4-05-07, 8:49 am Gabcast! Poltical Affairs #9 - Tamiment Library Receives Communist Party Archives

The Communist Party turns its archives over to the Tamiment Library; Presidential candidate Sen. Edwards takes a big jump in the polls; Congressional Democrats re-introduce the ERA; thoughts on Marxism, Monkeys, and Morality; and, Bush's approval rating continues to nosedive among Latino voters.

Tamiment Library Receives Communist Party Archives


Hundreds of people gathered at the Tamiment Library at New York University on March 23rd to welcome the transmission of the Communist Party USA archives to the library.

Michael Nash, the library's director, praised the process by which the extremely valuable collection dating from about 1921 to the present was released by the Communist Party. 'I and my staff were given complete access to the archives,' said Nash.

According to him, Tamiment's professional staff of archivist and curators were allowed to select the items without restriction. In his decades-long experience, Nash said, owners of collections of this size and scope rarely allow libraries such unhindered access.

The collection contains tens of thousands of books, documents, and pamphlets, rare films, and as many as one million photos taken mainly for the various newspapers and magazines that have expressed the Party's views since its founding.

“This donation will ensure that the history of the Communist Party and its impact on American politics will be preserved for future generations,” said Sam Webb, National Chair of the Communist Party USA.

Teresa Albano, the editor of the People's Weekly World, the newspaper that expresses the views of the Party, pointed out that with its rich history, many people tend to view the Party as a relic of the past.

But the Party's continued involvement in struggles to organize workers, in the peace movement, in the fight for civil rights and full equality, as advocates of women's rights, LGBT equality, and for a clean environment, and in struggles to protect public schools and to win universal health care, not to mention for socialism, show that the Party's history did not end in the 1930s.

'As long as capitalism is around, there is going to be a Communist Party,' she said.

Political Affairs contributing editor Gerald Horne stated that the opening of this archive will bring balance to the history of the Party. 'One of the reasons why this archive is so important is that the history of the Communist Party has been so one-sided,' he added.

In his presentation, Political Affairs contributing editor Norman Markowitz noted that while great enemies of civil liberties, peace, and human rights such as Joseph McCarthy, J. Edgar Hoover, and Ronald Reagan have passed, the Party continues to play a positive role.

'This collection,' he said, 'will help scholars, students, and activists both better understand the world and change it for the better.'

Read the full story and some of the speeches of the presenters at this event at PoliticalAffairs.net.

Sen. John Edwards Jumps in Presidential Polls

Earlier this week the presidential candidates announced total funds raised by their campaigns in the first quarter of 2007. Sen. John Edwards ranked a strong third among Democrats behind Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

To everyone's surprise, however, Edwards also shot up in the polls by 5 points, chipping away at Sen. Clinton's lead.

With a populist platform that includes universal health care coverage, aggressively taking on poverty, targeted tax cuts for working families, using energy-saving technologies, and beginning an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, it is no wonder that Edwards has inspired so many Democratic and independent voters.

In a statement released last Monday, Sen. Edwards urged Congress to stay resolved on bringing the war to an end, and he warned President Bush not to veto the congressional spending supplemental:

'The Congress should make absolutely clear that they are going to stand their ground, supporting the troops and reflecting the will of the American people to end this war. If the President vetoes a funding bill, Congress should send him another bill that funds the troops, brings them home, and ends the war. And if he vetoes that one, they should send him another that does the same thing.'

Find out more at and to sign a petition to Congress to stand firm on setting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.

Leading Democrats Re-introduce the ERA

Last week Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and John Dingell (D-MI), among others, reintroduced the Women's Equality Amendment, better known as the Equal Rights Amendment.

According to a statement by Dingell sent out to his constituent supporters by e-mail, 'we need [the amendment] now more than ever. While it is true that women have moved into positions of power and prominence, too many others do not achieve equal pay with male counterparts for doing the same job – and it is not because of their ability.'

Recent findings of the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, show that pay inequities between men and women have persisted with women still earning 20 percent less than men.

According to Rep. Dingell, 'without the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, women lack the standing to address these issues in the courts.'

Rep. Maloney said, 'The amendment, as you can see, is simple. This amendment is not about partisan politics. It is about fairness and equality. Equality is not a slogan, or a fad. It is a fundamental right.'

The Constitutional amendment, which currently has 193 co-sponsors, reads: 'Equality of Rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex.' It is expected to move through committee over the next few weeks.

Marxism, Monkeys, and Morality

Some scientists are looking for the 'God' gene. Maybe they should be looking for the Marx gene, writes Political Affairs book review editor Thomas Riggins in a commentary for PoliticalAffairs.net last week.

Riggins examines recent research by evolutionary biologist Frans de Waal who has argued that the roots of human morality can be first seen in the social behavior of monkeys and apes.

De Waal's research discovered that several species of monkeys and apes possess moral characteristics such as sympathy and empathy, reciprocity, the ability to live by social rules, and peacemaking.

Riggins also discusses various controversies related to de Waal's theories, the origins of religion, as well as the origins of destructive human behaviors like warfare.

Riggins calls for rethinking how we look at morality. Since a sense of fairness seems to be at the basis of morality, Riggins argues, and capitalism is based on the exploitation of human labor power by a parasitical nonproductive class of unfair exploiters, it would seem to be the case that our natural human evolutionary goal would be to live under a socialist system based on fairness and nonexploitation.

So, says Riggins, less talk about the 'God gene' and more scientific research to find the 'Marxism gene.'

Read the full article at .

Bush's Approval Rating Plummets Among Latinos

An overwhelming majority of Latino voters continue to have an unfavorable impression of President Bush.

According to a new survey of Latino voters conducted by Lake Research Partners for the Latino Policy Coalition, a non-partisan consortium of Latino research organizations and scholars, 65% of Latino voters have an unfavorable impression of Bush. Self-described independent voters also gave nearly the same disapproval rating.

In contrast, the same survey showed that Latino voters gave higher marks to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Democrats in Congress as a whole were viewed favorably by more than two-thirds (68%) of respondents.

“Latino voters are very disappointed with President Bush personally and overall with the job he is doing,” said Celinda Lake, who heads the firm that conducted the poll.

Latino Policy Coalition Chair Jim Gonzalez said of Bush: “He supports a war that Latino voters overwhelmingly oppose. A popular Democratic Congress combined with a Speaker who is viewed favorably does not bode well for the President’s last two years in office.”

'These survey results clearly demonstrate that the increased support Latino voters gave President Bush in 2000 and 2004 was not long lasting,” concluded Luis Ricardo Fraga, Associate Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. “The Bush effect is gone; Latino voters are now identifying with the Democratic Party at rates very similar to those in the pre-George W. Bush era. This is not good news for the Republican Party.' A survey released earlier this week by the Latino Policy Coalition showed strong opposition to the Iraq war, with about 7 in 10 Latino voters expressing disapproval. More than half of the respondents to that survey also stated they have family members or close friends in Iraq or Afghanistan.

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On a final note, Political Affairs has launched an editors blog. Readers can find it by following the link at PoliticalAffairs.net. This unmoderated blog will reflect the personal opinions of individual members of the editorial board and will open new sources of information for PA readers and should be a lively format for discussion and comment. Hope to see you there. Thank you.

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