May Day 2005: Organize as a class, build the culture of resistance The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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.) May Day 2005 statement of the Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada] MAY DAY, International Labour Day, has its roots in the United States and the American inspired movement for the eight hour working day. Declared by the National Labour Union as a target day of struggle for May 1st, 1887, it mobilized hundreds of thousands of workers who demonstrated and struck in every major American city. In Chicago, where the labour movement was very strong and left-oriented, a series of events unfolded over three days involving strikes, lockouts and demonstrations. The police carried out a series of brutal attacks on strikers and demonstrators that led to a protest rally in Haymarket Square which was also attacked. The ensuing fight claimed the lives of several police and strikers and the arrest of labour leaders. The militant leaders Parsons, Spies, Fischer and Engel were framed on trumped up charges and hanged. Several others were sent to prison. Although the American workers gave birth to the eight hour movement and its kick-off in May 1887, the Second Socialist International meeting on the 100th anniversary of the fall of the Bastille in Paris in 1889 gave it internationalism by adopting a resolution calling for a great world-wide demonstration for May 1, 1890, in conjunction with the one already called by the American Federation of Labour in the United States. International May Day was born. From that time to this May Day has developed internationally and historically, and its celebration (or lack of it) in a sense reflects the level of class struggle and consciousness in a given time and place. To the most advanced working class organizations, some with state power, it is the symbol of the revolutionary struggle for emancipation and socialism. To some right-wing elements it is the symbol of communism and the Soviet Union. May Day is the property of all working people and the expression of their historic struggle for quality of life and emancipation from all forms of exploitation that expropriates the product of their labour for private wealth. It embodies not only the dream of a non-exploitive society of peace and security, but the entire ongoing struggle from the origins and every single inch along the way. It perpetuates the process of liberation by presenting the dream. May Day has become a celebration of working class achievement, and a traditional time of analyses and projection, of the past and the future. It has become the symbol of Internationalism and Solidarity that transcends borders and raises the consciousness of working people globally, in the recognition that we belong to the same class, have the same objectives and the power to win them. It is feared by exploiting capitalism that seeks to localize it and rob it of its revolutionary internationalism. The winds of change can rage and ebb. In 2005, the world we live in howls. The spectre of war hangs over us. The globalization plans of the imperialist states competing to capture the peoples and their national wealth, threatens the environment, condemns large sections of humanity to a subsistence existence, creates famine and an environment of disease and hunger for most of the world's people. Conversely, the developing forces of the international working class, emerging from the confusion after the failure of the larger socialist states, are significant and powerful. The world liberation and revolutionary movement is re-emerging, finding effective methods of struggle, strengthening internationalism and holding state power in some countries. For years the Socialist Republic of Cuba held firmly and splendidly to its' internationalist duty, providing ideological and material support to liberation movements while toiling under tremendous hardship from terrorism and embargo from the USA. The accomplishments of the Cuban people have provided a firm foundation of support for the front line revolutionary movements of Latin America, in particular Venezuela. Every day the plans of imperialism are set back by the emergence of "fair trade" and anti-imperialist alliances in Latin America. Capitalism and its agenda cannot hold the people back. We will not tolerate our entire planet being made into a prison factory. In Canada, the will of the majority of our population forced the Liberal government to back away from the demands of American militarism and deny participation in "Star Wars". This anti-war sentiment is growing and will be a decisive issue in the next federal election. Being imprisoned as suppliers of cheap resources, energy and water in a "fortress America," being recruited as junior partners in Imperial American schemes to exploit Latin America and the third world, losing our culture, our social programs and our independence along the way, are facts realized by more and more of our population as the major threat of our times. Political consciousness is growing and there is a feeling of restlessness among the people, expressed in the nations of our country perhaps differently, but nevertheless growing. These expressions of restlessness must be satisfied also in a new determination to create equal and voluntary partnership between the nations that will guarantee the survival of Canada. When the Canadian Labour Congress meets in convention in June, there will be hundreds of resolutions dealing with every aspect of working class life. Many of these resolutions will never reach the floor, but many others from their sheer numbers and importance will be debated. There is a growing restlessness also in the trade union movement that carries with it challenges to policy, leadership and priority. If it does not crystallize at this convention, the groundwork will definitely be laid for major shakeup at the next. There will be a challenge to the leadership of Georgetti and his brand of corporate trade unionism, which is unable stop the decline of labour and recapture the social dynamic needed to lead a people's fight-back movement. This will be an ongoing subject in the next few months. This May Day we need to look toward a more powerful response from the labour movement to the attacks on the people, their property and their programs. We need to think about how we can put the "movement" back in labour and re-introduce it in every corner of working class existence, not only in the workplaces of the 30% minority organized in unions. We need to organize as a class and build the culture of resistance, led by labour, that will fulfil our international solidarity in the global struggle of our brothers and sisters everywhere. We need to deny our people and our resources to the warmongers, and strengthen the universal struggle for peace and national liberation, for the environment, for emancipation of women and against all forms of racism and discrimination. The Canadian people are involved in this struggle and are capable of rising to the need. We will stand in solidarity with our neighbouring workers and all working people. There is a federal election brewing, and any attitude of "business as usual" that does not analyse the danger of a Tory government and integration into US imperialism is shallow, dangerous and irresponsible. We need to demand that all progressive and working class forces develop the political alliances necessary to defend the interests of the people and reshape our unity and solidarity. Ultimately we need to put socialism back on the agenda. The Communist Party of Canada is dedicated to this struggle. Happy May Day, Sisters and Brothers! (Back) (Home) The Battle of Medicare is not over (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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 Dr. Akif Akalin Health has always been a sensitive issue, open to debate and sparking many controversies. It has long been taken as a personal trouble instead of a social issue. In ancient societies, people considered illnesses to be punishments from Gods. Even though enlightenment brought an end to this idea, health continued to be seen as a personal problem until sociologists began connecting illnesses to society. At the end of the 19th century, Emile Durkheim demonstrated that "suicide is more than just an individual act of desperation". In 1845, Frederick Engels had already stated that "society in England daily and hourly commits what the working-men's organs, with perfect correctness, characterize as social murder, that it has placed the workers under conditions in which they can neither retain health nor live long." However, social thinkers preoccupied with health sociology have always had a dilemma in addressing social determinants of health. Whenever these issues are addressed, there emerges a problem: inequalities. Finally, in the midst of the 20th century, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined health as not only the absence of disease, but also as a condition of complete physical, mental and social well-being. At the beginning of the 21st century, ironically enough, Marxist analyses in health sociology rose from the grave in Canada, which was ranked first in the world on the United Nations Human Development Index between 1995 and 2000. The most important reason is the over forty-year experience of Canadian Medicare. It has long been thought that inequalities in health were due to lack of access for some to quality health care. Canadian experience has disproved this idea, because significant inequalities in health stubbornly persist despite Canada's renowned Medicare system. The other reason to rethink social determinants of health is that the belief that differences in health behaviours (tobacco use, diet, physical exercise) would have a major impact on health has proven wrong (Raphael, 2004). Finally, researchers have refocused on social determinants, such as income, education, or employment, to explain inequalities in health. Among these factors, income is especially important, because it is also a determinant of early life, education, employment and working conditions, quality of housing, and food security. Researchers have shown that income is a prime determinant of premature mortality from a range of diseases. They also have shown that poverty constitutes a major health problem. One Canadian study found that men in the top 20 per cent income bracket live on average six years longer than those in the bottom 20 per cent. There are significant differences between low-income and high-income families in terms of mortality rates for the four leading causes of death: tumours, respiratory track diseases, circulatory system diseases, and accidental injuries. Infant mortality rates are also high in low-income families. Another Canadian study found that people who are unemployed have more mental health problems including distress, anxiety and depression. Women with higher levels of education are more likely to have normal birth-weight babies. Children who are exposed to insecure, violent or chaotic environments can end up with an adult brain that secretes excessive stress hormones when faced with stress. This hinders adults' ability to cope well with difficult situations, and also makes it harder for their body to physically fight disease (Canadian Health Network, 2005). This evidence shows that health is not merely a medical concept, it is something far bigger and more comprehensive than medical science. Rather than leave health to medical professionals, we must produce a new prescription to the sick: first, overcome income inequalities. As a social institution, health care cannot be exempted from the general production relations of a society. The rules that are in effect in general must be in effect in health care. According to the Program of the Communist Party of Canada, "The economic system in which we live is capitalism. Under this system the means of production are predominantly privately owned; the capitalists operate their factories, banks and offices, mines, forest operations, transport and service industries in order to extract profits." According to Marx, everything has to be commodified in capitalism because "the wealth of [capitalist] societies ... presents itself as an immense accumulation of commodities, its unit being a single commodity." Therefore, health care is commodified by capitalists in order to make profit. Once something is commodified, income becomes the principal determinant to buy it, and income inequalities determine its distribution among people. Since vast income inequalities are inherent in the capitalist system, there is no final solution to the health inequalities Canadians suffer until capitalist relations are replaced by an egalitarian one. However, it is possible to improve health by defending and developing Medicare, which is a publicly financed, privately delivered insurance plan. Before Medicare, health care had been commodified in Canada, bought and sold in the market. Under capitalism, one's suffering is the other's profit. To make profit, capitalists need markets in which they trade and invest. Whenever their markets are limited, they begin crying. In our case, Medicare meant a closure of the Canadian health market for capitalists. That is why the pharmaceutical industry, insurance companies, and Canadian Medical Association proclaimed war against the adoption of Medicare. The ferocious "Battle of Saskatchewan" took place in the summer of 1962, when many physicians went on strike against Medicare. The Battle of Saskatchewan was not won easily. Premier Tommy Douglas had to invite British physicians to the province, but the people of Canada finally won the battle to extend Medicare across the country. Today, Medicare is once again threatened by neo-liberalism. Every day we see newspaper headlines with stories of insured services such as chiropractor or optician services being delisted, with news of private, for-profit clinics and hospitals, with warnings of physician and nurse shortages, with repeated posturing by federal and provincial governments, each accusing the other of funding shortfalls. One of the firmest opponents of Medicare is the Fraser Institute, which advocates a system in which public medical insurance would cover only catastrophic illnesses. The C.D. Howe Institute and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives have also influenced governments to abolish Medicare. One famous opponent of Medicare, Leonard Peikoff, says that socialized medicine is impractical because it is immoral. Referring to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, he argues that according to the Founding Fathers, Americans were not born with a right to a trip to Disneyland, or a meal at McDonald's, or a kidney dialysis. Such arguments reveal a fear that Medicare could be a Trojan horse of egalitarian ideas in society. Therefore it must be destroyed as soon as possible to secure profits. For-profit private health care has exploded in Ontario. King's Medical Center of Toronto has become the largest and most luxurious private facility in the country. The pharmaceutical industry, insurance companies, and the Canadian Medical Association are seeking revenge, and free trade agreements are pushing Canada to abolish Medicare. But despite these attacks, there are physicians who put public health before profit, and in November 2004, Canadians voted Tommy Douglas the greatest Canadian of all time. Recommodification of health care will not be easy. The battle of Medicare has not ended yet. (Back) (Home) Toronto: the city of sick schools (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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 Johan Boyden Take a basic right for youth: education. Mix it together with pro-business policies, Mike Harris-style. Simmer on the privatization agenda. What do you get in 2005? According to a recent report by the Toronto Parent Network, sick kids and a school system in serious disrepair. The report looked at the yearly inspection reports by the joint occupational health and safety committee of the Toronto District School Board and CUPE 4400. The facts: 90% of schools are cited with electrical hazards, 80% have inadequate eyewash stations, 32% show signs of mould, and 10% are infested with vermin. How does this go on? Connect the dots. Eight years ago, the Harris Tories were swept to power in Queens Park as Ontario dumped the NDP. But it was out of the frying pan and into the fire for the working class. One the one hand, the Tories promised not to cut classroom spending. On the other hand, Harris's agenda laid out 30% tax cuts. The money for those tax cuts to had to come from somewhere. So in a sneaky move, the Tories imposed a new funding formula separating "classroom" and "non-classroom" expenses, then cut back the latter and claimed to have lived up to their promises. "Non-classroom" expenses included caretakers, secretaries, heat and lighting. "But you can't run a school without these services," notes Elizabeth Hill, TDSB School Trustee for Ward 6. "They're critical." Hill was one of the many voices against the cutbacks. Among other things, Harris amalgamated School Boards and eliminated their taxing powers. Instead, Queen's Park introduced a flawed funding formula for School Boards based on a one-size-fits-every-school approach. A key part of the model was funding by square feet, per student. Harris's approach meant there was no money for things like educational assistants, lunch room supervisors, adequate bussing, play ground equipment, and pools. The new funding model didn't work. By the time it was eliminated, big cuts had been sustained and school boards were in debt. The TDSB, refusing to make the cuts ordered, had been put under trusteeship. Unions, and groups like the Toronto Parent Network and People for Education helped generate resistance and supported the trustees in their defiance of the Tories. This latest report by the Parent Network is part of a series of surveys produced before the new funding model was instituted. Their pressure got rid of the Tory funding model, but today the TDSB has a backlog of $774 million in major repairs. While waiting for provincial funding, the TDSB estimates the backlog to grow to $1.4 billion in the next four years. Harris's tax cuts were great for the wealthy, but they seriously eroded basic standards of life for most Ontarians. Over the long haul, cutting public education to the bare bones has predictable results: those parents who can, switch to private schools, and the desperate schools make corporate partnerships. It amounts to an American-style drive to privatize our schools. When the Tories came to power, then Minister of Education, John Snobelen, said "We need to invent a crisis. And that's not just an act of courage, there's some skill involved - you can't change if you're improving. That quality of change isn't available until you bankrupt how it is..." (Toronto Star, Sept 13 1995) What does that invented crisis look like today? "I see the mould, I see the problems with mice, the problems with pigeons outside classroom windows, leaky roofs," said Bill Young, who heads health and safety for CUPE 4400, which represents caretakers, secretaries and support workers in Toronto schools. Young, quoted in the Globe and Mail (April 5) commented that "Among Toronto kids, asthma is through the roof." Teachers say the students will be fine in the summer but when they come back in September, "they're sick, they have nosebleeds, watery eyes, runny noses, sore throats." These symptoms are all associated with breathing in mould spores. "Bloor Collegiate had mice on the cutting table of the kitchen cafeteria," comments Andrea Reynolds, who helped write the report (Toronto Star, April 5). "We have prisons in better shape than some of our schools." As Toronto gears up to fight Liberal privatization of hospitals, the story of the city of sick schools provides a lesson in the dangers of flirting with the Conservative's corporate agenda. "I think it's a whole democracy/equity issue," says Elizabeth Hill, "and I'm thankful to the Toronto Parent network for putting pressure on the province. We've got to fix this problem before it gets worse." That means keeping up the pressure. In many ways the Liberals continue to implement the Tory agenda, privatizing health, education and social services, notes Liz Rowley, leader of the Communist Party (Ontario). "The Liberals promised a new funding formula during the election," she says, "and we've got to force them to deliver." Rowley, a former East York school trustee, points to substantially increased funding for school boards as a solution. "This year's collective bargaining in the education sector is at a crisis," Rowley points out, noting that elementary teachers finally have a settlement after a work-to-rule campaign that brought them long awaited preparation time. "But the education workers, many of them CUPE members - the secretaries and caretakers who do much of the clean-up in schools - these people are still without contracts." More and more, their message that "teacher working conditions are students' learning conditions" is resonating with parents and the public. "It needs to resonate with this Liberal Government too," Rowley adds. (Back) (Home) Time to speak out on the national question (The following editorial is from the May 1-15/2005 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, May 1-15, 2005 An early federal election now appears almost unavoidable, even though a majority of Canadians oppose this option. Unfortunately, the sponsorship scandal will be a major focus of the campaign, along with the "choice" of casting a ballot for or against the federalist Liberals and the constitutional status quo. During the 2004 election, the mainstream parties have tried to soft-pedal or completely avoid discussion of the national rights of Quebec and the Aboriginal peoples, in an effort to cover up their essentially chauvinist positions on these issues. To this day, Prime Minister Martin defends the Clarity Act and the basic objectives of the Sponsorship Program, distancing himself only from the abuse and corruption associated with it. Yet these actions were tactics to deny the people of Quebec their fundamental national right of self-determination - threatening them through the Clarity Act, and trying to influence their thinking through the Sponsorship program. The Tory policies are even more dangerous. Stephen Harper has stated that if Quebecers ever voted to secede, he would consider partitioning Quebec. We also remain disappointed with the stand of the NDP. Early in the last campaign, Jack Layton indicated his opposition to the Clarity Act, but he later backed away from a principled position. The NDP platform is virtually silent on the Quebec issue. This is no way to help build progressive bridges between Quebec and English-speaking Canada. The real issue is not how many pieces Canada could be divided into, or how to convince Aboriginal peoples and Quebec to accept second-class status. The issue is finding a democratic solution to the national questions in this country. The Communist Party of Canada calls for official recognition of the national rights of Quebec and Aboriginal peoples to self-determination, and for a new, democratic constitution based on an equal and voluntary partnership of the Aboriginal peoples, Quebec, and English-speaking Canada. That approach is similar to the views of many progressive and democratic movements. We urge them to speak out loud and clear at this crucial moment in our history. (Back) (Home) Reclaim British Columbia forests (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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 George Gidora IN THE MAIN, the economic history of British Columbia has been one of natural resource giveaways - minerals, fish, hydro-electric power, natural gas, and more. But the story of our massive forestry resource is the most telling of all. In 1788, during the period of direct colonial rule over British North America, outright grants of forest land were given to provide timber for industrial use. In 1865, a land ordinance introduced the principle of granting rights for harvesting timber, with land ownership remaining with the Crown. When B.C. entered Confederation in 1871, the province assumed jurisdiction over all natural resources. Over the past century, there have been various forms of licensing. By 1978, the industry had become concentrated in the hands of a few corporations which had obtained Forest Management Licences, later known as Tree Farm Licenses (TFL's). That same year B.C.'s Social Credit government passed a new Forest Act which entrenched the power of the large forestry companies. The major holders of cutting rights were granted harvesting rights of a specified amount of timber for a 15 year period. These licenses were paid for by a system of "stumpage fees" - a certain amount for each tree harvested. Mike Harcourt's NDP government in 1992 established a Commission on Resources and the Environment (CORE), to identify areas for protection from industrial activity, especially logging, and other areas available for exploitation. As a result, protected status was granted to between 11 percent and 16.5 percent of the land in the affected region. The US has attacked this system as an unfair subsidy to the forestry companies, using this as the basis to charge countervailing duties. Canada has successfully appealed this decision to various international trade bodies, but the US continues to defy the rulings. The real reason behind the softwood lumber dispute is to try and force Canada into a "market based" US-style forestry system. This would in effect privatize our forests. In fact, the Campbell Liberal government has shown a willingness to move in that direction, to the benefit of some of the biggest donors to the BC Liberal Party. A look at corporate donors last year shows that the Liberals were given $27,340 by forestry giant Weyerhaeuser Canada Ltd. (who purchased MacMillan Bloedel in 1999) and $23,153 by the TimberWest Forest Group. Not coincidentally, these two big donors reaped windfall profits when the Liberal government approved six privatizations of land formerly in tree farm licences. The two big donors benefited from three such cases, accounting for almost 98% of the land privatized. (These lands were already privately owned; the privatization took the form of removal of the regulated TFL's, and the tenure from public oversight.) As a result, 87,700 hectares of Weyerhaeuser land and 2,600 hectares of TimberWest land are now subject to weaker laws that provide virtually no protection for Aboriginal interests, streams, fish, or wildlife. The Forest Minister's approval also facilitates plans by the companies to export raw logs. The lands can also be subdivided and sold for millions. Jim Pattison and his company, The Pattison Group, are also big stakeholders in forestry and other BC resource extraction industries. He gave the Liberals $55,000 last year through his various corporations. Because of his holdings in Canfor (Canada's largest logging company), Westshore Terminals (North America's busiest coal export terminal), Canadian Fishing Company (the largest salmon canner in Canada, and exporter of herring roe products from North America), Pattison's companies have been major beneficiaries of the Liberal government's ongoing efforts to roll back labour and environmental laws. For many years, the Communist Party has raised the alarm about the sellout of our natural resources, in particular our forests which generate more than 50% of B.C.'s total economic worth. The move away from TFLs towards privatization should concern all British Columbians, as it will shift our forest resources into private hands, to be exploited with no regard to environmental laws or to the needs of the working people of British Columbia. This is also a strong indicator of the true nature of the Campbell Liberal government. What they are doing is part and parcel of the corporate globalization taking place worldwide. This "corporate agenda" is taking place right here in BC, not just in the developing countries. Forestry is B.C.'s largest industrial sector, and accounts for half of the entire Canadian forest industry. Employing 275,000 people directly and indirectly, forestry results in fifty percent of all B.C. exports, the major customers being the U.S., the rest of Canada, Japan and Europe. Yet it provides relatively little revenue for the people of the province. In 2004-05, according to "B.C. Public Accounts Schedule of net revenue", the government received more from Medical Services Premiums ($1.458 billion) than from forestry ($1.305 billion). Corporate income tax was only $1.256 billion but personal income tax was $5.055 billion and sales tax $4.066 billion. The B.C. Communist Party calls for a new Forest Act which would recognize the public ownership of our forests and keep them under democratic public control. Such an Act would manage our forestry resource, so that timber harvesting rights would be auctioned off on the basis of how many jobs are created in local communities based on secondary manufacturing. It would ban clear cut logging in favour of more environmentally sensitive selective logging, protect existing old growth, and reduce the annual allowable cut to sustainable levels. Like many others, we believe that the export of raw logs must be banned, since each log exported costs jobs here at home. BC has the potential to be one of the world's largest exporters of finished softwood products and prefabricated housing. Secondary wood manufacturing can be an environmentally friendly and profitable industry, putting thousands of British Columbians back to work and generating millions more in revenue which will benefit smaller resource based communities and all British Columbians. The key point to remember is that our resources belong to the people, not private corporations. They should be used to benefit all the people and exploited in a caring and sustainable manner. The introduction of a fair taxation system where the large corporations who have been reaping huge profits from our resources would be made to pay their fair share would ensure benefits for all. (Back) (Home)   Spring in Las Vegas, changes for Steel (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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 Humphrey A SHAMEFUL AND SELF-DEFEATING period of labour history was finally put right at an upbeat Constitutional Convention of the United Steelworkers, held April 10-15 in Las Vegas. An overwhelming vote approved an Executive Board proposal to delete the notorious anti-communist Article 3.3 from the Union's constitution. The clause had lumped in some of the principal builders of SWOC (the Steelworkers Organizing Committee from the 1930s) and the CIO with the Ku Klux Klan. In an address to the Canadian Caucus on the day before the Convention opened, International President Leo Gerard went out of his way to state that "if there are any members of the Communist Party in the room, I want them to know they are welcome as members of the United Steelworkers." Another positive constitutional change committed members to fight harassment on the basis of members' sexual orientation. Again, the 2500-strong assembly was extremely supportive of a move whose time had clearly come. The business of the Convention was dominated by the merger achieved with PACE - the quarter million strong paper, oil and chemical workers union, whose delegates joined in with the Steelworkers for the last two days. This established the new "USW" as the biggest private-sector union in North America. Strategic alliances and solidarity with the labour movement world-wide were also a major theme of presentations. There was a strong emphasis on fighting neo-liberal globalization, and it must be said that the labour practices in the People's Republic of China were singled out for particularly withering criticism. An encouraging new progressive rank-and-file spirit was illustrated by a spontaneous debate on the Iraq war which occurred on the last day. ("Spontaneous debate" and "Las Vegas Convention" do not usually appear in the same sentence). A resolution condemning the US invasion, forwarded by a Canadian local, was among the package of undebated resolutions being referred at the end of business to the incoming Executive. Several delegates hit the mikes to call on the Executive for endorsement, and received warm applause. Charlie Richardson, a founding member of U.S.-based Military Families Speak Out, plus a Master Sergeant recently returned from service in Iraq were among delegates speaking in favour, along with Carolyn Egan, president of Steel's feisty Toronto Area Council, and others from Canada. Not a single contrary voice was raised. At the conclusion, the new Executive Board pledged to endorse the resolution and issue a public statement to that effect at its first meeting, in early May. (Back) (Home) Sudbury welcomes U.S. war resisters (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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 Daryl Shandro, McClure Club CPC, Sudbury AMERICAN AND IRAQI losses are climbing as the war on Iraq slowly fades into the white noise of Canadian consciousness. Those of us who have spent decades fighting against imperialism understood almost immediately that 9-11 would quickly become the license for unquestioning support and expansion of Pentagon initiatives, and a serious crackdown on dissent in the United States. It didn't take long. The American people, like others all over the world, prefer to believe that their government would not simply declare an illegal war. Thus, the U.S. military has a problem sustaining and winning ground wars - in part because of the American people's reluctance to support their empire with the bodies of their own children, and the fear of another "quagmire" like Vietnam. Imagine the impact of the withdrawal of troops by nation after nation from the "Coalition of the Willing" in Iraq, coupled with the formation of a group of American Iraq war veterans who have spoken out in support of those who have fled combat by seeking refugee status in Canada. This small group of War Resisters gets little press in the United States. None of the U.S.-born Resisters have been deported to date, at which point there will undoubtedly be a widely reported Court Martial, as an effective deterrent against future desertions. The penalty will be harsh enough to make young Americans more afraid of their fate at the hands of fellow Americans in military prisons (and afterwards) than of combat and possibly participating in war crimes in Iraq. For this reason, the War Resisters Support Campaign is attempting to maintain high profiles for these young men within Canada. Cliff Cornell and Darrell Anderson, recently arrived War Resisters hailing from Arkansas and Kentucky respectively, spoke in Sudbury on April 13, sponsored by the Laurentian University Department of Political Science and supported by the local Labour Council and Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers' Union (C.A.W. 598). Sudbury audiences were uniformly sympathetic. Cornell and Anderson arrived in Canada after a swift departure from the United States during their respective Christmas leaves. Cornell had become disenchanted with the army after it reversed the assurance he had been given upon enlisting (before the war) that he would see no service overseas. A series of job retraining and reassignments saw his unit training for progressively more dangerous combat duties. On the eve of his unit's January departure, Cornell's friends presented him with option of flight to Canada. His family found out only after he had crossed the border. Darrell Anderson was awarded a Purple Heart after receiving a shrapnel injury in Iraq. On Christmas leave he found himself between deployments and torn by the prospect of another tour of duty in Iraq. He had seen too much. At one point Anderson had refused to open fire on a car that proceeded past the first line of a military checkpoint; as he explained to his superior, "it looked like a family". Upon checking the car, Anderson was found to be correct. He felt vindicated, and told his superior he was greatly relieved to have not killed an innocent family. He was told in no uncertain terms that should he ever defy orders in the field again, he would be very harshly punished. While at home on Christmas leave, Anderson found an internet piece about Jeremy Hinzman. After serving in Afghanistan, Hinzman was the first U.S.-born War Resister to flee to Canada and claim refugee status, in order to avoid combat service in Iraq after being refused conscientious objector status. Hinzman believes that the Anglo-American war on Iraq is illegal, and knew that he would not be permitted to act upon the fundamental right and legal obligation extended to soldiers by international law - to refuse to participate in war crimes. That knowledge brought Darrell Anderson to Canada just as it brought Hinzman before him. Soldiers redeployed from Iraq are compelled to sign a "voluntary" gag order stating that they will not speak publicly about their experiences for two years. Anderson's past unit is to be redeployed to Iraq in July. Apart from the necessity of maintaining a high profile to elicit support from Canadians in his quest for refugee status, Anderson also feels that he must speak out on behalf of other soldiers who remain hamstrung by the gag order. He feels that he must fight for refugee status rather than quietly "chilling out in small town Canada" in order to make the choice visible and available to other soldiers who feel that Iraq is not the right war, but have few choices beyond flight. This may be the beginning of a wave of emigration from the United States. Cliff Cornell and Darrell Anderson are typical of the young soldiers enlisted through what Cornell dubs the "back-door" draft. Both are from poor working class backgrounds. They come from areas of high unemployment, criminality and disease rates, where army recruiters offer enlistees a job, healthcare benefits and tuition for college at the end of their contract. Both joined the army after working at various unskilled jobs, and realizing that despite their college entry grades, neither could afford tuition. At the beginning of the war in Iraq, with sons already in the army, Cornell's family supported the war, and Anderson's family did not. Both young men believed that the Army could do great things, and that defending their homeland against threats like those of Hitler and the Japanese during WWII was what military service was all about. Today, both feel betrayed that their country would send them "over there to kill for oil and power." They are being publicly maligned as traitors in their home states (in Kentucky there have been public calls to bring back hanging for deserters), but otherwise ignored by the U.S. military and media, until they can get these men back on American soil. What sort of threat do these first few War Resisters pose to the enormous military machine of the United States of America? That depends on us. If any of these young people are deported, the effect will be to help the U.S. military inculcate a fear of retribution into the working class neighbourhoods where recruiters find their largest numbers. African-American enlistment is faltering, suffering a precipitous 90% drop, even as, in the words of Mick Lowe (a Vietnam War Resister who now lives in the Sudbury region), the military "is bleeding white". Some National Guard have been sent to Iraq - a marginally legal practice given that the Guard is a homeland security and state emergency response organization (numbered by people who did not join the military). The legal age of recall to active service has been extended to 39, but much older soldiers are being sent to serve as well. Before Cliff Cornell's unit was dispatched the U.S. Army had stopped the practice of punishing and or rendering ineligible soldiers with "hot" (positive) drug tests; too many were attempting to avoid combat in Iraq by deliberately timing drug abuse to "flunk" pre-combat tests. Many of the soldiers in Cornell's unit, upon learning that they were the only one of three in training that would be sent to Iraq, attempted to switch places with willing members of the other two units. Then one soldier applied for conscientious objector status. The remaining soldiers were put on notice: there would be no further applications - they would be going to Iraq, period. Since Cornell's arrival here, he has made a study of the ongoing American policy adjustments to the military combat personnel shortage. He has heard rumours that to avoid invoking the draft, which would galvanize anti-war sentiment, the Bush administration may bring in compulsory, limited duration military service. It is thought that this may be more easily sold to a public who still dare to hope that disengagement in Iraq is an achievable short term goal, and that a democratic, moderate, pro-western regime would vindicate their presence (especially given the thoroughly discredited initial case for the war and occupation). The first refugee hearing for Jeremy Hinzman has come and gone. Canadian government lawyers advised the refugee board that illegality of the Anglo-American war and occupation of Iraq was not to be considered in the proceedings. Hinzman's case was rejected and is winding its way toward an appeal. There are a number of things that we, as concerned citizens against this war and occupation, can do to assist these War Resisters: writing to our MPs and especially cabinet ministers; arranging for opportunities for these young men to speak and maintain their high public profiles; endorse their declaration (relaunched since Hinzman's hearing) and sign their web petition at http://www.resisters.ca ; pass supportive resolutions in unions, community organizations and the like; and make donations. One thing is certain - we must take responsibility for ensuring that not one of these War Resisters is returned by our government to the United States of America. (Back) (Home) New  COPE executive has strong labour element (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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 DEFYING MEDIA CLAIMS that the Coalition of Progressive Electors is headed for defeat in next November's civic election, almost 300 members of COPE gathered at the Maritime Labour Centre on April 17 to elect a new Executive. The upbeat meeting put to rest any idea that Vancouver's labour movement has moved into the camp of Mayor Larry Campbell and his "Friends" (who include three councillors elected as part of the COPE majority in 2003). Eight of the eleven executive members are closely identified with the Vancouver & District Labour Council and its affiliates, and VDLC President Bill Saunders was a member of the search committee which helped pull together the list of candidates. COPE's 2005 Executive members are Gary Onstad (External Chairperson); Donalda Greenwell-Baker, Internal Chairperson; Deming Smith, Treasurer; Paul Houle, Recording Secretary; Mabel Elmore, Membership Secretary; Sharon Costello, Corresponding Secretary; David Chudnovsky, Fundraiser; and members-at-large Mebrat Kebrade, Paul Tetrault, Spencer Herbert, and Janet Routledge. The council, school board and park board caucuses will also elect several representatives to the executive. The meeting overwhelmingly approved a motion to direct the incoming Executive to meet with the "Friends of Larry Campbell" and begin talks about building a coalition leading into the fall election. While a few speakers warned against any attempt to cooperate with the Mayor, most argued that the main goal of Vancouver progressives must be to defeat the right-wing Non-Partisan Alliance in November, and to find ways to build on the reforms and gains achieved over the past two-and-a-half years. That will require reaching some form of agreement with the group around the Mayor, which has caved in to pressures from developers and other business forces on some important issues. The organization has been on a rocky ride since several COPE staff members linked to the Campbell group resigned last fall. Things got worse in December when the "Friends" went public with their website and announced the support of a number of business and professional figures, as well as a few trade unionists. In early February, it was revealed that the Friends group had been conducting its own polling, clearly aimed at separate plans for the November election. That prompted a heated debate at COPE's Feb. 6 meeting, during which the Mayor walked out when it became clear that most members were deeply upset at the tactics of his group. Four pro-Campbell COPE executive members resigned a few days later. Since then, however, the situation has improved. COPE has hired new staff and preparations are well underway for the November 19 election. A packed banquet in early March to honour COPE's seven school trustees was an indicator of solid support from the teachers' unions, CUPE and other sections of organized labour. Now, the organization has a united executive, composed of respected activists known for their strong commitment to COPE and its policies. Even the most recent surveys, designed to prove the political strength of Mayor Campbell, have a positive message for COPE. While Campbell remains popular, the polls also show that COPE has a much higher approval rating among Vancouverites than the NPA. It remains to be seen what kind of agreement can be reached between COPE and the Friends of Larry, although there has been considerable speculation about mutual endorsation of candidates for the ten-member city council. If a deal can be made, it looks as though the NPA will probably remain in a minority at City Hall for another three years. (Back) (Home) Saskatchewan tops in PV Drive (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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.) Our Saskatchewan readers and supporters have come through in style this spring, taking the province over the top in our annual Fund Drive. The total value of donations and May Day greetings from Saskatchewan has reached $860, or 107.5% of their provincial target. Congratulations and many thanks! As of April 22, our overall totals are about $2,900 ahead of the same date last year. That's a 5.8% improvement, an excellent step ahead in terms of the pace of the Fund Drive. We are now at $26,055, or 52.1% of our target of $50,000. Alberta is in second place, at 62.7% ($1,066), followed by British Columbia at 57.1% ($12, 568), and then Ontario at 47.2% ($9,448). Ontario is making some big gains, thanks largely to excellent work in canvassing for May Day greetings. With the provincial election now underway in British Columbia, we are temporarily suspending the Fund Drive in that province. We urge our readers to focus on efforts to defeat the far-right Campbell Liberal government, and to be generous in your support for progressive candidates, especially the three candidates nominated by the Communist Party of BC – Peter Marcus in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, Harjit Singh Daudharia in Surrey-Green Timbers, and Steve Roebuck in Kelowna-Mission. The BC part of the Fund Drive will resume officially after election season is over. Several Fund Drive events already planned in British Columbia will go ahead, however. The annual Mother's Day Pancake Breakfast organized by the Burnaby Club is set for q0 am, Sunday, May 8, at 5435 Kincaid St. in Burnaby; see the ad on page 15 for full details. The 13th People's Voice Victory Banquet will be held starting 6 pm, Sat., June 11, at the Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Avenue, Vancouver; this year;s banquet will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the historic On to Ottawa Trek of 1935. Tickets are $18, or $9 low-income, available from the PV office, 706 Clark Drive. Finally, there's the annual PV Walk-A-Thon, taking place in July in Surrey's Bear Creek Park. See our next issue for details. In the rest of the country, the Fund Drive continues, and we appeal to readers to make your donations quickly. We need to be as near completion as possible before a federal campaign begins! As in B.C., there are a number of fundraising events coming up. Most notably, southern Ontario readers should plan to take in the Press Victory Dinner and Dance on May 28, at the AUUC Cultural Centre, 1064 Bloor St. West, Toronto (Dundas West subway). Dinner is at 6:80 pm, featuring guest speaker Kimball Cariou (editor of PV), followed by an awards presentation and then dunking to the Wally Brooker Jazz Band. Advance tickets are $25, or $15 for youth, available from the PV Ontario Bureau, 290A Danforth Ave., 416-469-2446. At the door, tickets will be $30 (youth $20). PV FUND DRIVE:  April 22 report   Area--------------------Target------------Raised-------------Percent BC--------------------$22,000------------12,568---------------57.1% Alberta----------------$1,700--------------1,066---------------62.7% Saskatchewan----------$800----------------860--------------107.5% Manitoba--------------$3,000-------------1,268---------------42.3% Ontario---------------$20,000-------------9,448---------------47.2% Quebec-------------------$500----------------210---------------42.0% Atlantic Canada------$1,200---------------535---------------44.6% Other----------------------$800---------------100---------------12.5% TOTAL-----------------$50,000----------26,055---------------52.1% (Back) (Home) Salute to the Red Army (The following editorial is from the May 1-15/2005 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.) Sixty years ago this month, the scourge of Hitler fascism was finally defeated by the Allied powers, first and foremost by the heroic Soviet people and the Red Army. We salute their incredible sacrifices, which opened the way for a dramatic realignment of the world – the emergence of a world-side socialist community of states, the decolonisation of Asia and Africa, rapid advances by the working class and democratic forces in capitalist societies such as Canada, the formation of the United Nations, and much more. Today, even Russian President Vladimir Putin calls the end of the USSR a terrible setback for his country – and we would add for the international working class. The defeat of fascism was powerful evidence that socialism is a superior socio-economic system; after all, that victory was largely accomplished by a socialist state born just two decades earlier, which made fantastic strides to withstand and overcome the military assault of the most aggressive imperialist power of that time. Imperialism remains a powerful opponent, as witnessed by its ability to undermine socialism in the USSR and elsewhere, but as we mark the end of World War Two in Europe, we remind the world that this story is far from finished. US imperialism, like German fascism, will eventually face its Stalingrad, and its Berlin. (Back) (Home) No Federal Election: Compel Parliament to Work for Peace, Jobs and Sovereignty (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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.) Statement from Canadians for Peace and Socialism Media frenzy over corrupt Liberal Party practices exposed by the Gomery Commission is being used by the pro-corporate lobby in Ottawa to de-rail the Liberal minority government, and stampede angry Canadians into electing the Harper Conservatives and prevent the Parliamentary agenda set by Canadian voters in the June 28, 2004, federal election from making any farther progress. Canadians voted for the public health care system and overwhelmingly rejected private for profit health care. Canadians voted for improved child-care, urban renewal, progress on Kyoto and for firmness and action against US Government pressure to align Canadian trade and foreign policy with the Bush Doctrine. Canadians voted for economic justice and upheld the protection of democratic and minority rights as provided in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Canadian voters emphatically rejected the Conservative Party's invitation to embrace US style right-wing faith-based politics. Voters reduced the Liberals to a minority and increased NDP representation in Parliament precisely to move the country forward on an agenda of peace and tolerance and economic progress. Voters in Quebec likewise rejected the Conservatives, reduced the Liberals and increased the Bloc with a mandate to oppose BMD and advance the just democratic demands of Quebec. The practical result was a loose parliamentary coalition of NDPers, left Liberals and the Bloc that compelled Prime Minister Paul Martin to reject BMD. An election now would disrupt the progressive trends appearing in Canadian public life and provide right-wing reaction with an opportunity to seize power and impose an openly corporate agenda on the country. An early election would most certainly reduce NDP representation in Ottawa. Jack Layton and the NDP caucus bear the main responsibility to speak resolutely for the popular will, for the supremacy of parliament, to reach out to all of the progressive forces inside and outside Parliament to make it work for the common good. It is unacceptable and deplorable for Layton to say at this critical juncture "we will wait to see what the Canadian people want." The Canadian people gave their opinion on June 28th, 2004. Now is the time to fight to move the people's agenda forward not pander to the base political opportunism of the Conservatives. (Other voices column) (Back) (Home) BC women raise election demands (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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 BC Coalition of Women's Centres has issued  a "Feminist Dozen" of thirteen essential election issues for women in the May 17 provincial election. . . The full text can be found on the Web at : http://www3.telus.net/bcwomen (Back) (Home) Indian workers resist attack on oil sector (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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.) A widening attack is hitting India's oil industry through selling off shares, privatisation, and mergers. The workers and employees must build up a strong united movement to resist the assaults, said Centre for Indian Trade unions general secretary Chittabrata Majumdar at a conference of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) workers in Kolkata on April 17-18. Majumdar said the issue of self-reliance was deeply embedded in the oil sector. If the union (central) government chooses to depend on the ONGC for oil exploration and extraction more than at present, he said, India's dependency on oil imports would lessen, more resources would be crated and more employment generated. Instead, the government has not heeded the big potential that exists in the Bengal basin for oil exploration, and the ONGC has slowed exploration in other areas. Calling the behaviour of the ONGC authorities "strange," Majumdar pointed out how they had refused to use sophisticated drilling equipment in promising locations, citing the "immensity of subterranean pressure building up and UJP and destroying implements." Majumdar noted also that when tenders had been floated for oil exploration in the Bengal basin, the ONGC would not give some very vital information connected to oil exploration in the area. He declared that the ONGC was being reined in at the behest of US imperialism to give free play to transnationals in this vital sector. Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP Dipankar Mukherjee said that trade unions must be strengthened in both the public and private sectors of the industry. He accused the union government of collusion with private corporate houses like Reliance while selling off shares in the oil sector. The goal, said Mukherjee, (is) to "merge and integrate" various oil industry Public Sector Units, a process including big lay-offs of workers and employees. If the oil sector was privatized, he said, the nation's economy "would be put on the line," and the way out was to build up stronger and bigger movements among oil workers. (Back) (Home) Job losses may spark bank strike (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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 Bank of Ireland is seeking 2,100 layoffs from its 18,000 staff in Ireland, and says some of these will be compulsory if it cannot reach agreement on voluntary cuts. However, members of the Irish Bank Officials Associations (IBOA) have passed a resolution to hold a ballot on industrial action if the bank seeks compulsory job losses. IBOA General Secretary Larry Broderick said there were staff who would accept voluntary redundancy packages, but the union could not accept compulsory losses, since the bank will make 1.3 billion Euros in profits this year. "The motivation behind this move can only be described as corporate greed at its most vulgar," he told the IBOA's biennial conference, which opened in Dublin on April 22. Talks between management and the IBOA are set to begin in late April. Claiming the restructuring is necessary to increase efficiency in the face of stiffer competition, the bank wants to bring its cost base down to below 50% of its income, by cutting costs by 120 million Euros a year by 2009. Broderick said the move to reduce staff numbers is ironic as the new owners of National Irish Bank, Danske Bank, has plans to increase its investment in Ireland. He added: "if management attempt to make one IBOA member compulsory redundant, we will ballot for industrial action to involve work stoppages as well as up to and including strike action." (Back) (Home) Vietnam celebrates 30th anniversary of victory (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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 Anil Biswas, Communist Party of India (Marxist) The victory celebrations of the people of Vietnam are being celebrated between April 19 and May 3, 2005, on the slogan of "peace and unity."  The main programme will be held in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. Just as the ten days between November 7 and 17 remain etched in the annals of history as the ten days that shook the world, so are the five days between April 29 and May 3, 1975, marked out as the period marking the success of the freedom-loving people of Vietnam. April 29, 1975 saw the city of Saigon put under siege by the freedom fighters. On April 30, they liberated Saigon from the hands of the US occupationists. The dream of Ho regarding a unified Vietnam was thus fulfilled. When the 30th anniversary of the triumph is being celebrated, the world situation has undergone qualitative changes. There is a worldwide effort for unity and understanding. However, there has been no change in the outlook of the forces of US imperialism, a country which caused the death of three million men, women, and children of Vietnam, and which saw 58,000 of its own soldiers die there. The US imperialists are relentless in carrying out missions of death in Iraq and Palestine. Journalist John Pilger wrote about the ten days preceding the liberation of Saigon. He wrote that in order to realise Ho Chi Minh's dream of a united Vietnam, the people's army of Vietnam surrounded Saigon from three sides on April 20, April being the first month of the Vietnamese New Year. US Ambassador Graham Martin declared that he would not desert Saigon in the deep of the night. He declared over the Saigon TV station that "Anybody could see that I have not packed anything to leave the place." He pointed out that he was in Saigon to look after US interests in the whole of Asia, and he reminded viewers that he had lost a son in Vietnam. Martin said that despite his attack of pneumonia and consequent difficulty in speaking he had spoken to the US administration to send out more B-52 bombers.  He assured the puppet "patriots" that they would be able to live with full dignity. Even as he spoke, the puppet president of South Vietnam, Nguyen Thieu, took shelter in a bunker dug underneath the "embassy tree" planted by the French imperialists a hundred years ago. Within two days of Martin's declaration that the war had entered a fighting phase, each house of Saigon saw the Red Flag fluttering aloft with a least a couple of people's army fighters standing guard in the doorways of the houses. The US Embassy had been torn apart with rocket attacks of the Vietnam liberation army. The much-vaunted B-52 bombers were shot down ahead of the Mekong delta by the people's liberation army of Vietnam. Only a helicopter was allowed to slip through to fly out the US ambassador and Thieu. The helicopter could land with difficulty in the US embassy grounds, where the "embassy tree" had created a great hindrance to its landing. Martin and Thieu fled the city in that overcrowded helicopter containing dozens of "brave" US troops. Entering Saigon on a bicycle, the Polit Bureau member of the then Workers' Party of Vietnam (later the Communist Party of Vietnam), Le Duc Tho made straight for a napalm-devastated house, climbed onto its roof, and there wrote a song of triumph of the Vietnam liberation struggle. US historians have been engaged in analysing the reasons why the US forces had a debacle in Vietnam. Dr. Keith Taylor writes that the people of the USA started to hate the war in Vietnam and started to hate themselves. During the war itself, the anti-war outlook of the US people saw the emergence of a permanent anti-war form. Despite the tactics adopted by successive US presidents, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, US  citizens could not be enthusiastic about the so-called US internationalism in Vietnam. From the fall of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, until April of 1975, US citizens came out like the people of other countries to remonstrate against the war efforts of the US. There was an increase in hatred against the war among US citizens, just as the morale and the inspiration of the Vietnam freedom fighters went on increasing. Some historians hold that the US committed a grave blunder by setting up the puppet regime of Nguyen Din Diem. The US committed the error again in the cases of Shah Pehlavi in Iran, Suharto in Indonesia, and Pinochet in Chile. Historians like Taylor held that Ho Chi Minh emerged in Vietnam post-1945 as a natural leader. Ho Chi Minh inspired the people of Vietnam with the theory that communism and national liberation movement were not mutually alienated from each other. The people of Vietnam were motivated in the national liberation struggle chiefly by the policy and aim of the Communist Party of Vietnam in the task to tackle the problem of land reforms. Ho Chi Minh put it simply and eloquently that the hunger of the people of Vietnam would not end until the agrarian revolution was accomplished. Ho created outlines of both the agrarian revolution and national liberation movement at the same time. To conduct the liberation struggle, the Communist Party of Vietnam formed three fronts: military, diplomatic, and economic. The US-sponsored puppet government concentrated its attacks on the peasants of Vietnam. Of the 40,000 political workers imprisoned between 1954-1958, (1964-1968?) most were peasants. Of the political workers killed during this period, too, most were peasants. A principal theme of the Vietnam War was the strategy of the liberation war to re-distribute land versus the US strategy of centralising land parcels. Thus, the triumph of the liberation war saw the establishment of the agrarian revolution. The democratic Vietnam was transformed into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The task of reconstruction is going at full tilt in the Socialist republic now. Among those who are most interested in this task are those very soldiers who had once marched in to occupy Vietnam. US veterans of the war have issued an open letter on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the triumph of the people of that country. The open letter states: "As citizens of the United States of America - many of us American veterans of the war in Vietnam - we wish to convey our highest regards and our congratulations to the people of Vietnam on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the end of the war on April 30, 1975. In respect for the memory of the more than 58,000 American military personnel and civilians and our allies who died in Vietnam, and the three million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians who perished during the war, we wish to express our deep sympathies and our heartfelt condolences to all families on all sides who lost loved ones during the conflict - and all those who survived the war but with debilitating injuries and lifetime disabilities. We cannot change the past and erase the tragedy of the war, but together we can work for a better life for our children and for future generations. The Vietnamese often say, with forgiveness and sincerity, 'Close the past and open the future.' We thank the Vietnamese people for this gracious and generous attitude." (Back) (Home) CLC declares May 7th "Wal-Mart Day of Protest" (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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 Canadian Labour Congress has declared Saturday, May 7, a day of protest outside Wal-Mart stores across Canada – a day when workers, community groups and students will raise awareness about the company's anti-worker business approach. The campaign will highlight Freedom of Association issues and the right to bargain collectively in Canada. It will also tackle anti-worker and anti-Canadian values and attitudes, the CLC says. Wal-Mart announced the closure of its store in Jonquiere, Quebec, a move that comes after its employees at the store decided to form a union. The company has also attempted several manoeuvres in court to deny its Weyburn, Saskatchewan employees the right to belong to a union. But the Supreme Court of Canada will not hear Wal-Mart's challenges of the power of the provincial labour board and the right of workers to the protection of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms when they want to form a union. Hundreds of delegates to CAW Council recently voted in favour of a recommendation from CAW president Buzz Hargrove calling for the council's endorsement and support of the CLC's May 7 Wal-Mart campaign. For more information on the campaign visit http://www.clc-ctc.ca. (Back) (Home) Billion dollar scam? Canada's worst P3s  (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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.) As governments across Canada push ahead with plans for more "public-private partnerships" (P3s) involving hospitals, roads and schools, a group of citizens' organizations has issued a warning that the projects run the risk of being billion-dollar failures. A new report, released in April by health coalitions across Canada, outlines 100 failed, flawed or abandoned infrastructure projects undertaken using the P3 privatization model. We stand at the brink of perhaps the biggest transfer of public assets to private for-profit companies in the history of our country," stated Natalie Mehra, Ontario Health Coalition coordinator and author of the report. "Yet the record of P3 projects is one of spectacular bankruptcies, environmental and construction disasters, legal disputes and service cuts. This policy must be subject to public scrutiny and debate, not brought in through the back door." The report, detailing a litany of cost overruns, legal disputes, bankruptcies, environmental disasters, and shoddy construction, is available at: http://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca. Abottsford Regional Hospital & Cancer Centre, BC Flawed: cost overruns, delays. To date the government has spent over $7 million in administrative costs to pursue projected savings that were initially estimated at $3 million over the length of the 30+ year contract. Construction costs have increased from $210 million to $355 million, and the annual operating lease for the private sector contractor has doubled from $20 million to $41 million. Legal and consultant costs for this deal are budgeted at $24.5 million which will be paid by the public. (Source: Metro Valley Newspaper Group articles, Feb. 10, 15 and 16, 2005) Accenture / Ministry of Social Services Business Transformation Project, Ontario Flawed: cost overruns, technical problems, inflexible. In 1997, the Ministry of Community and Social Services contracted with Anderson Consulting to revamp their outdated computer system. Anderson - which changed its name to Accenture in 2001 - was to be given up to $180 million in savings projected from the contract. The cost rose to $274 million, according to the provincial auditor who noted that the deal gave Anderson Consulting a "disproportionately high rate to the disadvantage of the Ministry." Despite the auditors' warnings and serious technical glitches with the program, the province signed another deal for $32 million with Accenture in 2002 to maintain the system that only they could run. Ultimately the system cost tax-payers $500 million with training costs and other expenditures. In 2004, it was found that the system was unable to calculate a 3% welfare increase for recipients and would require another $10 million to fix and $7 million to test. (Source: Toronto Star, July 10, 2004) BC Medical Services Plan and PharmaCare Flawed: inadequate risk transfer, concerns over privacy of information. The BC government contracted the administration of the Medical Services Plan & PharmaCare to Maximus Inc., a US company. Under the American Patriot Act, health records held by Maximus are subject to secret search and seizure by US authorities. BC's privacy commissioner warned the government of the risks of this private contract. (Source: Canadian Press article, May 28, 2004) Bruce Nuclear, ON Flawed: high costs, poor risk transfer. Bruce Power, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Energy, announced an agreement with Ontario Power Generation to lease and operate the Bruce "A" and "B" nuclear generating stations until 2018, with an option to lease for another 25 years. Termed a "sweetheart deal" for British Energy, the deal left OPG with the responsibility for the cost of nuclear waste management and disposal as well as plant decommissioning (estimated at $7.5 billion). Bruce Power's initial lease payments were $625 million, and it has to pay annual rent based on its revenue (estimated at $150 million in 2002). These represent a fraction of the profits the corporation was expected to reap. Once again, the government retained much of the risk and the corporation was given the right to walk away from the lease any time after 2006 if it isn't making enough money. Later that year, Cameco Corporation, from Saskatchewan, acquired a 15% stake in Bruce Power. In 2002, British Energy went bankrupt and sold their 81.4% stake in Bruce Power. TransCanada Pipelines and BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust (established by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) each acquired a 31.6% stake in Bruce Power and Cameco increased its stake to 31.6%. Calgary Southeast Hospital Abandoned: P3 deal cancelled. Jack Davis, head of the Calgary Health Region, announced on Aug. 8, 2004 that the new southeast hospital is moving forward, but not as a P3. Davis said the hospital is "much more complex than an office building" and that no one has more expertise than the health region to build this hospital. (Sources: Calgary Sun, Aug. 8; Calgary Herald, Aug. 9, 2004) Calgary Courthouse Failed: costs up by 66%, design flaws. When the cost for a one-stop super courthouse jumped 66%, to $500 million from $300 million, moves were made by the province to pull back from the P3 model. Justices complained that the design of the courthouse was flawed and filled the needs of the developer, not the court. After intense negotiations between the P3 consortium GWL Realty Advisors and the provincial government, the province decided to build the facility publicly. (Source: Edmonton Journal, April 28 and June 13, 2004; Calgary Sun, Aug. 19, 2004.) Charleswood Bridge, Winnipeg Flawed: high costs. On a contract totalling over $11.6 million, the Charleswood Bridge P3 was found to have cost taxpayers $1.4 million more than if the bridge was built publicly. Over 10% of the project cost was eaten up by the cost of preparing and evaluating the bids. (Source: John Loxley, Department of Economics, University of Manitoba.) Confederation Bridge, PEI Flawed: high costs. Canada's Auditor General found that the bridge cost $45 million more than it would have had it been built publicly. The consortium, Strait Crossing Development Inc., will operate the bridge for 35 years paid through tolls and public lease payments. In the first year, tolls increased by $8 per car. The Auditor General found that the financial risks were borne by the public and the public sector price comparator was inflated, making the P3 seem more cost effective than it is. (Source: Report of the Auditor General of Canada, 1995) Duke Point Hydro, Nanaimo, BC Flawed: high costs, inflexible. The proposed deal requires BC Utilities Commission to make annual payments to Duke Point Power Ltd. plus a levy when natural gas power is used for the length of the 25 year contract. According to Dan Potts, Executive Director of the Joint Industry Electricity Steering Committee representing major industrial users of purchased electric power in BC, the deal "raises the real possibility that high fuel costs and low utilization will make the power from this plant horrendously expensive." He concludes, "Better options must be developed if BC Hydro is serious about supplying reliable low-cost power for generations." BCUC rejected a previous similar proposal in 2003. (Source: Vancouver Sun editorial, Nov. 16, 2004.) Edmonton Grocery Store High School Failed: disputes over regulation. In 2002, Edmonton's Catholic school board forged an agreement with Sobey's grocery store to jointly build a new school in Callingwood. The board was to contribute the $12.6 million it had received from the province for the project and the grocery chain would contribute $3.2 million, leasing space in the building from the school board. City officials objected to the plan because the land was never intended for commercial development. The project developers violated a requirement that developers hand over 10% of the land in any new housing project for future schools and parks. Other businesses were upset because Sobey's got the school board deal without any tendering process. Ultimately the deal failed. (Source: Edmonton Journal editorial, June 3, 2004.) Coquihalla Highway, BC Abandoned; high costs and poor accountability. The provincial government cancelled its plans to privatize the interior toll highway under a 30 year P3 contract after it faced massive public opposition due to concerns of increased costs and lack of accountability. (Source: http://www.nupge.ca/news_2003/n24jy03a.htm) Cranbrook Civic Arena, BC Failed: delays, cost overruns, legal disputes. The P3 project officially failed five years after implementation, following lengthy construction delays, cost overruns and legal disputes. The private sector operator paid the City of Cranbrook $1.7 million to resume ownership and operation of the facility earlier this year. (Source: Vancouver Sun, Aug. 5, 2004) (Back) (Home) Canadians attend Communist congresses in India (The following article is from the May 1-15/2005 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 Still enthused by last year's historic defeat of the communalist, right-wing BJP government, the Communist Party of India and CPI (Marxist) both held their congresses recently. The CPI congress was held starting March 31 in Chandigarh, followed by the CPI(M) congress which opened on April 6 at the Talkatora Stadium in Delhi. Observers included a three-person delegation from the Communist Party of Canada: Nazir Rizvi and Krishna Syal from British Colombia, and Sohan Mann from Calgary, Alberta. Rizvi, who headed the delegation, is a member of the CPC's Central Appeals Committee. Speaking to People's Voice about the congresses, he says that objective conditions continue to favour a process of unity between India's two major communist parties, which split in 1964. A coordination committee of the two parties is working on this process. The two congresses debated a wide range of political and ideological themes, Rizvi says, from the nature of imperialism today, to the struggle for change in India, to the prospects for socialism in that country and around the world. The upheavals of recent years indicate to leading Indian communists that the power of imperialism may have been underestimated, and the building of socialism may be a more protracted process than they once thought. However, India's communists have not retreated in the face of ideological pressures. They continue to fight for a secular and democratic society, against the fundamentalist and communal ideologies pushed by the country's reactionary forces. This struggle includes resistance against the trend towards opening up the country's economy for transnational capital and so-called neo-liberal "reforms". They play a leading role in the anti-imperialist movements of India, which are so strong that the country's parliament unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the US/UK occupation of Iraq. In one recent action, a million anti-war protesters formed a human chain to condemn the war in Iraq. The communist congresses were both preceded by a wide range of political rallies across the country, reports Rizvi. The two parties are trying to break out of their strongholds - such as the state of Bengal where the CPI(M) has led a Left Front coalition government for over a quarter-century, and the southern state of Kerala - in order to make political gains in the "Hindi belt" of central and western India. While the two parties have over a million members (the CPI-M being the larger), they need to greatly expand their membership and influence in more states to have a bigger impact on national policies. Delegates at both congresses also discussed the role of various Maoist and ultra-left groups, which appear to have a growing presence in India. Delegates pointed out that these groups often play a disruptive and violent role, carrying out armed struggles without a working class base. On the other hand, such groups have some influence among tribal communities and sections of the population oppressed by feudal relations, among which the larger Communist parties have less influence. In Bihar state, for example, the CPI-ML recently won seven state assembly seats, a development which delegates said needed attention by the more urban-based CPI and CPI(M). Nazir Rizvi will speak at a special meeting on the Indian Communist congresses, to be held at 7 pm, Wed., May 18, at the Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver. For more information, call the BC Committee of the Communist Party, 604-2540-9836. "A glorious anti-imperialist legacy" Excerpt from the opening speech at the CPI(M) Congress, by veteran communist leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet Today, April 6, happens to be the 75th anniversary of the conclusion of the Dandi march by Gandhiji and his breaking the salt law - an event which galvanised the country to participate in the mass civil disobedience movement, an important chapter in the freedom struggle. The Communist Party, since its inception in 1920, became a consistent and determined fighter for national liberation. It sent an appeal to the 1921 Ahmedabad session of the AICC, calling upon the Congress to adopt the slogan of complete independence. From then on, braving the fierce repression of the British rulers, communists organised the workers and peasants to join the struggle for freedom and for emancipation from class exploitation. Today, the CPI(M) is the proud inheritor of this glorious legacy. Anti-imperialsim is part of this heritage. In the world today, when US imperialism seeks to impose a unipolar hegemony, that does not hesitate to trample on the national sovereignty of independent nations to fulfill its global designs, it is all the more important to declare that Indian communists will be in the forefront in the struggle against such an unjust and iniquitous order. Our Party is deeply concerned at the havoc wrought upon the proud and secular state of Iraq by two years of American occupation. We join with the rest of the progressive and democratic forces in the world, to demand an immediate end to the military occupation and to let the Iraqi people decide their future as a sovereign country. The communists and the progressive forces in India will act as a bulwark against any plans to yoke India into the global strategy of the United States. We will work to see that the US plans to utilise the India-Pakistan differences to entrench themselves in the sub-continent do not fructify. The ongoing dialogue between India and Pakistan is important so that both countries establish ties of friendship and cooperation for peace and development of South Asia, free from imperialist interference. . . (Back) (Home)

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