Communist Party USA

Remarks to the National Board March 25, 2020 Economics of the Coronavirus Crisis

Already, millions of workers are facing economic and personal crisis, with no savings, no income, and often no or inadequate health coverage. If they are still working, they are faced with finding child care. With half the working class one paycheck away from disaster in normal times, the numbers falling over the edge will soon be in the tens of millions.

July, 2020 expanded report to CT State Committee Staying Alive the Crisis in Connecticut

Our country faces a combined economic and public health crisis of epic proportions. We stand at the edge of a cliff. Not only have measures to contain the virus been inadequate, but the Trump regime has actively sabotaged public health efforts and promoted the resurgence now under way.

September 23, 2014 Thirty Years Later: Yale Strike Victory Remembered. Political Affairs. By Yale Workers Club, CPUSA

September 26 marks the 30th anniversary of a turning-point struggle in the United States for unions, for women, and for the working class. On that date, the clerical and technical workers at Yale University went on strike for a first union contract.

June 2, 2014 convention discussion: A lesson from union organizing

I believe our challenge is to live up to our tradition, not to run away from it. I am for popular, accessible language, but our party will grow based mainly on what we do and what we stand for, more than the language we use. I rarely use the term Marxism-Leninism, and would not use it in most popular writing. But taking a formal decision to drop the term from our constitution would represent a rejection of our heritage of a mass multi-racial working class party of struggle.

May 20, 2014 convention proposed resolution: Status Reports

Basic information about our membership is an essential tool for evaluating our policies, our work, and the work of our national and state/district organizations.

August 21, 2014 presentation at NH Public Library Activist view of Piketty's Capital – video

This spring, Art Perlo, a member of the CPUSA’s Economics Commission, was asked by the New Haven Public Library to prepare a discussion on the book Capital in the 21st Century by Thomas Piketty. He made the presentation on August 21, 2014 to a full and lively audience in the library’s program room.

October 27, 2012 The Budget Crisis and the Real World

Narratives of the recent, and temporarily suspended budget crisis have tended to emphasize government dysfunction, partisan intransigence and political maneuvering. By placing the blame on generic Washington politicians, media coverage obscured the real issues. This article examines the real economic distress faced by the majority of the U.S. working class as reflecting the ongoing class struggle. Since 1980, this struggle has increasingly taken the form of class war waged by the most powerful employers and their political representatives, aimed at rolling back every gain made by workers - unions, Social Security, unemployment insurance and other safety net programs, and regulations protecting consumers, workers and the environment.

January 2012 Capitalism and Unemployment

Mass unemployment has been a feature of capitalism since it emerged as the dominant social system in 17th century England and spread throughout the world. It is also an essential part of the system — the misery of the unemployed and underemployed fuels the profits, which keep the capitalist economy going. 

June 13, 2012 Austerity and the Economic Crisis. Political Affairs

This article reflects notes from a report on the economic situation to the National Board, CPUSA June 7, 2012. We meet as the European economy is spiraling down into chaos. The devastation in Greece has been likened to living under occupation in WWII. Spain and Italy are heading toward financial crisis. Increasingly, the question is not whether, but how long until the Euro and the European Union collapse or are significantly weakened. In the US, after 4 months of modest but real job growth over the winter, we have now had 3 months of jobs barely keeping up with population growth. (March, April, May). Projections for the next few months vary, and economic indicators are contradictory. EG, Retail sales up. Business investment slowing.

December, 2012 "Cliff" Notes: No Grand Bargain on the Backs of the Working Class

We are facing a critical battle. The so-called fiscal cliff, and the possibility of a grand bargain to avoid it, can be a turning point. A lot of good material is available, though it rarely penetrates the mainstream media.

February 13, 2012 The US Economic Situation and the 2012 Elections

High unemployment and slow growth are still the dominant features of the US economy. Growth during 2011 has been at a very slow pace, and slightly improved Q4 figures just released are likely due to temporary factors. While there has been real, if modest job growth in each of the last five monthsi, much of the drop in the official unemployment rate is due to unemployed workers giving up looking for j obs. There is wide agreement that any recovery is likely to be sluggish over the next couple of years. For example, Paul Krugman writes, "...the state of the economy remains terrible... But there are reasons to think that we're finally on the (slow) road to better times."

But there is still a strong possibility, in the immediate future, of a new financial crisis and resumption of the downward economic spiral of 2008-2009.

July 18, 2011 Internet seminar Jobs the eocnomy and the debt ceiling

Art Perlo, Chair of the Communist Party Economics Commission, will discuss the current crisis around the federal debt ceiling and how it affects the jobs crisis and the escalating global class war against working people.

April 16, 2011 Crisis as the New Normal: The economic situation at the end of the first quarter of 2011

Despite some positive signs, in many ways the US economy is still in the depression phase of a capitalist cycle. This is seen in continued high levels of unemployment, large inventory of unsold goods (especially housing and commercial real estate) and excess capacity, though all of these have improved from their worst. And a large surplus of idle capital.

May 21-23, 2010 Presentation to National Convention CPUSA. The Unemployment Crisis and a Program for Jobs in a green, productive people before profits economy for the 21st Century

This presentation contains a brief description of the unemployment crisis, and offers a program for full employment while meeting real needs of the nation's economy. The program is based on proposals from a number of sources, and includes a very rough estimate of the number of jobs created and the cost of each item. It is meant as an indication of what is objectively possible, and covers only some of the major areas where investment and jobs are needed.

March 14-16, 2008 Manufacturing in the US, Situation and Trends for CPUSA conference

Download PDF. Prepared for CPUSA Conference March 14-16, 2008

July 9-10, 2007 Report to African American Equality Commission CPUSA Conference, St Louis

The economic costs of discrimination against African Americans are many-sided, and are interconnected with the effects of social discrimination and racism. Overt racist discrimination is still significant, but institutional forms of discrimination, which can operate without any conscious racist intent, are equally important.

The Urban Leagues State of Black America 2007 measures a number of indexes of Black equality. It shows an overall black equality index of 0.73, but the economic index is the lowest at 0.57. [REF15] In other words, of all the areas the Urban League measures (health, education, home ownership, etc.), African Americans face the worst inequality in economic matters. This can be seen most dramatically in the figures on poverty.

Feb 1, 2005 Report to National Board CPUSA Lies and Theft – The Attack on Social Security

The debate around Social Security is broad. In this report, the following five areas are addressed

November, 2000 Not Your Grandfather's Working Class, Political Affairs

The landscape of the last half-century has been marked by rapid and far-reaching change.  But nowhere have those changes been more far-reaching than changes in the size, demographic composition and structure of the workforce.