08) PARTY BUILDING, MASS ACTION TOPICS AT MONTREAL EVENT

 

We are happy to share news about one of the first events in the Communist Party's new "Build the Fightback, Join the Communist Party" campaign.

 

            Members and friends of the Parti Communiste du Québec met to discuss the political situation internationally and the fightback in Canada at a Sept. 21 event in Montréal. Elizabeth Rowley, the Ontario leader of the Communist Party, was joined by Québec labour activist and writer Robert Luxley, who talked about the protest of 50,000 people the day before against the municipal pension reform in Québec. 

 

            The meeting launched the Québec component of the Communist Party's new recruitment campaign. Three new members joined the party at the end of the meeting.

 

            Rowley highlighted the dangerous developments within NATO, and applauded the labour and peace forces in Québec which have taken up the call to get Canada out of this imperialist alliance. This key struggle for peace must be taken right across the country, she said.

 

            Canada, added Rowley, must make a 180 degree turn and implement a new, independent Canadian foreign policy with the objective of a free Palestine. The Parti Communiste du Québec is making "Fire (Foreign Minister John) Baird, Free Palestine" pins ‑ the first in a series coming out of the PCQ's new button press.

 

            Rowley was happy to learn about the recent Saturday closure of a shoe store on rue Saint‑Denis, which has been picketed by local Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaigners for several years. The Israeli‑based NAOT chain is known for maquiladora‑like exploitation at its factories in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. While the store remains open on other days, rue Saint‑Denis is at its busiest on Saturday. The BDS campaign in Québec has been joined by a broad section of labour and progressive movements, including the PCQ and CPC.

 

            The meeting also heard about developments in the Québec pension fightback. Robert Luxley said that the reforms amount to a theft of workers' wages and a form of super‑exploitation.

 

            Contrary to the corporate media's perspective, municipal workers in Québec do not receive golden pensions, and retirees generally live below the poverty line and below most other OECD countries. Luxley, who edits the PCQ's quarterly newspaper Clarté, noted that the latest issue which exposes this situation is being well received by working people.

 

            The Sept. 20 mass protest at Parc Lafontaine and other actions by trade unions come at the same time as the re‑formation of the Common Front for public sector negotiations. After some division in their analysis towards the minority Parti Québecois government, the labour and people's movements are clearly re‑mobilizing to fight the new Liberal regime, which is a welcome sign and must go further, Luxley said.

 

           Rowley spoke about renewed public interest in the Communist Party, along with positive signs in the fightback, like the recent People's Social Forum and the defeat of right‑wing business trade unionist Ken Georgetti in the Canadian Labour Congress elections.

 

            The necessity to build the fightback on the streets and get rid of Harper was very urgent, Rowley said, together with building the Communist Party as a decisive ingredient in the class struggle. Visibility is key to recruitment. Almost every club of the Party in Ontario gained new recruits during the June provincial election, which saw campaigns by eleven Communist candidates in five cities.

 

            Dave McKee, the first Party candidate in London, Ontario, after many years, helped galvanize friends and supporters into action around the Communist "People's Alternative" platform. A new Party club will be chartered in London this fall.

 

            The clubs of the PCQ resolved to win more new members, expand the Clarté subscription list, and hold a mass public event celebrating the life of Cuban Revolutionary Che Guevara between now and January. That's when the campaign will come to a close, and the Québec communists will hold their National Congress.

 

            (In coming issues we will profile new and long‑term members of the CPC and why they think the Communist Party is important.)

 

(The above article is from the October 1-15, 2014, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist 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.)