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The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) has been a Marxist-Leninist party of the working class from its foundation in 1919. It has made historic contributions to the formation of industrial labor unions and the struggle against racism in the United States. It has been an active participant in the worldwide antifascist and anti-imperialist movements.

We view the struggles for the immediate demands and reforms needed by working people today as essential steps toward our ultimate goals of the revolutionary transformation of society and the economy, leading to a future communist society. The constant battles over issues large and small are where workers learn the lesson that more fundamental changes are necessary and that people need socialism to have a truly humane society.

The United States today is in the midst of the deepest economic crisis since the 1930s. Although the cyclical nature of the capitalism economy is endemic to the system itself, the character of the present crisis has been deepened by the combination of neoliberal policies and a speculative capitalist financial sector operating without restraint under extreme right-wing corporate political dominance of the government.

The CPUSA views the election of the Barack Obama, a bourgeois liberal, as a major defeat of the right-wing Bush administration, opening up the path for economic reforms and increased democratic rights, with the immediate possibility of tempering, but not eliminating U.S. imperialist policies abroad. These changes will not come by themselves however, but only through persistent struggle. Our focus therefore is on building up a broad people’s coalition of progressive forces to defeat the most reactionary, warlike, and racist sector of the capitalist class and to fight for advanced reforms at home and against imperialist aggression abroad. This is not simply a goal for the future. This movement is coming into existence before our eyes. It is a moment of opportunity for deep change if the masses of people seize it.

The struggle for expansion of democratic rights includes, among others:

Universal health care.

Congressional action that will require a employer to recognize labor-union collective-bargaining rights upon presentation of representation documents signed by 50 percent of the employees.

Reduction of unemployment by public works projects in which the government serves as the employer of last resort.

Decisive measures to halt global warming and environment destruction by the corporations.

Continuing struggle against discrimination based on race, gender, and sexual orientation.

Raising of the minimum wage to a livable wage

Legalization of the status of undocumented workers and granting of equal rights to all workers.

In its role as the leading imperialist power in the world, the United States acknowledges that it has some 900 military bases in 46 countries, although the actual numbers are higher. In this context, United States oil imperialism has played the main role in destabilizing the Middle East. In the sphere of foreign policy, the CPUSA calls for

Immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq

Withdrawal of U.S. and other NATO forces from Afghanistan. Possible replacement by UN-sponsored regional peacekeeping forces on the basis of a negotiated settlement.

Recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people to an independent state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, the right of the refugees to return to their places of origin, withdrawal of Israeli settlements from the West Bank areas, and return of the Golan Heights to Syrian sovereignty..

End of the embargo against Cuba and of restriction on travel to Cuba.

International treaty on the elimination of nuclear weapons.

International treaty on limiting emissions that contribute to global warming and environmental destruction

Withdrawal of U.S. forces from bases in foreign countries.

Reorientation of international economic policies from that of imperialist exploitation of developing countries to mutually beneficial policies of economic development.