Take It Back to the Grassroots

“I hope that everyone who reads the People’s Weekly World gets this pamphlet in their hands,” said Joelle Fishman, chair of the Communist Party USA Political Action Commission. “And if they’re inspired by it, take more copies to share with their family, friends and co-workers.”

Fishman was referring to “Take It Back to the Grassroots: A New Direction for 2007,” recently issued by the CPUSA in both Spanish and English. It is important for two reasons, she said.

First, many people who were excited by the 2006 election victory were hoping changes would occur much faster with the new Congress, and some could become demoralized.

“This pamphlet offers hope because it shows that we are winning,” she said. It puts developments in the context of “the balance of forces in the country today,” including the fact that Democrats “have only a razor-thin majority in the Senate and not a large enough one in the House to completely overcome the extreme right-wing dominance or influence.”

Its other importance is that it is a call to struggle, Fishman said. “What happens on the ground, in communities, workplaces and unions from coast to coast, is going to determine our ability to completely break loose from the right-wing stranglehold in 2008.”

The struggles around immigrant rights, the right to union representation, single-payer health care and ending the Iraq war will shape the presidential debates, she said.

Communist Party members who have distributed the pamphlet say it has been very popular. People take it, and then, after they’ve read it, ask for more to give to their friends, co-workers, or other members of their union local.

“We hope that they will also see it as a useful tool, not only for themselves, but for others,” Fishman said. “We’re looking forward to all kinds of feedback.”

“We also hope that the pamphlet sparks activism and interest in the group that put it out, the Communist Party,” she added.

To get the pamphlet, e-mail Sam Delgado ator call him at (646) 437-5304.