In formulating our program we have developed a number of revolutionary demands to advance the liberation of the Chicano people and the cause of socialism. We deliberately avoided drawing up a long “laundry list” of partial demands. Such lists tend to confuse partial reforms with the more fundamental revolutionary demands, such as the right to self-determination. Communists must take up all the day to day struggles of the Chicano people against national oppression. Most of these struggles are for partial demands, such as for affirmative action programs, an end to drugs in the barrios, improved medical care, etc. These struggles and demands can be a good starting point for the development of broader mass struggles. In the course of these struggles, communists can educate and organize the Chicano masses for the struggle against the source of their oppression and for their basic national rights.
The daily struggles of the Chicano people against their national oppression are a part of their revolutionary struggle against imperialism. Communists must unite with the Chicano people’s struggles against police repression, poor living conditions, against the growing drug traffic in the barrios, for improved housing, medical care and better education. These struggles and demands are an integral part of developing the overall struggle of the Chicano masses against the monopoly capitalist class. These struggles are a component part of the fight for Chicano self-determination and for socialism. In addition to these various partial demands we put forward the following basic political demands for the liberation of the Chicano people:
1. We demand the right of self-determination for the Chicano nation. This is our basic demand in the Chicano nation which we raise in order to realize the full revolutionary potential of the Chicano national movement. This demand is also made to help forge the unity of the multinational proletariat on the basis of national equality.
The right of self-determination means the right of Chicano people, in their areas of concentration in the Southwest – their historic homeland which was annexed by the United States – to determine their own political future, up to and including the right to secede. This demand means that the Chicano people should have the right to exercise full political control over their territory.
2. We demand local or administrative autonomy for Chicanos outside of the Chicano nation, in those areas where they form large concentrations. Chicanos in those areas suffer oppression similar to their brothers and sisters in the Southwest. They are forced to live in overcrowded and poverty-stricken barrios, have no political or language rights, and are victims of constant police repression and attacks by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. We demand equal status – political, social and economic equality for all Chicanos.
3. We demand that the lands guaranteed protection under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo be returned to the Chicano people. We also demand that all federal and state lands within the Chicano nation (except those to which the American Indian peoples are entitled) be transferred to the Chicano people.
4. We demand full equality for the Spanish language. We oppose the U.S. bourgeoisie’s imposition of English as an official language. We demand that all levels of schools in the Chicano nation be taught in the Spanish language. All legislative, judicial and other governmental organs in the Chicano nation must be able to serve the Chicano people in their own language, including all health, social and welfare institutions. Chicanos must be allowed to speak their own language on the job and to use Spanish without any restrictions in daily life.
All other nationalities in the Chicano nation must have the right to use the language of their nationality.
5. We demand an end to all discrimination against Chicanos in hiring, on the job, in the schools and in their communities. This includes an end to the forcible segregation of the Chicano people. At the same time, we demand that the Chicano communities be protected from destruction and dispersal.
6. We demand an end to all forcible repatriations (deportations) of Chicanos and Mexicans. We demand equal status for the Mexican national minority within the Chicano nation and outside of it. We demand the abolition of all laws infringing on the democratic rights of Mexican immigrants and that they must be given the same rights as U.S. citizens. All Mexican immigrants in the U.S. must have the right to voluntarily obtain U.S. citizenship, or to retain their own citizenship without any restriction of their full democratic rights.
7. We demand an end to the imposition of U.S. imperialist culture on the Chicano people. We stand for the complete development of all the progressive and revolutionary aspects of the Chicano national culture. The rich cultural traditions of the Chicano people face the threat of extinction by the U.S. bourgeoisie. We uphold the right of the Chicano people to the full development of their cultural traditions.
8. We demand that all treaties between the U.S. government and the American Indian peoples in the Southwest be upheld. All land, water, timber, grazing and fishing rights of the Indian peoples must be respected. The American Indian peoples of the Southwest must have the right to exercise full political power in their areas of concentration in the Southwest.