Post by IBDaMann on May 29, 2019 21:13:42 GMT
Resolutions for the National Convention
BY:RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE| MAY 29, 2019
Following are the resolutions that will be presented to the National Convention for action. The first three will be presented during the workshops of the whole. The rest are listed in the order they were received. As stated in the guidelines, no amendments will be accepted from the floor, taking into account limited time and ability to develop full consideration by all delegates. Amendments can be proposed no later than June 2 at 5 pm EDT to resolutions2019@cpusa.org. Any amendments will be considered by the resolutions committee in consultation with the original maker of the resolution. The final group of resolutions to be voted on at the convention will be issued prior to the convention.
First Workshop of the Whole
A. THE U.S. WORKING CLASS, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND THE GREEN NEW DEAL
For over 150 years, fossil fuels – coal, natural gas, and petroleum – have provided the chief source of energy to fuel the industrial revolution, leading to unprecedented economic growth, technological advances, and improved standards of living. However, within the capitalist economy these positive changes have been accompanied by negative developments of similar magnitude.
Profit-driven extraction of energy-rich natural resources has led to despoliation and poisoning of the landscape in energy-producing regions; the energy industry, coal in particular, is stained with the blood of thousands of workers who died or were crippled by the reckless profit-driven methods of the corporate owners Actual wars have been fought to prevent workers from organizing unions to protect their lives and livelihoods.
Not content with squeezing hundreds of billions in profits from domestic fuel production, the U.S. energy trusts have directed U.S. foreign policy to enable their control of the energy resources of other countries, leading to imperialist wars and impoverishment of the citizens of those countries.
Not surprisingly, the megaprofits from coal, oil, and gas bankroll the family fortunes of the most reactionary, imperialist sections of the U.S. ruling class – the key social base for fascism and war.
Driven by the capitalist imperative of profit maximization, government policy has discouraged public ownership in general and promoted privatization even of traditionally publicly owned sectors such as education and prisons. Amidst the orgy of big business profitmaking, government at all levels has failed to maintain and modernize the nation’s infrastructure including roads, dams, ports, bridges, water and sewer systems, and the electrical grid. In fact, the American Society of Civil Engineers has given our infrastructure a grade of “D+”!
On top of the other harmful impacts of our society’s reliance on fossil fuels, it has for several decades become apparent that the generation of greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane in particular, are rapidly producing profound changes in the world’s climate. These changes include global temperature increases and changes in weather patterns with likely catastrophic consequences, including vast flooding of low-lying coastal areas, loss of much of the world’s icecaps, disruption of global agriculture, and spread of disease vectors to new parts of the planet.
At a conceptual level, a worldwide consensus exists that dramatic changes must be made in our economy if catastrophe is to be averted. But powerful economic interests, sections of the U.S. monopoly ruling class in the first place, are denying this reality as they “whistle past the graveyard.” In the face of this challenge, progressive forces in the United States, including new organizations of young people concerned about their futures in a warming planet, have begun to rally around the strategy laid out in House Resolution 109, the “Green New Deal,” sponsored by Representative Alexandria Octavio-Cortez and over 90 other members of Congress.
House Resolution 109 is a sweeping set of proposals that aims to:
Dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Create millions of good high-paying jobs
Make massive investments in the infrastructure
Secure universal access to clean air, water, food, and a sustainable
environment
Promote justice and equality for “frontline and vulnerable communities”
It constitutes a far-reaching and radical plan for economic reconstruction of the U.S., expansion of democracy, and major steps toward achieving a “just transition” to an environmentally sustainable economy.
As a congressional resolution, it is aspirational and if passed would not have the force of law. The actual implementation will require the passage of many new laws, just as the original Depression-era New Deal was implemented by separate laws on social insurance, labor rights, banking reform, public works construction, utility regulation, etc.
Not surprisingly, HR109 was greeted enthusiastically by the environmentalist community, with contemptuous hostility from the Republicans, and with skepticism from “moderates.”
Response from the labor movement has been mixed, with strong support from some unions and caution to hostility from some others, especially those with job bases in the fossil fuel industries.
Workers in the U.S. are rightfully wary of major structural changes in the economy; such changes typically mean the loss of thousands or millions of jobs, destruction of working-class communities, and unfulfilled promises to protect them.
And while HR109 does not address the environmental and fiscal impacts of military programs and activities, it is clear that the Green New Deal (GND) will require massive cuts in our nation’s wasteful and dangerous military budget.
The Green New Deal, while not a prescription for socialism, is an amazing set of advanced democratic and social programs, and it deserves the full support of our Party.
It is essential that the GND receive full and enthusiastic support from the entire labor movement.
Therefore be it resolved:
That the CPUSA wholeheartedly endorses the Green New Deal and will work to build political support to strengthen and implement it,
That we will work with unions, environmentalists, and other groups, and with the congressional sponsors of the GND to accelerate the introduction of far-reaching and effective legislation to expand and guarantee union rights and to provide a truly comprehensive safety net for workers and communities that will be affected by climate change and the measures taken to ameliorate it,
That we strongly endorse the call in the GND resolution for “strengthening and protecting the right of all workers to organize, unionize, and collectively bargain free of coercion, intimidation, and harassment,” and will work for legislation to fully implement these principles,
That this safety net must include guaranteed jobs or income at family-supporting union scale and comprehensive support to affected communities, goals that are already identified in HR109 – a model for such worker protection legislation could be found in Title II of Public Law 95-250, the Redwood National Park Expansion Act of 1978,
That the CPUSA supports a program to rebuild and modernize the nation’s infrastructure and housing, with an emphasis on expanding the public sector,
That we will work for sweeping reductions in U.S. military spending,
That we fully support the commitment of the GND “to promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of indigenous peoples, communities of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth,” and that we commit ourselves and our Party to working within these communities to advance the goals of the GND,
That the Communist Party USA participate in this national effort by developing a plan within our districts and clubs to connect the Green New Deal organizing with ongoing struggles in their neighborhoods and workplaces and sharing these experiences in the People’s World.
Submitted by the Labor Commission, Communist Party USA