People's World Amistad Awards 100th Anniversary Special Recognition

100th Anniversary Special Recognition

Response by Joelle Fishman, chair, CT Communist Party USA

Thank you so much for all the love and respect, it is very moving and humbling. I am very proud to be the standard bearer for recognition of the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party. But it is not about me, it is about all of us. Each and every one giving what they can and becoming stronger and better in the process.

One of the things that pulled me into the Communist Party was the people. There was no other place that was multi-racial, and multi-cultural. There was no other place that had the strategy and tactics to take a principled stand and at the same time to build the unity necessary to win. There was no other place that was like extended family caring for each other, listening and learning from our experiences together, in the quest for a better world.

So I want to deeply appreciate all of the comrades all of the friends all of you who have stood up and are standing up together in the face of hate, racism, bigotry, family separation, in the face of extreme exploitation of workers and planet and attacks on the right to organize and the right to vote -- the right as Singhbe Pieh said TO BE FREE.

There is so much in a 100 year history. I was wondering what to cover in a few minutes . I could never have imagined as a young woman, joining the Communist Party in its 50th year, that I would be standing here today having participated in half of its proud century of struggle.

I could never have imagined the tremendous challenge we face in this moment when all that has been won and all of the future is on the line. And I am so appreciative that at a time like this the Communist Party is part of the political landscape with it's vision and legacy of building worker power, unity and solidarity.

In essence, the Communist Party understands class struggle as the motive force for change. Our country's beautiful, diverse working class of all races, nationalities, genders and ages is the heart and soul of moving the arc of history toward justice.

The Communist Party has been demonized throughout our history. The C word is the victim of tons of fake news. The reason is pretty simple: With a vision of equality, a vision that those who create the wealth make the decisions, the 1% has everything to lose, and the working class has everything to gain.

So tearing down anti-communism and red baiting is not just about the Communist Party. It is about raising up the entire movement for social justice and realizing what is possible if we join together.

Red baiting, racism and union busting are all tools of the boss. They all keep workers divided and afraid. They have to be fought together because an injustice to one is an injustice to all.

In 1974 I was drafted to run for Congress on the Communist Party ticket. We coined the slogan "People before Profits". The program to stop plant closings, for publicly owned utilities, equal education and ending the war in Vietnam got a lot of traction.

Some people said, "If you run as a Democrat you would win." Even though I was not elected it was a winning campaign in a different way -- we were building a movement and breaking down the fear that held people back from engaging on their own behalf. After running five times, in 1982 our People before Profits campaigns were credited with changing the political climate. Instead of a war hawk businessman, voters in the 3rd District elected a legal aid lawyer.

In the early years Communists led many massive movements for social security, unemployment compensation, unionization of industry, voting rights, opposing lynchings and jim crow segregation, fighting fascism in WW II, standing against white supremacy and for equality. Al Marder and my mother Edie Fishman, who are here today, were part of that.

I would like to reflect on some experiences from the second fifty years, as significant and momentous as the first. Opposing Apartheid in South Africa, winning the freedom of Angela Davis, building industrial concentration and organizing new sections of workers, building Communist Party neighborhood clubs, defending the rights of immigrants, LGBTQ rights, marching against nuclear weapons and for conversion to peacetime production, coalescing with labor against the Iraq war through Connecticut Opposes War, building coalitions to tax the rich and cut the military budget and for jobs for youth, jobs for all.

We defied those historians who falsely claimed that capitalism is the end of history. How could capitalism be the end of history when there is so much hunger and homelessness in the land of plenty?

In the 1980s in Hartford Brian Steinberg organized weekly door to door distributions of the People's World in neighborhoods of the racially and nationally oppressed. Ordinary families became engaged and continue to this day. This laid the foundation for many people's victories. We appreciate you Brian.

The Hartford comrades helped win a civilian review board, helped organize the hospital workers union 1199 in Hartford and Waterbury, helped win a history making strike at Colts firearms, served in various posts during the tenure of the great Mayor Carrie Saxon Perry and replaced the Republican minority on City Council with People for Change and then Working Families Party.

In New Haven, our Winchester Club grew out of the Committee to Free Angela Davis.. In the 1979 strike Craig Gauthier engaged community and labor support that forced the company to settle. He ran for union president but didn't win. The boss told the white skilled workers not to elect a Communist and an African American. Craig ran again. This time he talked to the skilled workers first and convinced them that their lot was with the rest of the workers in the plant, not with the boss. He won that election and Victory Lodge 609 IAM became a strong force in the shop and community.

These early experiences were drawn upon in many strikes and organizing drives across Connecticut from Pratt and Whitney to Circuit Wise to healthcare workers to Local 34 at Yale which broke ground as the first clerical union at a major private university. Now New Haven Rising has taken this to a whole new level, developing Black and Latino leadership while demanding Yale Respect New Haven.

When Ronald Reagan destroyed PATCO airline pilots union, workers in the Communist Party across the country helped create "fresh winds" coming out of the repression and union busting of the 1950's. Scores of train cars and buses from Connecticut traveled to Washington DC for Solidarity Day to uphold workers' rights. It was the first such mobilization in decades.

Ten years later Bridgeport was the first city in the country to go bankrupt. Communists in the labor movement helped organize a march with Jesse Jackson to "Rebuild America - Keep Hope Alive." I remember wearing a sign "Tax the Rich" during the entire week walking from Bridgeport to Hartford.

Tax the rich was a unifying slogan that led to the Coalition to End Child Poverty. How outrageous the richest state had the highest child poverty. We called for a 2% tax on the portion of income above $250,000 for children's needs.. Union and community groups signed on. They were tired of being pitted against one another in the various Governors' budgets. That struggle continues to this day.

Youth poverty led to scores of young Black men tragically killed in street violence. The YCL helped form New Elm City Dream and brought the cry for Jobs for Youth Jobs for All to the newly elected Board of Alders, many were union leaders. This contributed to the jobs pipeline victory from Black and Latino neighborhoods to permanent employment at Yale.

We came together statewide for the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride. Large immigrant led May Day marches were organized out of the Peoples Center. These actions helped build broad support for the drivers license, access to student loans, the Trust Act, and now direct action to stop deportations.

These very People's World Amistad Awards have been a part of building worker power, unity and solidarity. In 2010 John Olsen, then CT AFL CIO president, accepted the award. He made national news on right wing TV for "accepting an award from the Communists." John was very clear: "They walked with us on every picket line. I am proud to accept the award."

Today, we are challenged to stand up together as never before to stop the dangerous anti-democratic attacks at home and abroad led by the Trumpites and demand basic human rights:

health care is a human right

housing is a human right

quality equal bi-lingual education is a human right

living wage jobs with a union is a human right

an end to mass incarceration is a human right

an end to gun violence and police misconduct is a human right

immigration is a basic human right

gender equality is a human right

a sustainable and peaceful environment and world is a basic human right

voting is a basic human right

We have many voices, and one struggle.

As we build a growing resistance to defeat cruel and vicious Trumpism the "triple evils" of capitalism described by Martin Luther King Jr -- greed, racism and militarism -- are in clear view for everyone to see. It's time for something better. People around the world are rising up for their own destiny.

Impeach Now or Dump Trump in 2020 is our immediate mission, but it is just the beginning. Our society needs to be restructured with a Green New Deal to address climate change with public works jobs, guaranteed income, healthcare and investment in front line communities instead of war.

Yes, the Communist Party agrees that socialism's time has come. Those who create the wealth should decide the priorities.

In the words of the great poet Langston Hughes:

I been starvin' too long,
Ain't you?
Let's go, Revolution!

People, Peace and Planet before Profits. (chant)