Pat Fry

Pat Fry

Pat Fry died 2023 in Traverse Cty. She was a National Executive Committee member of of Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.

Formerly married to Dave Riddle. Was active in the Michigan Peace Council.

Healthcare gala

This letter written to Pat Fry from Mark Hannay, director, thanking her for all the work she did to make this a ​successful ​ event.

Thank you everyone for everything you did to make our online Annual Gala last evening such a success!

Nearly 100 people attended, we heard some inspiring and informative remarks, shared our appreciation of and love to honorees, and got ourselves ready for what lies ahead in 2022.

Special thanks to our honorees that were so inspiring:

• Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8), for governmental leadership
• Barbara Bowen (Professional Staff Congress CUNY) and Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez (New York State Nurses Association), for trade union leadership
• Mary Clark (Citizen Action of New York) and NY-4 Health Care Action, for community leadership
• Thanks also to Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine for bringing us up to date on the state of the pandemic in our city and what work lies ahead in that regard. In a phrase: “Rebuild, fund, pay attention to public health!”

"WE’RE NOT GOING BACK!"

"WE’RE NOT GOING BACK! Annual celebration of African American culture and struggle".

The defeat of Trump’s coup must be celebrated. The forces of reaction tried by legal maneuvering and brute force to steal the US presidency, but were unsuccessful. For the second time since 1980, the extreme right-wing of the monopoly capitalist class has lost its control of the US political landscape. We are at a turning point on the road to freedom. The movement to defend and expand democracy has made powerful steps and must continue pushing forward.

Keynote Speaker: Professor Gerald Horne

Panelists will include: Rossana Cambron, Communist Party USA*, Hon. Robert Jackson, New York State Senate*, Tamika Mallory, Until Freedom*, Rev. West McNeill, NYS Poor People's Campaign* / NYS Labor-Religion Coalition*

Performers will include: Emi Augustine, Game Rebellion*, Len Xiang, independent artist

Chaired by Susan DiRaimo, PSC-CUNY* & Christian Parra, Citizen Action NY*

The Host Committee (partial list) Zakiyah Ansari, Michael Arney, Kazembe Balagun, Kazu Bernstein, Bianca Cunningham, Bernard Cylich, Susan DiRaimo, Ava Farkas, Pat Fry, Diana Harris, Joel Hertzog, Nova Lucero, Beatrice Lumpkin, Ana Melendez, Marina Metalios, Dr. Gerald Meyer, Charles Mohan, Radhames Morales, Dr. Mark Naison, Estevan Nembhard, Cameron Orr, Cheryl Pahaham, Dr. Mary Louise Patterson, Ibrahim Pedrinan, Carmen Quinones, Carol Ramos, Hon. Carmen De La Rosa, August Scott, Michael Shulman, Joe Sims, Toni Smith, Dominick Tuminaro, Jarvis Tyner, Janice Walcott, Jason Walker, Jorel Ware, Matthew Weinstein, Jawanza Williams.

"We're not going back, 2013"

The Majority Voted Against Racism , Unity is the Mandate , WE’RE NOT GOING BACK!, Celebration of African American Culture & Struggle

Performances by: The People’s Chorus, Amiri Baraka & Amina Baraka, Kahlil AlMustafa.

Featured Speakers: Pearl Granat, SEIU 1199 Vice President, Maria Ramos, Labor Activist, Chris Owens, Bkln. Reform Democrat

Keynote Address: Jarvis Tyner, Communist Party USA

Sunday, February 24, 2013 2:00 – 4:30 pm. Henry Winston Unity Hall. 235 West 23rd Street New York, NY.

We’re Not Going Back! Host Committee:

Annie Allen, Mary Arnold, Ras Baraka, Gary Bono, Jesse Campoamor, Chris Butters, Bill Davis, Libero Della Piana, Guy DeVeaux, Kamau Franklin, Pat Fry, Raglan George, Angela Givens, Lucia Gomez, Marvin Holland, Estelle Jacobs, Jason Javier, Florence Johnson, Judith LeBlanc, Lashawn Lesley, Alfredo Lopez, Luis Matos, Louise Meriwether, Charlene Mitchell, Radhames Morales, Larry Moskowitz, Matt Murtagh, Estevan Bassett-Nembhard, Cara Noel, Kimberly Ortiz, Radhames Perez, Bill Perkins, Ydanis Rodriiguez, Danny Rubin, Joe Sims, Irene Tung, Janice Walcott, Gail Walker, Sam Webb.

A People Before Profits Educational Fund Sponsored Event.

RESPECT

Pat Fry was an "individual sponsor" of RESPECT, "a U.S. professional association uniting nonprofit entities, travel agents, tour operators and other travel service providers dedicated to practicing and promoting ethical and socially responsible travel to Cuba."

Cuba visit

Lisa Brock April 10, 2016 ·

La Lisa Municipality in Havana, Cuba. Wonderful group doing wonderful things for their community. This is their Community house. — with Otis Cunningham, Pat Fry, Anne Mitchell and Mike Siviwe Elliott in Havana, Cuba.

WEB DuBois Clubs of America

In 2014, Pat Fry was listed a a friend on the DuBois Clubs Facebook page.

People's Daily World

In 1986 Pat Fry was a Staff Writer for the Communist Party USA newspaper People's Daily World

Communist Party dissidents

On November 15-16 1991, 30 dissident members of the National Committee of the Communist Party USA convened a meeting to "sign a statement of events" - most or all signatories were soon to break with the party and were later to form Committees of Correspondence.

The signatories included Pat Fry, Michigan;

Communist Party reformer

In 1991, Pat Fry, Michigan, was one of several hundred Communist Party USA members to sign the a paper "An initiative to Unite and Renew the Party" - most signatories left the Party after the December 1991 conference to found Committees of Correspondence.

CoC National Conference endorser

In 1992, Pat Fry, Detroit endorsed the Committees of Correspondence national conference Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s held at Berkeley California July 17-19.

CoC National Coordinating Committee

The following are listed in order of votes they received as members of the Committees of Correspondence National Coordinating Committee, elected at the Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s held at Berkeley California July 17-19.:

• Angela Davis, SF
• Gus Newport, Berkeley
• Elizabeth Martinez, SF
• Alva Buxenbaum, NY
• Leslie Cagan, NY
• Peter Camejo, Alameda, CA
• Giuliana Milanese, SF
• Robert Chacanaca, Freedom, CA
• Mildred Williamson, Chicago
• Barry Cohen, NY
• Mark Solomon, Boston
• Barbara Lee, Sacramento
• Maudelle Shirek, Berkeley
• Raahi Reddy, New Brunswick, NJ
• Margy Wilkinson, Berkeley
• Yvonne Golden, Florida
• Mary Idosidis, Mill Valley, CA
• Pat Fry, Detroit
• Marty Price, Oakland
• Frances Beal, Oakland
• Marshall Garcia, NY
• Betty Kano, Berkeley
• Michael Myerson, NY
• Sharon Stewart, LA
• Carmen Rumbaut, San Antonio
• Maurice Jackson, Washington, D.C.
• Geoffrey Jacques, NY
• Arthur Kinoy, Montclair, NJ
• Melinda Brown, LA
• Leslie Shaheen, NY

Committees of Correspondence

On February 26 1994 a Midwest Regional Meeting of Committees of Correspondence was held at West Lafayette Indiana.

Participants included Pat Fry, New York, New York.

In July 1994 Pat Fry (NYC) was electedto the 15 member National Co-ordinating Committee of Committees of Correspondence at CoC's founding conference in Chicago.

In 1997 Pat Fry served on the National Co-Ordinating Committee of the Committees of Correspondence.

According to Georgia Wever the first Leadership Training School ever organized by the Committees of Correspondence took place during July 1998 , at a woodland location in upstate New York. For almost a week, the 24 participants - who came from Northern California, Chicago, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the New York metropolitan area - "talked, challenged, sang, learned, swam, disagreed, feasted, danced, camped, and asked questions."

The curriculum was planned by a committee composed of Mael Apollon, Robin Busch, Leslie Cagan, Pat Fry, Bobby Greenberg, Mel Pritchard, Roque Ristorucci and Zach Robinson. In the follow-up to the Leadership Training School, the curriculum planning committee became the National Education and Literature Committee. It is co-chaired by Bob Greenberg and Mel Pritchard.

Interactive sessions were led by Timothy V. Johnson and Shirley McClain.

In 2006 members of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism National Coordinating Committee were;

Marilyn Albert, Mael Apollon, Carl Bloice, Barbara Blong, Barry Cohen, David Cohen, Otis Cunningham, Carl Davidson, Mort Frank, Todd Freeberg, Pat Fry, Marian Gordon, Ira Grupper, June Hemmingson, Ed Hemmingson, Fred Hicks, Duncan McFarland, Anne Mitchell, Maxine Orris, Ted Pearson, Gina Pesulima-Palencar, Edith Pollach, Marty Price, Merle Ratner, Jay Schaffner, Jae Scharlin, Mike Stein, Harry Targ, Walter Teague, Meta Van Sickle, Steve Willett and Mildred Williamson.

CCDS Co-Chair

Pat Fry, New York, was electedone of four CCDS co-chairs at the party's national conference July 25 2009 in San Francisco.

Committee to Celebrate the Life of Luis Miranda Rivas

In 2009 Pat Fry was a member of the Committee to Celebrate the Life of Luis Miranda Rivas.

LLP leadership

At the September 16th 2011 meeting of the Left Labor Project, a leadership body was elected which includes Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism leaders, Pat Fry as Recording Secretary and Anne Mitchell as CCDS organizational representative. Among others elected were LLP Coordinator Larry Moskowitz who is national organizer for the Working Families Party, Jim Perlstein, an officer of the Professional Staff Union which represents faculty of the City University of New York, Lester Muata Greene, an EMT worker and member of AFSCME District Council 37, Rhadames Rivera, Vice President of SEIU Local 1199, and Fitzroy Searles of LLP Youth who was an organizer of the One Nation Rally in 2010 in Washington DC.

OWS activist

The Occupy Wall Street protest began September 17th. Trade unions, labor and community groups, environmental and civil rights organizations joined in support.

Pat Fry served on the OWS labor outreach list and responded to the call October 3 to insure OWS participation in a Teamster rally in front of Southeby’s.

Mapping Socialist Strategies

Mapping Socialist Strategies was convened from August 1-4 in Briarcliff Manor, NY, by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office. It brang together 100 influential progressives and leftists from across the United States, Canada, and Europe for an “un-conference” on socialist strategies.

Attendees included Pat Fry..

Left Forum 2012

Prospects for Left Unity in the Political Battles of 2012

Can a number of socialist and left organizations join together and achieve a critical mass in common projects during the complex battles throughout 2012? Representatives of several organizations – CCDS, CPUSA, DSA, Freedom Road and others – will discuss and debate matters arising from the OWS insurgency, the working class fightback and the 2012 elections.

Chair: Pat Fry, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism

Speakers: Randy Shannon, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, Maria Svart, Democratic Socialists of America, Libero Della Piana, Communist Party USA

Left Forum 2015

From left: Janet Tucker, Anne Mitchell, Pat Fry, Left Forum 2015

Transforming Community and Labor Organizing into Electoral Victory at the Left Forum, 5/30/15, was a panel sponsored by Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, at Left Forum 2015.

Participants were NYC Councilmember Rosie Mendez, Andrea Miller of People Demanding Action, Ethan Young of Portside and Left Labor Project, Paul Krehbiel of CCDS in Los Angeles and trade union activist, and Pat Fry, CCDS Co-Chair.

Citing the example of Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Vermont Progressive Party, Fry said that Sanders’ many campaigns over four decades were successful because they were firmly rooted in community and labor struggles. Vermont through its Progressive Party leads the nation in the number of 3rd party statelegislators, said Fry.

The Working Families Party successes in New York City and State are another example of organizing independent of the Democratic Party through local coalitions on issues. The WFP recently won a NY State Assembly seat solely on the WFP line in a campaign in Brooklyn, NY that targeted big money developers. Working Families has been successful in organizing election campaigns for the Ferguson, MO City Council and Philadelphia’s mayoral campaign for Jim Kenney with a union-led multi-sector coalition.

There are many lessons to learn from the Chokwe Lumumba mayoral campaign in Jackson, MS running as a Democrat as well as Ras Baraka’s campaign for Mayor of Newark, said Fry. Also important are the Richmond Progressive Alliance’s experience winning races for mayor and a majority of city council seats in CA, and Kshama Sawant’s election victory in a non-partisan election in Seattle, she said.

These are examples of how coalition building of labor and community in the electoral arena can win against the rightwing and Wall Street interests, said Fry. “With this panel, we hope to share experiences and lessons of on-the-ground organizing to elect progressives on the inside to be the voice of movements on the outside – in our neighborhoods, precincts, workplaces, unions, peace and justice organizations,” said Fry.

2016 CCDS National Coordinating Committee

Pat Fry, New York, was elected in 2016 to the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism National Coordinating Committee;

Revolutionary Strategies to Beat the Rising Right Wing

Revolutionary Strategies to Beat the Rising Right Wing, was a nationwide conference call organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Sunday October 30, 2016.

What's the nature of this right-wing threat? What has this election cycle changed about the political terrain we're fighting on? How do we need to prepare for whats coming after the election? Hear about these crucial questions from our panel of top political strategists, including Nelini Stamp, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Linda Burnham, and Sendolo Diaminah.

Those invited, on Facebook included Pat Fry.

Left Labor Project Presents: What Happened? What Now?

Left Labor Project Presents: What Happened? What Now? Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 6 PM - 9 PM, 310 W 43rd St, New York.

A converastion with Bill Fletcher, Jr., international activist and co-author of Solidarity Divided: The crisis in organized labor and a new path toward social justice.

This event is Co-sponsored by: Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, Committees of Correspondence Education Fund, Democratic Socialists of America, Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

RSVPS included Pat Fry.

CCDS Democracy Charter Study Group

In 2017 the CCDS Democracy Charter Study Group consisted of James Campbell, Timothy V. Johnson, Mildred Williamson, Pat Fry, Erica Carter, Karl Kramer, Mark Solomon, Anne Mitchell, Meta Van Sickle.

Latin America Task Force

Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism Latin America Task Force members August 2018, Courtney Childs (OR), Pat Fry (NY), Jay Jurie| (FL), Harry Targ (IN), Janet Tucker (PA).

Venezuela delegation 2019

Mark Cook, Pat Fry, Peter Lackowski, Keith Brookes, Suzanne Ross, Ann Fawcett Ambia, David Thomas, Stanley Kastor. .

New York City Council resolution to end blockade of Cuba

A resolution of the New York City Council calling for an end to the blockade of Cuba, Resolution 1092, has been officially introduced and is moving through the legislative process. After the resolution’s initial introduction, it was referred to the council’s Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries, and International Intergroup Relations. On Thursday, Oct. 31 2019, it was formally brought before the committee which is chaired by Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens, who is also one of the bill’s co-sponsors.

At the committee session, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, a co-sponsor of the resolution, spoke of the context for the new resolution, particularly the recent re-introduction of harsh restrictions against Cuba by the Trump administration.

The resolution was formally introduced by its main sponsor, Council Member Inez Barron. In her remarks, Barron also said that the blockade was a Cold War leftover that has achieved nothing positive over the last nearly 60 years.

Chairmen Van Bramer then opened the hearing for public comment, first speaking in favor of the measure, saying, “the embargo only hurts people.” He said “the President is wrong on virtually everything,” and the blockade against Cuba “is one of those things.”

Gilberto Villa, who was born and lived in Havana but who is now living in New York, spoke not only of the economic losses caused by the blockade but also the immense but personal costs.

Some of the speakers who participated during the public comments section of the hearing included Dr. Damian Suarez, Pat Fry, Emily Thomas of Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, and Tom Gogan of U.S. Labor Against the War. |

Of note also were the remarks of Dr. Damian Suarez. Suarez related how he received his medical training in Cuba at no cost and pointed out that such training could be affordable, and thus accessible, for students of low or modest means like himself if the blockade was lifted. Suarez said he worked in a public hospital in the Bronx and that other doctors trained in Cuba were working in underserved neighborhoods across the U.S. There could be many more, he said, but the blockade limits this, thus preventing communities in the U.S. from getting this service.

Stephen Millies, an Amtrak retiree, spoke in a related vein about how two of his co-workers had died from meningitis even though an anti-meningitis vaccine has been developed in Cuba but which they could not access.

References

Template:Endorsers of the Conference on Perspectives for Democracy and Socialism in the 90s