Club Guidelines

By Unknown Author

Published on the website of the Communist Party USA

FOREWORD

Establishing a club takes time and patience. It is a step-by-step

process. As a new club leader, no one expects you to do everything at
once, and it’s not always necessary to do everything “by the book.”
These guidelines are intended to be enabling, not disabling.

The best advice is to be persistent. Persistence pays off. It is easy to

get discouraged at first when people don’t show up, don’t respond, or
seem very enthusiastic and then suddenly vanish. But over time, the
ones who are really dedicated will start to trust you and each other,
and form a core group. That core group will attract other people who
are also capable of committing to something difficult, and the club will
grow from there. Don’t be surprised if it takes a year or more to get
traction with a new club.

When people are first coming in, try to get a sense of their interests.
What causes are closest to heart for them? It’s good to let those
interests carry weight when the group is deciding what to do. A
comrade in St. Louis warns new leaders about the “shiny object”
danger, which is to try to take action on every single thing that comes
down the pike. “Oh no! We have to do something about this! Oh no, we
have to do something about that!” It is better to choose a couple of
issues to concentrate on, perhaps for the year. That is the basic idea
behind making an annual plan of work. Anything that strengthens the
working class and meshes with Party strategy is a fine choice of focus.
Also, local issues are good choices. A small group of dedicated people
can have a big impact locally. Try to tie local issues to broader
problems and vice versa.

Most clubs start with a single officer in charge of everything. As the

club grows, you’ll want to share leadership duties to avoid burning out
the leader and help everyone develop their skills. Though this
handbook offers a long list of club offices, the point of club leadership
is to find flexible and creative ways of organizing the club’s work and
making sure it’s being fairly distributed. Be sure to adjust the structure
to match the reality of your club’s particular situation.
When a club first forms, members often struggle with how loudly to
proclaim themselves communists. However, talk is cheap. What really
matters is the quality of our day-to-day political work. We naturally
draw the best class fighters to us when Party members are seen as
dependable, thoughtful, principled, always working to build the unity of
our people, and always remembering what our main goal is.
Experienced clubs understand that sometimes it’s best to put
communism in the foreground, and sometimes it’s better in the
background. This choice should be made with regard to the objective
for the current action or interaction. That’s a judgement call each club
will need to make repeatedly.

In setting the tone for your club’s conversations, keep in mind that
unity is the strongest weapon in the Party’s arsenal. While it is
important to have free and open debates, we have to leave our egos at
the door and remember that the point isn’t to win the argument; the
point is to learn from each other and find the course of action that will
best serve the interests of the working class. The enemies of working
class and oppressed people depend on dividing us up. Unity of the
broadest progressive sections of society, of the working class, and of
the Communist Party are fundamental preconditions to successfully
navigate the difficult road ahead. If we are unable to secure unity at
the club level, it will be impossible to achieve anywhere else.

The following guidelines are based on sections III, V, VI and VIII of The
Communist Party: How It Works, A Handbook on its Organization and
Functioning (New Outlook, 1976) and Resolution 25, Building Clubs and
Districts for Sustainable Growth, adopted at the 31st National
Convention in 2019 (see Appendix-1). The text has been edited with a
view to modernizing the content without changing the core principles.
References to the earlier CPUSA: A Manual on Organization (1935)
have been added where indicated, and we have incorporated a more
recent slide presentation prepared by the Texas Communist Party,
CPUSA.

Unlike the earlier handbooks, this text is not intended to serve as a

comprehensive guide to organization and functioning of the whole
Party. It focuses exclusively on the organization and functioning of
Party clubs. As such, it is meant to be used in tandem with the Party’s
Program and Constitution, neither of which addresses club organization
and functioning in detail.
In focusing on the club, this handbook does not provide detailed
coverage of state or district-level organization. At present, we are in a
situation where many areas have only one club and are not yet ready
for state organization, while other areas have multiple clubs and
existing state committees. In those areas where there is only one club,
forming new clubs and establishing state or district committees is an
important goal. When there are multiple clubs, the state/district
committee is needed to develop unity of purpose and program for
maximum effectiveness. State and district-level organization allows the
projections of the national committee to be applied to the conditions in
that state and strengthens the Party’s strategic effectiveness. As such,
an updated State and District Leader’s handbook would be a valuable
supplement to this handbook.

The online version of this publication should be accompanied by a

comments section in which clubs can share their experiences and
advice.

I. THE PARTY CLUB

Presented below are the general principles of club organization and

functioning, the direction in which we strive to develop our clubs. While
all clubs share the same broad aims, each club will differ depending on
its membership, particular area, and strategic choices.

A. Place of the Club in the Party System of Organization

The National Convention meets every four years and is the highest
body of the Party. The convention elects a National Committee to
function between conventions. Districts and clubs act in accord with
the decisions and policies of the National Convention and National
Committee. The work of the party is directed by a number of National
Commissions and Departments, including Labor, Political Action,
Education, Organizational and International.

The club is the basic organizational unit of the Communist

Party. Alongside electronic media (People’s World, cpusa.org,
webinars, YouTube, podcasts, email, and so on), the club is the form
through which the Party can educate its members and the public. It is
also the primary form through which the Party participates in
community and workplace struggles. The experience and thinking of
the club must be the starting point for all Party policies and decisions,
as well as the ending point at which policies and decisions are applied.
There can be no approach, therefore, to building the Communist Party
that does not include a focus on building and strengthening the clubs
as the primary unit of the Party.

B. Definition and Purpose of the Club

The club’s aim is to organize, initiate and participate in the struggles of

the workers and other people who are within its area of responsibility,
for their needs, based on the policies of the Party. Its eventual aim is to
win these people as a whole to support the Party’s policies, including
the goal of socialism. Its aim is also to build the Party among these
people and at the same time to develop Communist qualities of its own
membership to the maximum.

Historically, the Party emphasized the central importance of shop clubs

(three or more members who organize within a shop or workplace),
situating neighborhood clubs in a supporting role. Today, changes in
the modes of production, anti-union laws, and the advent of the
internet have changed the landscape in which we organize. Clubs
based on geographical proximity are now the norm. “Proximity” may
mean a single neighborhood in a densely populated urban area, a
college campus, an entire city, or an even larger area where far-flung
members commute fifty miles or more to attend meetings and actions.

The Party is also experimenting with online tools that enable internet-
based collectives. These may eventually yield a new type of club, or a
new form of organization alongside the club. Or they may simply
supplement existing tools of communication for the Party and its clubs
to use.

The Communist Party, being the party representing the unity of

interests of the whole working class, does not consider it a correct
general principle of club organization to establish clubs for the purpose
of representing different segments of the class based on nationality,
race, sex, or age (though local YCL groups may be formed: see C2d).

C. The Club as Organizer in the Mass Struggle

The Communist Party exists to organize and strengthen the mass

struggles of workers and other specially oppressed peoples, including
women, Black, Latinx, Asian, Native American, immigrant, and LGBTQ+
people, for their daily needs and for socialism. The litmus test of a
good club, therefore, is its role in mass struggle. Mass struggle must be
at the center of the club’s ideological, political and organizational work.
The club must have ever-growing mass ties and connections. It must
have ever-deepening knowledge of its area of responsibility.

1. Necessary Knowledge

Each club should strive to enumerate the kinds of knowledge required

to be effective in its area. For example:

—demographics of the population;

—influential organizations, their character, political leanings and
leadership;
—issues that are most important and/or closest to heart for the
workers, and the forces involved in these issues;
—election districts, office holders, political parties and electoral
formations;
—people or organizations willing to work with the Party and able to get
things done;
—the main enemy: corporate right-wing forces, local expressions of
capitalist domination;
—forces who have a stake in fighting that enemy, and might be
brought into coalitions.

Obtaining such information is not simply a matter of research. Much of

it comes over time in the process of activity and struggle.

2. Special Communist Contributions to Mass Struggles

Club strategy

Every club should strive to formulate a strategy and aims. This will be
a local reflection and concrete application of the strategy and aims set
forth in the Party Program and Convention resolutions. A strategy is a
collective analysis of and conclusion about current political conditions
(or, the balance of forces). It provides guidance for the Party’s work.
The club should consider the relationship of local conditions to the
Party’s strategy and decide what might be done locally to shift the
balance of forces in a favorable direction.
Examples might include building a working class and people’s coalition
to win support for the Fight for $15, the Green New Deal, or Medicare
for All; to support the election of a particular candidate, or to oppose
legislation that limits workers’ rights. The strategic aims will be to win
that struggle but also for the coalition to outlast it, widening the circle
of working class and people’s unity and bringing new members into the
Party.

Issues of struggle

A complex judgment is involved in the club’s collectively selecting the

issue or issues around and through which a strategic coalition can be
built. The club should consider its practical possibilities and
connections as well as which issues are most likely to activate key
sections of the local population.

When the focus of struggle is a national issue, the club should try to
link it with a related burning local issue, and when the focus is a local
issue, to link it with the central national struggles.

Attentiveness to seemingly small issues that are close at heart for

working class people is important. Struggle, motion, once begun,
opens up many new possibilities.

Action on every national and district issue without strong links to

issues developing out of local circumstances would be mechanical and
would rob the national movements and the Party of the necessary
building up of grassroots ties.

Among the many issues that U.S. monopoly capitalism imposes on the
people, around which the club will organize struggles according to
national and district decisions and its own circumstances, are:

—Climate change, failure to plan for disasters and changing

employment patterns, denial of science and of U.S. capitalism’s role in
environmental destruction.

—U.S. imperialist aggression, threatening of world peace, and

militarism.

—Racism, seen in greater unemployment; harder, dirtier, less safe

jobs; lower pay and job classification, failure to upgrade, poorer quality
education with suppression of national culture, lack of community
services, discrimination in housing, police brutality, higher prices and
poorer quality goods, wealth and income disparity, etc.

—Unemployment and job insecurity, wages and working conditions,

safety, management prerogatives, health and retirement plans, anti-
labor legislation, union building.

—Repression of communist and progressive political activity, red-

baiting.

—Schools, health care, child care, mass transit, welfare programs, etc.

—Persecution and scapegoating of migrant peoples and Muslim

peoples.

—Sexism and sexual harassment—seen in lower pay and job

classifications, discrimination in promotion, leadership and decision-
making, wealth and income disparity, on the job harassment,
disproportionate responsibility for child and elder care and household
work, etc.

—Discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, as seen in biased marriage

laws, bathroom laws and policies, harassment or bullying at schools,
workplaces, online, and in communities, insurance and benefits
discrimination, etc.

—Struggles around housing, including tenant organizing, struggles for

rent control and affordable housing, for funding to repair and maintain
public housing, and against slumlords, eviction, gentrification, and
homelessness.

All clubs should develop the widest support for the immediate
struggles of the workers, such as in major negotiations and strike
struggles, in opposition to anti-labor legislation and in support of pro-
labor legislation. The aim should be to reach workers and draw them
into the struggle and into its leadership.

The fight for unity

Unity is the strongest weapon working people have in the struggle to

advance their interests. By making a commitment to unite around a
program of action, members strengthen the Party and help unify the
working class and people’s movements.

Unity of purpose, vision, and action is important, not just in a union,

mass movement, or coalition. It is crucial for the Communist Party. It
means working to unite theory and practice and to collectively adapt
scientific theory to a constantly changing world, not adhering
dogmatically to a utopian ideal.

Around every issue and club activity, all clubs seek to build unity in
progressive struggle; working class solidarity in the first place. The
heart of class solidarity is unity across racial and ethnic differences.
Such unity can only be built based on the struggle for the needs of
people of color and against the influences of racism, a ruling class
ideology, among white workers. The struggle for the needs of people of
color against all expressions and reflections of racism must, therefore,
be part of every social struggle. This will include the full participation of
people of color in the leadership of all people’s organizations. Such an
approach to the struggle for the needs of people of color and against
the manifestations of discrimination and racist and white supremacist
ideology reflects the Party’s estimate that this struggle is central to all
social struggle and progressive developments in the U.S.

The same could be said of the necessity always to struggle for the
special needs of youth, women, and LGBTQ+ people. In order to
develop unity, there must also be a fight against anti-youth, male
supremacist, and heteronormative expressions of ruling class ideology.
The struggle against all internal club reflections of such ruling class
ideology should be connected with the mass struggle on these
questions. The fight for unity also requires a struggle against anti-
communism in its domestic and international forms.

The struggle for unity is a permanent feature in all club work.

Depending on the objective of the given struggle, there will be a
necessary minimum basis for unity of action. We continuously work to
widen the support for the struggle. We work to overcome obstacles to
that unity and to develop new, higher levels of unity of action through
ideological struggle, leadership by example, etc.

Growth of the Party’s influence

Clubs should seek to increase the influence of the Party’s policies, and
also recognition of the Party itself as a legitimate and progressive
organization. The way to accomplish this will vary depending on the
level of acceptance which the Party has achieved throughout the
country and according to the circumstances of the club and its
individual members. Clubs should use to the fullest every opportunity
for increasing the Party’s mass recognition when this can be done
without seriously compromising the effectiveness of the club’s mass
work.

Recognition of the Party extends the influence of its policies and

disarms the ruling class of its splitting weapon of anti-communism.

The objective is not only to make known the Party’s positions but to
make its role in struggle visible to the people. The most minimum form
is the mass work by every club member in such a way that a
constantly growing circle of co-workers, neighbors, etc. know that the
person is a Communist.

Systematic work by the whole club in circulating People’s

World articles online or through printouts is one important means for
influencing the people, winning full recognition of the Party, and
developing contact with the people. For example, the development
of People’s World routes in multi-racial working class neighborhoods
with a local version of People’s World has led to a large expansion of
the Communist Party of Connecticut, particularly among people of
color. A petition directed at the needs of the people in the
neighborhood is brought door-to-door in a given area, along with the
offer to receive the local edition each week. A single comrade returning
week after week can build lasting confidence and recruitment.

Circulation of content from cpusa.org, Party Facebook posts, podcasts,

YouTube videos, webinars, pamphlets and books is similarly important.
If the club has a point of concentration, materials should be distributed
there on a weekly basis.

Other forms for growing the Party’s influence include club

spokespeople; a campus, neighborhood, or workplace newsletter,
email list, or website; electronic forums or chat apps; physical forums
or public meetings; and regularly updated club Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram accounts that include a focus on local issues.
In addition to initiating and participating in mass organizations and
movements, clubs should consider ways to build related forms that will
build a political and social community with the Party at its center. Such
groups might include a local Young Communists League, a book club or
Marxist study group, a Friends of People’s World press builders club,
etc.

Within any large national or international organization, such as unions,

trade associations or issue-based nonprofits, Party members should
seek each other out and make contact. They can work together to
strengthen the work of the large organization in accordance with the
strategy and tactics of the Party.

Common features of all struggles

The following concepts should be applied in all Party activity. They are
necessary and interdependent concepts which, when applied correctly,
in no way contradict each other but rather reinforce each other.

A. Daily living needs are the foundation upon which we struggle to

raise consciousness and deepen understanding of all other issues. The
starting point for influence among workers is full involvement on the
“bread-and-butter” issues. This is what gives the Party’s work a
grassroots character in which the Party becomes inseparable from the
people and their interests.

We fight for working class leadership in struggles and approach all

questions from the standpoint of the interests of the working class.

B. Climate change and peace are the overriding issues of our times.
Meaningful progress on all other issues depends on mitigating and
forestalling the ruination of our environment by wantonly destructive
practices and disregard of science on the part of capitalists and their
political minions. At the same time, we must continue to be mindful of
the dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction, and strive to
advance the struggles for disarmament and anti-imperialist solidarity,
particularly around the urgent global issue of climate change. We
attempt to connect all struggles with the fights for peace and
environmental protection. In this way we bring added grassroots
strength to these crucial struggles and show the objective necessity for
progress on these fronts to secure substantial gains anywhere else.
C. The fight against racism is central to all struggles. This involves
building class unity and popular anti-monopolist unity by defeating
attempts to disrupt it with racism. It means taking up the special
expression in every struggle of racist practice and developing
programs to assure equality, including compensatory measures to
overcome past discrimination.

D. The struggle for unity of action for common goals with the aim of
overcoming and rejecting everything that divides, including sexism,
ageism, heteronormativity, and prejudices based on citizenship status,
ethnicity, or religion, is central to all Party activity.

D. Organization of the Club

1. Club Size

In the 1935 CPUSA Manual on Organization, the term “nucleus” is

used to describe an initial cluster of at least three CPUSA members
who agree to form a club. The “nucleus” is meant to be a stable core of
committed members who are prepared to undertake the work of
organizing at the club level.

Each member of the nucleus should attempt to recruit at least one

other member. People within the geographical area defined by the club
who join the Party online will be referred to the club by the National
Membership Coordinator or District Organizer. The club may also
attract new members from local actions, demonstrations, tabling and
other forms of outreach.

The club should have enough members and the right combination of
members to assure mass work initiatives, camaraderie, and Party-
building consciousness. The best functioning clubs usually range from
8 to 15 members. Historically, clubs have been as large as 60 to 100
people, functioning between general meetings in committees or teams.
However, well-organized, committed clubs of 3 or 4 people are able to
accomplish significant work, participate nationally, further their
education and spread the Party’s influence in a community.

Wherever there is a club member in good standing who is the lone

CPUSA member in an area, the district organizer and nearby clubs
should endeavor to help that member find or recruit two more
Communists and thereby open up the possibility for real collective
struggle and organization and the building of a new club.

2. The Club Conference

Once a year the Club should have an expanded meeting—a club

conference. In convention years this should be during the pre-
convention discussion period and prior to the district convention. The
purpose of the club conference is:

 To review the previous year’s work.

 To set forth the main aims and tasks for the coming year within the
framework of the Party Program, national and district policies, and the
club’s strategy (or a new club strategy presented to the conference)
 To adopt a club plan of work for a year’s time, based on the strategy and
aims.
 To elect club officers and the club executive committee, and if a
convention is to be held, delegates to the convention of the next higher
body. The club chair may be elected directly or by the elected club
executive committee.

3. The Club Plan of Work

This should be prepared by the club executive committee and be acted

on by the whole club at its conference or other full club meeting. The
plan should leave room for unforeseen developments, including tasks
assigned by higher bodies.

A well-balanced program of activities should include:

1) mass struggle on one or two focal issues;

2) political work for/against particular candidates or legislation;

3) support for unions, strikes, and other labor initiatives;

4) education for socialism (both membership and public outreach

programs).

The exact balance among these four aspects will be determined by the
particular circumstances and makeup of the club. For examples,
see Appendix-2.
Guidelines for planning:

—-The heart of the plan should be mass struggle and our special
ideological, political and organizational contributions to it and its
direction toward achieving the Party’s and club’s strategic aims.

—-All the work outlined in the plan should contribute, at least

indirectly, to the building of the club and the Party. The plan should
include concrete ideas for recruiting new members from the mass
activities.

—-If the club has defined itself via a concentration (see section IB),
activities in the plan should all focus on the target of concentration. If
not, the activities should center on the club’s geographical area.

—-No club can respond to every single issue. Activity on too many
fronts with equal emphasis produces insufficient thrust to achieve
results on any. It therefore leads to frustration and loss of direction.
The plan needs to specify one or two mass issues on which the club
will concentrate effort. Other issues will not be acted on at all or only
secondarily, or will be interwoven with those singled out.

—-When choosing issues, the club should be mindful of National and

district priorities, and attempt to feed patterns of action rather than
atomizing in isolated efforts.

—-The plan should specify which resources will be involved in or

developed for the struggle on these issues. It will indicate how People’s
World, social media, website and literature will be used, what new
materials will be needed, and what events should be held to facilitate
public education and/or coalition building.

—-The plan should include clear, practical guidelines about what

should or should not be posted on the club’s website and social media,
together with target numbers for the frequency and timing of posts,
liking/friending/following, responding to messages, and any other
tactical collective decisions pertaining to social media.

—-The plan should also project ways the club will advocate socialism.
This will include creating and/or distributing print and electronic
materials. It will also include how the question of socialism can be
brought into conversations about the focal issues or linked with
immediate struggles in a series of posts, emails, flyers, etc.

—-Social, cultural, educational, and fundraising activities might also be

included.

Without a plan, the club will do individual good deeds but perspective,
development, a real sense of accomplishment and confidence that
things are moving forward and changing the situation for the people
will be missing.

E. Democracy, Collectivity, and Style of Work in the Club

The system of organization of the Communist Party is based upon

democratic principles. It combines the maximum involvement of the
membership in determining policy, the democratic election of leaders
and committees, and the responsible direction from one national
center coordinating the activity of the entire Party along commonly
agreed-upon lines of policy.

1. Principles of Collectivity

Collectivity is the basic style of work of the Party. Through group

discussion and action, we seek to develop and apply the best possible
plans to advance the interests of working people. Our actions are
based on collective work, collective leadership, annual club
conferences/elections, forums, debates throughout the party on
fundamental issues or political orientation and action, decentralization
of responsibilities, and election of leadership of all party organizations.
The Party depends on its working class form of organization: turning
individual good work into collective strength. As stated in the preface,
unity in the club is of paramount importance.

Collectivity demands that the individual consult the collective

whenever possible on all important questions. Such a style strengthens
the qualities in the individual of respect for the class and Party, social
responsibility and discipline as a Communist and human being.
Collectivity improves the work of the collective and of the individual
and prevents mistakes that might otherwise be committed.

Collectivity is most important on policy questions and the main means

of implementation. Attempts to discuss out every detail of the practical
activity of every member of a collective would prevent real collective
discussion and collective leadership on the major questions. Also, such
an unnecessary method limits the development of individual initiative.
Extra long and extra frequent meetings in the name of collectivity do
not strengthen it.

Each club should strive to help its members cultivate a collective,

democratic style of work and combat individualist styles. To ensure
that actions unify instead of splitting or causing inter-party friction or
even worse, mass work friction, members should keep to the
democratically agreed-upon plan of work.

2. Winning the People’s Trust

Our actions influence the way communists everywhere will be

regarded and whether or not the working class will perceive our Party
as worthy of trust. Our individual, online, and club conduct and
communications should reflect working class values, and not reflect
poorly on the Party or the working class movement. Thus, we must:

—-be responsible, be honest, keep appointments, be on time, and

complete all tasks accepted.

—-maintain diversity in our leadership and membership at all levels.

—-maintain clear, regular lines of communication within and between

organizational levels.

—-copy everyone affected or that needs to be informed in emails and

other means of
communication. Keeping everyone in the communication loop is an
effective organizing tool and an extension of democracy.

—-document and follow up on all actions the group agrees to

undertake.

3. Assessing and Improving Our Work

Revolutionary theory and practice places emphasis on learning from

mistakes as a basis for individual and collective growth. The interests
of the working class and the Party are the standards against which we
measure success and failure, strength and weakness. Clubs should
engage in “constructive” criticism when appropriate and discourage
“destructive” criticism.

 Constructive criticism involves analyzing and evaluating past work and

offering concrete proposals for improvement. Club meetings will routinely
include some review of past decisions and work in connection with
planning next steps. Likewise, in a democratic centralist organization,
regular reports are made by the collective engaging in the work to various
other Party bodies. These reports afford a chance to evaluate policies and
decisions, analyze how they were executed by the collective and by the
individuals particularly responsible, and consider whether anything can be
done differently to improve outcomes in the future.

 Destructive criticism damages Party unity without bringing a

compensatory amount of improvement and growth. Criticism becomes
destructive if it is wholly negative, too personal, couched in combative or
insulting language, oriented toward “scoring points” rather than serving
the working class, or divisive with no practical consequences.

Destructive criticism discourages new members and generally derails

the work. Criticism can also become destructive if it is voiced behind
the backs of those concerned or those in a position to act on the
problem. If a grievance is worthy of further discussion, it should be
constructively expressed to the proper Party body. Otherwise it should
be dropped to avoid hurting individuals or opening the Party to attack.

 Sense of proportion: If every comrade always raised right away every

possible criticism, the Party would be continually embroiled in internal
dispute of a very subjective nature. It would be unable to act in the class
struggle. A sense of proportion that arises from adherence to the class
struggle objectives of the Party is necessary.

Still, club members should know the appropriate avenues for

expressing criticism on substantial questions. While the context and
situation must always be taken into account, questions that disrupt the
Party’s unity such as expressions of racism or sexism or anti-Party
statements need immediate challenge. The Party program and
Constitution are guides for determining what is anti-Party.
  Organizational integrity: The primary approach of the Party to individual
shortcomings and errors is persuasion through criticism and self-criticism,
education and study and political activity. But when a member does not
respond or commits more serious errors, action may be initiated by a club
member or a Party committee. These procedures and their bases are
outlined in the Party Constitution, Article VIII.

If a member’s actions are detrimental to the interests of the Party and

the working class for reasons of mental illness, addiction, or substance
abuse, the member might consider taking medical leave from active
participation in Party life, rather than charges being brought seeking
forfeiture of membership. During the leave, the member abstains from
club meetings, use of club social media, and Party activities.

F. The Club Meeting

1. Purpose and Scheduling of Meetings

Each club meeting should serve one or more of the following purposes:

—To hear from mass activists, network, build relationships and

coalitions

—To raise class and socialist consciousness

—To follow up on national, district, and club plans of work

—To follow up on associated voluntary tasks and actions

—To make new collective decisions

—To further cadre education and development

—To spend time in fellowship, building camaraderie

The club should meet regularly every month or every two weeks. There
may be emergency periods when more frequent meetings are
required. Clubs tend to fall apart when they do not meet at least once
a month, and once every two weeks may be a better rhythm for an
active club without a separable executive committee.
There should be a regular meeting time so that it can be planned upon.
Since the club is the basic unit and Party membership is determined in
relation to the club, attendance at club meetings is very important for
all members. The meeting time should, therefore, be set to insure
maximum attendance, and not to test the revolutionary zeal of
members.

The club meeting, except in a special emergency, should last no more

than two hours. Shorter meetings indicate that there is a lack of feeling
that the Party is needed to give collective leadership to mass struggle
and to change the course of events. Longer meetings also indicate
problems. They may indicate difficulty in deciding priorities based on
the wrong estimate that “everything is crucial.” They may reflect a
rigid, mechanical approach to mass activity with an attempt to
predetermine every detail. They may also reflect internal difference.

Large clubs may wish to divide the club into two or more parts, for part
of every meeting or every other meeting, for some or all of the
discussion. Such division assures more detailed help more frequently
to the greatest number of members in a large club.

Many good clubs do not put dues and fund collections and literature
sales on the agenda at every meeting. The person in charge arrives
early and leaves late, takes up the matter with each person
individually before and after the meeting, unless the fund collection is
for a special purpose that needs to be on the agenda.

2. Structure of Meetings

Every club meeting should begin with adoption of an agenda presented

by the club chairperson or another officer (see Appendix-3 for
examples). Ideally the agenda is circulated in advance. The person
chairing the club meeting can be either the club chairperson or another
executive committee member, or there can be a rotating chairing of
meetings.

A good agenda will consist of an educational, one or two major

discussions of political work, and brief organizational checkup points of
10 to 30 minutes total duration. Any matters that cannot be handled in
this framework should be handled by the club executive committee,
individual officers or committees between meetings.
Adhere to Robert’s Rules of Order at meetings to encourage full
participation and internal democracy (see Appendix-4 for an
abbreviated Robert’s Rules). When meetings are run more casually,
decision-making power may be accidentally monopolized by one or two
outspoken people, undermining collectivity.

Clubs are also encouraged to use “the progressive stack” technique for
discussions, especially in larger meetings. When a proposal is made, a
question asked or a topic raised for discussion, the meeting secretary
should make two lists of names of people who want to comment.
People from non-dominant groups are invited to comment first, then
other list is read. No one is allowed to make a second comment until
everyone who added themselves to the stack has spoken once.

Minutes should be taken at every meeting capturing decisions,

voluntary tasks, actions with timeline, and the gist of discussions
(see Appendix-5). Minutes should be communicated as soon as
possible after the meeting. Main decisions and tasks should be re-
stated at the end of the meeting.

3. The Club Educational

It is best to begin each meeting with an educational, 30 to 60

minutes in length. Having the educational at the start guarantees that
it is not perpetually postponed as the least pressing business. Every
meeting should have an educational because it is the only guarantee
that all members receive some Party education aimed at helping
develop their contribution to the cause of the Party. This also assures
that there is a certain common ideological basis for the political and
mass work. For a list of suggested texts to use, see Appendix-6.

The subject matter may be a theoretical question, a current

development, an ideological problem in the mass movement or in the
Party, etc. Ideally, the subject matter flows from an estimate of what
the club needs to carry forward its work. The format may vary. A
comrade from inside or outside the club may be invited to make a
presentation or lead a discussion. The basis may be an article from the
Party website or from People’s World, a pamphlet, a short classic text
from Marx, Engels, Lenin etc., or a set of materials on an issue the club
needs to learn about. Other options include Party webinars, podcasts,
or YouTube videos. Be sure to leave time for questions and discussion.
The club may elect an Education Secretary who plans all of the
educationals for the year, or this responsibility may be collectively
undertaken or rotate among club members. If the latter, be sure the
next educational is lined up before the meeting is adjourned.

4. Political and Mass Work

A major portion of the club meeting, 1 or 2 hours, should be devoted to

the political and mass work of the club.

—Meetings of higher bodies should regularly be reported to the club.

These reports should be worked in where they are most relevant to the
club’s own agenda items. The club should discuss how the higher
body’s decision applies locally and how it relates to the club’s strategy
and plan of work, so everything is seen to work together.

—An individual comrade or several comrades may report on the long-

term perspectives in an area or work, or an immediate tactical problem
that has arisen in their mass activity, to get the thinking and the help
of the collective.

—-A report may be given on media work, literature, fund raising,

recruiting, etc. Its starting point would be a review of past work, a
setting forth of the particular area in relation to the strategy and tasks
and the plan of work, with the projection of goals and methods,
ideological, political and organizational problems, etc.

Organizational questions should consume the least amount of time, no

more than 30 minutes when they are checkup points, making of
arrangements, etc. These same points may also at times become one
of the major points on the agenda, in which they become a political-
organizational report for discussion and action, and not just a checkup
point.

G. Club Leadership

1. Election of Leadership

Our Constitution states, “Clubs shall elect a chair and other officers
appropriate to the club’s size and needs.” Every club should have a
chair. Large clubs need an Executive Committee. Small clubs make
their own decisions about whether to appoint more officers or simply
share the work. Annual elections are constitutionally required, as is a
secret ballot should anyone request it. Other aspects of election
procedures are best decided according to club circumstances.

In considering a leadership collective, the Party ordinarily gives great

weight both to the need for continuity and regular, planned change.
Continuity is necessary because the class struggle requires experience
and also particular functions are not mastered overnight. The Party
must be able to learn from past successes and mistakes. Regular
change is needed to guarantee the long term future. Often it is also
useful in adding new experiences and judgements.

Outgoing leadership should make recommendations on the structure of

leadership and on the personnel. Consideration should be given not
only to what particular functions of leadership are required and who
can best perform the particular functions, but also to the overall
roundedness and composition of the executive committee as the
leading political collective of the club.

Communists judge cadre for leadership on the basis of their proven

qualities:

1) devotion to the cause of the working class and Party,

2) political development and ability to apply the science of Marxism-

Leninism,

3) capabilities,

4) ability to learn and develop.

Leadership has the responsibility to the membership to lead the work,

which can only be done by consulting the membership and masses of
working people widely and listening and learning from their thinking
and experience. It also has a responsibility to the membership to help
develop each and everyone’s fullest potential and contributions to the
struggle. It has a responsibility to help develop others into leaders.

The membership has a responsibility to the leadership to help them to

be able to function as an authoritative leadership, including through
comradely constructive criticism.
2. The Executive Committee

The executive committee is not a separate Party body or organization,

but rather is a committee of the club, composed of active members
and elected club leaders, to provide collective leadership to the work of
the club. The number of positions is voted on at the annual club
conference. The minimum size is 3, and in larger clubs of 25 or more
members the executive committee may be as large as 7 or so.

The executive committee should meet regularly once between club

meetings and on call. It strives to ensure that the club meeting has
preparation and direction and therefore is not just a discussion society.
This committee prepares the agenda and assures that the decisions of
the club are executed. It should prepare thinking for the club on all
major political questions and problems of the club’s work. All major
questions should then come before the full club meeting. All actions of
the executive committee are subject to approval or reversal by the full
club.

When the executive committee is discussing a particular area of work,

the person responsible, if not on the executive committee, should be
invited to participate. The executive committee may also invite to its
meeting several comrades in a particular area of mass struggle in
order to give them more detailed help than they can get at the club
meeting.

If the club is too small for an executive committee, having only 3 or 4

members, it still is advisable to have at least one person besides the
chair with a specific club function. The danger of directionless or
planless meetings is even greater with small clubs, so it is important
that the chairperson have some exchange with the other club leaders
in advance about the agenda of the meetings.

3. Officers

Each club has a chairperson. The number of other officers and their
particular functions and titles will vary with the club’s size and
situation. Each club should create as many roles as needed and
distribute tasks among the roles in a way that best suits the club,
making sure that everyone is clear on what their role entails.

The following kinds of work should be assigned to particular people:

—-calling the meetings and informing members of time and place

—-recruiting new members; keeping in touch with existing members

—-maintaining the contact list and emailing the membership

—-collecting dues, convention assessments, fund drive pledges

—-keeping financial records and controlling disbursements

—-planning the club’s educational work (internal and/or public)

—-coordinating the club’s social media and web page work

In a larger club, each of these functions may be handled by a separate

person. In a smaller club, there are many possible combinations, as
long as someone is made responsible for each. An organizational
secretary may be responsible for calling meetings, recruiting,
collecting dues and keeping records; or the latter two tasks may be
assigned to a financial secretary. The club may elect one person for
social media and another for educational work, or one person may
handle both, or some other combination. As the club grows, each
function should be taken on by a separate person to encourage
decentralization of responsibilities.

3.a. Club Chair

Every Party body, including the club, must have a political leader, the
club organizer, usually called the club chair. The chair provides overall
collective and democratic leadership, demonstrating the Party’s
values. They ensure that the club adheres to and fulfills the
democratically adopted Party program and constitution, and follows
the written club plan of work. The chair organizes the annual club
conference (see above), maintains contact with the district organizer
and attends district conventions. If at all possible, the club chair should
meet regularly with at least one leading National body in order to
assure their further development and the best presentation of the work
and thinking of the club.

The club chair chairs the executive committee and may or may not
chair the club meetings. Between club and executive committee
meetings the club chair can act when necessary on behalf of the club
or executive committee, subject to their approval.

3.b. Organizational Secretary/Treasurer

In a small club, the second officer should be the organizational

secretary/treasurer. In this situation the organizational secretary
should maintain the contact list (see Appendix-7), help draft club
agendas, strive to assure full attendance at meetings, and help
coordinate the fulfillment of club tasks. If there is no Financial
Secretary, the Organizational Secretary may also collect dues and
donations, keep records of club finances, authorize expenditures, and
provide financial reports as needed.

In this electronic age, clubs may find it very inconvenient to keep funds
in cash and need to open a checking account. It is advisable to open an
account that requires two signatures. If a debit card is used, each
signatory should inform the other when money is spent. Every month,
the bank statement and club ledger should be reviewed by the
executive committee (or whole club, in the absence of an executive
committee) and made available for view on request by any club
member.

In a small club, the Organizational Secretary/Treasurer may also take

responsibility for social media, or this responsibility may be assigned to
the Chair or another member. In areas where the membership is
geographically far-flung, assigning certain social media responsibilities
to distant members provides a way for them to contribute. Members
who cannot regularly attend club meetings might be asked to compile
a bibliography for the web page, create a daily Facebook post or
Twitter, etc.

In a large club with separate people for each of the functions, the
organizational secretary should play a considerable role along with the
chairperson in seeing that the mass political line of the club is carried
out, working closely with comrades in some of the key mass fields.

3.c. Educational Secretary

The educational secretary is responsible for organizing the educational

work of the club: club meeting educationals, forums, study groups, new
members’ classes, etc. The educational secretary is responsible for
leading and organizing the procurement, sale and distribution of
printed literature which the Party wishes to promote, among the
membership and to the wider public. In a small club, the educational
director may also be responsible for press, website, and/or social
media work.

As indicated above, the educational program of the club should be

developed from the standpoint of what educational activities can best
help the club take its work forward. Intra-club education must aim to
equip the membership to deal with ideological and theoretical
questions they will confront in the mass movements and to overcome
any misunderstandings that are holding back the club’s work.

General mastery of Marxist-Leninist theory is also an aim of

educational work. This can best be handled in special club classes or in
classes and schools organized by leading bodies rather than in the 30
to 60 minute educationals at club meetings.

Such forms as club leadership training classes are also best organized
by leading bodies involving more than a single club. The club
educational director would help guarantee that there are such classes,
and that the club is able to participate in as many as possible of the
educational forms organized by leading committees.

Organization of a Marxist discussion group of those close to the Party

on the basic theory or on the Marxist approach to a particular field of
struggle close to the participants is an important educational form that
can help recruit. Classes on the strategy and tactics of the Party, on
the theory of the party and how it functions are necessary for all new
members. If the club is unable to organize them, then a leading
committee should be asked to provide them.

3.d. Media Secretary

The media secretary is to lead and organize the club’s activities in

circulating People’s World and other electronically distributed media
from National, as well as building and maintaining the club’s website,
social media, and chat apps, as applicable (see Appendix-8 for
examples). The media secretary leads and organizes collective efforts
to find or create content for the web page and social media, as
directed by the club’s plan of work.
The media secretary strives to ensure that the time and energy the
club spends on social media, which may be considerable, contributes
as effectively as possible to the club’s strategic aim and recruiting
plan, or at the very least does not detract.

The media secretary should look for relevant People’s World articles
that can be printed and distributed by hand at rallies or protests, line
up interviews, and generally serve as a liaison between the club and
the PW.

3.e. Membership or Outreach Secretary

The membership secretary leads and organizes the recruiting work.

The annual Party registration of all its members should be handled by
such a person as well as keeping in touch with members who miss
meetings, are ill, etc. The membership secretary develops and leads
recruitment efforts, and fights for the membership, for their fullest
involvement and development.

3.f. Financial Secretary

The financial secretary leads and organizes the financial work of the
club. This should include preparation of an annual budget of needed
funds and of sources of income to be adopted at the club conference. It
should also include the club’s obligations to the district and National
Committee and for its own work.

In essence, the budget includes anticipated income (from dues,

sustainers, grants, fundraisers, etc.) and anticipated expenditures (for
office supplies, postage, food and rent for planned events, advertising,
travel, etc.). The financial records include actual income and actual
expenditures.

The financial secretary collects dues and convention assessments,

sustainer and fund drive pledges from members, fights for the
complete fulfillment of pledges, keeps the records and controls
disbursements. A plan of fundraising affairs, alone or together with
other clubs, and appeals to individual non-Party contacts for
contributions of funds should be developed and implemented.

3.g. Meeting Chair, Meeting Secretary, Task or Project Leaders (may

alternate)
The meeting chair ensures the democratic, collective style of club
meetings and encourages full, democratic participation by following
Robert’s Rules of Order. This person facilitates decision making and
helps ensure effective and enjoyable meetings. They may also be put
in charge of reserving and setting up a meeting space.

The meeting secretary takes minutes at the meeting, then distributes

the minutes in an agreed-upon manner. The meeting secretary also
keeps time limits during the meeting. It may be helpful to assign a
meeting secretary when the organizational secretary needs to present
information, reports, etc. at the meeting.

Task or project leaders take responsibility for agreed-upon tasks. The

leader does not have to do all the task work, but may delegate and
follow up to make sure the tasks get done. The leader takes initiative,
oversees tasks to completion, reports back to the club, and leads the
evaluation process when the task or project is complete.

4. Delegates to the District and National Conventions

Delegates to the district convention are elected at the annual club

conference based on reviews of work and election of leadership. At
district conventions, the work of the district is reviewed, strategy and
plans for the coming period decided, and district committee members
and delegates to the National Convention elected.

The number of delegates each district is eligible to send to the National

Convention depends on the number of “members in good standing” in
that district (those who have paid dues and are known to local
leadership). Club officers should remind their members and guests that
they must join, pay dues and participate locally in order to have a
voice in National decisions.

H. Financing the Activities of the Club

The clubs are member-financed through dues and donations. Dues can
be paid to the national office via the website, to the district, or directly
to the club. Dues paid elsewhere revert to the club periodically. New
members receive a membership card upon paying their dues.
Every Party member is expected to make a substantial financial
contribution according to his or her means in the form of an annual
fund drive and a monthly sustainer pledge, in addition to the required
minimum dues and assessments. The bulk of the money needed,
however, if we are to raise enough and if we work correctly, will come
from non-Party people. When the bulk of needed funds comes from
Party members, it means we are approaching fundraising as a thing in
itself, administratively, separated from our mass activity. Instead,
fundraising can be approached politically and become a form of mass
work in which our resources and our mass relationships continually
expand.

A yearly plan of fundraising affairs and activities is required at each

level of the Party. The most valuable forms, politically and financially,
are public fund raising affairs. At the district level this may include an
annual Party anniversary affair in September, an annual holiday season
gift bazaar for the press or the Party, a spring reception for the press
or awards banquet, and a summer picnic. Additional events honoring a
staunch older comrade on the occasion of 50 years of membership in
the Party or a 70th birthday, or a couple on their 40th or 50th wedding
anniversary, have an educational, political, and social-cultural purpose
as well.

A high-functioning district should have frequent affairs of this kind,

some more elaborate than others. Their political breadth starts with
the list of sponsors or endorsers, the speakers and cultural performers.
Our goal is constantly to broaden and deepen. Then, the effort must be
to publicize the event widely and organize the attendance, going as far
beyond our own ranks to every kind of contact as possible. Particular
political themes of such affairs, occasions for public enunciation of
important policy questions, often with attempts at mass media
coverage, add to their combined purpose of fund raising and extending
mass influence.

At the club level there may be a neighborhood affair to honor a worthy

older comrade, a forum, film, concert, dinner, take-out food prepared
by the club and its friends in return for contributions. These are all
forms that have proven their usefulness. We can also think outside the
box and consider hosting a game night, open mic, cake contest, speed
dating, etc. Raffles and rummage (or plant, book, bake etc.) sales are
additional forms for fundraising.
People who provide contact information at tabling events but never
come to meetings can be asked if they would like to make a financial
donation. Lists for individual solicitation must be made and followed
up, checked and expanded from year to year. A person who is
approached for contributions not only helps our movement financially
but is drawn closer to us politically by being asked to give and even
more so by actually giving. Receipts and strict accounting are
necessary to build confidence that funds contributed will be used
effectively and properly.

Often the Party is asked to contribute money to other movements and

organizations. Generally speaking the Party needs all the funds, and
more, that it can raise for its own activities. When there is a coalition of
organizations and the Party is one of them and all are asked to help
finance the activities of the coalition, the Party has to uphold its share,
but with the understanding that it has no big financiers and is totally
dependent on the contributions of working people.

I. Recruitment

In all its activities the Party constantly tries to expand its membership.
It recruits among all categories of working people. It makes special
efforts to recruit people of color and other specially oppressed people.
It is also especially concerned with its composition with regard to
women and age level.

Mastery of Marxism-Leninism or of any particular phase of it prior to

entrance is not a condition for recruitment. The desire of the recruit to
strive to support the Program, even if without a deep understanding,
and to act in accord with the Constitution, meets the constitutional
requirement of “acceptance” of the Program and Constitution.

Usually new members bring with them close ties to those movements
and struggles currently in the forefront. They bring a sensitivity to the
problems and aspirations of those involved in such struggles. They also
bring new skills developed in those movements. Therefore, besides
everything else, new members are important to the Party because they
help root the Party even more firmly among working people in motion.
In turn, a strong Party helps assure the constant expansion and further
development of progressive social struggles.
Recruiting requires Party consciousness and specific recruiting
consciousness. It requires a confidence that workers are ready to be
won to the Party and that the Party can attract and hold them.
Although recruiting is an activity requiring special attention, it is most
successful when fully integrated into the total work of the Party,
particularly its activity among masses struggling for their needs. But it
also requires a high level of organization. From time to time, in
addition to the day to day effort to recruit, the Party launches a well
prepared and planned recruiting drive. This includes goals, printed
materials, activities and checkup planned over a period of time at all
levels of the Party.

J. Responsibilities of Membership

Anyone over the age of 18 who strives to understand and support the
Party Program and Constitution can join CPUSA. Each new member
should join their local club, or strive to form a nucleus and start a local
club if one does not exist.

Club leaders should encourage all members to familiarize themselves

with the program, constitution, and responsibilities of membership. It is
possible to be a passive member of the organization by joining online
and paying dues. But to be a “member in good standing,” an individual
must undertake the following responsibilities:

 Strive to study, understand and further develop the CPUSA Party Program,
Constitution, and recent convention resolutions, as well as their
application to theory and practice.
 Engage in real working class mass struggles to expand democracy,
improve wages and working conditions.
 To the best of our abilities, support the goals of the organization by
implementing its program, paying dues, supporting and circulating its
publications.
 Strive to attend club meetings, democratically participate in deliberations
and vote in party collectives.
 Strive to improve understanding of scientific socialism (Marxism-
Leninism), participate in study groups, educational webinars, lead
educationals, etc.
 Participate in the collective analysis of the current political situation and
carry out the work of the national, district and club organization.
 Seek to build our organization by winning new members and allies to our
ranks.
 Prioritize the struggle for equality as the cornerstone of working class
unity. Struggle against all racist ideologies, male supremacy and other
such practices.
 Belong to a labor union, if eligible.
 Strengthen labor unions, civil rights, peace, environmentalist, worker,
youth, student or other chosen community organizations and social
networks.
 Promote the voice and effective participation of the working class.
 Promote unity with allies of the working class in the course of fighting for
common goals.
 Register, vote, get out the vote, run socialist and progressive candidates
for public office, build progressive electoral coalitions.