People's Voice July 1-31, 2006

Health Care battles across Canada `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` By Kimball Cariou Five months into the Harper Tory minority government, the drive to for-profit health care continues, but so does resistance from the labour movement and other progressive forces. The Ontario Federation of Labour and the Ontario Health Coalition, for example, organized a rally at Queen's Park against "public-private partnerships" (P3s) in early June. In a related development, the Canadian Health Coalition has called on federal Health Minister Tony Clement to completely divest his stake in Prudential Chem or resign immediately. Clement's 25 per cent stake in Prudential Chem is a serious conflict of interest, said the CHC on June 20. Prudential Chem is involved in the manufacturing of a wide range of international quality pharmaceuticals and chemicals, and provides "specialized services to Fortune 50 clients in the areas of Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals and Fine and Specialty Chemicals." Under the Food and Drugs Act, the Minister of Health has a statutory duty to regulate pharmaceuticals, chemicals and products of biotechnology, resulting in a conflict and/or perceived conflict undermining his legal duty to guard the public interest from hazards and fraud in the sale and use of these products. In addition, says the CHC, Clement's stake in a drug company calls into question his role as co-chair of the National Pharmaceutical Strategy (NPS), which is supposed to save taxpayers money through improved bargaining and bulk purchasing of drugs and vaccines. Clement also hired a senior campaign aide, Gord Haugh, on a 33-day $25,000 contract with his department immediately after he was appointed to cabinet. Gord Haugh is now General Manager of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, which has lobbied Health Canada in recent years. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plan to implement patient wait-time guarantees will bolster private health care and pad the pocketbooks of Canada's elite, says Michael McBane, the national co-ordinator of the Canadian Health Coalition. McBane told Friends of Medicare members in a June 10 speech in Edmonton that the "virus" of guaranteed wait times will spread private clinics at the expense of the publicly funded medicare system. "Norway, Sweden and Denmark all tried this," McBane said, as reported in the Edmonton Journal. "They all abandoned it because it was a complete failure." Harper has promised that public insurance will foot the bill for Canadians who receive medical treatment at a private clinic or in another jurisdiction because they couldn't get care quickly enough at home. "We want the wait times fixed in the public system," McBane told reporters. "We don't want an airline ticket somewhere else. That doesn't build the capacity and that doesn't help get us nurses and doctors." Guaranteed wait times will also benefit the affluent, McBane warns. Pushing for widespread use of private clinics is an attempt by some of the elite "to get better access without paying taxes for it," he said. "It's in their interest because rich people generally are healthier, obviously they have more money and so it's in their economic interest to try to convince governments to allow the emergence of a private health-care system." Harper's policies are particularly worrisome given that this year's annual report to Parliament on the Canada Health Act (CHA) was again missing data on for-profit health services. "Once again, the annual report to Parliament on the CHA is full of holes and MPs must simply reject it," said Paul Moist, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). "Most provinces aren't reporting on the scope of for-profit health services, and the federal government is just sitting back and doing nothing about it." Submitted in May, the report detailed some fines for the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, British Columbia and Nova Scotia. However, there are no fines for Quebec even though private clinics are growing rapidly in that province, a trend that threatens universality of care. In fact, the report is completely blank on the subject of private clinics in Quebec, as well as in Alberta and Ontario. Even where the number of private clinics is documented, the report fails to keep track of services. The report documents a sharp rise in the number of private, for-profit surgical facilities in BC from 1 in 2000 to 18 in 2005, but gives no further information on the number of services provided there or the amount of money spent. "How can Canadians strengthen our public health care system if the federal government refuses to monitor and enforce its existing legislation?" Moist asked. "All of us are paying the price with an eroded and weakened system." The struggle is also heating up on the west coast. Premier Gordon Campbell recently announced that the Green Timbers site in Surrey will be home to the new 148,000-square foot Surrey Outpatient Hospital as part of plans to improve access to health care and ease congestion at Surrey Memorial Hospital. But public health care defenders warn that the project is just one of several in the Lower Mainland area which the Liberals intend to carry through as P3s in various forms. On the north shore of Vancouver, opponents of health privatization are holding protests and public forums to block moves for a P3-style health care centre near Lions Gate Hospital. North Shore Council of Canadians activist Betty Griffin reports that local health authorities have consistently refused to provide important information to the public on this issue, leading health care supporters to hold pickets and other efforts to shed light on the process. On June 22, members of the Hospital Employees Union and other labour organizations, as well as the Council of Canadians and other groups, were out in full force in downtown Vancouver to leaflet an invitation-only conference promoting the privatization of transportation, health and water treatment infrastructure through P3 arrangements. "It's time to end the secrecy surrounding up to $10 billion in so-called P3s, being promoted by the BC government" was the message of the 90-minute event. The 100 conference participants included financiers, developers, government officials, lawyers, BC's finance and transportation ministers and the head of Partnerships BC - the government agency formed to promote P3s. The public was definitely not invited. (Contents) (Home) World Peace Forum draws thousands to Vancouver `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` PV Vancouver Bureau With over four thousand international delegates from some ninety countries, and the participation of thousands more from the Lower Mainland and across Canada, the World Peace Forum 2006 opened in Vancouver on June 23. Dozens of panels, concerts, workshops and other events continued over the next five days. The biggest event of the WPF came on the second day of the gathering, as an estimated 10,000 people marched in the "Walk for Peace, Justice and Sustainability" to a rally [at] Sunset Beach in Vancouver's west end. (See photos of the walk on page 6.) The rally was headlined by "Peace Mother" Cindy Sheehan, who moved many to tears with her powerful call to end the violent U.S. occupation of Iraq now, before the death toll rises even higher. Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq while serving in the US military, embraced Iraqi journalist Nermin al-Mufti and said she shared the pain of Iraqi mothers who have also lost their sons and daughters to war. Other rally speakers included BC Teachers Federation President Jinny Sims, anti-globalization activist Walden Bello from the Phillipines, progressive Mexican Bishop Samuel Ruiz, Bev Jacobs of the Native Women's Association of Canada, and South African teacher's leader Thulas Nxesi. Buffy Sainte-Marie got the crowd to their feet with a performance of her anti-war anthem, Universal Soldier. At the opening plenary of the WPF on June 23, Ono Reiko of the Japanese Confederation of A- and H-Bombs Survivors' Organization concluded an emotional address with an appeal for "No more Hiroshimas! No more Nagasakis! No more Hibakusha! NO MORE WAR!" Several U.S. mayors used the plenary to condemn the Pentagon's bloated military budget. "I fear that my country, the United States of America, is failing to affect real leadership," said Jennifer Hosterman, mayor of Pleasanton, California, referring to the responsibility of mayors around the world to take action on national and international issues that affect their communities. Greg Speeter from Cities for Peace emphasized that local officials must address issues of environmental degradation, poverty, and violence "with fewer and fewer resources." Speeter bemoaned the size of the U.S. military budget versus the amount spent on environmental protection, health care, and anti-poverty programs. "Thirty-one per cent of the children in Chicago live in poverty," said Speeter. That's up from 25 per cent when the Bush Administration came into power.... The amount of money that Chicago spends on war each year could provide a college education for every high school graduate and build ten schools in the city." Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, whose pro-business NPA majority initially opposed the WPF when they were elected last November, congratulated current city councillor David Cadman and former councillor Ellen Woodsworth for their efforts in creating the forum. He acknowledged that "hearing stories of cities that have endured war was a real eye opener for me." Alfred Marder, President of International Association of Peace Messenger Cities spoke about "how millions of voices are demanding an end of the madness endangering our planet". Derek Corrigan, the mayor of Burnaby, BC, urged citizens everywhere to pressure their cities to join the 1300-strong Mayors for Peace and help create a global solidarity for world peace. Buffy Sainte-Marie and Somali-born hip-hop artist K'Naan drew a crowd of over 2,000 to Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre during the WPF for a benefit concert for campaigns to eradicate the antipersonnel explosive devices that kill and maim more than 10,000 civilians a year. Another highlight was the strong presence of the World Peace Council, which re-launched its "Peace Messenger" in newspaper format to coincide with the Forum. Speakers from the WPC and its affiliated national organizations took part in a number of forums and panels, and a special seminar featuring top WPC leaders presented the long-standing anti-war group's priority campaigns on global issues. The seminar was the first major public event featuring the newly re-established Canadian Peace Congress, which is now active once again as a WPC affiliate. Orlando Fundora, Cuban president of the World Peace Council, used the WPF to call for an end to state-sponsored torture in Guantanamo and in Iraq, and to ask all governments to abide by the UN Convention against Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Fundora, a victim of torture at the hands of former Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, presented his demands on June 26, the day that the UN General Assembly has declared as International Day in Support of Torture Victims. (Prepared by the PV Vancouver Bureau with the use of files from the WPF website, http://www.worldpeaceforum.ca) (Contents) (Home) Election laws back in court - Editorial `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` People's Voice Editorial, July 1-31, 2006 The Charter challenge against the federal Party Financing Act launched by the Communist Party and several other small parties finally made it into the courts in June. Introduced in 2003, the legislation curbs corporate and union donations to political parties. It also places a cap on personal political donations, and provides the larger parties with public funds, based on $1.75 per vote received in the preceding general election. The Harper Tories, for instance, now receive approximately $10 million every year of taxpayers' money. The previous Liberal government that brought in the new Party Financing Act - with the support of the Tories and the NDP - included a 2% threshold clause. Parties which receive less than 2% of the overall vote in the general election (or at least 5% in a given riding) receive nothing at all. The Party Financing Act is wrong in principle, especially the clause which prohibits organized workers from collectively supporting the political party of their choice. But if public funds are to be distributed based on popular vote, it is clearly discriminatory to deny such funds to parties fail to meet the threshold. This clause was a conscious attempt by the large established parties to impose yet another obstacle to the emergence and growth of alternative parties which might at some point challenge their hegemony at the federal level. On this basis, several small parties challenged this discrimination. Peter Rosenthal, the lawyer who led the CPC's Supreme Court victory against the 50-candidate rule in the Canada Elections Act, is the lead counsel for this court challenge. The case was heard at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, and initial reports indicate that a strong case was made to strike down this form of electoral discrimination. Look for further news in upcoming issues. (Contents) (Home) The "End of Innocence"? - Editorial `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` People's Voice Editorial, July 1-31, 2006 Scenes of Canadian troops bullying Afghan villagers have been called "the end of innocence" in Montreal's French language La Presse newspaper. On June 22, La Presse reported on a broadcast by the TV station France 2, showing Canadian forces doing the "good cop-bad cop" routine. According to La Presse, soldiers are shown offering money for information on Taliban fighters. The response from villagers: "That's nice of you, but we don't want your money. This is our country. And with all of our strength, we will protect it." Canadian soldiers are also shown threatening to shoot uncooperative Afghans, and kicking down doors and insulting villagers. Abusing one elderly man, a soldier says, "too bad for you if you don't want to tell us where the Taliban are." Meanwhile, Canadian Press reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has "called on the coalition to rethink its strategy of fighting terrorism, saying the killing of hundreds of Afghans was not acceptable." Even if they are Taliban," Karzai said, "they are sons of this land." Major Nancy Hansen, a Canadian Task Force spokesperson, responded that "Karzai's remarks do not change the coalition's long-term approach toward helping rebuild Afghan society." The truth is that Canada's "innocence" - our reputation as peacekeepers, not war-makers - has been destroyed by the past fifteen years of participation in U.S.-instigated imperialist aggressions, from Somalia and the Balkans during the 1990s, to Afghanistan and Haiti in this decade. We welcome the joint call by the Canadian Peace Alliance, Échec à la Guerre, the Canadian Labour Congress, and the Canadian Islamic Congress for demonstrations on October 28 to demand the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Neither one more Afghan nor one more Canadian should die in this bloody war for control of oil in Central Asia. (Contents) (Home) End Canada's occupation of Afghanistan! `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` Joint call for action on October 28, 2006 The Collectif Échec à la guerre, Canadian Peace Alliance, Canadian Labour Congress, and Canadian Islamic Congress are jointly calling for a pan-Canadian day of protest this October 28, 2006, to bring Canadian troops home from Afghanistan. On that day, people all across the country will unite to tell Stephen Harper that we are opposed to his wholehearted support for Canadian and US militarism. This October marks the 5th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, and the people of that country are still suffering from the ravages of war. Reconstruction in the country is at a standstill and the needs of the Afghan people are not being met. The rule of the new Afghan State, made up largely of drug running warlords, will not realize the democratic aspirations of the people there. In fact, according to Human Rights Watch reports, the human rights record of those warlords in recent years has not been better than the Taliban. We are told that the purpose of this war is to root out terrorism and protect our societies, yet the heavy-handed approach of a military occupation trying to impose a US-friendly government on the Afghan people will force more Afghans to become part of the resistance movement. It will also make our societies more - not less - likely to see terrorist attacks. No discussion on military tactics in the House of Commons will change that reality. Indeed, violence is increasing with more attacks on both coalition troops and on Afghan civilians. While individual Canadian soldiers may have gone to Afghanistan with the best of intentions, they are operating under the auspices of a US-led state building project that cares little for the needs of the Afghan people. US and Canadian interests rest with the massive $3.2 billion Trans Afghan Pipeline (TAP) project, which will bring oil from the Caspian region through southern Afghanistan (where Canada is stationed) and onto the ports of Pakistan. It has been no secret that the TAP has dominated US foreign policy towards Afghanistan for the last decade. Now Canadian oil and gas corporations have their own interests in the TAP. Over the last decade, the role of the Canadian Armed Forces abroad has changed and Canadian foreign policy has become a replica of the US empire building rhetoric. The end result of this process is now plain to see with the role of our troops in Southern Afghanistan, with the enormous budget increases for war expenditures and "security", with the Bush-style speeches of Stephen Harper, and with the fear campaigns around "homegrown terrorism" to foster support for those nefarious changes. It is this very course that will get young Canadian soldiers killed, that will endanger our society and consume more and more of its resources for destruction and death in Afghanistan. We demand a freeze in defense and security budgets until an in-depth public discussion is held on those issues across Canada. The mission in Afghanistan has already cost Canadians more than $4 billion. That money could have been used to fund human needs in Canada or abroad. Instead it is being used to kill civilians in Afghanistan and advance the interests of corporations. On October 28th, stand up and be counted. Canadian Troops Out of Afghanistan Now! For more information see: http://www.acp-cpa.ca http://www.echecalaguerre.org http:// www.clc-ctc.ca http://www.canadianislamiccongress.com/ (Contents) (Home) Saint John Longshoremen honoured for solidarity stand `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` By James J. Brittain During the spring of 2003, the International Longshoremen's Association Local 273 of Saint John, New Brunswick, received international attention for their stance against the unjust war posturing of the United States government towards the people of Iraq. Before the official invasion, the Local released a statement declaring that "the Iraqi war will be an immoral war". In organized defiance, the longshoremen came together in March 2003 and voted that none of the Local's membership would transfer, load, and/or process any freight bound for the illegal incursion, by declaring a "hot cargo" edict on all military stowage destined for the Iraqi war. This event was and remains of tremendous importance. But it should be noted that this controlled insubordination against violent aggression, in solidarity with immiserated peoples, was not the first act of its kind for ILA Local 273. Rather, the roots of the 2003 actions are firmly planted in events that took place some twenty-four years earlier in the port city. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Argentina, like many Latin American countries during this period, was violently controlled by a small group of military elites. On March 24, 1976, a military coup had installed a brutal military dictatorship which inaugurated a systemic "dirty war" against perceived antagonists. The eventual result was that 9,000 unionists, comrades, students and citizens were imprisoned, tortured, murdered, and disappeared between 1976-1983. A few years before the 1976 coup, the Canadian government had sold a CANDU nuclear reactor to Argentina. After the coup, people around the world argued that a CANDU can not only produce energy but, in the wrong hands, has the capacity to generate plutonium for military use. Now that the Argentine military was in power, increasing unease was felt throughout the international community. However, to run a CANDU nuclear reactor one essential ingredient is needed: heavy water. Between 1976 and 1979, ILA Local 273 had been actively organizing with the New Brunswick Federation of Labour, the Saint John and District Labour Council, and members of civil society against the dictatorship's increasing attacks on organized labour and the people of Argentina. Knowing that a shipment of heavy water for the Argentine CANDU reactor was set to arrive in Saint John, workers set up an information picket at the gates of the container-port on July 3, 1979, highlighting atrocities related to the "dirty war". Going a step further, the Local declared that the shipment of heavy water was "hot cargo," on the basis that the load had the potential to be used for war. The longshoremen refused to handle the shipment. With other port workers refusing to cross the picket, the longshoremen effectively shut down the port, consequently freezing the shipment. After this feat, the longshoremen demanded the release of sixteen Argentine trade unionists who had been unjustly imprisoned, without charges, under the dictatorship. With the heavy water shipment grounded, the actions and demands of Local 273 won extensive coverage across Canada and internationally. Within seventy-two hours, six of the sixteen unionists were released. As a result of this historic action of organized defiance against the military dictatorship, Enrique Tabak, an Argentinian expatriot living in Toronto, recently contacted ILA Local 273 President Terry Wilson and Secretary Treasurer Pat Riley to tell them that an application has been made for the Local to receive Argentina's most prestigious award: The Order of the Liberator General San Marti, the equivalent to the Order of Canada. (Contents) (Home) YCL organizes across Canada `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` PV Youth Bureau The Young Communist League of Canada has stepped up the first stage of a pan-Canadian organizing drive, by initiating a series of multi-day schools across the country. The schools come after months of short organizing visits by YCL activists in various places. In early May, for the first time in many years, la Ligue de la jeunesses communistes marched under a colourful banner in Montreal's labour-organized weekend May Day Parade (the largest May Day event in North America), as well as taking part in a much smaller demo on May 1. The Montreal group, which came together after an organizing visit by YCL Toronto club organizer Shona Bracken, also distributed a pamphlet in French. "We now putting together a YCL school on the Labour Day weekend," to be held at a lake-side cottage, Bracken told the PV. In early June, young comrades in five small cities across Ontario held a series of discussions and workshops about youth and student movement politics, and the role of the YCL. The meetings had excellent turn-outs of between seven and 15, most of whom where new to the League and also joined. The visits kicked off the Ontario distribution of Rebel Youth magazine, which is selling quickly. As reported in the June 16-30 People's Voice, the YCL joined the anti-globalization Atlantica Protest in Saint John, New Brunswick, where the YCL Maritimes banner was raised in several actions, including the main march at the end of the protest. "I had a great time at the counter-conference workshops and all the demos" said Johan Boyden, YCL Ontario organizer, who stayed with the youth delegation in an old church. At the church, there was lots of wide-ranging discussion over cooking, music and dish-duty. The YCL also showed a DVD on Wal-Mart, and according to Boyden, "when the TV didn't work one brother just went and grabbed his own machine. I didn't know what the reaction would be to a Communist," he said, "but it was very friendly and positive." After the Atlantica protest, Boyden met with a group of high school students in Nova Scotia who agreed to form a YCL club. In late July the YCL and the Communist Party will be organizing a three-day school at a house on the Bay of Fundy, followed by a celebration of the Cuban Revolution on Moncada Day. Also in mid June, YCL organizers in Alberta invited new applicants to two meetings in Edmonton and Calgary. Drew Bowering, the member of the YCL Central Preparatory Committee for Alberta, told PV he was pleased by the outcome of the meeting in Edmonton. Both groups have started planning an Alberta school. There are some ideas to hold it on a small ranch, or in Calgary near the Rocky Mountains. In late June, as this issue goes to the press, the YCL in BC is organizing a school on the Sunshine coast and a tour of communities by Jason Mann. The visits will not just be to communities where the YCL has a base or is building one, such as the Okanagan, Vancouver and Victoria, "but also everywhere we have contacts, like Quesnel, Williams Lake, Kamloops, and Nanaimo," Jason said. The YCL banner also joined the Peace March at the recent World Peace Forum in Vancouver. The organizing trips and schools are the largest pan-Canadian coordinated actions by the YCL since last summer, when together with many other progressive youth organizations the League helped organize a Canadian delegation of over 170 people to the World Festival of Youth and Students in Venezuela. In some cases the YCL is following up on contacts made during that process. A significant difference, however, is the YCL's growth in the nation of Quebec. Some discussions are also beginning about work with the struggles of Aboriginal youth. Internationally, the YCL of Canada was recently asked to send fraternal greetings to meetings of the Communist youth in Portugal, Greece, and Brazil. A delegate also attended the YCL USA 8th National Convention in New York, and met with Miguel Madera, President of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), visiting from Budapest. Madera spoke very positively about the YCL's application to affiliate with WFDY. These developments confirm that the YCL is slowly but steadily strengthening its international ties. With a new website planned and a professional designer modestly commissioned, a Fall edition of the YCL's Rebel Youth Magazine under way, and a series of visits and schools in progress, there is much to be excited about. In 2007, the YCL plans to hold a re-founding convention. (Contents) (Home) The strike that will never be forgotten `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America, by James Green. NY: Pantheon Books, 2006, 383 pages, $35 Can., ISBN Reviewed by Steve Gilbert On the afternoon of May 3, 1886, some 200 strikers were milling around the entrance to the McCormick Reaper Works in Chicago. They had been locked out for several weeks, engaging in desultory skirmishes with Pinkerton thugs, company militia and police. As scabs tried to leave the plant at the end of that working day, they were rushed by strikers. Police responded by shooting into the group of strikers, killing six. That night, anarchists distributed hundreds of circulars reading: "REVENGE! Workingmen, to arms!!! Your masters sent out their bloodhounds - the police -; they killed six of your brothers at McCormicks this afternoon." A group of leading anarchists called for a public protest rally to be held the next day in Haymarket Square. By the evening of May 4, some 175 uniformed policemen had assembled near the Haymarket. In addition, a squad of plain-clothes men was waiting to blend in with the workers. As dusk began to fall, crowds arrived and soon the Haymarket was packed with over three thousand workers. They listened quietly to an address by Albert R. Parsons, an anarchist and newspaperman, who began by describing the difficult conditions of the working class throughout the world. He then condemned the police for firing on strikers at the McCormick plant, concluding that workers should "arm themselves or else they will see their rights trampled underfoot and see themselves shot in the streets like dogs." Parsons was followed by Samuel Fielden, who told his audience: "Keep your eye on the law. Throttle it. Kill it. Stop it. Do everything you can to wound it - to impede its progress." Upon hearing this, one of the plain-clothes men reported to his chief inspector that the speaker was making "incendiary remarks." As the evening wore on, storm clouds appeared. A light rain fell as Fielden concluded his speech, and by 10:30 only about 500 workers remained. Suddenly, in the words of one observer, "a great company of police with their revolvers drawn rushed into the crowd, which parted to make way for them." The police commander cried "I command you in the name of the people of the State of Illinois to immediately and peaceably disperse." The crowd complied. Just at that moment a hissing sound was heard as a dynamite bomb was thrown into the crowd of policemen, where it lay for a few seconds on the pavement before exploding. Moments after the explosion, police started firing into the crowd. As the Tribune's observer described it: "Goaded by madness, the police were in the condition of mind that permitted no resistance, and in a measure they were as dangerous as any mob of communists, for they were blinded by passion and unable to distinguish between the peaceful citizen and the nihilist assassin." Seventy police were seriously wounded, and seven subsequently died. Several workers were killed and countless others wounded. Eight well known anarchists were rounded up and tried for murder, even though there was no evidence connecting them with a conspiracy or with the unknown person who had thrown the bomb. Four of them were hanged; one committed suicide, and three were sentenced to life in prison, but pardoned in 1893 by then-Governor John Peter Altgeld. In his statement Altgeld declared that the trial of the Haymarket eight had been illegal because the jury had been "selected to convict;" much of the evidence was "pure fabrication"; the defendants had not been proven guilty of the crime charged; and the judge was prejudiced. Altgeld added that in his opinion the person who threw the bomb had not been part of a conspiracy, but was an individual seeking revenge against a corrupt police force that had been beating and shooting unarmed working people for years. These events have been described from many points of view. Most accounts are in general agreement up until the time the bomb was thrown; after that, the testimonies of various witnesses are full of inconsistencies. In Murder in the Haymarket, James Green quotes passages from eye-witness testimony, newspaper accounts and court proceedings, which demonstrate the innocence of the accused and set the bombing in context within major events in the historical conflict between labor and capital. The U.S., as Green points out, has the most violent labour history of any industrialized nation in the world. Armed conflict between workers and strike breakers was common during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Weapons were routinely carried by police, national guards, and private militias, such as Pinkerton employees, when they acted as strike breakers. Green cites statistics showing that on at least 160 occasions during the twentieth century, state and federal troops have forcibly intervened in labour disputes. Over 700 violent deaths and several thousand serious injuries have been recorded during these disputes. In the vast majority of these cases, violence was initiated by capital, not by labour. No major American labour union has advocated violence. Green writes: "Workers' struggles have often been met with shocking repression, and that when violence bred violence, when powerless laboring people struck back in anger, they often paid with their lives. This is why, unsettling though it has been, the Haymarket case could never be forgotten within the labor movement." Death in the Haymarket is an outstanding piece of research and writing. Especially fascinating are Green's descriptions of the unjust trial, the biographies of the accused, and the subsequent pardons of three alleged conspirators. The narrative has all the drama of a well crafted detective story, while being solidly documented and referenced. His book will be of interest to everyone concerned with the history of the conflict between labour and capital. (Contents) (Home) West Bengal Left Front: a historic anniversary `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` By Prakash Karat, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Left Front government in West Bengal enters its 30th year of existence on June 21, 2006. This is a historic day which comes in the background of an equally historic election victory which has led to the formation of the seventh Left Front government. The three decades of the Left Front government is of enormous significance in the annals of the communist movement in the country. It has also acquired international significance. It is necessary to recall the past history in order to understand the long and arduous political struggle that has gone into the creation of a stable Left political formation and a stable Left Front government in West Bengal. The pre-1977 period The Communist Party first formed a government in 1957 in Kerala after winning the assembly elections. This government, headed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad, was ousted in 21 months. Article 356 of the constitution was used for the first time by the then Nehru government to dismiss an elected state government. After the fourth general elections in 1967, when the Congress lost in nine states, United Front governments were formed in West Bengal and Kerala for the first time. These were coalition governments in which the CPI(M) was the largest party. But these governments were not allowed to remain in office for long. The first United Front government of West Bengal was dismissed after nine months. The Left parties fought back this conspiracy and central intervention to destabilise the United Front government and, in 1969, once again the United Front was re-elected with a big majority. This government also fell after 13 months, in 1970. In Kerala, the United Front government lasted for 31 months and fell apart in 1969. These governments were formed at the crest of sustained struggles. The Left Front of West Bengal is a product of decades of class struggle and popular movements. The 1950s and 1960s witnessed the rising struggles of the working class, peasantry and other sections of the working people in West Bengal. It was not possible for the ruling classes to tolerate the existence of governments in which the Left had a leading role. The Congress governments at the centre were hostile to the existence of communist-led state governments. Given the all-India political situation in the 1950s and 1960s, the correlation of forces and the hostility to communists amongst the whole ruling class political spectrum, it was not possible to sustain these governments beyond short spells. It was only in 1977, after the end of internal emergency and the increased democratic consciousness of the people after the anti-authoritarian struggle, that it became possible for the Left-led governments to remain in office for a full term. This was also because of the fact that the CPI(M) increased its strength and became the dominant political force in states like West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. Even after this, attacks continued as witnessed in the rigging undertaken and terror unleashed in Tripura during the 1988 assembly elections. But the innate strength of the CPI(M) and the Left overcame this onslaught too. Significant achievements It was in this conjuncture that the Left Front government, headed by Jyoti Basu, began its work three decades ago. Looking back, we can see how the Left Front government worked within the constraints of the existing constitutional and socio-economic system, implemented land reforms, decentralised powers, instituted the democratic panchayati raj system, accomplished growth in agricultural production, protected democratic rights, ensured communal harmony and nurtured secular values. The two most important changes brought about by the Left Front government in its early years in the countryside were the implementation of land reforms and the reorganisation of the panchayats as democratic institutions of the local government. These two - identified as the policy of walking on two legs - were closely interrelated. The government acquired over 1,100,000 acres of land to distribute among 2.5 million landless and small peasant households. Under its Operation Barga, 1.4 million sharecroppers (bargadars) were registered, bringing 1,100,000 million acres of land under the control of the bargadars. About 55 per cent of the beneficiaries of land distribution and 42 per cent of the bargadars came from the dalits and adivasis (lowest caste and tribal peoples). Alongside, the Left Front revitalised the three-tier panchayati raj (village governance) system. A big majority of the elected representatives in the panchayati raj system came from the small and marginal peasants, adivasis and dalits. More than one-third of the seats are occupied by women. This democratic system was institutionalised 17 years before the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments became enforceable in all the states. As the CPI(M) Programme envisages, land reforms have led to increased agricultural production. By the end of the seventh plan period, food production increased by 29.9 per cent in the state as against the all-India average of 13.4 per cent. It is the land reform programme and the institutionalisation of the panchayati raj system which provided the backbone for the rural base of the CPI(M) and the Left Front. Two phases The 29 years of the Left Front government can be more or less equally divided into two phases. In the first phase - 1977 to 1991 - the Left Front government was working under a regime where state regulation of the economy under a capitalist path of development existed. The role of the central government and the nature of centre-state relations were different in this period. The centre had licensing powers for industry and allocated resources for public investment and development. During this period, West Bengal suffered from discrimination. Successive central governments would discourage industries being set-up in West Bengal and utilised the licensing power to the detriment of the state. The centre also wielded its financial powers in a manner to deprive the state of public investment. In this period, the Left Front had to wage continuous struggles to oppose discrimination. Industrial development languished due to these iniquitous centre-state relations and due to an inadequate appreciation in the earlier years of the fact that the Left Front government is in for a long stint in office. West Bengal, the front-ranking industrial state at the time of independence, slipped behind and in 1985 it was only contributing 8 per cent of the total industrial output in the country. The second phase began in 1992. This is the phase of liberalisation and the deregulation of the state control and intervention in the economy. It is also marked by the push for neo-liberal policies and the drastic cutbacks on state investments. The centre's withdrawal from welfare and social sector responsibilities have also had a serious impact on the state. In such a situation the fifth Left Front government adopted an industrial policy in 1994. On the basis of this approach,t the Left Front government has sought to meet its commitments to the people and has been working for the development of the state in a milieu where the central government is vigorously pushing for free market policies and privatisation. The Left Front government has taken initiatives to invite private investment, so that the state can have a strong industrial base and acquire high technology. While promoting private investment, the government is committed to defend the rights of the working class and their trade union rights. At the same time, the Left Front government is committed to people-oriented development where the poorer sections are provided the wherewithal to overcome poverty. Education, health and social welfare facilities have to be provided even though the resources of the state are limited. The state government, while attracting private investment, will not retreat from its commitment to provide basic services for the people. This is the perspective of the CPI(M) for the Left Front government spelled out in the Political Resolution of its 18th congress: "Faced with the neo-liberal policies of the centre, the Left-led governments have to struggle hard to pursue policies which ensure pro-people and balanced development. While promoting private investment, the Left Front governments defend the public sector in key areas, protect and, if possible, expand public expenditure in the social sector and project alternative policies to protect the poorer sections who are the worst affected by the policies pursued by the central government." Popular support The recent assembly elections show that the people have appreciated the policy framework that the CPI(M) and the Left Front has set out for the development of the state. The performance of the sixth Left Front government, under Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, has sought to build on the past achievements and chart out a path of development which can avoid the pitfalls of the neo-liberal prescriptions of the centre while, at the same time, realistically utilising the existing resources of the state and private investment. Throughout these three decades, West Bengal under the Left Front rule has shown that it is possible to avoid the harmful politics of communalism and casteism which divide the people and disrupt the working class movement. The fact that the BJP and other communal forces have failed to make headway in the state testifies to the anti-communal atmosphere prevailing in West Bengal. All through the offensive of the communal forces, particularly in the 1990s, West Bengal stood as a bastion of communal harmony and adherence to the secular principle. This, in a state which has a Muslim population of 26 per cent, is a shining example for the rest of the country. This has been possible because the peasantry, the workers and all other sections of the working people, irrespective of religion, have been united along class lines and developed a political consciousness which rises above sectarian identities and loyalties. The seventh Left Front government is conscious of the need to provide for the all-round development of the Muslim minority, so that they can more fully be part of the common endeavour of all sections of the working people for a better life. The Left Front government is the political manifestation of the fact that West Bengal is the bastion of the Left and democratic forces in the country. It is the existence and the record of the Left Front government in the past three decades which has provided the ballast for the Left movement in the country. When the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the imperialist offensive commenced in 1991, the Left Front government was able to withstand the hostile ideological environment, both internationally and domestically. It has also been able to avoid the worst aspects of the anti-people, neo-liberal policies and steer a course whereby its pro-people commitments are not abandoned. This was possible because of the strong mass base of the CPI(M) and the Left. We recall the tremendous sacrifices by the CPI(M) and Left cadres over the three decades. Thousands of them laid down their lives in the class struggle and in defence of democracy. As the Left Front government enters its 30th year of existence, it has the good wishes and support of all progressive and democratic-minded people in the country. (Abridged slightly from the original) (Contents) (Home) What's Left `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` VANCOUVER, BC Moncada Day Celebration - afternoon of Sunday, July 23, at Chilean Co-op, 3390 School Ave. Hosted by Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association, for info call Ray, 604-254-1350. Left Film Night - 7 pm, Sunday, July 30, at the Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive, "Butterflies on the Scaffold" (7 pm) and "Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Third World" (8:45 pm). Free admission, donations welcome, call 604-255-2041 for details. SURREY, BC People's Voice Walk-A-Thon - Sunday, July 30, gather 10:30 am at Bear Creek Park for exercise, great food and entertainment. Organized by Lower Fraser Club CPC, for information or to make pledge, call Harjit, 543-7179. CALGARY, AB YCL School on Marxism - August, date and location TBA. For details, email ycl_alberta@ycl-ljc.ca TORONTO, ON People's Voice Dinner and Dance - sponsored by Belogiannis Club CPC, Sunday, July 9, 5-10 pm, GCDO Hall, 290 Danforth Ave (at Chester Station). Dinner and drinks, live music and entertainment, speaker Sam Hammond, PV Business manager. Tickets $15, call 416-461-7300 after 6 pm. Annual fundraising BBQ for People's Voice - organized by Davenport Club CPC, Sat., July 15, 2-6 pm, at Simin, and Omar and Maya's house, 58 Albany Ave. (first street east of Bathurst, north of Bloor). All you can eat, $20 for adults, $10 for youth and unwaged, children under ten free. Please call 416-536-6771 to let us know if you are coming a day or two before the BBQ. Celebrate Moncada Day - cruise the Toronto Islands, Sunday, July 30, Noon to 4 pm, sponsored by Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association Toronto. Live Band (Sol de Cuba), delicious lunch included, only $35/person, limited tickets. For reservations, call 416-410-8254. HAMILTON, ON YCL School on Marxism - August, date and location TBA. For details, email ycl_ontario@ycl-ljc.ca MONTREAL, QC Young Communist League school - Sept. 1-4, on Marxism and building the youth and student movements in Quebec. Info: quebec@ycl-ljc.ca Vigil against occupation of Palestine - Every Friday, noon to 1 pm, at Israeli Consulate, corner of Peel and Rene Levesque. For info: Palestinians and Jews United, 961-3928. WOLFVILLE, NS Joint CPC-YCL school - on Marxism-Leninism, activist skills, Latin America, and the Communist party Programme, July 19-22, info maritimes@ycl-ljc.ca Moncada Day Celebration - Saturday, July 22, for info on time and location: 902-542-7981. REDS ON THE WEB http://www.communist-party.ca (Contents) (Home) PV Fund Drive events in July `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` People's Voice Dinner and Dance - sponsored by Belogiannis Club CPC, Sunday, July 9, 5-10 pm, GCDO Hall, 290 Danforth Ave (at Chester Station), Toronto. Dinner and drinks, live music and entertainment, speaker Sam Hammond, PV Business manager. Tickets $15, call 416-461-7300 after 6 pm. Annual fundraising BBQ for People's Voice - organized by Davenport Club CPC, Sat., July 15, 2-6 pm, at Simin, and Omar and Maya's house, 58 Albany Ave. (first street east of Bathurst, north of Bloor). All you can eat, $20 for adults, $10 for youth and unwaged, children under ten free. Please call 416-536-6771 to let us know if you are coming a day or two before the BBQ. People's Voice Walk-A-Thon - Sunday, July 30, gather 10:30 am at Bear Creek Park in Surrey (at the picnic area, 140 St. & 88 Ave.) for exercise, great food and entertainment. Organized by Lower Fraser Club CPC, for information or to make pledge, call Harjit, 543-7179. (Contents) (Home) Australian unions call mass action `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` Five major trade unions have issued the following statement on the campaign against the Howard government's Industrial Relations (IR) legislation and the call by the Australian Council of Trade Unions for mass action on June 28: The Australian trade union movement is at the crossroads in our campaign against Howard's new anti-worker laws. The 2005 campaign was an outstanding success, culminating with over 500,000 workers stropping work and attending mass rallies on November 15 last year across Australia. Since Howard's new laws were introduced, Australian workers have been viciously attacked. Many workers are feeling frustrated and looking for leadership. The workers need to see visible mass opposition to the laws and the attacks. This will inspire workers to stand up and fight at their workplace. it is also a warning to employers who plan to use these unfair laws. We need to rebuild the campaign with the mass mobilisation of workers. The ACTU has endorsed a week of action in late June, and mass rallies on June 28. ACTU TV advertising, the legal challenge in the High Court and campaigning against Liberal MPs in marginal seats are all important, but our most important strategy is the mass involvement of rank and file workers. . . . More efforts need to be made to involve rank and file union delegates in developing the campaign rather than just full-time union officials. The active involvement of delegates will only strengthen the trade union movement at the workplace, and the broader opposition to Howard's unjust laws. (Contents) (Home) Lego to cut jobs and shift plants `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` Toy company Lego plans to shift a large part of its domestic production out of Denmark, cutting its workforce by as many as 1,200 jobs. The firm plans to outsource production to Flextronics, a manufacturer with plants in the Czech Republic and across Eastern Europe. Lego also will shut its factory in the US, moving production to Mexico. The changes will be implemented over three years as Lego looks to cut costs amid stiff rivalry in the toy industry. Lego has seen electronic toys and cheaper goods crimp demand for its multi-coloured building blocks, used by children and adults to build everything from forts to working cars. "This is the last essential element in the restructuring of the group's supply line," said Joergen Vig Knudstorp, Lego's chief executive. "We now see the contour of a new business model, where we go from traditional integrated model to a partnership model. This way we can achieve great financial advantages in a very difficult market," he explained. The family-owned company had a 2005 pre-tax profit of 702 million Danish crowns ($132 million Cdn). A number of company assets have already been sold off, including its Legoland amusement parks in Denmark, the UK, Germany and the US. (Contents) (Home) Peru port workers strike against sellout `The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` The Peruvian port of Callao was shut down on June 19 by a strike action called by the International Transport Federation-affiliated Fentenapu union. The union stated that it "has exhausted all other avenues - including suspending a planned stoppage in favour of continued negotiation - and now it has finally come to a strike. And it was a total strike, with 100 per cent support, including backing from local government and Peruvian society." For months Fentenapu has demanded the expansion of the port of Callao, and condemned an illegal handover of a great swathe of land to any outside bidder. The planned privatisation risks virtually bankrupting the port. Rushed through while public opinion was focussed on the recent elections, the whole process is marked by apparent irregularities. The problem was caused by Circular 18, which allocates areas in a way that is not permitted by the national ports law, that is not included in the national port development plan and that will bring the port of Callao to its knees if implemented. Circular 18 would take 83,214 square metres from the ENAPU company, which is currently operating efficiently and profitably. Valued at US$120 million, this area will be handed over to whoever gets the contract to construct the new southern wharf. ENAPU is also being ordered to lower its charges, which will reduce income by US$15.5 million. This would leave ENAPU unable to meet commitments such as pension payments, purchase of port and yard cranes, and modernisation of provincial port terminals. ENAPU would be obliged to draw on its reserves to meet these commitments, putting it in an extremely difficult situation without funds to invest. When the port company is driven to the verge of bankruptcy, the union says, private capital will be held up as the only possible solution by the government faithful to the neo-liberal model. (Contents) (Home) COSATU backs CUPE Resolution on Palestine `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` On May 27, the Ontario Division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees adopted a resolution calling for "boycott, divestment and sanctions until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law including the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194." The Resolution has sparked a backlash from supporters of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. But this action by Ontario CUPE delegates has also been welcomed by many progressive movements and trade unions, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). We reprint here a message of solidarity to CUPE Ontario sent by COSATU President Willie Madisha. Brother Sid Ryan, On behalf of over 1.2 million South African workers organized under the banner of COSATU I greet you in the name of worker internationalism. It is this solidarity, since the formation of the very first union and across space and time, often in the face of harsh repression, that provided vital moral succour and allowed workers to strengthen their resolve against oppression and exploitation. In this spirit and with great pride, I congratulate CUPE Ontario for their historic resolution on May 27th in support of the Palestinian people - those living under occupation and those millions of Palestinian refugees living in the Diaspora. We fully support your resolution. As someone who lived in apartheid South Africa and who has visited Palestine I say with confidence that Israel is an apartheid state. In fact, I believe that some of the atrocities committed against the South Africans by the erstwhile apartheid regime in South Africa pale in comparison to those committed against the Palestinians. The latest outrage by the apartheid Israeli regime - the construction of the hideous Apartheid Wall condemned by the International Court of Justice - extends the occupation of Palestinian lands, disrupts the already precarious economic, social, health and education well being of an entire people and entrenches the Bantustanisation of Palestine. When the governments of the world turn a blind eye to these injustices; when they are seduced by apartheid Israel's justification of brutality through the pretext of "security"; when they silence criticism of state terror through the canard of "anti-semitism" - then it is time for the global workers movement to stand firm and principled against hypocrisy and double standards. We cannot remain silent any longer. It is time to stand in word and in deed with the peoples of the Middle East and heed their call to support the struggle against occupation. There will be no peace in this region and in the world, without justice. Despite the action of some Western governments and big business, workers and democrats of the world including the citizens of Canada, heeded our call when we struggled against apartheid. Boycotts, disinvestments and sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa hastened our march to democracy. Why should it be different for Palestinians? In the face of an intransigent, arrogant, racist and brutal Israeli state, this strategy of isolation - particularly since the vast majority of Palestinians support it - should be applied to Israel as well. It is a peaceful option. South African workers will never forget the support given by the Israeli state to the apartheid South African regime. In the same way we will never forget the thousands of acts of solidarity of ordinary citizens around the world who sustained out struggle through the boycott weapon. COSATU supports the demand that Apartheid Israel must respect and implement all resolutions passed by the United Nations; that the right of return of Palestinian refugees must not be compromised; that Israel respects the democratically elected government of Palestine; and that Palestinian taxes collected by Israel must be returned to the elected representatives of Palestine unconditionally. Those supporting the ideology of Zionism and the pro-Israeli lobby will muster their substantial resources against you. Despite these pressures, we ask you not to doubt for a single moment the correctness of your just stand. We salute the courage and vision of CUPE Ontario's leadership and members in unanimously passing resolution 50. Your unwavering resolve inspires us, we who lived through decades of apartheid oppression, as it will undoubtedly inspire and endear you to millions of Palestinian and other freedom loving people throughout the world. In Solidarity, Willie Madisha, President, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Contents) (Home) Canadians work longer hours than Europeans `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` PV Vancouver Bureau According to a recent article by Globe and Mail business reporter Steven Theobald, the average Canadian put in about 300 hours more per year of paid employment in 2004 than our sisters and brothers in Holland, Germany, France or Denmark. The Canadian figure of 1,751 hours is the equivalent of 37 extra eight-hour days on the job, or about three extra work days per month. As Theobald notes, "European societies are at one end of the spectrum while Canada, the United States, Australia and Japan are at the other." He gives the example of Magnus Schonning, [a] 38-year-old who has been working at the Swedish embassy in Ottawa for four years. Schonning gets 42 days of vacation annually, which includes a 10-day bonus for working abroad. "I can't take it all," Schonning told the reporter, adding that he is banking much of this time off to take an extended vacation before moving to his next posting. As a father of two children, he also gets as much as a year off, at 80 per cent pay, per youngster. Though Swedish couples decide how to divvy up the time, the father must take at least two months off work per child. Most Canadian provinces require employers to provide only two weeks of vacation per year. Canada could easily add another week to the minimum holiday times and the economy would not collapse, said Ron Burke, professor of organizational behaviour at York University's Schulich School of Business. "Canadians could actually work fewer hours and it wouldn't make much of a dent in our GDP. And you'd have healthier workers." One of Burke's daughters, working for a large industrial firm in Munich, got six weeks of vacation her first year. Long working hours not only fail to promote efficiency, but may also increase the likelihood of people making mistakes, Burke said. Long workdays "may be in the short-term interest of a shareholder or company president, but it is definitely not in the long-term interest of most Canadians." The last big cut in working hours for Canadians came 50 years ago, when Canada cut the work week to five days from six. The business community warned the economy would collapse as a result, echoing the alarms against the ten-hour day raised by British employers in the 1840s. The same bogus arguments are being made today, Canadian Labour Congress economist Andrew Jackson told Theobald. "Economists have found that every significant step that was taken to reduce working time was accompanied by a sharp increase in productivity." The trend is for longer hours and more workdays in Canada. Between 1980 and 2000, European countries added, on average, six vacation days or statutory holidays, totalling 36 per year. Meanwhile, Canada actually dropped a day, to 24, while the United States lost two days, to 20 days off. (Contents) (Home) Crimea: a NATO free Zone `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` On June 12, the last group of US marines departed from Feodosia (in Crimea, an autonomous republic of Ukraine) escorted by police cars. They were taken to Simferopol, which is the only airport in Crimea, to fly back to their bases in Germany. The first group of 125 servicemen left Crimea the day before. Six US servicemen are staying to guard 70 containers with military equipment and construction materials brought for Sea Breeze-2006 naval manoeuvres. The locals are not happy with the presence of the containers, some of which have the word "toxic" stamped on them. They were told that they'd be moved within two weeks. Hundreds of noisy protestors saw off the U.S. military. They cheered, waved Russian flags and placards with "No NATO in Russia", "Crimea is a NATO free zone" and the like. It was a day of jubilation and celebration for the people who had been out in the streets protesting against the presence of NATO troops. Three people who openly participated in anti-NATO protests were killed during protests in the Ukraine. An activist of the Ukrainian ZUBR (For Ukraine, Byelorussia and Russia) movement, Yuri Khadartsev, responsible for organising protests, was killed by two shots in the head on June 8. Grigory Potilchak, a member of Nezhin city council from the Bloc of Yula Timoshenko (BYT) was also killed by two shots in the head on the same day. Victor Savkin, a member of the Zaporozhye city council (also a BYT member) was killed on June 10 in Yalta in the presence of his 13-year-old daughter. On June 6, members of Crimean Legislative Assembly proclaimed the Crimean peninsula "territory without NATO", prohibiting transportation of military equipment. (From The Guardian, weekly newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia.) (Contents) (Home) Detroit janitors fight for union wages, benefits `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` By John Rummel, People's Weekly World Newspaper DETROIT - On June 15, national Justice for Janitors day, several hundred Detroit area janitors, members of Service Employees International Union Local 3, marched to the new downtown PricewaterhouseCoopers building to send notice to New Image, the nonunion cleaning contractor servicing the building, that they will not allow nonunion businesses to take root in the city. On their way back, the marchers were warmly greeted by many fans leaving the stadium of baseball’s first-place Detroit Tigers. With the Master Janitorial Contract covering 1,500 employees in the Detroit metro area set to expire June 30, the rally also sent the message that workers are in no mood for concessions. Those companies that do not yet have union workers should get ready because the union is coming, said Dana Sevakis, assistant program director for Local 3. Workers at nonunion sites are only paid $6 to $7 an hour with no benefits — way too low to make ends meet. Speaking of the need to organize the nonunion sites, Sevakis said, “The union has to keep the bottom wage high so the standards won’t fall for everyone else.” For 19 years, Pam Owens has worked at the Millender Center in downtown Detroit. Now the Detroit district chair on Local 3’s executive board, she is ready to defend her union’s gains in the upcoming negotiations with one of the nation’s largest building service contractors, ABM, and others in the area. “Holding the line on health care” will be a key issue in the upcoming contract talks, Owens said. “We’ve struggled too long and too hard to give in,” she said. “We are not going back to poverty wages and no health care.” LaKarroll McCray, vice president of Unite Here Local 24, Casino Division, said she and other Unite Here members joined the rally because “we’re like family.” “When you work in a group, you have to stick together and when you’re in a union you have to give support to other unions,” she said. Gesturing toward the marchers — Black, Brown and white, with many young participants — she added, “This is the new generation. Unions are very much alive.” Coming all the way from Toledo on a bus that also picked up members in Cleveland was SEIU member Tim Andrews. Andrews, a maintenance worker at a Toledo apartment complex, said the workers there have been in the union for two years. Before the union came, he said, some workers would go three or more years without raises. His contract expires in 2007 and he came to Detroit because it “builds camaraderie in the union. I’m coming here to help and next year we might have to call on Detroit workers to help us in our contract fight.” (Contents) (Home) Tentative agreement in Ekati diamond mine strike `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` YELLOWKNIFE - The Public Service Alliance of Canada has reached a tentative agreement for striking Ekati diamond mine workers. Seeking a first contract with BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world, the Ekati miners went on strike on April 7. "When less than 400 union members take on a giant multinational corporation with $7.5 billion in annual profits to try and win a first contract, it's hardly a fair fight," PSAC National President John Gordon said. "But our members can hold their heads high. They reached a tentative agreement against the odds in an extremely tough strike where the employer did everything it could to defeat them and failed to do so." Jean-Francois Des Lauriers, PSAC Executive Vice-President-North, said the union's local bargaining team will recommend acceptance of the contract. Details were not released to the media until members were informed. Some news reports indicated that the deal will include pay increases, more personal leave days, a retention bonus, a return to work bonus, and enhanced incentive pay. The Company's previous "final offer" had included a four percent pay increase and a $1000 bonus. "The strike against BHP Billiton has been a major challenge for Ekati workers, many of whom have never belonged to a union before, and I am extremely proud of them for standing up for their democratic rights, Des Lauriers said. "Now our job will be to build and strengthen our union local at Ekati. With a collective agreement in place Ekati workers will have rights to exercise instead of asking management for privileges and workers will have a union grievance system to enforce those rights." Todd Parsons, President of the Union of Northern Workers component of PSAC, which represents Diamond Workers UNW Local X3050, said the resolve of Ekati workers to win a contract was strengthened by a national and international campaign to support them and target BHP Billiton. "It wasn't just 400 workers taking on a giant company - it was our entire 150,000 member union along with the Canadian and international labour movement who were determined that Ekati workers would get a contract," Parsons said. "Solidarity was a key factor in getting to a tentative agreement." The union's Dirty Diamonds campaign urging an international boycott of Ekati-produced Aurias and CanadaMark will end when a contract is in place. PSAC ran ads in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal and leafleted Canadian jewellers selling BHP Billiton diamonds earlier in June. Canada's first diamond mine, Ekati produces 6 per cent of the world's diamond supply by value or 4 per cent by weight and yields 3 to 5 million carats annually. It is located 300 km northeast of Yellowknife and 200 km south of the Arctic Circle. (Contents) (Home) Mobilize for October 28! `(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` By Darrell Rankin, Chair, Communist Party of Canada Peace & Disarmament Commission Together with Èchec à la guerre, the largest coalition of peace-supporting groups in Quebec, the Canadian Peace Alliance, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Canadian Islamic Congress have issued a joint Call for protests on Saturday, October 28 to oppose Canada's occupation of Afghanistan (details). Large protests in each major city in Canada would be a major blow to the aspirations of the Harper Conservatives to win a majority government in the next election, which most people expect will take place after the Liberals elect a new leader in December. Such protests could also firm up some of the anti-war factions in Parliament, including the NDP and Bloc Québécois, and change their parties' shameful positions on Afghanistan before the next election. The Call gives groups time to build local coalitions and mobilize extensively. This is a very important development in the anti-war movement in Canada, and an expression of the determination of growing numbers of Canadians to oppose the unjust and illegal occupation of Afghanistan. (Contents) (Home)

Health Care battles across Canada

(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

By Kimball Cariou

Five months into the Harper Tory minority government, the drive to for-profit health care continues, but so does resistance from the labour movement and other progressive forces. The Ontario Federation of Labour and the Ontario Health Coalition, for example, organized a rally at Queen's Park against "public-private partnerships" (P3s) in early June.

     In a related development, the Canadian Health Coalition has called on federal Health Minister Tony Clement to completely divest his stake in Prudential Chem or resign immediately.

     Clement's 25 per cent stake in Prudential Chem is a serious conflict of interest, said the CHC on June 20. Prudential Chem is involved in the manufacturing of a wide range of international quality pharmaceuticals and chemicals, and provides "specialized services to Fortune 50 clients in the areas of Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals and Fine and Specialty Chemicals." Under the Food and Drugs Act, the Minister of Health has a statutory duty to regulate pharmaceuticals, chemicals and products of biotechnology, resulting in a conflict and/or perceived conflict
undermining his legal duty to guard the public interest from hazards and fraud in the sale and use of these products.

     In addition, says the CHC, Clement's stake in a drug company calls into question his role as co-chair of the National Pharmaceutical Strategy (NPS), which is supposed to save taxpayers money through improved bargaining and bulk purchasing of drugs and vaccines.

     Clement also hired a senior campaign aide, Gord Haugh, on a 33-day $25,000 contract with his department immediately after he was appointed to cabinet. Gord Haugh is now General Manager of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, which has lobbied Health Canada in recent years.

     Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plan to implement patient wait-time guarantees will bolster private health care and pad the pocketbooks of Canada's elite, says Michael McBane, the national co-ordinator of the Canadian Health Coalition.

     McBane told Friends of Medicare members in a June 10 speech in Edmonton that the "virus" of guaranteed wait times will spread private clinics at the expense of the publicly funded medicare system.

     "Norway, Sweden and Denmark all tried this," McBane said, as reported in the Edmonton Journal. "They all abandoned it because it was a complete failure."

     Harper has promised that public insurance will foot the bill for Canadians who receive medical treatment at a private clinic or in another jurisdiction because they couldn't get care quickly enough at home.

     "We want the wait times fixed in the public system," McBane told reporters. "We don't want an airline ticket somewhere else. That doesn't build the capacity and that doesn't help get us nurses and doctors."

     Guaranteed wait times will also benefit the affluent, McBane warns. Pushing for widespread use of private clinics is an attempt by some of the elite "to get better access without paying taxes for it," he said. "It's in their interest because rich people generally are healthier, obviously they have more money and so it's in their economic interest to try to convince governments to allow the emergence of a private health-care system."

     Harper's policies are particularly worrisome given that this year's annual report to Parliament on the Canada Health Act (CHA) was again missing data on for-profit health services.

     "Once again, the annual report to Parliament on the CHA is full of holes and MPs must simply reject it," said Paul Moist, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). "Most provinces aren't reporting on the scope of for-profit health services, and the federal government is just sitting back and doing nothing about it."

     Submitted in May, the report detailed some fines for the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, British Columbia and Nova Scotia. However, there are no fines for Quebec even though private clinics are growing rapidly in that province, a trend that threatens universality of care. In fact, the report is completely blank on the subject of private clinics in Quebec, as well as in Alberta and Ontario.

     Even where the number of private clinics is documented, the report fails to keep track of services. The report documents a sharp rise in the number of private, for-profit surgical facilities in BC from 1 in 2000 to 18 in 2005, but gives no further information on the number of services provided there or the amount of money spent.

     "How can Canadians strengthen our public health care system if the federal government refuses to monitor and enforce its existing legislation?" Moist asked. "All of us are paying the price with an eroded and weakened system."

     The struggle is also heating up on the west coast. Premier Gordon Campbell recently announced that the Green Timbers site in Surrey will be home to the new 148,000-square foot Surrey Outpatient Hospital as part of plans to improve access to health care and ease congestion at Surrey Memorial Hospital. But public health care defenders warn that the project is just one of several in the Lower Mainland area which the Liberals intend to carry through as P3s in various forms. On the north shore of Vancouver, opponents of health privatization are holding protests and public forums to block moves for a P3-style health care centre near Lions Gate Hospital.

     North Shore Council of Canadians activist Betty Griffin reports that local health authorities have consistently refused to provide important information to the public on this issue, leading health care supporters to hold pickets and other efforts to shed light on the process.

     On June 22, members of the Hospital Employees Union and other labour organizations, as well as the Council of Canadians and other groups, were out in full force in downtown Vancouver to leaflet an invitation-only conference promoting the privatization of transportation, health and water treatment infrastructure through P3 arrangements.

     "It's time to end the secrecy surrounding up to $10 billion in so-called P3s, being promoted by the BC government" was the message of the 90-minute event. The 100 conference participants included financiers, developers, government officials, lawyers, BC's finance and transportation ministers and the head of Partnerships BC - the government agency formed to promote P3s. The public was definitely not invited.

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World Peace Forum draws thousands to Vancouver

With over four thousand international delegates from some ninety countries, and the participation of thousands more from the Lower Mainland and across Canada, the World Peace Forum 2006 opened in Vancouver on June 23. Dozens of panels, concerts, workshops and other events continued over the next five days.

     The biggest event of the WPF came on the second day of the gathering, as an estimated 10,000 people marched in the "Walk for Peace, Justice and Sustainability" to a rally [at] Sunset Beach in Vancouver's west end. (See photos of the walk on page 6.)

     The rally was headlined by "Peace Mother" Cindy Sheehan, who moved many to tears with her powerful call to end the violent U.S. occupation of Iraq now, before the death toll rises even higher. Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq while serving in the US military, embraced Iraqi journalist Nermin al-Mufti and said she shared the pain of Iraqi mothers who have also lost their sons and daughters to war.

     Other rally speakers included BC Teachers Federation President Jinny Sims, anti-globalization activist Walden Bello from the Phillipines, progressive Mexican Bishop Samuel Ruiz, Bev Jacobs of the Native Women's Association of Canada, and South African teacher's leader Thulas Nxesi. Buffy Sainte-Marie got the crowd to their feet with a performance of her anti-war anthem, Universal Soldier.

     At the opening plenary of the WPF on June 23, Ono Reiko of the Japanese Confederation of A- and H-Bombs Survivors' Organization concluded an emotional address with an appeal for "No more Hiroshimas! No more Nagasakis! No more Hibakusha! NO MORE WAR!"     Several U.S. mayors used the plenary to condemn the Pentagon's bloated military budget.

     "I fear that my country, the United States of America, is failing to affect real leadership," said Jennifer Hosterman, mayor of Pleasanton, California, referring to the responsibility of mayors around the world to take action on national and international issues that affect their communities.

     Greg Speeter from Cities for Peace emphasized that local officials must address issues of environmental degradation, poverty, and violence "with fewer and fewer resources." Speeter bemoaned the size of the U.S. military budget versus the amount spent on environmental protection, health care, and anti-poverty programs. "Thirty-one per cent of the children in Chicago live in poverty," said Speeter. That's up from 25 per cent when the Bush Administration came into power.... The amount of money that Chicago spends on war each year could provide a college education for every high school graduate and build ten schools in the city."

     Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, whose pro-business NPA majority initially opposed the WPF when they were elected last November, congratulated current city councillor David Cadman and former councillor Ellen Woodsworth for their efforts in creating the forum. He acknowledged that "hearing stories of cities that have endured war was a real eye opener for me."

     Alfred Marder, President of International Association of Peace Messenger Cities spoke about "how millions of voices are demanding an end of the madness endangering our planet".

     Derek Corrigan, the mayor of Burnaby, BC, urged citizens everywhere to pressure their cities to join the 1300-strong Mayors for Peace and help create a global solidarity for world peace.

     Buffy Sainte-Marie and Somali-born hip-hop artist K'Naan drew a crowd of over 2,000 to Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre during the WPF for a benefit concert for campaigns to eradicate the antipersonnel explosive devices that kill and maim more than 10,000 civilians a year.

     Another highlight was the strong presence of the World Peace Council, which re-launched its "Peace Messenger" in newspaper format to coincide with the Forum. Speakers from the WPC and its affiliated national organizations took part in a number of forums and panels, and a special seminar featuring top WPC leaders presented the long-standing anti-war group's priority campaigns on global issues. The seminar was the first major public event featuring the newly re-established Canadian Peace Congress, which is now active once again as a WPC affiliate.

     Orlando Fundora, Cuban president of the World Peace Council, used the WPF to call for an end to state-sponsored torture in Guantanamo and in Iraq, and to ask all governments to abide by the UN Convention against Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Fundora, a victim of torture at the hands of former Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, presented his demands on June 26, the day that the UN General Assembly has declared as International Day in Support of Torture Victims.

     (Prepared by the PV Vancouver Bureau with the use of files from the WPF website, http://www.worldpeaceforum.ca)

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Election laws back in court - Editorial

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The "End of Innocence"? - Editorial

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End Canada's occupation of Afghanistan!

For more information see: http://www.acp-cpa.ca
http://www.echecalaguerre.org
http:// www.clc-ctc.ca
http://www.canadianislamiccongress.com/

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Saint John Longshoremen honoured for solidarity stand

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YCL organizes across Canada

(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

PV Youth Bureau

     The Young Communist League of Canada has stepped up the first stage of a pan-Canadian organizing drive, by initiating a series of multi-day schools across the country. The schools come after months of short organizing visits by YCL activists in various places.

     In early May, for the first time in many years, la Ligue de la jeunesses communistes marched under a colourful banner in Montreal's labour-organized weekend May Day Parade (the largest May Day event in North America), as well as taking part in a much smaller demo on May 1. The Montreal group, which came together after an organizing visit by YCL Toronto club organizer Shona Bracken, also distributed a pamphlet in French. "We now putting together a YCL school on the Labour Day weekend," to be held at a lake-side cottage, Bracken told the PV.

     In early June, young comrades in five small cities across Ontario held a series of discussions and workshops about youth and student movement politics, and the role of the YCL. The meetings had excellent turn-outs of between seven and 15, most of whom where new to the League and also joined. The visits kicked off the Ontario distribution of Rebel Youth magazine, which is selling quickly.

     As reported in the June 16-30 People's Voice, the YCL joined the anti-globalization Atlantica Protest in Saint John, New Brunswick, where the YCL Maritimes banner was raised in several actions, including the main march at the end of the protest. "I had a great time at the counter-conference workshops and all the demos" said Johan Boyden, YCL Ontario organizer, who stayed with the youth delegation in an old church.

     At the church, there was lots of wide-ranging discussion over cooking, music and dish-duty. The YCL also showed a DVD on Wal-Mart, and according to Boyden, "when the TV didn't work one brother just went and grabbed his own machine. I didn't know what the reaction would be to a Communist," he said, "but it was very friendly and positive."

     After the Atlantica protest, Boyden met with a group of high school students in Nova Scotia who agreed to form a YCL club. In late July the YCL and the Communist Party will be organizing a three-day school at a house on the Bay of Fundy, followed by a celebration of the Cuban Revolution on Moncada Day.

     Also in mid June, YCL organizers in Alberta invited new applicants to two meetings in Edmonton and Calgary. Drew Bowering, the member of the YCL Central Preparatory Committee for Alberta, told PV he was pleased by the outcome of the meeting in Edmonton. Both groups have started planning an Alberta school. There are some ideas to hold it on a small ranch, or in Calgary near the Rocky Mountains.

     In late June, as this issue goes to the press, the YCL in BC is organizing a school on the Sunshine coast and a tour of communities by Jason Mann. The visits will not just be to communities where the YCL has a base or is building one, such as the Okanagan, Vancouver and Victoria, "but also everywhere we have contacts, like Quesnel, Williams Lake, Kamloops, and Nanaimo," Jason said. The YCL banner also joined the Peace March at the recent World Peace Forum in Vancouver.

     The organizing trips and schools are the largest pan-Canadian coordinated actions by the YCL since last summer, when together with many other progressive youth organizations the League helped organize a Canadian delegation of over 170 people to the World Festival of Youth and Students in Venezuela. In some cases the YCL is following up on contacts made during that process. A significant difference, however, is the YCL's growth in the nation of Quebec. Some discussions are also beginning about work with the struggles of Aboriginal youth.

     Internationally, the YCL of Canada was recently asked to send fraternal greetings to meetings of the Communist youth in Portugal, Greece, and Brazil. A delegate also attended the YCL USA 8th National Convention in New York, and met with Miguel Madera, President of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), visiting from Budapest. Madera spoke very positively about the YCL's application to affiliate with WFDY.

     These developments confirm that the YCL is slowly but steadily strengthening its international ties. With a new website planned and a professional designer modestly commissioned, a Fall edition of the YCL's Rebel Youth Magazine under way, and a series of visits and schools in progress, there is much to be excited about. In 2007, the YCL plans to hold a re-founding convention.

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The strike that will never be forgotten

(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America, by James Green. NY: Pantheon Books, 2006, 383 pages, $35 Can., ISBN

Reviewed by Steve Gilbert

On the afternoon of May 3, 1886, some 200 strikers were milling around the entrance to the McCormick Reaper Works in Chicago. They had been locked out for several weeks, engaging in desultory skirmishes with Pinkerton thugs, company militia and police. As scabs tried to leave the plant at the end of that working day, they were rushed by strikers. Police responded by shooting into the group of strikers, killing six.

     That night, anarchists distributed hundreds of circulars reading: "REVENGE! Workingmen, to arms!!! Your masters sent out their bloodhounds - the police -; they killed six of your brothers at McCormicks this afternoon." A group of leading anarchists called for a public protest rally to be held the next day in Haymarket Square.

     By the evening of May 4, some 175 uniformed policemen had assembled near the Haymarket. In addition, a squad of plain-clothes men was waiting to blend in with the workers. As dusk began to fall, crowds arrived and soon the Haymarket was packed with over three thousand workers. They listened quietly to an address by Albert R. Parsons, an anarchist and newspaperman, who began by describing the difficult conditions of the working class throughout the world. He then condemned the police for firing on strikers at the McCormick plant, concluding that workers should "arm themselves or else they will see their rights trampled underfoot and see themselves shot in the streets like dogs."

     Parsons was followed by Samuel Fielden, who told his audience: "Keep your eye on the law. Throttle it. Kill it. Stop it. Do everything you can to wound it - to impede its progress." Upon hearing this, one of the plain-clothes men reported to his chief inspector that the speaker was making "incendiary remarks."

     As the evening wore on, storm clouds appeared. A light rain fell as Fielden concluded his speech, and by 10:30 only about 500 workers remained. Suddenly, in the words of one observer, "a great company of police with their revolvers drawn rushed into the crowd, which parted to make way for them." The police commander cried "I command you in the name of the people of the State of Illinois to immediately and peaceably disperse." The crowd complied.

     Just at that moment a hissing sound was heard as a dynamite bomb was thrown into the crowd of policemen, where it lay for a few seconds on the pavement before exploding. Moments after the explosion, police started firing into the crowd. As the Tribune's observer described it: "Goaded by madness, the police were in the condition of mind that permitted no resistance, and in a measure they were as dangerous as any mob of communists, for they were blinded by passion and unable to distinguish between the peaceful citizen and the nihilist assassin."

     Seventy police were seriously wounded, and seven subsequently died. Several workers were killed and countless others wounded. Eight well known anarchists were rounded up and tried for murder, even though there was no evidence connecting them with a conspiracy or with the unknown person who had thrown the bomb. Four of them were hanged; one committed suicide, and three were sentenced to life in prison, but pardoned in 1893 by then-Governor John Peter Altgeld.

     In his statement Altgeld declared that the trial of the Haymarket eight had been illegal because the jury had been "selected to convict;" much of the evidence was "pure fabrication"; the defendants had not been proven guilty of the crime charged; and the judge was prejudiced. Altgeld added that in his opinion the person who threw the bomb had not been part of a conspiracy, but was an individual seeking revenge against a corrupt police force that had been beating and shooting unarmed working people for years.

     These events have been described from many points of view. Most accounts are in general agreement up until the time the bomb was thrown; after that, the testimonies of various witnesses are full of inconsistencies. In Murder in the Haymarket, James Green quotes passages from eye-witness testimony, newspaper accounts and court proceedings, which demonstrate the innocence of the accused and set the bombing in context within major events in the historical conflict between labor and capital.

     The U.S., as Green points out, has the most violent labour history of any industrialized nation in the world. Armed conflict between workers and strike breakers was common during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Weapons were routinely carried by police, national guards, and private militias, such as Pinkerton employees, when they acted as strike breakers. Green cites statistics showing that on at least 160 occasions during the twentieth century, state and federal troops have forcibly intervened in labour disputes. Over 700 violent deaths and several thousand serious injuries have been recorded during these disputes. In the vast majority of these cases, violence was initiated by capital, not by labour. No major American labour union has advocated violence.

     Green writes: "Workers' struggles have often been met with shocking repression, and that when violence bred violence, when powerless laboring people struck back in anger, they often paid with their lives. This is why, unsettling though it has been, the Haymarket case could never be forgotten within the labor movement."

     Death in the Haymarket is an outstanding piece of research and writing. Especially fascinating are Green's descriptions of the unjust trial, the biographies of the accused, and the subsequent pardons of three alleged conspirators. The narrative has all the drama of a well crafted detective story, while being solidly documented and referenced. His book will be of interest to everyone concerned with the history of the conflict between labour and capital.

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West Bengal Left Front: a historic anniversary

By Prakash Karat, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)

The Left Front government in West Bengal enters its 30th year of existence on June 21, 2006. This is a historic day which comes in the background of an equally historic election victory which has led to the formation of the seventh Left Front government.

The three decades of the Left Front government is of enormous significance in the annals of the communist movement in the country. It has also acquired international significance. It is necessary to recall the past history in order to understand the long and arduous political struggle that has gone into the creation of a stable Left political formation and a stable Left Front government in West Bengal.

The pre-1977 period

The Communist Party first formed a government in 1957 in Kerala after winning the assembly elections. This government, headed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad, was ousted in 21 months. Article 356 of the constitution was used for the first time by the then Nehru government to dismiss an elected state government.

     After the fourth general elections in 1967, when the Congress lost in nine states, United Front governments were formed in West Bengal and Kerala for the first time. These were coalition governments in which the CPI(M) was the largest party.

     But these governments were not allowed to remain in office for long. The first United Front government of West Bengal was dismissed after nine months. The Left parties fought back this conspiracy and central intervention to destabilise the United Front government and, in 1969, once again the United Front was re-elected with a big majority. This government also fell after 13 months, in 1970. In Kerala, the United Front government lasted for 31 months and fell apart in 1969. These governments were formed at the crest of sustained struggles.

     The Left Front of West Bengal is a product of decades of class struggle and popular movements. The 1950s and 1960s witnessed the rising struggles of the working class, peasantry and other sections of the working people in West Bengal.

     It was not possible for the ruling classes to tolerate the existence of governments in which the Left had a leading role. The Congress governments at the centre were hostile to the existence of communist-led state governments. Given the all-India political situation in the 1950s and 1960s, the correlation of forces and the hostility to communists amongst the whole ruling class political spectrum, it was not possible to sustain these governments beyond short spells.

     It was only in 1977, after the end of internal emergency and the increased democratic consciousness of the people after the anti-authoritarian struggle, that it became possible for the Left-led governments to remain in office for a full term. This was also because of the fact that the CPI(M) increased its strength and became the dominant political force in states like West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. Even after this, attacks continued as witnessed in the rigging undertaken and terror unleashed in Tripura during the 1988 assembly elections. But the innate strength of the CPI(M) and the Left overcame this onslaught too.

Significant achievements

It was in this conjuncture that the Left Front government, headed by Jyoti Basu, began its work three decades ago. Looking back, we can see how the Left Front government worked within the constraints of the existing constitutional and socio-economic system, implemented land reforms, decentralised powers, instituted the democratic panchayati raj system, accomplished growth in agricultural production, protected democratic rights, ensured communal harmony and nurtured secular values.

     The two most important changes brought about by the Left Front government in its early years in the countryside were the implementation of land reforms and the reorganisation of the panchayats as democratic institutions of the local government. These two - identified as the policy of walking on two legs - were closely interrelated. The government acquired over 1,100,000 acres of land to distribute among 2.5 million landless and small peasant households. Under its Operation Barga, 1.4 million sharecroppers (bargadars) were registered, bringing 1,100,000 million acres of land under the control of the bargadars. About 55 per cent of the beneficiaries of land distribution and 42 per cent of the bargadars came from the dalits and adivasis (lowest caste and tribal peoples).

     Alongside, the Left Front revitalised the three-tier panchayati raj (village governance) system. A big majority of the elected representatives in the panchayati raj system came from the small and marginal peasants, adivasis and dalits. More than one-third of the seats are occupied by women. This democratic system was institutionalised 17 years before the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments became enforceable in all the states.

     As the CPI(M) Programme envisages, land reforms have led to increased agricultural production. By the end of the seventh plan period, food production increased by 29.9 per cent in the state as against the all-India average of 13.4 per cent. It is the land reform programme and the institutionalisation of the panchayati raj system which provided the backbone for the rural base of the CPI(M) and the Left Front.

Two phases

The 29 years of the Left Front government can be more or less equally divided into two phases. In the first phase - 1977 to 1991 - the Left Front government was working under a regime where state regulation of the economy under a capitalist path of development existed. The role of the central government and the nature of centre-state relations were different in this period. The centre had licensing powers for industry and allocated resources for public investment and development. During this period, West Bengal suffered from discrimination. Successive central governments would discourage industries being set-up in West Bengal and utilised the licensing power to the detriment of the state. The centre also wielded its financial powers in a manner to deprive the state of public investment. In this period, the Left Front had to wage continuous struggles to oppose discrimination.

     Industrial development languished due to these iniquitous centre-state relations and due to an inadequate appreciation in the earlier years of the fact that the Left Front government is in for a long stint in office. West Bengal, the front-ranking industrial state at the time of independence, slipped behind and in 1985 it was only contributing 8 per cent of the total industrial output in the country.

     The second phase began in 1992. This is the phase of liberalisation and the deregulation of the state control and intervention in the economy. It is also marked by the push for neo-liberal policies and the drastic cutbacks on state investments. The centre's withdrawal from welfare and social sector responsibilities have also had a serious impact on the state.

     In such a situation the fifth Left Front government adopted an industrial policy in 1994. On the basis of this approach,t the Left Front government has sought to meet its commitments to the people and has been working for the development of the state in a milieu where the central government is vigorously pushing for free market policies and privatisation. The Left Front government has taken initiatives to invite private investment, so that the state can have a strong industrial base and acquire high technology. While promoting private investment, the government is committed to defend the rights of the working class and their trade union rights.

     At the same time, the Left Front government is committed to people-oriented development where the poorer sections are provided the wherewithal to overcome poverty. Education, health and social welfare facilities have to be provided even though the resources of the state are limited. The state government, while attracting private investment, will not retreat from its commitment to provide basic services for the people.

     This is the perspective of the CPI(M) for the Left Front government spelled out in the Political Resolution of its 18th congress: "Faced with the neo-liberal policies of the centre, the Left-led governments have to struggle hard to pursue policies which ensure pro-people and balanced development. While promoting private investment, the Left Front governments defend the public sector in key areas, protect and, if possible, expand public expenditure in the social sector and project alternative policies to protect the poorer sections who are the worst affected by the policies pursued by the central government."

Popular support

The recent assembly elections show that the people have appreciated the policy framework that the CPI(M) and the Left Front has set out for the development of the state. The performance of the sixth Left Front government, under Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, has sought to build on the past achievements and chart out a path of development which can avoid the pitfalls of the neo-liberal prescriptions of the centre while, at the same time, realistically utilising the existing resources of the state and private investment.

     Throughout these three decades, West Bengal under the Left Front rule has shown that it is possible to avoid the harmful politics of communalism and casteism which divide the people and disrupt the working class movement. The fact that the BJP and other communal forces have failed to make headway in the state testifies to the anti-communal atmosphere prevailing in West Bengal.

     All through the offensive of the communal forces, particularly in the 1990s, West Bengal stood as a bastion of communal harmony and adherence to the secular principle. This, in a state which has a Muslim population of 26 per cent, is a shining example for the rest of the country. This has been possible because the peasantry, the workers and all other sections of the working people, irrespective of religion, have been united along class lines and developed a political consciousness which rises above sectarian identities and loyalties.

     The seventh Left Front government is conscious of the need to provide for the all-round development of the Muslim minority, so that they can more fully be part of the common endeavour of all sections of the working people for a better life.

     The Left Front government is the political manifestation of the fact that West Bengal is the bastion of the Left and democratic forces in the country. It is the existence and the record of the Left Front government in the past three decades which has provided the ballast for the Left movement in the country. When the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the imperialist offensive commenced in 1991, the Left Front government was able to withstand the hostile ideological environment, both internationally and domestically. It has also been able to avoid the worst aspects of the anti-people, neo-liberal policies and steer a course whereby its pro-people commitments are not abandoned. This was possible because of the strong mass base of the CPI(M) and the Left. We recall the tremendous sacrifices by the CPI(M) and Left cadres over the three decades. Thousands of them laid down their lives in the class struggle and in defence of democracy.

     As the Left Front government enters its 30th year of existence, it has the good wishes and support of all progressive and democratic-minded people in the country.

     (Abridged slightly from the original)

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What's Left

VANCOUVER, BC

Moncada Day Celebration - afternoon of Sunday, July 23, at Chilean Co-op, 3390 School Ave. Hosted by Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association, for info call Ray, 604-254-1350.

Left Film Night - 7 pm, Sunday, July 30, at the Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive, "Butterflies on the Scaffold" (7 pm) and "Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Third World" (8:45 pm). Free admission, donations welcome, call 604-255-2041 for details.

SURREY, BC

People's Voice Walk-A-Thon - Sunday, July 30, gather 10:30 am at Bear Creek Park for exercise, great food and entertainment. Organized by Lower Fraser Club CPC, for information or to make pledge, call Harjit, 543-7179.

CALGARY, AB

YCL School on Marxism - August, date and location TBA. For details, email ycl_alberta@ycl-ljc.ca

TORONTO, ON

People's Voice Dinner and Dance - sponsored by Belogiannis Club CPC, Sunday, July 9, 5-10 pm, GCDO Hall, 290 Danforth Ave (at Chester Station). Dinner and drinks, live music and entertainment, speaker Sam Hammond, PV Business manager. Tickets $15, call 416-461-7300 after 6 pm.

Annual fundraising BBQ for People's Voice - organized by Davenport Club CPC, Sat., July 15, 2-6 pm, at Simin, and Omar and Maya's house, 58 Albany Ave. (first street east of Bathurst, north of Bloor). All you can eat, $20 for adults, $10 for youth and unwaged, children under ten free. Please call 416-536-6771 to let us know if you are coming a day or two before the BBQ.

Celebrate Moncada Day - cruise the Toronto Islands, Sunday, July 30, Noon to 4 pm, sponsored by Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association Toronto. Live Band (Sol de Cuba), delicious lunch included, only $35/person, limited tickets. For reservations, call 416-410-8254.

HAMILTON, ON

YCL School on Marxism - August, date and location TBA. For details, email ycl_ontario@ycl-ljc.ca

MONTREAL, QC

Young Communist League school - Sept. 1-4, on Marxism and building the youth and student movements in Quebec. Info: quebec@ycl-ljc.ca

Vigil against occupation of Palestine - Every Friday, noon to 1 pm, at Israeli Consulate, corner of Peel and Rene Levesque. For info: Palestinians and Jews United, 961-3928.

WOLFVILLE, NS

Joint CPC-YCL school - on Marxism-Leninism, activist skills, Latin America, and the Communist party Programme, July 19-22, info maritimes@ycl-ljc.ca

Moncada Day Celebration - Saturday, July 22, for info on time and location: 902-542-7981.

REDS ON THE WEB
http://www.communist-party.ca

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PV Fund Drive events in July

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Australian unions call mass action

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Lego to cut jobs and shift plants

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Peru port workers strike against sellout

The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) The Peruvian port of Callao was shut down on June 19 by a strike action called by the International Transport Federation-affiliated Fentenapu union.

The union stated that it "has exhausted all other avenues - including suspending a planned stoppage in favour of continued negotiation - and now it has finally come to a strike. And it was a total strike, with 100 per cent support, including backing from local government and Peruvian society."

For months Fentenapu has demanded the expansion of the port of Callao, and condemned an illegal handover of a great swathe of land to any outside bidder. The planned privatisation risks virtually bankrupting the port. Rushed through while public opinion was focussed on the recent elections, the whole process is marked by apparent irregularities.

The problem was caused by Circular 18, which allocates areas in a way that is not permitted by the national ports law, that is not included in the national port development plan and that will bring the port of Callao to its knees if implemented.

Circular 18 would take 83,214 square metres from the ENAPU company, which is currently operating efficiently and profitably. Valued at US$120 million, this area will be handed over to whoever gets the contract to construct the new southern wharf.

ENAPU is also being ordered to lower its charges, which will reduce income by US$15.5 million. This would leave ENAPU unable to meet commitments such as pension payments, purchase of port and yard cranes, and modernisation of provincial port terminals. ENAPU would be obliged to draw on its reserves to meet these commitments, putting it in an extremely difficult situation without funds to invest.

When the port company is driven to the verge of bankruptcy, the union says, private capital will be held up as the only possible solution by the government faithful to the neo-liberal model.

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COSATU backs CUPE Resolution on Palestine

(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)

On May 27, the Ontario Division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees adopted a resolution calling for "boycott, divestment and sanctions until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law including the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194."

The Resolution has sparked a backlash from supporters of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. But this action by Ontario CUPE delegates has also been welcomed by many progressive movements and trade unions, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). We reprint here a message of solidarity to CUPE Ontario sent by COSATU President Willie Madisha.

Brother Sid Ryan,

On behalf of over 1.2 million South African workers organized under the banner of COSATU I greet you in the name of worker internationalism. It is this solidarity, since the formation of the very first union and across space and time, often in the face of harsh repression, that provided vital moral succour and allowed workers to strengthen their resolve against oppression and exploitation.

In this spirit and with great pride, I congratulate CUPE Ontario for their historic resolution on May 27th in support of the Palestinian people - those living under occupation and those millions of Palestinian refugees living in the Diaspora. We fully support your resolution.

As someone who lived in apartheid South Africa and who has visited Palestine I say with confidence that Israel is an apartheid state. In fact, I believe that some of the atrocities committed against the South Africans by the erstwhile apartheid regime in South Africa pale in comparison to those committed against the Palestinians.

The latest outrage by the apartheid Israeli regime - the construction of the hideous Apartheid Wall condemned by the International Court of Justice - extends the occupation of Palestinian lands, disrupts the already precarious economic, social, health and education well being of an entire people and entrenches the Bantustanisation of Palestine.

When the governments of the world turn a blind eye to these injustices; when they are seduced by apartheid Israel's justification of brutality through the pretext of "security"; when they silence criticism of state terror through the canard of "anti-semitism" - then it is time for the global workers movement to stand firm and principled against hypocrisy and double standards.

We cannot remain silent any longer. It is time to stand in word and in deed with the peoples of the Middle East and heed their call to support the struggle against occupation. There will be no peace in this region and in the world, without justice.

Despite the action of some Western governments and big business, workers and democrats of the world including the citizens of Canada, heeded our call when we struggled against apartheid. Boycotts, disinvestments and sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa hastened our march to democracy. Why should it be different for Palestinians? In the face of an intransigent, arrogant, racist and brutal Israeli state, this strategy of isolation - particularly since the vast majority of Palestinians support it - should be applied to Israel as well. It is a peaceful option.

South African workers will never forget the support given by the Israeli state to the apartheid South African regime. In the same way we will never forget the thousands of acts of solidarity of ordinary citizens around the world who sustained out struggle through the boycott weapon.

COSATU supports the demand that Apartheid Israel must respect and implement all resolutions passed by the United Nations; that the right of return of Palestinian refugees must not be compromised; that Israel respects the democratically elected government of Palestine; and that Palestinian taxes collected by Israel must be returned to the elected representatives of Palestine unconditionally.

Those supporting the ideology of Zionism and the pro-Israeli lobby will muster their substantial resources against you. Despite these pressures, we ask you not to doubt for a single moment the correctness of your just stand.

We salute the courage and vision of CUPE Ontario's leadership and members in unanimously passing resolution 50. Your unwavering resolve inspires us, we who lived through decades of apartheid oppression, as it will undoubtedly inspire and endear you to millions of Palestinian and other freedom loving people throughout the world.

In Solidarity,
Willie Madisha, President, Congress of South African Trade Unions

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Canadians work longer hours than Europeans

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Crimea: a NATO free Zone

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Detroit janitors fight for union wages, benefits

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Tentative agreement in Ekati diamond mine strike

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Mobilize for October 28!

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July 1-31, 2006 Volume 14 - Number 13 $1

July 1-31, 2006
Volume 14 - Number 13
$1