07) A WIDE-RANGING AND DEMOCRATIC DISCUSSION BEGINS
The countdown has started for the 38th Central Convention of the Communist Party of Canada, set for the May 21-23 weekend in Toronto.
The Communist Party of Canada was formed in 1921, at a time when it was illegal to establish such an organization. Over the succeeding 95 years, the CPC has often been banned or forced to operate in semi-legal conditions, but the party has never stopped working for the revolutionary transformation of this country into a socialist society.
One of the key features of the Communist Party is its strong commitment to democratic principles. The Party’s membership has full power to determine policies and elect leadership at conventions, combined with a voluntary commitment to carry out those policies.
Unlike some organizations, the full membership of the CPC is engaged in this democratic process, starting with an intensive three-month discussion of the Draft Political Resolution which will be the centrepiece of the 38th Convention. Party clubs across the country have begun to debate the Resolution, which was issued by the January 30-31 meeting of the Central Committee, the party’s highest body between conventions.
Members and party clubs will submit written contributions for a Discussion Bulletin published regularly this spring. Clubs will also prepare amendments to the Resolution, for discussion at provincial meetings to elect delegates to Toronto, and then at the 38th Convention which will adopt the finished version. That document will become the basis for the work of the entire party, including its elected leadership, over the next three years.
Over our next several issues, People’s Voice will reprint brief excerpts from the Draft Political Resolution, to give readers a better understanding of the CPC’s analysis and its democratic process. We invite readers to read the full Draft online, at www.communist-party.ca, and to share your own views. In this issue, we print parts of Section One of the Draft Resolution on the international situation:
For international working class unity against imperialism
Our 38th Central Convention meets at a moment of escalating danger, from increasing war, environmental crisis and economic decay. As the systemic crisis of capitalism continues to deepen, and the effects of the 2008 economic meltdown continue to be felt, imperialist states and organizations are becoming increasingly aggressive. The standoff between nuclear armed states in Ukraine and the expanding war in Syria are powderkegs that threaten disaster. Millions upon millions of people in all parts of the world are being forced into poverty, hunger, homelessness and displacement.
But this is also a moment of rising working class and popular resistance. In all countries, albeit unevenly and with different characteristics, we see increased unity and mobilization. From mass demonstrations to general strikes to online campaigns, people are using many different vehicles to advance these struggles...
Internationally, the most immediate danger and challenge facing the working class and peoples of the world is imperialism’s escalating militarism and drive to war. From the state of “permanent war” since 2001, to the coup in Ukraine and the resulting standoff between NATO and Russia, to the escalating and expanding war in Syria, to the renewed arms race and nuclear weapons development, imperialism’s aggressiveness has increased to the point that the survival of the entire planet is threatened.
Since the overthrow of the Soviet Union, NATO has aggressively expanded its membership and theatre of operations. It currently has 28 member states across North America and Europe, another 22 countries engaged through the EuroAtlantic Partnership Council, and a further 19 countries partnered through programs such as the Mediterranean Dialogue, the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative or the Partners Across the Globe Initiative.
This growth is directly linked with the eastward expansion of the EU, a dynamic that has provoked one of the most serious political crises in decades – the US-orchestrated fascist coup d’état in Ukraine in February 2014.
Ukraine’s new illegitimate, puppet government of Petro Poroshenko includes several neo-Nazi followers of Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and infamous war criminal who colluded with the Nazis during their bloody occupation of Ukraine. The regime moved quickly to attack and repress communists and progressives in Ukraine, including banning the Communist Party of Ukraine. It is a bitter irony that these events occurred during the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi fascism in World War II.
...Popular resistance against the Kiev coup included the referendum in Crimea, in which an overwhelming majority of people voted to secede, and have since joined the Russian Federation. Imperialist governments and media distorted this development and described it as an annexation by Russia – a shocking double standard given their immediate recognition of Kosovo as an independent state in 2008.
The other key arena of imperialist aggression is the crisis in Syria. Now in its fifth year, the war there has claimed 240,000 lives and displaced millions of Syrian people.
Imperialism suffered a serious setback when it was unable to overthrow the elected government of Bashar al-Assad. This despite recruiting, arming and training thousands of foreign mercenaries who have continued to terrorize the Syrian people. Since this defeat, imperialist forces have identified yet another pretext for direct intervention in Syria – “the war on ISIS.”
As the US, EU and their allies continue to impose their “New Middle East” plan – to produce a patchwork of weak and fragmented Arab states who cannot challenge Israeli expansion or imperialist domination – they have produced a breeding ground for reactionary religious forces that they have, in turn, armed and financed. Despite distress – real or feigned – over brutal methods and reactionary politics, groups like ISIS (Daesh) and al-Nusrah are valuable assets to imperialism and their activities have provided the pretext for direct military intervention in Syria...
The immediate situation in Syria remains extremely volatile. The concentration of global military power, and the competition between powerful centres for control of energy resources, pipelines and spheres of influence, are creating an explosive situation that threatens a regional or even world war. Our Party repeats its demand for the immediate withdrawal of all Canadian and imperialist forces from Syria and the region.
Despite the grave danger presented by the international confrontations in Ukraine and Syria – between nuclear weapons states – the peace movements in Canada and around the world have been slow and inconsistent in their response. In no small part, this weakness is the result of the aggressive campaign to promote a “war on terror” as a justification for militarism. This pretext has been used to confuse people and neutralize opposition, and also to attack democratic rights in countries all over the world, including in Canada. Furthermore, many recent imperialist aggressions have been framed as “humanitarian interventions” which, for example, purportedly liberate women from oppression. Such pro-war propaganda, particularly when combined with Islamophobia, weakens the clearcut basis for mobilization and unity. Another key factor is the “renewed Cold War” propaganda campaign which, similar to the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine, aims to ideologically soften people and provide a pretext for intervention, aggression and war.
In June 2015, the Central Committee noted the dangers of the renewed Cold War: “Already, it is being used to justify increased military spending, expanded arms trade, new and larger imperialist military alliances, and outright intervention and war. It has become a large part of the ideological barrage that justifies and promotes the expansion of imperialist institutions like NATO and the EU. Part of the New Cold War is the ideological poison that depicts communism and fascism as identical totalitarian ideologies.”
...Since our 37th Central Convention in 2013, global military spending has remained at its highest levels in history – nearly $1.8 trillion USD in 2014. The United States accounts for $610 billion, or 34% of the world total.
Notably, military spending by NATO member states accounts for $920 billion USD, or 51% of the global figure. While military spending receded very slightly in the main imperialist centres at NATO’s core – Western Europe, the US and Canada – there were large increases throughout the current key theatres of NATO aggression: the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
NATO member states, including Canada, have faced increased pressure in the recent period to increase their military spending. Under the Harper Conservative government, Canada’s official military budget increased from $14.5 billion in 2006 to $20.1 billion in 2014-15 – up 38%. The Tories also boosted the automatic annual increases for military spending from 2% to 3% starting in 2017, a move that will add almost $12 billion over the next 10 years. On top of this, Harper launched a massive procurement campaign, the centrepiece of which was the $36.6 billion naval shipbuilding program and the proposed $30 billion purchase of 65 F-35 fighter jets.
While Justin Trudeau stated during the 2015 federal election campaign that he would cancel the F-35 purchase, he also pledged to maintain current military spending levels and the planned increases. Trudeau has also stated that he will proceed with the $15 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
An urgent task for all peace and progressive organizations in Canada is to build mass pressure that can force the Liberals to reduce military spending and trade, allow war resisters to remain in Canada, and completely withdraw Canada from the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. These are initial, but concrete, steps toward a new foreign policy of peace, and toward building the international working class unity that can defeat war, reaction and imperialism.
(The above article is from the March 1-15, 2016, 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.)