Peace and Freedom Party
Party Platform
This is a direct copy and paste from the real life Peace and Freedom Party. Please visit their website to learn more.
The Peace and Freedom Party, born from the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s, is committed to socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism, racial equality, and internationalism. We organize toward a world where cooperation replaces competition, a world where all people are well fed, clothed and housed; where all women and men have equal status; where all individuals may freely endeavor to fulfill their own talents and desires; a world of freedom and peace where every community retains its cultural integrity and lives with all others in harmony. Our goals cannot be achieved by electoral means alone. We support mass organization, direct action, a militant labor movement, and establishment of alternative institutions. We offer this summary of our immediate and long-range goals:
Double the minimum wage, and index it to the cost of living.
Guarantee the right of all workers to organize and to strike; forbid striker replacement.
Socially useful jobs for all at union pay levels.
Equal pay for equal work, and for work of comparable worth.
A 30-hour workweek with no cut in weekly pay; longer paid vacations.
A Universal Basic Income with full social benefits as a basic human right.
Tax the income and assets of the rich to meet human needs.
International trade agreements must guarantee the protection of workers and the environment in all participating countries; abolish NAFTA, GATT and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
End homelessness; abolish vagrancy laws; provide decent affordable housing for all.
Cancellation of all debts found to be illegitimate and unjust to the working class through an open and democratic process not controlled by the creditors.
Social ownership and democratic control of industry, financial institutions, and natural resources.
The United States should take the initiative toward global disarmament by eliminating nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
Withdraw U. S. troops and weapons from other countries, and reallocate the resulting "peace dividend" for social benefit.
Abolish the CIA, NSA, AID and other agencies for interference in other countries' internal affairs.
No drones for killing or invasion of privacy.
Convert from a military to a peace oriented economy, with jobs for displaced workers.
Self-determination for all nations and peoples of the world, including Puerto Rico and all U. S. territories.
Defend and extend liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.
Repeal the Patriot Act. Dismantle the Department of Homeland Security.
End Corporate Personhood: Corporations are not people and money is not speech.
End discrimination based on race, sex, age, sexual orientation, or disability.
Restore affirmative action, guarantee full education and employment rights for all.
Support the right of working people to keep and bear arms.
Protect digital freedom and privacy, and net neutrality.
No prison labor for private profit.
Abolish the death penalty.
Abolish all torture in prisons. Uphold prisoner rights.
Full rights for all immigrant workers. No human is illegal. Stop ICE raids. Stop jailing and deporting immigrants.
Democratic elections through proportional representation; full political, social and economic rights for resident non-citizens.
Honor treaties with Native American nations; recognize California's Native American nations. Defend and extend Native American rights and sovereignty.
Full free high-quality public education from pre-school through graduate school, with lifelong learning and retraining. Cancel existing student debt.
Teach the history of workers' struggles and labor's creation of society's wealth and progress.
End high stakes testing. Abolish charter schools and stop voucher schemes.
Free day care for all children.
Restore and strengthen bilingual education.
Uncensored government funding for ordinary people to create and enjoy art.
Free high-quality health care for everyone, including birth control, abortion, pre-natal and childhood health care. No forced sterilizations.
Scientific and technological research to benefit ordinary people, not the capitalists.
Legalize marijuana, decriminalize drug use, and make substance abuse treatment freely available.
Give special attention to preventing epidemics of communicable diseases such as AIDS. Guarantee the rights of people living with AIDS.
Restore and protect air, water, land and ecosystems.
Outlaw destructive practices such as clear cutting, fracking, mountaintop removal, tar sands extraction, and offshore drilling.
Promote conservation and develop solar and other renewable energy to replace nuclear power and fossil fuels.
End environmental racism: no toxic dumping in anyone's back yard.
Massive development of public transportation available free or at nominal fares.
Promote an environmentally sound agricultural system which meets human needs and protects farm workers' labor rights and standard of living. No genetically engineered organisms in food production.
Background about the Party
While Texans overwhelmingly chose secession, the US State of California led the rest of the nation in anti-war demonstrations. The prominent Greene family of Houston hired lobbyists to build relationships with many of the budding political parties that threatened to overtake the traditional two-party system that had become the US way of life.
Out of those fruits, the Texas Peace and Freedom Party was born, and the Greene family with most members enrolling and actively participating in the politics of the reborn Republic at all levels.
The Peace and Freedom Party is committed to socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism, and racial equality. We represent the working class, those without capital in a capitalist society. We organize toward a world where cooperation replaces competition, a world where all people are well fed, clothed and housed; where all women and men have equal status; where all individuals may freely endeavor to fulfill their own talents and desires; a world of freedom and peace where every community retains its cultural integrity and lives with all others in harmony.
The Texas Peace and Freedom Party was founded three years before the California organizing committee finalized its work, however the two organizations work in close collaboration. In California and the US, the Democrats were leading the nation in the war against Vietnam. As the military drained their domestic economy, Republicans and Democrats called for “law and order” to repress Americans who wished to improve their own lives. Many similar situations occurred here in the Republic of Texas. Black militants were rising up angrily in the cities, especially Houston, while Filipino and Latino farm workers were organizing labor unions in the fields. Women were agitating for full equality with men. These forces of discontent united to create an electoral arm of “The Movement.” A massive voter registration drive placed the Peace and Freedom Party on the California ballot in January 1968, while it would take another two years for the Texas Peace and Freedom Party to achieve any significant representation. At all levels, the Peace and Freedom Party has shown a willingness to work with other like minded groups, both at home and abroad, to build a mass based socialist wave.
The PFP from the very beginning has been a strong advocate for the protection of the environment from pollution and nuclear waste. We honor all inherited treaties signed with Native Americans. We support the right of all people to self determination. We recognize each person's right to determine her or his own sexual preferences. We respect the right of all individuals to control their own bodies, including free abortion on demand. We call for free access to a full education for every person at any point in life. We fight for each person's right to be well clothed, well housed, and well fed. We want free high equality health care as a right, not a privilege. The PFP envisions a full employment economy based on peacetime production to provide for the needs of all people. Since 1974 the Peace and Freedom Party platform has been feminist and socialist. We want a socialist economy, one where industries, financial institutions, and natural resources are owned by the people as a whole and democratically managed by the people who work in them and use them. This would be a big change from the present corporate capitalist economy. In the US, the richest 1% of the population has half of all privately-owned stock in U.S. corporations and controls most of the institutional stock. They control the policies of business, government, and the media. The capitalist economy starts out with competition for personal profit and ends up with huge monopolies which waste resources. They don't care if they endanger the planet by making useless or even harmful products, so long as they make money. Under capitalism, millions of people are jobless, homeless, often hungry, and without proper medical care. Even those with decent jobs live with the fear of war, nuclear destruction, and environmental pollution of our food, air and water.
As a feminist party, the Peace and Freedom Party actively supports the struggle to eliminate oppression and discrimination based on sex or sexual orientation. Sexual oppression, abuse, and violence in our personal lives are intimately related to authoritarianism and hierarchical institutions, oppression and abuse on the job, and to the violence of war. The struggle against sexism and the struggle for democratic and nonviolent human relations cannot be delayed but must be pursued actively at the same time as the struggle to eliminate oppression and discrimination based on class, race or nationality, age, or physical disability.
Instead of disappearing between elections like many other political parties, the PFP stays active in the community. We have a history of fighting against political repression and corruption. The Peace and Freedom Party has organized fights against redevelopment plans which would have pushed low income people out of their communities, and has organized tenant unions to obtain some justice for renters. The PFP has been a leading force fighting against ripoff schemes by big business. Food co ops, free health clinics,and community newspapers have had long lives after being established by the PFP. Other local PFP activities have included countless labor union strikes and boycotts. PFP people work against nuclear power plants, nuclear tests, and militarism, and in favor of gay and lesbian rights and the rights of immigrant workers. We have played an active role in the defense of abortion clinics from terrorists. We organize and participate in demonstrations for peace, jobs, justice and equality. Not only do PFP activists agitate against the status quo, they work "within the system," testifying on legislation and serving on commissions. In California, the PFP organized two serious statewide initiative campaigns: in 1968, to lower the voting age to 18; and in 1972, to repeal the capital gains tax loophole. Lawsuits taken to the U.S. Supreme Court by the California PFP have eliminated filing fee laws in 29 states which had kept poor people from running for public office. The Peace and Freedom Party cares more about the next generation than the next election.
The Peace and Freedom Party is governed by its National Central Committee (NCC) and local County Central Committees. Peace and Freedom Party central committees are elected in the direct primary election, with any Peace and Freedom registrant eligible to run. You may be appointed to your CCC and/or NCC by a vote of the members even if you are under 18 years old or if you are a noncitizen or ineligible to vote. The biannual state convention adopts the PFP platform.