ITS HAPPENING!

CPI members from across the country are getting on Amtrak trains, airplanes, and Greyhound buses. Activists in New York City have rented a 15-passenger van and are making the cross-country trek on Tuesday.

This is not an easy time to organize. Gas prices are high, housing is more expensive than ever, and the political climate is demoralizing and confusing.

The Center for Political Innovation understands what this means:

OUR MESSAGE AND COMMUNITY ARE MORE URGENTLY NEEDED THAN EVER.

What does this country need right now? More influencers and podcasts? More online polarization and isolation? Or a real movement that empowers people, brings people together to experience solidarity and comradeship, and organizes them to fight for a better future?

You know the answer.

We will not cancel our national gathering for 2026. Director Caleb Maupin is working urgently to get the remaining funds together. Captains have been calling members and former members, inviting people, organizing transportation, and raising funds.

The national gathering is happening.

From August 12th to 19th, CPI members will be in Chicago. Intensive training workshops will take place. Theatrical anti-imperialist pop-up protests are planned. Organizers from different parts of the country will meet each other, study together, demonstrate together, and prepare for the struggles ahead.

On August 15th, the CPI National Convention begins.

Doors open at 9 a.m., and the convention will go all day. Three hard-hitting sessions. Music, food, speeches, theatrical performances, guest speakers, international greetings, political discussion, and much more.

The question now is: How will you be involved?

Will you be there on August 15th? Can you send a contribution to help cover the costs? Can you help promote the event online?

WE NEED ALL HANDS ON DECK.

These hard times are a test of the anti-imperialist forces in America. We need to reveal our strength.

If we can swim against the current and push upstream when it’s hard, imagine how fast we can fly when the wind shifts in our favor.

We are creating a solid network of committed anti-imperialist organizers and fighters.

Here are our three requests for everyone who appreciates what CPI has done year after year, building a community of resistance and standing against the Wall Street war-makers in the streets.

1. REGISTER! COME TO THE CONVENTION!

Register for the CPI Convention

No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

A nice evening meal is provided. Attendees will receive a packet of CPI books, buttons, and swag. Most importantly, you will spend the day alongside people from across the country who are serious about building a real movement.

It’s going to be a kick-ass day of collaboration and comradeship.

We need you there.

2. DONATE! FUNDS URGENTLY NEEDED!

Donate to CPI

Putting together a national gathering like this is expensive. We are covering housing, transportation, the venue, food, materials, and all the other costs involved in bringing organizers together for an entire week.

Members are sacrificing hours and days of work to make this happen. We are committed to this project and to the vision of a real anti-imperialist mass movement for working families.

Now we need your help.

Every little bit helps. $100, $50, $20—whatever you can contribute will make it easier for us to pull this event off successfully.

It’s going to be a tight squeeze, but we all agree:

THIS EVENT MUST HAPPEN.

The stakes for America and the world are too high to back down amid this crisis.

3. PROMOTE THE EVENT!

Before August 15th, please go to message boards, Facebook groups, Telegram channels, and everywhere else you can to let people know about the convention.

Cuba solidarity activists will be speaking. Special attention will be given to opposing war in the Middle East, standing with the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in West Africa, the hope for a peace bridge or tunnel connecting Alaska to Russia across the Bering Sea, and connecting these international struggles with the challenges facing working families here at home.

We want every peace-minded person in the Chicago area who is critical of the rising low-wage police state to know that this event is happening and that they are invited to attend.

Please spread the word.

And our work does not end when the convention is over.

After August 15th, please help circulate the speeches, presentations, and videos everywhere.

Caleb Maupin is preparing a major keynote address laying out CPI’s analysis of the present crisis and the road ahead. Key organizers from different parts of the country will take the podium throughout the day. Former members of Congress are preparing video messages, along with important international voices and political prisoners.

America needs the message that will be laid out on August 15th.

We need you to help spread it.

This gathering is about more than one organization or one event.

It is about bringing people out of isolation. It is about building real human relationships and comradeship. It is about developing organizers who can fight for working families and stand against war and imperialism. It is about creating the kind of movement that our country urgently needs.

You can be part of it.