Communist Rosalio Munoz on Exploiting Mexican Americans to Further Revolution

Cross posted from KeyWiki Blog

The Communist Party USA maintains a Mexican American Equality Commission.

Rosalio Munoz

Los Angeles based Rosalio Munoz is a leader of that Commission.

The Commission's job is to coordinate Mexican American opposition to immigration laws and for immigration amnesty, promote Latino seperatism and radicalism, exploit and exacerbate Latino grievances, build mass Latino organizations and labor unions, agitate for bi-lingualism and to build the Mexican American community into a "progressive" power bloc loyal to the Democratic Party.

From a paper entitled "Special Convention Discussion: Mexican American Equality" submitted by Rosalio Munoz, for discussion before the May 21-23, Communist Party USA National Convention in New York.

The pre-convention call for our 29th convention gives the right lead for our party, class and people and the Mexican American people and their struggles for equality and justice. It stresses:

• "The key is broad united action, overcoming all obstacles that hold the movement back, getting a massive vote against the ultra-right in the primaries and in the midterm general election Nov. 2."
• "The election of President Barack Obama and ending Republican majority rule in the House and Senate has opened many padlocked doors."
• "The challenge now is to consolidate, widen and deepen that victory which can help open an era of progressive change."
• "The ultra-right, bankrolled by Wall Street and the big corporations, will stop at nothing to filibuster meaningful change. We are confident that the democratic, progressive majority can win the day."
  

Munoz calls for a recognition of the potential influence of the Mexican American "bloc" and the necessity of harnessing its power for "progressive" change.

Mexican Americans are a necessary force in the struggle to breakthrough the right wing obstructionism and counteroffensive and win progressive changes in health care, jobs and income, immigration, civil rights, labor rights and a more reasonable foreign policy in on going electoral struggles and the coming elections.

Mexican Americans make up over 25% of the population in nearly 80 Congressional districts. They are core constituencies for progressive Latino, African American, white and Asian Pacific American representatives and the key oppositional forces to the right wing.

They are vital in many vulnerable Democratic districts, and in areas of smaller population a strong united anti right vote can make a difference in close races. Mexican Americans are strong supporters of the Obama administration's efforts to move away from the right wing policies of the past and to move for progressive reform as evidenced by the 76% approval rating of California Latinos for Obama, in the January 2010 poll by the California Public Policy Institute.

These developments are reflected in the strong races of Rudy Lozano for Illinois legislature, Rick Nagin for the Cleveland City Council and the big victory of Jesus "Chuy" Garcia as Cook County Commissioner in Illinois and Ana Rizo as Mayor of Maywood one of the cities of greatest immigrant concentration in Los Angeles County...

While concentrated in the Southwest, Mexican Americans, after African Americans, are the largest racially oppressed group outside of the Southwest and becoming among the largest of newcomers in most areas including much of the Northeast. .

The precise numbers in these statistics are not so important. What is important is the direction the proportion of racially and nationally oppressed in the class and people that has more than doubled and growing geometrically. The struggle for equality is doubly important and more and many times more complex. Mexican Americans, immigrants and native born, are the largest part of that change.

The Communist Party has made historic contributions to the Mexican American people and to their struggles for social justice. It was the first and most persistent and helpful in seeing and working on integrating Mexican Americans into all aspects of US society and in particular class and democratic struggles. It has been foremost in seeing the need for recognizing the plight and need for special steps to be taken in the struggles for equality for Mexican Americans. The more that it has contributed to, and participated, the more the Party has grown among Mexican Americans.

We have to grow the Party among Mexican Americans workers and community, especially the youth , in the work places, communities and campuses around the major issues of jobs, peace, immigration, civil and labor rights. We have to project a real vision of a better future with strategy and tactics that make the difference. We also need to recognize and prioritize the importance of building the Party in Texas with the comrades there.

We need to study and write more on the struggle for equality of the racially and nationally oppressed as a whole, the growth of its importance as one of and part of all the core forces, its dialectics. While recognizing and building on commonalities distinctive features are key. There are qualitative changes in the movement for Mexican American equality and contributions to the working class, labor movement struggles of other racially oppressed and other groups. The overall qualitative nature make the party's approach of linking the struggle against racism with working class unity more relevant than ever. We need to work for affirmative action in the mass democratic movements

We need to have forms to discuss the work nationally, as well as in districts, cities, and neighborhoods. We cannot take the issue of Mexican American equality, and writings and concerted action on Mexican American equality for granted. We cannot leave it for the last minute and not follow up.

The new opportunities presented by the growing sector of Mexican Americans in the working class and the election of Barack Obama offer new challenges to our Party. Our convention can put us in place to break yet new ground in the struggles for unity, equality and against racism that are necessary for the country to move forward

The upsurge of Mexican American activism and growing pressure for immigration "reform"/amnesty is no accident. It can largely be attributed to the hard work of the Communist Party USA and its allies over several decades.