http://peoplesworld.org/connecticut-communist-party-adopts-economic-bill-of-rights/
Special to the People's World May 16 2014
NEW HAVEN, Conn.-Messages from labor and community leaders,
participation by young people, and adoption of a Connecticut
Economic Bill of Rights highlighted the lively and powerful
convention of the Connecticut district of the
Communist Party on May Day weekend.
"It's time to turn up the heat," said Rev. Scott Marks,
recognizing the YCL and
New
Elm City Dream youth group who have been marching to end
violence with the theme "Jobs for Youth - Jobs for All." The
demands that the youth have brought forward have been adopted as
top priorities by the New Haven Board of Alders on which union
members and their allies hold a super majority.
Jennifer Graham and Jackie Marks, high school students
representing New Elm City Dream on the mayor's planning committee
to rebuild the Q House youth center, got loud applause when they
explained, "We wanted to bring the violence down. We marched and
campaigned for the Q House."
Local 34 Unite Here president
Laurie Kennington, Alderwoman Evette Hamilton and Hartford City
Council Minority Leader (
Working
Families Party) Larry Deutsch also appreciated the Communist
Party for always being there for working people.
The multi-racial and multi-generational gathering took stock of
the last four years and discussed how to win living wage jobs and
other gains to improve the lives of working people, unemployed and
youth.
"People are talking everywhere about how the system is broken.
They're looking for answers," said Joelle Fishman, who chairs the
Communist Party in Connecticut. "They see in the Communist Party
an organization that is part of the working class, part of them.
It's a big responsibility."
She said Connecticut has bucked national trends in elections
because of labor's grassroots organizing on issues and fielding
union members as candidates. This has resulted in the ability to
expand the right of workers to organize, take major steps towards
protecting the rights and safety of immigrants, and increased
protections on the job. It has also made the state a target of
extreme right-wing organizations that are spending huge sums to
try and recapture the governor's seat and Congress in November's
elections.
Participants cheered as the story was told of how 4,300 low-wage
women home child care workers, mostly African American and Latino,
won the right to collective bargaining at the state legislature.
Once Governor Malloy signed the bill into law, the workers chose
SEIU to
represent them and successfully negotiated their first union
contract.
Highlighting that and other Connecticut "firsts" including paid
sick days, raising the minimum wage, same day and on-line voter
registration, drivers license and in-state tuition for immigrants,
and a Futures Commission study for economic conversion, Fishman
decried the fact that Connecticut is also first in income
inequality. She called for immediate steps to make Connecticut
first in ending inequality, such as taxing the incomes of the top
1% at a higher rate equal to the rate the 99% pay.
Delegates old and new embraced a culture of organizing has led to
steady growth of the Communist Party and YCL. After hearing
presentations from the North Main club in Hartford which is known
for holding the civilian review board accountable for police
conduct, and the Newhall club in New Haven which is organizing
door-to-door on the issue of jobs, the convention broke down into
small groups to discuss how the work of their clubs makes a
difference in their communities and why the Communist Party is
needed to give people a voice and a vision.
"We wake up the neighborhood to act when there's a problem," said
one group emphasizing use of the People's World in the community
to get out the news from a working-class point of view.
"You are active in your community, which is what you should be
doing," said national vice chair Libero Della Piana, who added
that the
national
convention will provide a venue to share experiences from
around the country and to hear from international guests. Placing
the struggles in a bigger perspective, he warned of the dangers of
extreme right-wing voter suppression and big spending to try and
gain control of Congress and state offices in 2014.
The convention adopted a Connecticut Economic Bill of Rights that
proclaims a living wage job with the right to a union, housing,
health care, education and a peaceful, sustainable environment are
basic human rights. While stating "fully ending inequality needs
socialism," the document details immediate local and national
demands to tax the rich and move money from military spending to
infrastructure repair and people's needs.
The convention also adopted a resolution encouraging voter
education and participation in voter registration and voter
turnout efforts for November's election. A delegation of 25 was
elected to represent the state at the 30
th national
convention in Chicago next month.
"The Connecticut YCL youth are incredible," said Lisa Bergmann
who co-chaired the convention and is an organizer for the YCL
nationally. They march, they chair meetings and recruit new youth
to join them. They are making a qualitative difference in the
lives of youth in Connecticut and inspiring the whole movement."
Following the convention, a People's World May Day tribute to
Pete Seeger and Amiri Baraka was held upstairs in the sanctuary of
the First and Summerfield Methodist Church, site of countless
union rallies and mobilizations. The public event featured folk
music, rhythm and blues, spoken word, Latin American New Song and
a slide show of May Day Around the World.
