pww@igc.apc.org 235 W. 23rd St. NYC 10011 $20/yr - $1-2 mos trial sub PEOPLE BEFORE PROFITS!