Ron Dellums

Ron Dellums

Ronald V. Dellums is a former Mayor of Oakland California and a former Democratic Party Congressman.

Early life/education

Ronald V. Dellums was born November 24, 1935, in Oakland, California. After graduating from high school, Dellums joined the U.S. Marine Corps, where he was selected for Officer Candidate School. After completing his tour, Dellums went to Oakland City College, where he earned his A.A. degree. He later went to San Francisco State University and then to the University of California, Berkeley, for an M.A. in social work.

Early career

After completing his master's degree, Dellums went to work with the California Department of Mental Hygiene as a psychiatric social worker in 1962 and remained there for two years. Dellums was hired as the program director of Bayview Community Center in 1964 and a year later became the associate director and, later, director of Hunters Point Youth Opportunity Center.

Politics

In 1967, Dellums won election to the Berkeley City Council, and also began work as a part-time lecturer at San Francisco State College and the Berkeley Graduate School of Social Welfare. Dellums was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1971, where he served until his retirement in 1998.

Helped by Carlton Goodlett

According to radical former San Francisco district attorney Terence Hallinan, an endorsement from Carlton Goodlett was important to the election of many political leaders. Goodlett helped to inspire and promote the political careers of Mayor Willie Brown, the late Representative Philip Burton, Senator John Burton, and Representative Ron Dellums.

Cuba recognition drive

In 1972, a coalition of congressmen, radical activists and some communists spearheaded a drive to relax relations with Fidel Castro's Cuba.

Under, the auspices of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D.- Mass.) and Sen. Harold Hughes (D.-Iowa), a two day conference of liberal scholars assembled in April, in the New Senate Office Building to thrash out a fresh U.S. policy on Cùba.

Among congressional sponsors of the seminar were Sen. J. William Fulbright (D.-Ark.) and Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R.-N.Y.), both influential members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Sen. George McGovern (D.-S.D.), Rep. Bella Abzug (D~-N.Y.) and Rep. Ron Dellums (D.-Calif.).

Other sponsors included Senators Alan Cranston (D-CA), Mike Gravel (D - Alaska), Fred Harris (D - OK), Philip Hart (D - MI), George McGovern (D - SD) and Frank Moss (D - UT)

Congressmen Joseph Addabo (D - NY), Herman Badillo ( D - NY), Alphonzo Bell (R -CA), Jonathan Bingham (D - NY), John Brademas (D -Indiana), Donald Fraser (D - Minn.), Seymour Halpern (R - NY), Lee Hamilton (D - Ind.), Michael J. Harrington (D - MA), Patsy Mink (D -HI), Parren Mitchell (D - MD), Charles Rangel (D - NY), Thomas Rees (D - CA), William Fitts Ryan (D - NY), Ogden Reid (D - NY), Benjamin Rosenthal ( D - NY), Morris Udall ( D - AZ).

Secretary of the New York State Communist Party USA, Michael Myerson was among the observers.

One panelist, John M. Cates, Jr., director of the , Center for Inter-American Relations, matter of factly remarked during the discussions: "So why are we here'? We're here so Sen. Kennedy can have a rationale to get our country to recognize Cuba."

The conference was financed by a New York-based organization called the Fund for the New Priorities in America, a coalition of groups clearly sympathetic to many pro-Communist causes.

The Fund was virtually the same group as the Committee for Peace and New Priorities, a pro-Hanoi group which bought an ad in November 1971 in the New York Times demanding Nixon set a Viet Nam withdrawal date. Both the Fund for the New Priorities and the Committee for Peace, were located at the same address in New York.

Cuba trip

In 1977, Barbara Lee and Ron Dellums were part of a delegation to Cuba, which met with Fidel Castro to discuss health problems.

Supporting Angela Davis

In the early 1970s, several leading US elected officials publicly called for Communist Party USA member Angela Davis' freedom after her arrest on serious charges. They included Ron Dellums, Mervyn Dymally, Jackie Vaughn, Coleman Young, Sydney Von Luther and John Conyers.

Political Rights Defense Fund

As at July 22, 1975, Ron Dellums served on the Advisory Board of the New York based Political Rights Defense Fund.

The Chile letter

On August 1 1979 Thirty-five U.S. Congressmen signed a letterto President Jimmy Carter demanding that private bank loans to Chile be barred unless the Chilean government chose to extradite three military officials, including the former director of the Chilean intelligence service. The three had been indicted for complicity in the assassination of marxist Unidad Popular government member and KGB agent Orlando Letelier and the killing of Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) staffer Ronni Moffitt in 1976.

In May 1978 the Chief Justice of the Chilean Supreme Court rejected the U.S. request for extradition.

Chief sponsor of the letter was Rep. Tom Harkin (D-IA), who was joined by Congressmen John Burton (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI), Robert Kastenmeier (D-WI), Ron Dellums (D-CA), Berkley Bedell (D-IA), Richard Ottinger (D-NY), Fred Richmond (D-NY), Robert Drinan (D-MA), Leon Panetta (D-CA), Don Edwards (D-CA); Norman Mineta (D-CA), Pete Stark (D-CA}, Anthony Beileson (D-CA) George Brown (D-CA), Toby Moffett (D-CT), Dale Kildee (D-MI), Eugene Atkinson (D-PA), Michael Barnes (D-MD), David Bonior (D-MI), Adam Benjamin (D-IN), William Brodhead (D-MI), Robert Carr (D-MI), Tom Daschle (D-SD), Tom Downey (D-NY), Harold Hollenbeck (R-NJ), Pete Kostmayer (D-PA), Stewart McKinney (R-CT), Edward Markey (D-MA), Andrew Maguire (D-NJ) Richard Nolan (DFL-MN), Gerry Studds (D-MA), Bruce Vento (DFL-MN) and Howard Wolpe (D-MI).

The Harkin letter characterized the Chilean government as "an enemy of the American people" and urged the President to "take strong action against this terrorist government." The letter was released (9 A.M. on August 1 1979) at the same time a press statement from the Washington, DC, Chile Legislative Center of the National Coordinating Center in Solidarity with Chile, staffed by veterans of the Venceremos Brigade and the Communist Party USA, supported the Congressional letter and urged pressure so that the State Department does not accept a military trial of the three Chileans in Chile as a substitute for extradition and trial in the US.

Nicaragua conference

The Communist Party USA controlled U.S. Peace Council organized a National Conference on Nicaragua in 1979, along with several other radical groups, to discuss a strategy to ensure that the Sandinistas took control.

Three Congressmen and two Senators lent support to this Conference: Ron Dellums, Tom Harkin, and Walter Fauntroy in the House and Mark Hatfield and Edward Kennedy in the Senate.

People’s Anti-War Mobilization/May 3 Coalition

May 3, 1981—It was the opening shot of a new progressive movement in this country. Over 100,000 people marched on the Pentagon under the slogans: stop the U.S. war buildup, U.S. hands off El Salvador and no intervention in Southern Africa.

They marched to demand money for jobs and human needs, not for the Pentagon. They marched to stop racist violence, to end racism, repression, and lesbian and gay oppression, and to stop the draft.

Sponsored by the People’s Anti-War Mobilization/May 3 Coalition (PAM/May 3), the militant and anti-imperialist action was co-sponsored by over 1,000 individuals and organizations across the country.

More than 120 cities organized for the event, making it clear that this is a new movement that speaks for the many millions who are sick and tired of war, of economic attacks, of racism and all forms of bigotry. This was the biggest anti-war demonstration in a decade.

This wave of militant, chanting humanity marched from the Lincoln Memorial area past the State Department and then over the Memorial Bridge to end their protest at the Pentagon, the seat of imperialist war plans.

Speakers at two rallies ranged from working-class and progressive leaders here to representatives of the national liberation struggles, including Arnoldo Ramos of the FDR [Frente Democrático Revolutionario] in El Salvador. For the first time at a major anti-war mobilization, representatives of the gay and lesbian struggle, the Native struggle and the Palestinian struggle were given a forum.

Solidarity messages to the march were announced from Black U.S. Congressmen John Conyers, Jr. and Ron Dellums, from known Cuban and Soviet spy Philip Agee, from the Democratic Revolutionary Front of El Salvador, from the African National Congress, from the South West Africa People’s Organization, from a group of progressives in Juneau, Alaska, and from the Guardian newspaper.

According to Larry Holmes, PAM leader and march organizer: “Oppressed people played a leading role in building for this march, and the slogans of the march addressed their needs. This is a real departure for the movement.”

Holmes was the 1980 Vice Presidential candidate of Workers World Party. Other WWP members played important roles in many aspects of the march organization.

World Peace Council

Dellums was associated with the Soviet front World Peace Council.

Soon after his election in 1970 Dellums flew to Helsinki for a meeting of the World Peace Council.

On his return he opened an exhibit in the House Office Building of photos of alleged U.S. atrocities in Vietnam splashed with artificial blood.

From September 29, to October 12, 1975 the Soviet front World Peace Council sent a delegation on a ten-day tour of the United States of America, where it was "warmly and enthusiastically received". In six of the ten cities visited, the delegation was officially welcomed by the mayors' offices and presented with "keys to the city", medals and proclamations.

The delegation was composed of Romesh Chandra, Secretary General of the World Peace Council; Josef Cyrankiewicz, former Premier of Poland, for many years a prisoner at the infamous Auschwitz prison camp, "outstanding anti-fascist fighter", and Chairman of the Polish Peace Committee; Ambassador Harald Edelstam, Swedish Ambassador to Algeria, formerly Ambassador to Chile during the Allende Presidency,"renowned for his rescue of hundreds of Chileans from the fascist junta"; Purabhi Mukherji, General Secretary of the Congress Party of India, member of Parliament and formerly a minister of the Indian government ~ for 15 years; James Lamond, Labour member of British Parliament, former Mayor of Aberdeen, Scotland, and active member of the Engineering Workers Union; Yacov Lomko, Editor-in-Chief of the Moscow News, leading member of the Soviet Peace Committee, and Communist Party USA member Karen Talbot, US member of the WPC Secretariat.

The WPC delegates were guests of a number of members of Congress at a luncheon in the House of Representatives' dining room, and at a reception. Among those present were several members of the Congressional Black Caucus,including Congressman John Conyers (Democrat of Michigan), Congressman Ronald Dellums (Democrat of California), Congressman Ralph Metcalf (Democrat of Illinois) and others. Congressman Philip Burton (Democrat of California), House majority leader, joined the luncheon, expressing interest in the work of the WPC and the New Stockholm Campaign. The delegation was also able to speak with a few members of the Senate and House Foreign Relations Committees and the Armed Services Committees, including Congressman Paul Findley, Senator Briscoe, ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, and Senator Thomas McIntyre.

The first official World Peace Council conference in the U.S. was the Dialogue on Disarmament and Detente held January 25-27, 1978, in Washington, DC.

It was sponsored by a small committee including and World Peace Council Presidium member Communist Party USA functionary and Amalgamated Meatcutters Union vice-president Abe Feinglass.

Attendees included Katherine Camp, International President of the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom, Rep. Ron Dellums, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers president William Winpisinger, Edith Villastrigo, legislative director of Women Strike for Peace, Connecticut State Representative Irving Stolberg and Illinois State Representative Peggy Martin Smith.

A luncheon was held to honor World Peace Council president Romesh Chandra that was attended by California Congressmen Philip Burton, Don Edwards, Dellums and New York rep. Charles Rangel.

WPC delegation members included President Romesh Chandra, KGB Colonel Radomir Bogdanov and Oleg Kharkhardin of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union International Department.

In 1981 another World Peace Council delegation led by Romesh Chandra toured the U.S. to publicize the "nuclear freeze" then being promoted by Leonid Brezhnev.

This group met with several Congressmen at the Capitol, including John Conyers, George Crockett, Ron Dellums, Don Edwards, and other Democrats.

On December 15, 1981, Dellum's then assistant, Barbara Lee, wrote to the World Peace Council asking for airline tickets and hotel accommodations for Dellums and two staff members to attend the WPC Conference in Vienna. The letter was addressed to Karen Talbot, an American working for the WPC in Helsinki. Talbot was formerly business manager of Peoples World, the Communist Party USA newspaper, published in Dellums' district.

Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee

Ron Dellums, Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, 1983

In the early 1970’s, Ron Dellums, joinedthe Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, the group founded by legendary activist Michael Harrington with an explicit strategy of functioning openly as a socialist group within the Democratic Party.

Dellums was a leading civil rights and antiwar activist who played a key role in persuading Congress to place sanctions on South Africa’s apartheid regime.

DSOC initiator

According to the December 29, 1979, issue of Information Digest, the "initiators" of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (forerunner of Democratic Socialists of America) , formed in 1973 as a result of a split within the Socialist Party USA, largely over the issue of cooperation with communists, included Julian Bond, Heather Booth, John Conyers, Ronald Dellums, Douglas Fraser, Joyce Miller, William Winpisinger, and Jerry Wurf.

DSOC convention

Some 150 delegates and 100 observers met at Houston's Airport Holiday Inn, February 16-19, 1979, for the fourth national convention of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC).

DSOC's advertised convention participants were listed as including Rep. Ron Dellums (D-CA), Joyce Miller-president, Coalition of Labor Union Women, City Councillor Hilda Mason-DC Statehood Party, Maury Maverick Jr., San Antonio, Texas, James Farmer executive director, Coalition American Public Employees, William Holayter-political action director, International Association of Machinists, Jose Angel Gutierrez-La Raza Unida Party, Crystal City, Texas, Ruben Berrios-head of the Puerto Rican Independence Party and Kris Muller-Osten, a representative of the Willy Brandt led West German Social Democratic Party.

Democratic Socialists of America

Dellums went on to join Democratic Socialists of America.

1995 DSA brochure

DSA vice-chair

In 1984 Democratic Socialists of America vice chairs were Harry Britt, Ron Dellums, Dorothy Healey, Irving Howe, Frances Moore Lappe, Manning Marable, Hilda Mason, Marjorie Phyfe, Christine Riddiough, Rosemary Ruether, Edwin Vargas Jr, William Winpisinger.

American Solidarity Movement

The American Solidarity Movement was announced in early 1984 by Democratic Socialists of America, as a vehicle to support American labor unions it considered under attack, or on strike and in need of support.

Members of the Initiating Committee for an American Solidarity Movement were: Michael Harrington (convenor), Stanley Aronowitz, Balfour Brickner, Harry Britt, Harvey Cox, Rep. Ron Dellums, Bogdan Denitch, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cynthia Epstein, Jules Feiffer, Rep. Barney Frank, Msgr. George Higgins, Irving Howe, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Frances Fox Piven, Jose Rivera, Ray Rogers, Gloria Steinem, Peter Steinfels, Ellen Willis.

"Solidarity"

Circa 1984, July 17, at the Great Electronic Underground, San Francisco, Democratic Socialists of America's American Solidarity Movement organized a reception "Solidarity"at the Democratic Party Convention, in support of US labor.

Sponsors included Rep. Dellums.

DSA National Convention

Speakers at the 1986 Democratic Socialists of America 2nd National Convention, in Berkeley California, included: Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Fr. Miguel D'Escoto, Mpho Tutu, daughter of SA Anglican Bishop, Desmond Tutu, Marta Petrusewicz, Barbara Ehrenreich, Rep. Ron Dellums, Elinor Glenn, Michael Harrington, Harold Meyerson, Paulette Pierce, David Plotke, Jim Shoch, Beverly Stein, Mel Pritchard, Jim Jacobs, Dolores Delgado Campbell, Guy Molyneux, Cornel West, Gail Radford.

DSA Health care pamphlet

In 1990, Democratic Socialists of America produced a pamphlet "Health Care for People Not Profit, the Need for a National Health Care System". Quotes were included from Barbara Ehrenreich, Ron Dellums, Gerry Hudson, Linnea Capps MD (Chair of APHA Socialist Caucus and Ron Sable.

SF Democratic Socialists of America forum

On November 11 1995, more than 300 Bay Area residents turned out for a public hearing on jobs and economic insecurity in San Francisco. Co-sponsored by San Francisco Democratic Socialists of America and the Full Employment Coalition, the event featured Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Ron Dellums as keynote speakers. Testifiers included Bertram Gross, co-author of HR 1050, "A Living Wage, Jobs for All Act" as well as representatives from the San Francisco Labor Council, Chinese for Affirmative Action, the San Francisco Private Industry Council, the Coalition for Economic Equity, and the American Friends Service Committee.

Founding Members CBC

The following were founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus:

• Shirley Chisholm
• William Lacy Clay, Sr.
• George W. Collins
• John Conyers
• Ron Dellums
• Charles Diggs
• Augustus Hawkins
• Ralph Metcalfe
• Parren Mitchell
• Robert Nix
• Charles B. Rangel
• Louis Stokes
• Walter Fauntroy, Washington D.C. delegate

"SURVIVALFEST 84"

SURVIVAL FEST 84 was held August 5 1984 in MacArthur Park.

"Come To Hear And Strategize With Those Changing The 1980's"

• How can we support each other in electing progressive local candidates?
• How can we make electoral work serve the grassroots movements for a freeze, for U.S. out of Central America and human needs?
• How can we over turn the racist dual primary system in the South?
• Is working inside and outside the Democratic Party a viable strategy and how can it be done?
• How can we formulate demands to revitalize our basic industries without falling into the pitfall of the chauvinist anti-import solution -- letting U.S. finance capital off the hook?

This event was organized by the Communist Workers Party front, the Coalition for a People's Convention. The event was advertised in a half-page notice in the Marxist weekly Guardian, their Book Supplement - Summer 1984, p. 12, and the Communist Workers Party and Federation For Progress were listed as participants.

Bay Area endorsers of the event included:

• Supervisor Harry Britt - San Francisco
• Ron Dellums - Member of Congress
• Ignacio De La Fuente - Business Representative, Molders Union Local 164 Oakland
• Barbara Lubin - Berkeley Board of Education, Marxist and leader of an anti-Israel organization
• Mayor Gus Newport
• Dan Siegel - Executive Committee, Federation For Progress
• Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver - San Francisco
• Bill Wahpepah - International Indian Treaty Council

South Africa benefit

On January 17 1986, a benefit concert was held at Oakland's Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, for the National Emergency Fund of the South African Council of Churches.

• Master of Ceremonies:Honorable Willie Brown
• Keynote Speaker: Bishop Desmond Tutu
• Guest Speaker: Amadou- Mahtar M'Bow Diredor General of UNESCO

Dinner Committee Members included Hon. Alan Cranston, Hon. Leo McCarthy, Hon. Barbara Boxer, Hon. Sala Burton, Hon. RonDellums (a DSA member), Hon. Don Edwards, Hon. Tom Lantos Hon. George Miller, Jr. Hon. Norman Mineta, Hon. Pete Stark, Hon. Willie Brown, plus Democratic Socialists of America members Julian Bond, Nancy Skinner, Harry Britt, John Henning, Adam Hochschild, Frances Moore Lappe, Stanley Sheinbaum, Communist Party USA affiliates Wilson Riles, Jr., Maudelle Shirek, Al Lannon, and Irving Sarnoff, and radical socialists Julianne Malveaux, Drummond Pike, John George, Peter Yarrow and actor/activist Sidney Poitier.

Midwifing CISPES

In 1980, the Salvadoran Communists, engaged in a guerilla war with their government, sent an agent to the United States, Shafik Handal, brother of the Party chairman, Farid Handal. His mission was to organize a nationwide front group to support the guerillas.

After meeting with the Cuban Communist UN Mission and the Communist Party USA "Solidarity Coordinator," Sandy Pollack, in New York, Handal went to Washington. There he was put in touch with Dellums, who provided him with office space and it was arranged for him to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus.

Handal later reported that:

The offices of Congressman Dellums were turned into our offices. Everything was done there. The meeting with the Black Caucus took place in the belly of the monster himself, nothing less than in the meeting room of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Handal and his American collaborators then organized the Committee in Solidarity with the People of EI Salvador, or CISPES, which grew to branches in 300 cities and universities across the country. CISPES consistently supported the Salvadoran Communists, agitating against aid to the hard-pressed democratically elected government, and joining in demonstrations against aid to the anti-communist forces in Nicaragua.

Later the Salvadoran Communist Radio Venceremos announced:

We have organized a large solidarity apparatus that encompasses the whole planet, even in the United States, where one of the most active centers of solidarity exists.

Institute for Policy Studies

Dellums worked closely with the far left think tank, the Institute for Policy Studies. He taught courses at the Washington School, run by IPS, and was on the committee and a speaker at the IPS 20th Anniversary celebration in 1983.

Also in 1983 Dellums published a book, "Defense Sense: The Search for a Rational Military Policy," a collection of papers prepared for Congressional hearings sponsored by Dellums on "alternative" defense budgets. Contributors included four top officers of IPS.

Dellums' Congressional staffers along with those of John Conyers launched the Progressive Hill Staff Group, made up of aides to left-wing Congressmen. Among other actions this group was active in the trend for Congress to short circuit the State Department on Foreign Affairs. They organized a conference in 1983 for three members of the Sandinista government of Nicaragua to address more than 100 Congressional staffers and press reporters on Capitol Hill. The State Department was given no advance notice of the meeting.

IPS 20th Anniversary Committee

According to Information Digestthe Institute for Policy Studies celebrated its 20th anniversary with an April 5, 1983, reception at the National Building Museum attended by approximately 1,000 IPS staffers and former staff.

The Congressional IPS comittee members included Les Aspin {D. WI}, George Brown, Jr. (D.CA}, Philip Burton (D.CA), George Crockett (D-MI}, Ron Dellums (D.CA}, former Texas Congressman Robert Eckhardt, Don Edwards {D.CA}, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, Tom Harkin {D-IA}, Robert Kastenmeier (D. WI}, Chairman of the Subcomittee on Courts, Civil Liberties and the Administration of Justice, George Miller (D-CA}, Richard Ottinger {D-NY}, Leon Panetta (D-CA}, Henry Reuss (D.WI}, Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, Patricia Schroeder {D.CO}, John Seiberling (D.OH} and Ted Weiss {D.NY}.

The Washington School

The Washington School, founded by the Institute for Policy Studies, in 1978, was an important means of influencing Congress and the Democratic Party. Courses on defense, foreign affairs, and domestic policies are taught there by IPS officers and staffers, and other American or foreign radical "experts." A large number of members of Congress and staffers have attended these schools. Several legislators have also taught there, including the following:

• Tom Harkin
• Paul Tsongas
• Mark Hatfield
• John Conyers
• Ron Dellums
• James Abourezk
• George Miller
• J. William Fulbright
• Henry Reuss

The Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First

John Conyers is on the list of Congressional Representatives who have participated in hearings/briefings since 1998, with the very radical Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First, founded by Frances Moore Lappe (Democratic Socialists of America, Institute for Policy Studies) and Joseph Collins (Institute for Policy Studies), authors of the book "Food First".

Grenada

In the early 1980s, Dellums was an admirer and supporter of Maurice Bishop, the Marxist-Leninist of Grenada. Dellums' assistant, Carlottia Scott, wrote to Bishop as follows:

Ron has become truly committed to Grenada. . .and doesn't want anything to happen to building the Revolution and making it strong...He really admires you as a...leader with courage and foresight, principles and integrity...The only other person I know of that he expresses such admiration for is Fidel.

The People's Convention

On July 14-16 (probably 1984) The Coalition for a People's Convention "a broad grouping in the Bay Area", organized The People's Convention in order to "unite on and present a people's program to the DNC and to network the many local efforts to win people's power from around the country. Its purpose is to enhance local efforts and amplify them into a united voice and demonstration for reorienting our society away from military aggression and towards meeting the needs of all our people".

Endorsers from the San Francisco-Bay Area included Ron Dellums.

Opposing loans to Chile

In 1987, Joanne Landy, Thomas Harrison and Gail Daneker, Directors, Campaign for Peace and Democracy/East and West, New York, circulated a statement Against Loans to Chile calling upon the Reagan Administration to oppose all loans to Chile.

It has been signed by leading "peace, labor, human rights, religious and cultural figures from the United States, Western Europe and Latin America." They were "joined by a large number of activists and writers from the USSR and Eastern Europe, many of whom have been persecuted in their own countries for work in independent peace and human rights movements."

Ron Dellums endorsed the call.

The majority of signatories were affiliated with Democratic Socialists of America.

Voted against support for "Contras"

The Congressional Record of February 3, 1988 shows that the following leading Democratic Party Congressmen voted against aid to the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters - the "Contras"- then fighting against the Marxist-Leninist Sandinista government of Nicaragua:

• Les Aspin
• Les AuCoin
• Ed Boland
• David Bonior
• Don Bonker
• Barbara Boxer
• George Brown
• John Conyers
• George Crockett
• Ron Dellums
• Tom Downey
• Mervyn Dymally
• Don Edwards
• Mike Espy
• Barney Frank
• Sam Gejdenson
• Richard Gephardt
• William Gray
• Lee Hamilton
• Charles Hayes
• Robert Kastenmeier
• Joseph Kennedy
• Pete Kostmayer
• James Leach
• Ed Markey
• Nancy Pelosi
• J. J. Pickle
• Charles Rangel
• Peter Rodino
• Dan Rostenkowski
• Gus Savage
• Patricia Schroeder
• Steven Solarz
• Gerry Studds
• Morris Udall
• Ted Weiss
• Howard Wolpe
• Sidney Yates

"Congressional Pink Caucus"

In October 1989 the Nicaraguan Sandinista Government announced that they would no longer comply with the 19 month-old cease-fire agreement with the Contras. This had been considered a prime step forward for the "peace process" that was progressing slowly as part of the Arias Peace Plan.

A resolution was introduced in Congress deploring the Sandinistas' action. The Senate voted unanimously in favor, but in the House the vote was 379-29. All the 29 Congressmen voting against the resolution were Democrats.

The Council for Inter-American Security dubbed these 29 people the "Congressional Pink Caucus":

• Jim Bates (CA)
• Barbara Boxer (CA)
• William Lacy Clay, Sr. (MO)
• George Crockett (MI)
• Cardiss Collins (IL)
• Peter DeFazio (OR)
• Ron Dellums (CA)
• Mervyn Dymally (CA)
• Don Edwards (CA)
• Lane Evans (IL)
• Floyd Flake (NY)
• Henry Gonzalez (TX)
• Charles Hayes (IL)
• Joseph Kennedy (MA)
• Pete Kostmayer (PA)
• Robert Kastenmeier (WI)
• John Lewis (GA)
• Major Owens (NY)
• Nancy Pelosi (CA)
• Charles Rangel (NY)
• Gus Savage (IL)
• Louis Stokes (OH)
• Gerry Studds (MA)
• Esteban Torres (CA)
• Edolphus Towns (NY)
• Jolene Unsoeld (WA)
• Ted Weiss (NY)
• Alan Wheat (MO)
• Ron Wyden (OR)

Adviser to Jesse Jackson

During the 1988 Presidential Election campaign Dellums became a prominent adviser on Defense to Jesse Jackson.

Supported by Council for a Livable World

The Council for a Livable World, founded in 1962 by long-time socialist activist and alleged Soviet agent, Leo Szilard, is a non-profit advocacy organization that seeks to "reduce the danger of nuclear weapons and increase national security", primarily through supporting progressive, congressional candidates who support their policies. The Council supported Ron Dellums in his successful House of Representatives run as candidate for California.

Culf crisis lawsuit

In 1991, Ron Dellums Vice Chair of Democratic Socialists of America, initiated a lawsuit demanding that president Bush obtain congressional approval for use of military force in the "current Gulf Crisis" .

Abraham Lincoln Brigade's 54th Annual Benefit Dinner

Ronald V. Dellums was listed as the "Keynote Speaker" at this long cited CPUSA front. The event was to be held on Feb. 24, 1991, "honoring peace activist Vivian Hallinan", the hardcore leftist wife of marxist attorney Vincent Hallinan, and mother of at least 3 boys who were members of the CPUSA (Conn, Matthew and Terence).

CPC founders

The Congressional Progressive Caucus was founded in 1991 by freshman Congressman Bernie Sanders. Sanders' CPC co-founders included House members Ron Dellums, Lane Evans, Tom Andrews, Peter DeFazio, and Maxine Waters.

People's Progressive Convention

In 1992, a "call" went out to leftist radicals and communist revolutionaries of various orientations to hold a national People's Progressive Convention in Ypsilanti, Michigan, August 21-23, 1992.

Endorsers included Ron Dellums.

CoC connected staffers

The Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s was the Committees of Correspondence's first national conference held in Berkeley, California July 17-19, 1992.

Workshops that were held at the conference on Saturday, July 18 included:

Electoral What should be the place of electoral activity on the left's agenda? What would be an effective strategy for this year, the 90s and beyond?

• Yolanda Alaniz, candidate for Seattle City Council
• Bill Collins, a founder of Citizens for Proportional Representation, Cincinnati, Ohio
• James Vann, national co-chair, National Committee for Independent Political Action, Oakland
• Victoria Missick, teacher & multi-cultural movement, NY
• Dr. Margie Akin, Peace and Freedom candidate, 40th CD, Riverside, CA
• Keith Carson, Legal Aide to Rep. Ron Dellums, Oakland
• Arthur Kinoy, National co-chair, NCIPA, Montclair, NJ
• Sam Perez, Puerto Rican political activist, NY
• Mark Allen, legislative aide, John George, Alameda County Supervisor

Plenary speakers were ;

• Charlene Mitchell, national coordinator, CoC
• Jose LaLuz, trade unionist, chair, Latino Commission, DSA
• Manning Marable, member, CoC
• Elizabeth Martinez
• Mark Solomon, member, CoC
• Carl Bloice, member, CoC
• Leslie Cagan, exec. director, Cuba Information Project
• Ying Lee Kelley, legislative aide to Rep. Ron Dellums
• Herbert Aptheker

Anti "intelligence" statement

According to the Richmond-Times Dispatch September 23 1996, Ron Dellums said;

"We should dismantle every intelligence agency in this country piece by piece, nail by nail, brick by brick..."

Supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal

Several campaigns seeking a civil right investigation into the case of convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal have been launched since 1995, at which time the Congressional Black Caucus was one of many groups that publicly supported an investigation. In a 1995 letter written independently of the CBC, Representatives Chaka Fattah, Ron Dellums, Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters and John Conyers, Jr. (later Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee) stated, “There is ample evidence that Mr. Abu-Jamal’s constitutional rights were violated, that he did not receive a fair trial, and that he is, in fact, innocent.”

Communist inspired letter to Defund Colombian military

Sam Farr had been a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia, and was contacted by the communist dominated Colombia Support Network in 1997. Efforts by Colombia Support Network were instrumental in getting a letter sent to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, with the 19 other members signing on. The January 30, 1998 letter called for the continued suspension of funding to the Colombian military then engaged in a bloody civil war against communist guerillas.

Dear Secretary Albright :

We are writing to express our concern with the worsening human rights situation in Colombia and urge you to take steps to address this matter.

News reports and first-hand accounts indicate that violence in Colombia is escalating, particularly in the country's northern most regions and the southern coca growing regions. Many different groups and individuals have been implicated in the violence, but an increasing number of human rights abuses are being instigated by paramilitary groups --armed civilians who torture, evict, kidnap and murder Colombian civilians.

There is also evidence of links between paramilitaries and local drug lords, who rely on paramilitary groups to undertake violent activities on their behalf. The Peasant Self-Defense Group of Cordoba and Uraba, a paramilitary group lead by Carlos Castano, is considered one of the most powerful paramilitary groups in Colombia. Reports indicate that last yeqar Castano's group killed hundreds, if not more than a thousand, peasants it accused of helping rebels.

As concerned Members of Congress, we urge you to place the issue of human rights and the problem of paramilitary groups in the forefront of your priority list in your dealings with Colombia. We understand that aid to the Colombian army is currently on hold because of human rights concerns and urge you to continue to withhold funding.

Signatories were;Sam Farr, John Porter, Ron Dellums, David Bonior, Marty Meehan, Marcy Kaptur, Scott Klug, James McGovern, Elizabeth Furse, Jim Oberstar, Peter DeFazio, Maurice Hinchey, Gerald Kleczka,John Conyers, Pete Stark, Robert Wexler, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Lane Evans, David Price, Sherrod Brown,

Armed Services Committee

Dellums was a prominent member of the House Armed Services Committee where he had access to large amounts of classified information and regularly opposed defense projects.

After the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and Jimmy Carter tried to increase the Defense Budget. Dellums opposed. saying he was alarmed by the idea of American "militarism."

Supporting Communist youth

In 1997 The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), based in Budapest, denounced the U.S. Treasury Department's denial of a license for hundreds of young people from all over the U.S. to attend the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students in Havana, Cuba.

WFDY, an initiator of the festival scheduled for July 28 to Aug. 5, assailed the anti-democratic character of the decision and pledged an international campaign to demand that the U.S. government lift the travel ban.

According to the Communist Party USA paper Peoples Weekly World;

Nationally, the broad list of sponsors and endorsers has already begun to mount a campaign.

Members of the U.S. Congress, Ron Dellums (D-Calif.), Jesse Jackson Jr and Bobby Rush, both Illinois Democrats, have offered support.

Sponsored Communist Party "Jobs Bill"

H.R. 950, the Job Creation and Infrastructure Restoration Act of 1997 was introduced in the 105th Congress on March 5, 1997 by Congressman Matthew Martinez of California. It had 33 original co-sponsors, including Ron Dellums. The primary purpose of this emergency federal jobs legislation was to provide much needed jobs at union wages to crisis ridden cities by putting the unemployed to work rebuilding our nation's infrastructure (schools, housing, hospitals, libraries, public transportation, highways, parks, environmental improvements, etc. $250 billion is authorized for emergency public works jobs over a five year period.

Congressman Martinez had previously introduced this bill in the last Congress (as HR 1591) at the the request of over 50 prominent Labor leaders who formed the Los Angeles Labor Coalition for Public Works Jobs, which is why it is often referred to as the "Martinez Public Works Jobs Bill."

This is the most significant jobs legislation introduced in Congress since Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal established the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This bill is the WPA-type program for today. It has strong provisions which will put hundreds of thousands of unemployed building trades workers to work as well as provide jobs for victims of plant closures, welfare recipients who are parents, youth, and the long term unemployed. The public works projects which will be established under this bill will be built in communities with the highest levels of unemployment and with the greatest needs.

The goal of the New York Coalition for Public Works Jobs is to build the movement to pass the Martinez Jobs bill as part of the National Labor Coalition for Public Works Jobs. You can help by asking your union, community organization, or local government body to to join those who have already passed resolutions to endorse the bill. Such a resolution has been introduced in the New York City Council. Calling on additional Congressional Representatives to co-sponsor the bill is very important. We will be organizing petition campaigns, visits to elected officials, and demonstrations and other actions for a public works jobs program.

The leaders of the Los Angeles Labor Coalition for Public Works Jobs and its only affiliate New York Coalition for Public Works Jobs, were all known supporters or members of the Communist Party USA.

Los Angeles , National Labor Coalition For Public Works Jobs

• Jerry Acosta - Chairman
• Art Rodriguez - Coordinator

A New York affiliate, New York Coalition for Public Works Jobs, c/o Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2.

• Eddie Davis
• Bill Davis

"Full Employment in an Age of Globalization"

On June 8 1997 over 50 Bay Area DSA members and friends met to engage in a panel discussion on "Full Employment in an Age of Globalization". Focusing on Representative (and DSA Vice Chair) Ron Dellums' Living Wage, Jobs for All bill, HR 1050, the panel included David Bacon, labor reporter, John Katz of DSA, Ying Lee, legislative assistant to Congressmember Dellums and Barbara Arms of the Full Employment Coalition.

"Making Trouble"

'Making Trouble- Building a Radical Youth Movement' was held April 17-19, 1998 Berkeley, California.

"Making Trouble" is a conference for young radicals from all over California to meet, form coalitions, and get informed. We will focus on the Prison Industrial Complex and the contemporary Labor Movement, but there will also be workshops on Environmental Justice, the Unz initiative, Art and Revolution, Immigration, Third World Organizing, Economic Globalization, Affirmative Action, Reproductive Rights, and much more.

Keynote Speaker: Barbara Ehrenreich

Invited speakers included;

• Dolores Huerta
• Donna Haraway
• Tom Hayden
• Angela Davis
• Cornel West
• Barbara Lee
• Jello Biafra
• Ron Dellums

Supported Peurto Rican rebel prisoners

In 1999, eleven imprisoned Puerto Rican independence fighters were released on parole from long prison terms in the US. they were Eliam Escobar, Dylcia Pagan, Alberto Rodriguez, Ida Luz Rodriguez, Alejandrina Torres, Adolfo Matos, Edwin Cortes, Ricardo Jiminez, Luis Rosa, Alicia Rodriguez and Carmen Valentin. A twelfth prisoner Juan Segarra Palmer, accepted an offer to nullify his fine and was due to be released in five years. Two other prisoners Antonio Comacho Negron and Oscar Lopez Rivera refused the clemency offer.

The clemency offers came after a long campaign that saw 75,000 people sign a petition in Puerto Rico and the US. The campaign, led by the Pro-Human Rights Committee of Puerto Rico, involved such activists as Coretta Scott King, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Rigoberta Menchu and Dr. Aaron Tolen, President of the World Council of Churches.

Political leaders who supported the prisoners included Reps Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Nydia Velazquez (D, NY), Jose Serrano (D-NY), Ron Dellums (D-Calif.) and former New York City Mayor David Dinkins.

Rosenberg Fund for Children

In 2003 Ron Dellums was on the Advisory Board of the Rosenberg Fund for Children.

Ron Dellums serveson the Advisory Board of the Rosenberg Fund for Children.

Supporting Sandre Swanson

In 2006, Ron Dellums was one of many prominent Northern California leftists to serve on State Assembly hopeful Sandre Swanson's Honorary Campaign Committee.

Advisory Board Maurice & Jane Sugar Law Center

As at Winter, 2008, the following served on the Advisory Board of the Maurice & Jane Sugar Law Center:

• Jim Benn
• Martha Bergmark
• Marjorie Cohn
• Hon. John Conyers
• Hon. Ron Dellums
• Alan W. Houseman
• Dr. Joseph E. Lowery
• Manning Marable
• Frances Fox Piven
• Victor Rabinowitz
• Dennis Rivera
• Jordan Rossen
• Bill Tamayo
• Studs Terkel
• Baldemar Velasquez

In Memoriam:

• Anne Braden
• Haywood Burns
• Hon. George Crockett
• Arthur Kinoy
• Anthony Mazzochi

Vietnam conference

Vietnam - The Power of Protest - Telling the Truth - Learning the Lessons was held Friday and Saturday, May 1-2 1975, in Washington, D.C.

The conference "has a star-studded program of progressive leaders of the past half century": Dolores Huerta, Danny Glover, Daniel Ellsberg, Phil Donahue, former Congresspersons Patricia Schroeder, Ron Dellums and current Reps. Barbara Lee and John Conyers, singer Holly Near, and more.