EDITORIAL: Congressional elections matter

Peace-loving, working-class, progressive and left-minded people are commemorating the third anniversary of an illegal, immoral war this weekend. While mourning the thousands of dead and war-wounded Americans and Iraqis and worrying about attacks on democratic rights, everyday people are organizing and uniting to take the country back from the mean-fisted grip of the ultra-right and its corporate partners in crime.

In eight months we can elect a new Congress. A 15-seat change in the House and six-seat change in the Senate are needed to topple GOP control. The Democratic Party is crafting its election strategy, as is the GOP. What should the left strategy be for peace, economic justice and equality?

The Communist Party USA has adopted a strategic policy that emphasizes the necessity of defeating the ultra-right in order to move democratic and social justice struggles forward.

If the GOP loses control of Congress the field of struggle shifts to a more favorable landscape for workers, communities of color, women, youth, seniors and all struggling sectors of the population.

A recent MoveOn.org e-mail notes: “Taking just the House of Representatives, here is a small slice of who will be leading: Nancy Pelosi, a progressive, becomes Speaker of the House of Representatives; John Conyers, who forced a national debate on the Downing Street Memos, would be chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; George Miller, a big advocate for working people, would be chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and could bring a vote to raise the minimum wage.”

To defeat the entrenched, ruthless ultra-right, the CPUSA argues, the widest multiracial all people’s unity is required, with special attention to left-center unity.

What does left-center unity mean? Rather than attacking centrist Democrats for wishy-washy positions, it means looking for the center’s most advanced demands and working with those to build the broadest, most powerful united struggle. It’s possible to take back Congress in November but it’s going to take unity, struggle and vote protection to do it. The left needs to be deeply involved in that titanic battle.