-‘Avote of confidence by history’:

of the Communist Party, the |
growth of Party, including the —

inner-life of the Party, must not be —
seen in an internal, sectarian way,
not as something separate from ~
the broad movements, but must —
be seen as closely tied to them and —
in a sense within them.”’ 4

By TOM MORRIS

DETROIT — Almost 400 dele-
gates, hundreds of guests and ob-
servers took part in the 22nd
Convention of the Communist
_ Party of the United States here,

Aug. 23-26 and heard a ringing
call for action to build the Party
into a mass party to measure up to
the potential of the moment.

The main report by general sec-
retary Gus Hall (who was absent
from the convention due to ill-
ness) contained 19 sections deal-
ing with national, international,
and specific topics.

It began.by speaking of the vic-
tory achieved on this 60th an-
niversary of the CPUSA in hold-
ing its convention’ in
municipally-owned Cobo Hall.
“Our being here is a bouquet of
approval and a vote of confidence
by history,’ Gus Hall said. And
confidence was the convention’s
theme.

America’s Changing Mood

The report delt extensively
with the changing mood of
Amenca: ‘‘This is one of those
moments when a number of
developments and movements’
are building up a head of steam,”
Hall said. ‘‘What adds a special,
critical quality to these develop-
ments is the fact they are taking
place simultaneously — converg-
ing like whirlwinds moving in the
same direction, creating a politi-
cal force that can grow into hur-
_ ficane proportions.”’

_ Hall told of a government in a
vide for thé needs of the majority
of its people. ‘‘ There is a continu-
ing deterioration in the overall
Structural framework of the
U.S. ... the quality of life con-
tinues to decline (and) the temper
of people has shifted from disap-
pointment to frustration to

anger. :
He quoted figures showing this

_ frustration in which polls show .

large majorities in the U.S. have

lost faith:in the system’s ability to -

provide for its people. They
showed the majority of people
want peace and the SALT-II trea-
ty. The report said that the vau-
nted two-party system was in dis-
array and millions were searching
for answers and alternatives.
“The mood is now overwhelm-
ingly and solidly anti-monopoly
Corporate Profits Triple :

Hand in hand, and pushing this
process, is the growing inflation
_ rate and the tripling of corporate
profits over the past 10 years.
This tripling of corporate profits
_ “is a direct corporate expropria-
tion from the intensified exploita-
tion of ‘the working class —

_ through speed-up, overtime, and
the neglect and violation of health
and safety requirements. It is pos-
sible because of the super-
exploitation of racially and
nationally-oppressed peoples —
Afro-Americans, Puerto’ Ricans
and Chicanos — some 40 million

people altogether ...
“Tt is the end of
monopoly control of the scientific

and technological revolution ...
it is possible because of super-
profits from the export of capital
to areas where the payment of
wages is often a fraction of those.
in the U.S.”
The report charged that in-
flation and profits rise while plants

nvention of CPUSA

are being mothballed. ‘*Housing
construction is on the decline, but
interest rates keep going up.
Taxes the rich and corporations
pay are being cut, but workers’
taxes are being increased ... the
new layoffs and plant closures are
continuing the same racist pat-
terns ... military budgets have
become a heavy counter-weight

_to all economic processes. They

add to inflation and unemploy-
ment.”’

Hall layed the so-called energy
crisis on the doorstep of
maximum corporate. profits. He
challenged the ‘‘anti-OPEC’’
campaign showing that OPEC
takes a mere 13-cents from each
dollar Americans spend at the gas
pumps while the oil monopolies
pocket 40 cents. ‘“‘The energy
crisis brings out the basic thiev-
ing, predatory inner nature of im-
perialism’’, he said.

A Crusade for Peace

Looking at the U.S. and its
foreign policy, Hall charged that
its basic nature has not changed
but remains aggressive. ‘‘U.S.
imperialism continues to man-
oeuvre and is forced to retreat in
some areas. But its foreign policy
line remains: that is, to mobilize
the maximum forces against all
sectors of the world ceucnOnary
process .

He dead at length with the im-
portant battle for the ratification
of the SALT-II treaty and warned
of a nght-wing counter attack
against détente. Later in the pro-
ceedings the convention called on

the Party to enter a ‘‘crusade”’ for
SALT-II.

The report analyzed the U.S.
labor movement and called for the
“building of coalitions of the left
and centre forces ... coalitions
capable of moving the whole
labor movement away from the
right-wing policies of class col-
laboration.’’ It showed that ra-
cism is a weapon for capitalist
exploitation and called for the
greatest unity of the working
class.

“While it is a serious problem
for most people and for all
workers,”’ Hall said, ‘‘for Afro-
Americans the impact and effects
of the economic crisis start from
the economic levels existing be-
fore the crisis. For unemployed

:

COMMUN 3T PARTY USA 22ND CONVENTION
AUGUST 23 TO 25

character, the ties U.S. Com- ©

Above: Sign on Cobo Hall in Detroit marks 22nd convention. Below:

Party leaders at head table during discussions.

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Black youth, the crisis starts from
the pre-crisis 60% jobless
level ... a Black family’s income
has declined in relation to white
family. incomes from 62% in the
early ’70s to 57% today.

Racism and Exploitation

He pointed up the super-
exploitation and racism practiced
against the Chicano-Americans
and Puerto Rican population
where most live below the pov-

erty line, suffer overt racism on:

the job, in the schools and in vir-
‘tually every aspect of their lives.

**With the exception of South
Africa, Zimbabwe and a few other
countries, nowhere is racial and
national oppression practiced on
such a scale as it is in the United
States,’’ Hall charged. ‘‘Our task
is to find the avenues, the issues

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS —

Mountbatten’s death and
the crisis in Ulster

The death of Lord
Mountbatten at the hands of
the Provisional IRA and the
ensuing events have again
brought the crisis in Northern
Ireland and the British
Government’s policy there into
sharp focus.

The immediate result of the
bombing has been a quick esca-
lation of reactionary backlash.
First the repressive Royal Uls-
ter Constabulary is to be in-
creased in strength by 15% to
7,500. British prime minister

Thatcher has used the occa-_

sion to declare she will ‘‘wage
a war on terrorism with relent-
less determination’’. The right
wing Unionists say they will
now attack into the Irish Re-
public.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 14, 1979—Page 6

Irish Communists have
joined in condemning the Pro-
visionals’ action, as do Com-
munists everywhere, because
it has and will strengthen the
position of the Unionist re-
actionaries, lead to an escala-
tion of repression and make the
search for sorely needed
change more difficult.

In a front page editorial, the
Morning Star, daily newspaper
of the Communist Party: of
Great Britain, has urged the
British Government to move
from its position of ‘‘no
change’’. It called on the labor
movement to press the
government to withdraw the
army and facilitate democratic
reforms. ‘Until our movement
puts its weight behind the de-
mand for democratic reforms
and an end to repression,” the

that will unite the 50 million ra-
cially and nationally oppressed
peoples in alliance with the work-
ing class ... to find forms and is-
sues to bring the struggle together
in a single stream.”’

The report's section on the
Party and the need to ‘‘build,
build, build’’ is based on the esti-
mation that “‘the anti-monopoly
sentiment is now definitely a

"majority sentiment (which) pro-

vides a new, broader base for the
anti-monopoly movement’’.

It spoke of a new left stream
‘‘more radical in a fundamental
sense’’. It called on the Party to
better learn how to work within
this current, help build mass
movements around specific. is-
sues.

Communist Party’s Role

‘*Thus the question of the role

Morning Star says, ‘‘the kil- _

lings will continue.’

Egypt begins arrests of
Communists, progressives

Anwar Sadat’s police have
begun arresting members of
Egypt’s banned Communist
Party charging them with plot-
ting to overthrow the govern-
ment. The police have also ar-
rested leading members of the
Unionist Progressive Party,
(which is legal) including a
former member of parliament.

Sadat, who is facing increas-
ing pressure both from the
Arab states and within Egypt

for his sell-out of the Palesti-

nian people, has taken the next
logical step — to arrest critics
of that policy.

- To indicate how stupid the

munists havé with the world |
Communist and Workers’ move- —
ment rang throughout its three-—
day sessions. For the first time in |)
its history, the CPUSA was able ~
to welcome fraternal delegatio
from the USSR, Cuba, the GDR,
Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Mon- 7)
golia and many other lands and |
liberation movements. d

Night”’ heard their greetings of
solidarity, and the strength an
power of working-class inte’
nationalism was felt by the mo:
than 2,000 persons in the hall
Greeting the convention on behalf
of the Communist Party of Cana- ~
da, John Bizzell, a member of the ~
CPC Central Executive Com- ].
mittee, spoke of the speci
relationships between the two,
parties.

difficult years we have cooper-
ated.on many fronts .
bound together by undiluted prin
ciples of Marxism-Leninism and
its creative development in the
specific conditions : of our two *
countries.’’ he said.

organization, the Afro-American —
struggle, and. the 1980 elections
‘were adopted. The convention
unanimously re-elected Gus Hall
as CPUSA general secretary and
Henry Winston as Party Chair

man. : :

spirit ofthe 22ndCPUSAconven
tion was reflected in comments by —
“delegates and observers through- —
out the three days. One keenly —
felt the Party’s pride in its 60-year
history of struggle and its firm be
lief in its future. The 6,000-strong
public rally. at Cobo Hall at the
convention’s conclusion and th
Communist message carrie
there by Angela Davis and Gu
Hall show this optimism to be
well grounded. |

charges of ‘plotting to over- —
throw the government’ are, we ,
can simply look at statements
by Egyptian Prosecutor-
General Salah Rashidi.
says the Egyptian Communist —
Party has branches in London,
West Berlin and Paris. Even he
would know that Communists,
jailed and persecuted, and
. being forced to live abroad, —
will form groups in their new
place of residence. ;

police reports of leaflets issued
by these exiled branches ‘rais-
ing doubts about the Egyptian
government.’ ;

doubts about the Egyptian —
government’
there wouldn’t be enough jails
to hold them.

The convention’s international -

international Flavor
A special ‘‘Internation

‘Throughout these 60 long and |.

. we are

Special reports on Party ‘ ‘

The optimism; discipline and

He

Rashidi says he received

If everyone who ‘raised —

were arrested,