Building the Anti-Monopoly or anti-WALL STREET or anti-1% Coalition

http://www.cpusa.org/party-program/#5a

from Communist PartyUSA Program, The Road to Socialism USA:Unity for Peace, Democracy, Jobs and Equality, with modifications by Charles Brown

 

U.S. capitalism is presently in the monopoly capitalist, imperialist stage of development, and in the transnational monopoly phase of that stage, with finance capital or WALL STREET at the head. 

Once the most reactionary ultra-right transnationals and monopolies, such as the Walmart and the Koch Brothers, who dominated political life for much of the last 30 years with the advent of Reaganism, receive a decisive defeat, it will be both necessary and possible to take on the transnationals as a whole; it will be possible to move on to the anti-monopoly, anti-Wall Street stage of struggle. Building an anti-monopoly , anti-1% coalition is the next key step in the road to socialism in the U.S.

The stage of radically curbing the power of monopoly as a whole will be more advanced than the current stage of struggle against the ultra-right. In the anti-monopoly coalition period, the peoples democratic forces will take on the transnational monopolies, WALL STREET, as a whole, not only their most reactionary sector.

In that future period, the strategic aim will be to radically curb the power of the transnational monopolies as a whole over the political, economic and ideological life of our country. To advance a serious effort to curb that power to a substantial extent will require a broad coalition of all class, including small business owners, and social forces whose actual interests conflict with those of the monopolies. It will need to embrace all the social movements and political tendencies who oppose these transnationals on some or many issues.

THE 99% COALITION; WE ARE IT.THAT'S WHAT'S UP

Such a coalition will build on the alliances and organizational forms developed in the current struggle to defeat the ultra right, the tea Republicans. Because the anti-monopoly coalition seeks to curb the power of all sections of the transnationals, it will no longer include the more flexible section of the transnationals and their political representatives. But that shift need not mean a narrowing of the anti-monopoly coalition. It must involve a great mass upsurge of millions. The coalition can broaden and deepen as sections of the objectively anti-monopoly strata shed illusions through the experience of struggle and the successful achievement of a major defeat of the ultra-right.

The core of this coalition must include our multi-national, male-female working class and its organized sector the labor movement, the African American people as a whole as well as Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, other Latino peoples, Native Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, and all other nationally and racially oppressed peoples, as well as women and youth. It is also possible to win other social forces whose interests clash with those of the monopolies, including people such as seniors, members of the LGBT community, the disabled, small business owners, family farmers, and self-employed professionals, as well as multi-class social movements such as peace, environmental, health care, education, housing, and others. All share with the working class the common enemy of monopoly power. All have a stake in radically curbing the power of monopolies and in seeking to win an anti-monopoly government.

An Anti-Monopoly Program

At a future stage of struggle when the anti-monopoly peoples coalition is growing and strong, that coalition will put forward a program of public policies and government practices. Struggles on many of these issues have already begun, and some may have won important victories in an earlier stage of struggle, which a developed anti-monopoly program will build on. As part of that coalition, the Communist Party will propose radical democratic demands aimed at curbing the political, economic, and ideological power of the monopolies. Our suggestions will include (unless they are already won at an earlier stage):

• The building of a mass peoples party capable of contending for governmental power, a party free of domination by any monopoly interests;
• Removal from the electoral system of the financial contributions of monopolies, to be replaced by public funding and guarantees of honest elections where each vote counts and all votes are counted;
• Replacing the foreign policy of preemptive strikes and dictating to the world in the interests of U.S.-based transnationals with a policy of international cooperation to solve problems of war and aggression, poverty, education, environment, health, and development;
• Full restoration and expansion of the Bill of Rights and all democratic rights; the complete separation of church and state;
• Full legal protection from hate crimes and racial profiling, and the outlawing of oral and written racist propaganda;
• Implementation of affirmative action and compensatory programs to achieve actual equality for the racially and nationally oppressed and women;
• Prevention of the freedom of monopolies to move assets in ways that harm workers and communities without full compensation; the guaranteed right to a job at living wages or full income through public works and public service jobs; the growth of public ownership of industries;
• Elimination of management prerogatives coupled with the expansion of workers and union rights to prevent socially harmful management decisions;
• Full funding for education, affordable housing programs, day care, Social Security, a universal health care program, youth job training and recreation programs, and cultural programs;
• Creation of a social fund starting at $200 billion to make up for past and continuing wrongs and to help achieve equality in facilities and infrastructure for communities of the racially and nationally oppressed;
• No taxes for workers and low and middle income people; progressive taxation of the wealthy and private corporations;
• Military budget slashed to a fraction of current spending; and,
• All media to be free of monopoly ownership.