>
> Does the CPUSA see a movement for proportional
> representation as a means to legally gain influence? It
> seems to me that as long as the representative system is
> unproportional, there is no realistic way for a party like
> the CPUSA to have any governmental influence. A movement for
> a proportional elective system is one that could unite both
> left and right outside the two party system and could be
> led by both the Greens and the Libertarians and Reform
> Parties. On the local levels the only CPUSA elected were
> elected under the system. Thanks tot he parliamentary
> system even in a conservative country like Japan, the 3rd
> largest party is the JCP.
>
> Please let me know your thoughts on the topic.
> Robert,
I agree with you completely and have raised the issue numerous times. And many agree with me. The question is to develop a policy and a strategy to build support for such a program, which has existed only in a very limited way in the U.S., in New York City in the 1930s and 1940s when it was instrumental in leading to the election of American Labor Party candidates and also Ben Davis and Peter Caccione, two open CPUSA members(the system was abolished in the early cold war era in part to oust those two councilmen, although the machine Democrats had always opposed it.)
This is certainly a very important issue that, along with serious limitation on the use of money in elections and also access to media in elections is essential to serious political change in the U.S.
Norman Markowitz
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