ing up. This article sets forth What Is -New In The election campaign in the United States is warm- the considered views of. the Communist Party of the United States on the election. It r is the abridged text of a resolution adopted by the party’s HE political situation this year, in 1960, is not the i Same, by far, as in previous i election years. Despite all fh factors, which give a surface é Similarity, we cannot overlook (i the changed relationship of ‘i forces on a world scale and Ff : the increasingly unfavorable ft ‘ Position of world imperialism : and of U.S. imperialism in par- HM - ticular i a These are new factors cre ating political instability and ht Pressures for political re- 5 Sroupings which can greatly I Change the political picture. f No amount of surface unity 5 _ brought about for the purposes of the election campaign Should cause us to lose sight f Of these sharpening contradic- , tions. i In evaluating the two old- y ‘ Party conventions, and partic- i _ ularly the Democratic, it would | be incorrect to see only that » the deeply entrenched political - Machines, subservient to mon- / poly capitalism, dominated - these conventions, and nomin- ated candidates traditionally 8ssociated with reactionary foreign and domestic policies. Actually, to a-greater extent an ever before, there were WO powerful forces exerting Pressure on these conventions: a) the monopoly capitalists, With Governor Nelson Rockefeller as Spokesman, fighting to keep both parties in line with their Mperialist class interests and ied to a policy of continued Cold war and of -world-wide ‘nti~Communism; and (b) our own American peace advocates, the Negro people, € trade unions, the aged, the farmers, demanding peace, flvil rights, and other social “Sislation. The signature cam- Paign and demonstration at € convention for Stevenson, € peace marchers, the mar- ee | ' | | D.| midwest Independent their public | Voters League, : eet National Executive on August 7. ches and demonstrations for civil rights, the appearance of hundreds of progressives be- fore platform committee hear- ings, are without precedent in American politics. Though the reactionaries tri- umphed in the _ selection of candidates and in retaining firm party control, the plat-- form concessions they -were forced to make _ will haunt them throughout their admin- istrations, and can be made to stimulate a mass movement of tremendous proportions for- their fulfillment. | | Through every possible channel of struggle; we should strive to give a new, broad impetus toward the formation of a coalition of .the anti- monopoly forces leading in the direction of a new party repre- senting the interests of the common people. It must be emphasized that such a perspective will devel- op only out ef our participa- tion in the struggle of the peo- ple, and not out of agitational campaigns alone. There is widespread and growing discontent with : the old-party | machines. Those many labor, farm, Negro and progressive organizations like COPE, the New York Liberal and Insurgent movements, the Negro the rapidly growing Negro people’s move- ments in the South, the Cali- fornia Council of Democratic Clubs, the North Dakota Non- Partisan movement, and num- erous other local, state; and even national movements are embryonic parts of a new, broad, grass roots people’s pol- itical coalition. They will not at this mo- ment unite in a new political party. They will try this year in the main- to win their de- mands through Democratic or | MAGAZINE SECTION “slate. ‘independent candidates. But if they can now be drawn into struggle on issues to put pressure on the candi- dates . and-- Congress; it will speed up their disillusionment, and their readiness for inde- pendent and ‘united ‘political formations, We should strive to aid and encourage such devel- opments. * * * Under the ‘circumstances of this year’s campaign, with both |. the Nixon-Lodge and Kenne- dy-Johnson tickets basing themselves on cold-war posi- ‘tions of “military strength” or more billions for armaments— and- anti-Communism, and in the face: of a ‘widespread mass dissatisfaction with their past reactionary records; it would be an error of our party to in- dicate support for one ticket or’ the other, either directly or ‘| implicitly. Any idea that one candidate is a “lesser evil” than the other this year would serve only to retard. the develop- ment of mass political struggle around the issues of peace and social legislation. It would further the same sort of passivity and reliance on capitalist class politicians as followed the 1958 elections, and result. in defeats and disil- lusionment for the people. Only a sharply. critical atti- tude toward both the Nixon and Kenneey :. tickets, and an emphasis on. the need for struggle, can serve the people’s interests. * * * It would be an illusion to think that the people are go- ing to abstain from voting or sit-out this campaign. The car- ry-over of the FDR tradition, the social pressures exerted by the main trade union, Negro, aud farm leadérship, and the fact that they have “no other meaningful way to express themselves’ ,will cause most to support the Kennedy-Johnson this as fact if we-are-to fulfill our role of reaching and influ- ‘eneing. the people. Any other perspectives would be unreal, and would result in_our isola- tion’ from the broad masses of the~people. PT Ts necessary to emphasize’ ’¢hi§ faet because we, as Com- munists, must know where the | ‘people are to” be found, .and i -nedy and Johnson. | dates, to. fight on- issues: -. It is necessary to recognize | ee ar ae Vice? TWO CANDIDATES — ONE PLA ae cp aowe = > eixeee e +n 2s pg TFORM learn to work with them there, giving leadership and _ direc- tion in the struggle for their needs and interests. This does not mean that we, as a party, or as Communists, should endorse: the Kennedy- Johnson. ticket. On the. contrary we should be sharply critical of the past role on peace and social and labor legislation of both Ken- What we must clearly recognize is that the mass of the common peo- | ple with whom we must march forward—or stand _ still—are to be found in that camp. It means also that they are there because they have been influ- enced to believe. in. the plat- form commitments of ‘the Democrats. In those: election © districts where Communist candidates are on 2k 2k Today we place emphasis on the fact that mass develop- ments are rapid and decisive, here as well as abroad. Things are fluid. What seems true to- day may not be true tomor- of history will not be settled by the can- didates or platforms as we see now. It will be. deter- mined by the people in mo- | tion, as it was in South Korea, and Japan, Turkey, Cuba,/and now in the Congo. Think of the effect of the sit- ins in cur own Southland and the. nation-wide. supporting actions, of the demonstrations against the Un-American Act- ivities Committee in San Fran- cisco, of broad peace marches other mass movements across the. mountry. These developments demon- strate “the decisive ability of , the people in motion to affect including particu: | and. mold events in-our coun- , try, when the people take the pressing themselves < through | struggle into’their:-own hands. September 23, 1960—-PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5 Ge