03) COMMUNISTS DEBATE THE CRISIS AND THE FIGHTBACK
The Communist Party of Canada's 37th Central Convention will be held April 5-7 in Toronto. Members of the CPC are currently discussing the Draft Political Resolution for the Convention. Over the next few issues, PV will reprint excerpts from the Resolution, starting with these introductory paragraphs. For more information, visit www.communist-party.ca.
The 37th Convention of our Party takes place at a particularly complex and dangerous moment in the workers' and people's struggle. The systemic crisis of capitalism in Canada and internationally has continued to deepen over the past three years, reflected in ever‑widening social disparity, intensified economic and social attacks against the people, fresh assaults on labour and democratic rights, the further degradation of the national and global environment, and increasing militarism, aggression and war.
The maturing structural contradictions of the global system of capitalism, which have been steadily gaining pace throughout the last century and particularly since the 1970s onwards, created conditions for the current global cyclical crisis ‑ a crisis which erupted in 2007‑08 and which continues today, making it one of capitalism's most acute cyclical crises in history. This crisis in turn has exacerbated all of the structural aspects of the general crisis of the capitalist system, resulting in greater instability, insecurity and intensified class struggle.
The austerity policies pursued by ruling circles in all of the leading imperialist states, including Canada, to resuscitate economic activity and profits on the backs of the working class and working people in general have failed miserably. The economies of the U.S., Europe and Japan ‑ the "tripod" epicentre of this global crisis ‑ remain stagnant or in absolute decline. The crisis and the intense, all‑sided offensive launched by the ruling class in its wake are exacting a heavy economic, social, cultural, psychological and environmental cost on all humanity.
The main target of this anti‑social offensive of Capital is the working class, especially its organised section, the trade union movement. It is also falls heavily on women, youth and students, indigenous peoples, pensioners and the elderly, peasants and small farmers, the extreme poor and marginalized sections of the people, and on all those reliant on the social functions and services of capitalist states ‑ benefits that have been won through many decades of hard struggle.
This capitalist offensive is understandably creating an atmosphere of insecurity and desperation among wide sections of the working class and the people, but it is also giving rise to increased resistance and struggle against ruling classes and their governments around the world. While this fightback is still predominantly defensive in character, it is growing almost everywhere around the world. Anti‑imperialist and anti‑capitalist sentiments are on the increase, and the size and capacity of forces consciously embracing the socialist alternative are continuing to grow, albeit unevenly and still as a minority current in most countries.
The counter‑offensive of labour and people's movements is also growing across Canada. The historic Québec student strike and social struggle which took place in the spring and summer of 2012, and the Canada‑wide "Idle No More" protests of Aboriginal peoples and their supporters which began last December are particularly significant in this regard. These struggles, taken together with the determined struggle of teachers in Ontario and many other mobilizations in defence of labour, social and equality rights and in defence of our environment, signal a qualitative change in the mood of the working class and its allies to fight back against the austerity agenda of Capital and its governments.
The challenge for our Party at this 37th Convention is to reach an objective assessment of the nature and trajectory of this capitalist offensive, to identify the class and social forces which are moving into action to resist and defeat this offensive, and to situate the Communist Party and its work so that it can best make its contribution to the building of a mass, united people's coalition, and to the building of a larger, stronger and more influential Party in the
(The above article is from the February 1-14, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)