First Published: People’s Tribune, Vol. 3, No. 17, August 1, 1976.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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Amidst screaming, parades and much fanfare, Jimmy Carter was unanimously nominated as the Democratic Party Presidential Candidate. The smiling peanut farmer from Georgia, devoid of a definite position on anything, has been able to rally trade union leaders, leaders of the Negro peoples movement, small businessmen and last but certainly not least the financiers, behind a phoney, no position platform.
An outstanding feature at this convention, was the absolute lack of political debate. Outside of a few people who tried to make their position on abortion and war reslsters known, the convention was much more of a party than a political convention where the problems and issues of the country were discussed and solutions provided.
The slogan of the convention was unity; but the question of unity around what was never answered. There is only one thing that this can mean and that is national unity in preparation for war. Every time the twin parties of reaction–the Republicans and. Democrats–have called for unity, it has meant war for the people. Truman, Johnson, and Kennedy all spoke about the need for “national unity” and all three of these administrations did so in order to facilitate our entrance into another aggressive war.
However, not since Roosevelt have we seen the kind of broad coalition of forces united around one man that we see with Jimmy Carter. Skillfully, under the watchful eye of Wall Street, he has united two important antithetical elements key to the continued strength of the bourgeoisie: the southern fascists and the Negro people’s movement. Coupled with support from leading trade unionists, i.e., Cesar Chavez and Leonard Woodcock, this makes Carter hard to beat in November.
But what will Carter’s election mean for the worker on the shop floor, the farmworker in the fields, or the Negro sharecropper from the rural South? The motion is clear. It will mean the consolidation for a fascist dictatorship. Hitler had to speak of “national unity” before he could take power. Steeped in populism and national chauvinism, the fascists in Germany were able to fool the people into believing that fascism would bring economic stability and honor to their country. But Hitler brought only destitution, murder and war not only for the people of Germany, but of the whole world.
Working people in this country have long been excluded from the political process. Every election year the people are presented with two sides of the same coin. Either the “liberal” bourgeois, such as Carter, or the reactionary, such as Reagan. Although Reagan and the forces he represents, the industrialist section of the finance capitalists, at this time present the greatest danger to the people of this country, let no one be fooled that Carter seeks goals fundamentally different. At this time the Wall Street financiers, due to their more flexible position on the world market, do not need fascism at home. But the intensity of the present economic crisis, the shrinking consuming capacity of the peoples In the capitalist camp, and the stirring of the masses, point to the Inevitable unity between Wall Street financiers and the National Association of Manufacturers industrialists, and then the fascist dictatorship. Carter’s masters, the Wall Street financiers have for over 100 years held the Negro Nation in colonial bondage. These same financiers are responsible for the rape and plunder of Latin America by primarily US imperialism. Their stranglehold on the colonial world by the US imperialists is the source of wealth which finances the vast social bribe of bourgeois democracy in the US. The fascist dictatorships in the colonies and neo-colonies are the basis of Anglo-American bourgeois democracy.
So what does this mean for the working class and progressive people of this country? Since the choices which the bourgeoisie is offering represent only the interests of either the fascist industrialists or the Wall Street financiers, who can the working class vote for? Or should they vote at all? Statistics prove that less than one-third of the registered voters voted in the primaries. People are fed up with the corrupt, bought-off politicians, so they boycott the elections.
But there is something that people can do to protest the situation. There is a positive step that people can take and participate in this important aspect of the political process. You can Vote Communist this election year. You can make your voices heard, you can protest unemployment, inflation and discrimination. Working people are demanding action, not words. They are demanding jobs, quality, integrated education, equal opportunity, decent wages and better housing. Voting communist will be a way in which the people can demonstrate their demands and needs.
Understanding that the people in this country have lost faith in the politicians and that they want a voice in their government and its policies, the Communist Labor Party put out the call to form a united front of action with the Communist Party USA, to agitate and propagandize around the slogan “Vote Communist.” To tell the people that we can fight united and organized, to spread the ideals of socialism which is the only alternative to the rottenness of capitalism. Although the leadership of the CPUSA has rejected our proposal, the workers and progressives of this country must not. They must take up the call “Vote Communist”, and participate actively in the political process of this country.
As this issue of the People’s Tribune goes to press, there are only two days left in the Michigan Ballot campaign which we have entered. We are confident that the people of Michigan will vote for the Communist Labor Party in August and then vote for General Baker for the Michigan State legislature in November. Once given the opportunity, the people, of this country will vote communist. If the people of Michigan are any indication of the growing militancy and political consciousness of the country’s workers, and we think they are, then an opportunity to show their disgust and indignation of this rotten system and their eagerness to learn about socialism, will be taken up by all people. Vote communist this election year. Protest capitalism and the fascist drive. Vote communist and make your voices heard!