NEW YORK—The midterm elections are well underway, with Democrats, Republicans, independents, voters in all categories, the major media, and many others deeply involved in them. Every day, more people are jumping into the battles.
Tonight, for example, Republican voters in Texas will determine whether their candidate for U.S. Senate is John Cornyn, a life-time backer of right-wing politics in general, or instead, Ken Paxton, another right-winger, only this time one with a criminal record and the backing of President Donald Trump.
It is no exaggeration, Communists argue, to say that the results of the November races could well determine the main direction of the country for many years to come. On Saturday, May 23, the Communist Party USA held a nationwide meeting of its members and allied activists to map out their approach to the midterms.
Joe Sims, the party’s co-chair, noted that the CPUSA will be doing two important things: It will, as it has already done, enter coalitions with pro-labor and allied forces to back candidates committed to pro-working-class politics. In other cases, the party will run Communists for public office who will also seek support from the broad coalitions they’re involved with locally.
When it comes to joining with others in coalitions to fight MAGA, Sims noted that the ground is fertile. He pointed to the growing strength of anti-MAGA movements like No Kings that support candidates willing and able to challenge the right wing.
In Philadelphia, for example, a broad coalition of forces united to back Chris Rabb, who ran for and won the Democratic nomination for an open congressional seat. He will be part of what is hoped will be a new anti-MAGA majority in the House of Representatives next year.
In New York state and in Minnesota, party members have been elected to local positions where they put forward alternatives to the anti-labor, anti-working-class approach of right-wing lawmakers. The same is true in Maine and many other states across the country. In another state, a party member will run for a seat on a city council this year.
Another aspect of the party’s work in the midterms will be to “put the pressure on.”
“As we’ve said many times before, without mass pressure, centrists and liberals will always move to the right,” said Sims in his opening remarks Saturday. “Over the last year, the people’s movement has vocally expressed its discontent with how many of our elected officials were responding to the MAGA crisis, and it has had an impact. There’s no question about that. And in this regard, we say, ‘Keep the pressure on,’ because without that pressure, all bets are off.”
Sims noted that when it comes to the midterm elections, the CPUSA “is increasingly a visible public force in anti-MAGA movements and coalitions around the country. And we can proudly say our clubs and members have been there from jump street in marches and rallies across the country.”
This particularly applies in cases where the party runs candidates in its own name. The candidates often have long histories of involvement in the day-to-day struggles of movements in their communities. They don’t just appear during election campaigns and then disappear afterward.When it comes to working in coalitions, Sims noted that the party is an acknowledged member of coalitions in a number of major cities, among them D.C., L.A., Chicago and NYC. He noted, on the positive side for CPUSA, that “anti-communism has less and less of an impact.”
When it comes to the upcoming elections, however, Sims noted that the party faces a huge task. “We have a helluva fight in front of us. The fascist danger is stalking the land. And they’re taking big strides…. And they’ve been given carte blanche by the ruling class to do whatever they want. Total immunity. And it’s not just the Supreme Court. It’s the IRS as well. Not only will there be no further investigation, but they created a $1.8 billion slush fund of taxpayer money” for Trump loyalists. “And this includes, the January 6th coup plotters.”
Sims took issue with the Louisiana decision by the Supreme Court to disallow African American representation in the deep South, effectively disenfranchising millions of Black voters. He noted that during the midterms there are already some 20 Congressional districts at stake.
That means that for the CPUSA and for the coalitions in which it will be involved, the need is to battle what amounts to an attack on the entire working class. “The right to equal representation is gone; affirmative action out the door, abortion rights finished. And mark my word, the right to collective bargaining is next. When 20 African American seats are lost in the U.S. House, that means 20 votes less for the PRO Act; 20 votes less for Social Security; 20 votes less for health care or enforcing the Voting Rights Act. It’s 20 votes less for civil rights for children, and yeah they got rid of that, too, with the dismantling of the Department of Education.”
Sims did not stop with laying out what is stake on the domestic front. He also raised the alarm about what is at stake around the world.
“And then of course, there’s the lawlessness of MAGA imperialism, its wanton murder of people on the high seas, its kidnapping of presidents, the waging of war against 11 countries, their support for the Gaza genocide, and now indictment of Raúl Castro. This is what is at stake in November.”
The important thing to remember, Sims said, “is that we cannot stand aside during these elections. Standing aside is capitulation to fascism.” Sims quoted the historic anti-fascist Georgi Dimitrov, who said, “Those who do not fight fascism in its preparatory stages in fact facilitate its growth later.”
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