Main Political Report to the National Committee

In delivering his main report to the national committee of the Communist Party today, party Chair Sam Webb described the Nov. 4th election as having "repudiated the old politics of fear and division, race- and red-baiting." "Election night was a magical moment," he said.

While Barack Obama won the broad support of a majority of all the people, African Americans, who have for decades been at the forefront of struggle for democracy and progressive change, deserve a special celebratory moment after this election.

The election itself signals the growth and power of the anti-racist majority. The election proved, said Webb, that "the struggle against racism and sexism in all of its ideological and material forms is as important to the whole working class and especially white and male workers as ever."

The GOP and its ideas are in shatters. The red-blue state and southern strategies that have focused on division and racism have failed, Webb added. The capitalist class as a whole has been weakened.

"A new era of progressive change is waiting ot be seized," he said.

The election "was a reaffirmation of the decency of our people and a mandate for change," he noted.

Yet the right-wing maintains an ongoing influence on Congress sizeable enough to block progress, and class realities persist, he continued.

Webb added that the communist movement should not promote efforts that divide the people's coalition and that ongoing struggle to build the movement and the majority for change should be our main focus.

Webb further pointed to the economic crisis and argued that recovery depends on the extent to which the new administration and Congress are willing to go in terms of direct government intervention in the flailing economy, consideration of public ownership over key industries like finance and energy sectors, its willingness to adopt a peaceful approach to foreign policy rather than militarism, the size of its stimulus package that directly benefits the working class, its willingness to pass workers rights and renegotiate unfair trade deals. Overall economic recovery depends, Webb said, on how much the government is willing to reconfigure itself and its processes in favor of the working class.

Our job, he stated, is to work on winning the biggest majority to support the best possible outcome in this regard.