But in the main, anger was directed at the insurance companies, Wall St. Yes, anger was expressed at Democrats who have not stood their ground. It was about activating a grass roots base to fight and win the best reform possible. Nor was the message about drawing a line in the sand around the most militant or advanced demands. The message coming from these rallies was not “let’s go after the President” or “let’s go after the Democratic Party.” Instead, the message given was the people need relief and we expect Congress to deliver. The more it is activated, the greater the potential for victories. This is the people’s movement from which progressive change will come. The rallies were organized around jobs, health care reform, immigration reform, peace, clean energy and more. The movement that came together to elect the President needs to kick it up a notch or two.Īnyone who attended the recent nationwide rallies organized by labor, healthcare and a broad array of women’s, peace, environmental and other people’s organizations would have witnessed a new level of activity and organizational unity. If the right succeeds in their efforts to block even the smallest initiatives, it will be a horrible setback with possible severe consequences. The attacks on him are growing in their viciousness. The President is in the bulls-eye of racist, anti-labor, anti-people forces who wish to maintain the status quo. It gave hope and set in motion a broad grouping of people’s organizations, labor in the first place, that began to challenge the dominance of the Republican far right and its anti-people ideology. We began to reverse that deteriorating climate with the election campaign and victory of Barack Obama. If that had been the case, the ascension of the far right to positions of power from the 80’s on would have resulted in major victories for working people. To read other contributions to this discussion, visit the site of the Pre-Convention Discussion period.Īll contributions to the discussion should be sent to for selection not to the individual venues.For more information on the convention or the pre-convention discussion period, you can email am not one who thinks a deteriorating political climate will open more opportunities to advance a left agenda.

All contributions must meet the guidelines for discussion. takes no responsibility for the opinions expressed in this article or other articles in the pre-convention discussion. This article is part of the discussion leading up to the Communist Party USA’s 29th National Convention May 21-23, 2010.

Kick it up a notch