Here is an interesting item from The Mercury News:
SACRAMENTO—Sen. Alan Lowenthal thinks it's about time that California removes some of the last vestiges of the Cold War from its laws.
The Long Beach Democrat has introduced a bill that would scrap statutes allowing teachers and other public employees to be fired for being members of the Communist Party.
The measure, scheduled to be considered Wednesday by the Senate Education Committee, also would drop a requirement that representatives of organizations seeking to use school facilities sign a form stating they do not have communist affiliations.
Lowenthal said the measure would drop old laws that were adopted at the height of the Red Scare following World War II and that have been found unconstitutional by the courts.
"Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the threat between us and communism just isn't there...," he said in an interview. "They are not a danger to our liberty, and the courts have uniformly said that."
Further into the article, the California lawmaker argues for keeping portions of the statute that ban advocacy of the violent overthrow of the government. A spokesperson for the senator pointed out that the Communist Party rejects AND denounces the use of violence and terrorism. Thus prejudicial laws that targeted Communists or anyone for perceived political beliefs are outdated.
The US working class has learned from its history in the civil rights movement, workers' struggles for unions, and in other advocacy struggles for rights, the environment, health care, and more, that violent tactics are not successful and are morally questionable. Instead, they give the authorities a basis on which to respond in a violent manner, to divide the people, and to set progress back.
Militant struggle does not mean violent struggle. Building broad coalitions of different communities and forces for social progress, direct non-violent action, peaceful but loud and colorful street protests, lobbying and election campaigns, boycotts and strikes, town hall forums and teach-ins, sit-ins and civil disobedience, and letter-writing are preferred tactics of struggle by most progressive groups of all political stripes.
