to the heart of the arab spring revolts in his interview with tunisia as a new president. may has long been considered the month of the worker the tradition comes from the u.s. where some say the focus on labor has been forgotten next we hear from sam webb chairman of the american communist party spotlight just ahead. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture.

hello again or welcome to spotlight the interview show on our site i'm now in today my guest on the program is sampling the web for more than century may has been the month of the working class the first of may is labor day in most countries around the globe and therefore most celebrations parades and stripes to held this month but do you know that the tradition has been a big deal in the communist russia for nearly a century but it originated in the united states and though ironically it's not really cherish them that much of the these dates so what's the condition of the proletariat the most revolutionary class according to lenin and the country of pure kept. celebrating the triumph of socialism that's one may day on the international workers days most may so she didn't want ironically the idea

originated in a country which you associate with socialist ideals it all started in the usa the name of eight hundred eighty six dollars and of the now with the workers what cough thank jobs to protest inhumane working conditions there. riots culminated in the haymarket massacre in chicago and inspired the global anti capitalist movement the seeds sown by american workers made deep roots in russian soil where may day was celebrated with great pomp and ceremony to mark the soggy two years may day remains in the short holiday in russia although it's no longer highly politicized it's also celebrated in more than sixty countries around the globe however the same can be said about the usa where the whole idea originated but has been successfully suppressed by the authorities things may change though at least the occupy wall street movement promises to revive mady for america and use it as

a stage and don't really use magic slogans. so today we're celebrating may day with the man who does preserve the pure red traditions in america chairman of the united states economy this party web hello and thank you for joining us from new york city thank you sam well well first of all just about what we've just heard from our reporter what's your party is actually to do to the occupy movement and there's the there's the united states communist party somehow take taking part in occupy wall street or whatever. well we have a very positive attitude towards. occupy wall street in our opinion to change the conversation in the country from a sturdy to inequality and as you probably know inequality has grown tremendously

over the past thirty years since the election of ronald reagan. and it's getting worse even in the midst of this economic crisis. the ones who benefited from it are the the wealthiest americans working people though are in very difficult straits now unemployment officially is around eight percent and officially it's nearly double that so the occupy movement has three some important questions about the conditions of working people inequality unemployment so it's been a very positive development in this country in cardenas there involved in the occupy movement both here in new york as well as around the country. may first is the day of working class solidarity so what are the conditions of the working class in today's america doesn't need someone of solidarity in our. of course it does. actually the world is an economic crisis.

triggered by developments in the economy here. but the world is suffering an economic crisis europe for example is in a very difficult situation economically here in this country unemployment is officially around eight or nine percent in probably it's double lead on officially you know the estimate of the labor movement is that the number of unemployed count about twenty five million in this country that's unemployed underemployed in part time workers. so the u.s. workers definitely need solidarity from their brothers and sisters from around the world. sam where do i live went to school and then is in the center of the union they taught us about the the class consciousness you know what class consciousness is so tell me that if socialism is still the best solution for working class for

the american working class why are they voting for republicans or even for the democrats well i don't think it's the case that working people in this country. see socialism as their best solution. class consciousness is changing workers are beginning to understand that their main problem the main obstacle to progress in this country are the the one percent you know those who work work on wall street. but they aren't yet at the point where they're ready to fight for socialism many years especially between one thousand nine hundred five and one nine hundred eighty since then economic conditions have worsened in the working people in this country are beginning to reach the conclusion that capitalism doesn't work they are ready again to embrace socialism but they embracing capitalism either. well today what kind of

society do you see eyes ideal what's your what's your political goal if your party or the goal still is socialism you know a society that puts people before profits. this is sidey capitalist society puts profits before people and you know if you know that it's not the best society for working people for the very wealthy it's great i mean they're doing wonderful delivering well above working people conditions are worsening in a very difficult enough you are feeling is that the society that put people before profits would be. you would be the best for the great majority in this country but how do you see the transition to such a society will that require you know the socialist revolution that we had in russia eighty years ago well i don't think this transition in this country would be.

like the transition in russia that was you know that their particular set of circumstances and russia that. brought about the transition there i mean the country is very different from russia one nine hundred seventeen i mean we see a peaceful path to socialism of course to make that possible we got to win an overwhelming majority. to the goal of socialism and we haven't done that yet but we envision a peaceful path. along democratic lines to socialism in this country all communist parties today even the russian communist parties talking about socialism so is communism a utopia what would you say. i don't think any societies utopia i mean every society including socialist society has you know. has flaws sometimes major flaws but in my from my point of view socialist society would have

you know drawing upon the both the positive and negative experience of the of the twentieth century in building socialism i think socialism would offer a society that provides better for working people and on a democratic what about a communist society is it possible to to do to imply this idea well i think communism is a is a possibility but not not not the near term. maybe in the long distant future communism becomes a possibility but we're far from that now. if we could begin the process of building socialism we would be very happy well marxism is considered to be at theory of crises under capitalism what are the reasons for the current economic crisis as seen by your communist party whether

the crisis. of responsibility for the crisis belongs with the capitalist class and especially finance capital. you know the housing market. turned into a bubble of the bubble broke and brought both the financial sector in the really kind to me. tens of millions are thrown out of work because of that and things haven't improved much saw the responsibility lies with the capitalist class in this country it was the workings of the system the drive for maximum corporate profits brought about this crisis. but where is this crisis leaving us all what will what will the world both politically and economically look like when when the crisis is over what do you say well the question is when it's going to be over and like. really

a cyclical downturn that we've experienced in this country since one thousand nine hundred five. we don't yet see any kind of pick up in the economy i mean in nearly a crisis we saw a downturn and then the economy picked back up but that doesn't seem to be the case now. i feel we're in a period of stagnation at this point and the light at the end of the tunnel isn't even get seen. so i'm afraid we're likely going to. experience a protracted crisis in this country with no end in sight. says sam where the chairman of the communist party the united states of america is joining us via satellite link from new york city spotlight will be back shortly right after great so stay with us.

to a substantial degree and one form or another socialism has spread the shadow of human regimentation over most of the nations that they are and the shadow is an approaching a believer. in the early twenty first century military bases the network of military bases all around the world forms leaving the empire that the united states is trying to build it's astonishing most americans have no idea there are more than a quarter of a million more than two hundred fifty thousand us troops stationed on these bases all around the world. we don't have power bases on america we don't have any british base we don't have any korean base we don't have any french bases or you know we just all american bases in our bases of. noises our north she doesn't

bother us at all because they're all bases but for other people it's almost like a cancer here for these people. since the into world war two spaces i've been. working here to provide a safe and secure environment for everybody. the questions you know thing else you get everything you need to join me on a journey to the heart of the place is hidden from the terrorists you going to meet some real crime insiders although they may not be the usual news makers you see on t.v. . welcome

back to spotlight they guest in this show today is the chairman of the united states communist party sam webb who is joining us via satellite link from new york city and we're talking we're talking about may first the bad news about today's and today's holiday which is celebrated in many countries around the world

as a labor day well. we talked about the occupy wall street slogan of course and the slogan is we are ninety nine percent but what well do laboring classes actually play in the occupy a movement isn't it more a student and intellectual movement today rather than that of the working class the main participants are young people. but. the the labor movement has been very supportive of the occupy movement in cities around the country. they haven't shied away from it at all they've embraced it and are trying to be as helpful as they can to the you know the young people who occupy and spaces and from from new york to los angeles. many of the demonstrations or actions that the occupy movement as it has called labour's responded to them their

members of hit the streets in support of the demands to diminish inequality in this country and to call for jobs. so what place does the united states communist party today occupy in the labor movement in the country is the communist party a recognizable part of this labor movement how many workers actually are members of your party well i'm not exactly sure about the answer to that but. much of our membership is active in the struggles of working plea people including in the labor movement we try to play a constructive and positive and unifying role in the labor movement. i think are all our activities are appreciated by. brothers and sisters and in the labor

movement among working people generally. communists are active in the fight for jobs and the fight for health care. we're active in the fight to shift the tax burden to the wealthy and the rich. were active in the fight for a peaceful foreign policy and against militarism so communists are active in a whole range of movements including in the labor movement and i think we're well respected and how difficult is it to defend labor rights today in the time of globalization when when workers demand for higher wages for example may simply mean that the capitalist will move its enterprise to place where labor is much cheaper well and that's it. or the labor movement is is. under enormous pressure. you know one cause as you mention is globalization the fact that

corporations can move their production sites to any place in the world. usually towards two to countries where wages are extremely low and workers have no rights and the other the other causes the rise in this country what we call the right wing extremism. mainly gathered in the republican party and you don't know if you labor should have no rights at all no collective bargaining rights. so that's another danger well what's your attitude towards china a country that did that still is labeled as communist but actually it is a super capitalist country a country where workers have practically no rights at all well china is is a changing country i was there a few years ago and it's uncontestable that they have made.

enormous improvements for the lives of. tens of millions hundreds of millions of chinese people lifting them out of poverty. at the same time as you say there are extremes that they have billionaires to so i don't think it's the future china is necessarily written in stone. i mean the chinese communists believe that they're in the early stages of building socialism and they're confident that that's going to be the path that the country moves him of course some others have a different point of view but the problem the the i'd like to have it move into the direction of capitalism so i think it's a it's it's still a contested struggle it's not clear what direction china will go in but at the chinese communist. their view is that they're going to build a socialist society but again they're in the early stages of it. i mean you said you visited china that's very interesting when you visit china what kind of

reception do you get i mean is it a red carpet reception do you have a chance to meet the communist leaders of the chinese communist party or they would rather talk to a barber than you know although we're there we got a nice reception friendly reception we had discussions with the leaders at different levels of the chinese communist party we would two factories would to new cities that have grown up over the past thirty years we got a pretty good look at china and we got a pretty good appreciation of the policies of the chinese communist party. there are you anxious to hear what conditions about conditions in this country as well well i remember interviewing guess harl who was your predecessor the and the head of the united states communist party years ago and he was a big friend of russia of communist russia didn't lula did the collapse of the

soviet union affect the communist party united states a lot. it affected us we lost membership in the course of it but. the majority of members stayed in the state in the party and. were still. convinced that socialism offered a better way of life but it was enormous change in the world setting and it was a start surprising that some people would. lose confidence and move faith in the possibility of socialism when the soviet union collapsed but again i think the majority of members. didn't waver and they continue to be convinced that socialism offers a better solution than capitalism this soviet union had a very poor record in terms of respect to individual freedoms and human rights what

the united states communist party attitude towards these values in today's world and well in our view socialism and democracy should be. you know together. socialist society should deep in the next and the markets in democratic rights to people. i think would be inconsistent for a socialist society to to narrow down to a limit you know democratic rights of people and individuals. so you know if you. more socialism or the mark recy. what your attitude toward stalinism will actually stalinism it did for him at the the communist parties of the twentieth century around the world so. what do you

think of it today about this period in soviet history well. to be frank. it's not much of a discussion in our party you know for many of our younger members it seems like. something in the ancient past. that period in soviet history. to be you know from my point of view i think. some major mistakes were made during that period in crimes of committed and. i know was circumstances were difficult because of the the fact that. fascism was rising and growing in germany and put a lot of pressure on of the country and in addition to that tried to move from a backward country economically to a moderate income i mean that put pressure on the country but. we all saw or feel

that mistakes were made well let's talk about modern times you are supported by during the last elections are you satisfied with this presidency and i un you your party i going to support a baron at this time again during during the next presidential election in the states. well we didn't we didn't endorse him during the last campaign in two thousand and eight. nor will we endorse him in this election campaign you know our main concern i mentioned earlier about the rise of right wing extremism. that's our main concern and. we see it is essential. if the country's going to have a prosperous and democratic future to defeat this right wing extremist groups group that gathers in the republican party. if if by some chance

they win the election then i think the country is going to go in a very negative direction so that's our main concern we want to prevent them from. gaining power in the upcoming elections. sam and when was it last time that communist party candidates took part in presidential election in the united states was in one thousand nine hundred eighty four we don't. run candidates. as much at the at the national level as we did before our focus is more on running communist at the local level for city council for school board for positions of that kind there's that word there's that started you work for you you know we have people elected to city councils on a number of cities around the country ok thank you thank you very much for being

with us and just a reminder that my guest today was sad webb chairman of the communist party of the united states of america and that's it for now from all of us here if you want to have yourself plug large part have someone in mind to you think i should three next time just drop me a line and i'll do an hour and hearty t.v. dad are you i'm asking squad mike to interact and we'll be back with more friends than common father what's going on in and outside russia pronto then stay on our team and take care.

first.

deadly terror attacks in the syrian city the killed nineteen injured dozens more this is the u.n. warns it's powerless to implement a peace plan or less both sides lay down their arms both the government and opposition pointing fingers at each other over the bomb. political pressure on ukraine growing over the treatment of former prime minister yulia timoshenko with the e.u. politicians threatening to boycott the euro two thousand and twelve football championship to go says she was assaulted by guards in a prison where she's serving a seven year term for abuse of power brussels says the case politically motivated. wiki leaks founder prepares to take center stage again as the host of exclusive our interview program later tuesday sanji gets to the heart of the arab spring revolt in the interview with tunisia's new president. coming up the big picture with thom hartmann stay with us.