People's Democracy

Greetings from the Communist Party USA To The 19^th Congress of the CPI(M)

On behalf of the Communist Party of the United States we extend warm and comradely greeting to the Communist Party of India-Marxist on this great occasion. Your party�s fight on behalf of India�s working class, women, farmers and exploited is an inspiration to us. We greet you warmly for your pro people path of development in the states ruled by communists and left in India. We greet your successes in the recent Tripura elections and incredible turnout � with a majority of women! We greet the building of struggles against rightist forces that divide people in name of region and religion. Your party has a proud history and bright future.

Our delegation left the United States in the midst of a tremendous political upsurge fueled by the working class and people�s rejection of the Bush administration and its agenda. This is an electoral upsurge never seen in our recent history. Democratic turnout has been twice the size as Republican. Across the country people are hungry to rid the White House of a Republican resident and to increase the size of the Democratic majority in Congress. We are cautiously optimistic that come November the Republicans will be defeated in a landslide, setting the stage to make real an end to the Iraq war, a less-belligerent foreign policy and economic, health, education, environmental and social policies that favor people instead of corporations. This surge has no counterpart in recent decades. Its breadth and depth are remarkable. Its politics are progressive. It�s framing the nation�s political conversation. It rejects the old racist and sexist stereotypes that have stained our history, divided our people and compromised our moral sensibilities. It is a mass rebellion against the policies of the Bush administration and the whole era of right-wing domination and division. And it is seeking a political leader � one who gives priority to working class issues, appeals to our better �angels� and visualizes a country that is decent, just, united and at peace with the rest of the world � a country that measures up to the full meaning of its creed, to borrow a phrase from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. The enthusiasm and energy of this upsurge are simply breathtaking. In every place where people gather � the kitchen, the workplace, the church, the synagogue, the mosque, sports events, the community center, school campuses, the coffee shop, and not least the local pub � all of them and more are sites where the elections, the candidates, the primaries, and the issues informing them are the subjects of conversation. The fueling of this upsurge are the bankrupt failed policies of the neoconservative Bush administration. Seventy-five percent of the American public says the country is headed in a wrong direction and some 70 percent are against the war. The working class, students, women, nationally and racially oppressed, immigrants and others are in motion. Our Party has been in the midst of this electoral upsurge. It�s an upsurge which may be new to many on the Left in our country. Upsurges have been known to take place around issues, like the war, but this one is different centering itself in this Democratic primary race between two possibly history making candidates � the first woman or the first African American president.

Voters are seeing that in order to totally change course from where the Bush administration has brought us that it is necessary to participate and mobilize in the electoral arena. The Iraq war, economic insecurity and need for universal, affordable health care are top issues for the voters.

The horrendous costs of the Iraq war � in Iraqi lives, U.S. soldiers and the taxpayers money � right now at half a trillion dollars. Some economists project the real cost of the war monetarily is much higher. It could reach 3 trillion dollars. That would include the costs of taking care of the some half-a-million physically � and mentally � wounded soldiers.

The Republican John McCain is much like Bush on international and domestic policies. He even said the U.S. would stay in Iraq 100 years if necessary.

The neoconservative project of unbridled American military power is in crisis. The dream of a single world super power is in shambles. Hegemony of U.S. finance capital is ending. The war, instability and militarization brought on by the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq has left the U.S. ruling circles more isolated internationally than ever. And at a time when the U.S. economy is faltering and is in need of global capital infusion to its banks.

The economic polices of shifting greater and greater wealth to corporations and the super rich have contributed to this current capitalist economic crisis, which some say is the worst financial crisis since WWII. It�s a reflection of the crisis of U.S. economic hegemony. What started out as a crisis in the U.S. housing industry has gone into many sectors of the economy now in the U.S. and not just limited to our shores. Jobloss is up, wages are down, food and gas prices are soaring, and families are losing their homes and saddled with high debt. Meanwhile the Bush administration gives billions to the banks and investment firms to bailout the same institutions that helped create the crisis with their inexhaustible drive for maximum profit. The failure of U.S. finance is roiling the whole world and threatening a serious economic world crisis. There can be only one place to point the blame: U.S. imperialism and its insatiable profit drive. And there can be only one way to stop it: unity and struggle. And U.S. Communists take our responsibility to fight U.S. imperialism seriously. I like to say that we aren�t anti-American, we are anti-imperialist Americans. So this people�s upsurge in the U.S. comes not a moment too soon. Not only to push for economic relief for millions of working class families. Not only with ending the war in Iraq. But to turn the U.S. foreign policy around. To use diplomacy to bring about stability to the war-torn Middle East � starting with a Palestinian state�a two-state solution and an end to the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. In Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and Caribbean and North America, these post 9/11 years have been full of U.S.-supported war, torture, terrorism and violations of international law and human rights. This hopeful movement and potential turnaround comes not a moment too soon. Our planet faces dire environmental situation � climate chaos � or global warming � in the first place. Poverty, disease, violence and all forms of inequality and oppression are worsening the chances for human survival. The struggle to rid the world of nuclear weapons � from the U.S. in the first place � is still as urgent as ever. Unity and struggle are the watchwords of today. The Communist Party USA is fighting for unity of our working class and people against the far right forces of imperialism, neo-liberal globalization and militarism. We stand with the Communist Party of India-Marxist in our mutual struggle for peace between our two countries and people. We stand with you�against U.S. imperialism�s pressure to force India off an independent foreign policy path. We stand with you in solidarity in our great vision and mission summed up in the simple phrase: �Workers and oppressed of the world, unite!� Long live the Communist Party of India-Marxist!