11) CONDITIONS IMPROVING FOR UNITED MASS ACTION
Special to PV
Meeting on August 27-28 for the first time since last May's federal election, the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of Canada called for "united mass action at the Canada-wide level directed against the main political instrument of the capitalist offensive, the Harper majority government."
Looking at the international scene, a wide-ranging report adopted by the CC stresses that the systemic capitalist crisis which broke out in 2007 continues to erode the living standards of working people everywhere.
As the report notes, "the worsening global economy has ignited a fierce debate within bourgeois circles". Various policies - interest rate changes, currency devaluation, stimulus spending - have been tried without success. A progressive option would need a radical redistribution of wealth from the banks, corporations and the super-rich, to increase wages and benefits and to expand public services and programs. But the ruling class refuses to contemplate any "reform" which involves higher taxes on profits and wealth, preferring instead to intensify exploitation, inflate the "debt bubble" and accelerate militarism and war.
At other meetings over the past several years, the CPC leadership has welcomed the growing popular movements in Latin America as a sign of resurgent socialist ideas. This meeting examined a new phenomenon: the wave of mass democratic and anti-dictatorial struggles across North Africa and the Middle East. While these struggles are not directly anti-imperialist as in Latin America, they are rooted in socio-economic grievances such as high unemployment, record food prices, and grinding poverty.
The most significant of these struggles, says the report, has been the revolutionary upsurge which swept away the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia, and then Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.
On the other hand, events in countries such as Libya and Syria have been more complex, as imperialism seeks to take advantage of internal disputes to maintain its domination of the region. The CC report sharply condemns the NATO war against Libya, and Canada's "disgraceful participation" in this action to impose a US-friendly client state.
Addressing the situation in Cuba, the CC report notes that recent changes in that country do constitute a tactical economic retreat, but also that these reforms are intended to increase efficiency and stimulate growth. "We are confident that the Cuban Communist Party and the Cuban state will do everything possible to mitigate the negative impact of these changes, and to safeguard Cuba's socialist character now and into the future," the report says, calling for further study of these developments.
This global situation is the context for post-election moves by the Harper Tories, including aggressive attacks on the right to strike and bargain collectively; the impending "austerity" social cuts; the push to deprive the Canadian Wheat Board of its single-desk selling authority; the racist "crime bill" which criminalizes Aboriginal youth; and the announcement of a foreign policy review to entrench the militarist policies adopted in recent years.
This dangerous situation, warns the Communist leadership, requires a wider fightback and a comprehensive set of progressive demands and alternatives to unite the labour and democratic movements. The CC report is critical of arguments that "nothing has really changed" under a Conservative majority, or that Canadians can "ride out" the Tory assault.
But as the report states, there are two opposing tendencies within the labour movement. One is a top-down strategy imposed by the class collaborationist Georgetti leadership of the Canadian Labour Congress, which focuses on preparing the conditions for an NDP election victory in 2015.
However, reports from around the country indicate that the demand for stronger resistance is gaining momentum at the local and provincial levels. In Ontario, for example, the OFL leadership is taking the lead to bring together a "common front" of labour and community groups, and a powerful battle is brewing against the cutbacks being pushed by Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his far-right group on city council. The labour movement in British Columbia has played a key role in the successful campaign to increase Canada's lowest minimum wage, and the referendum defeat of the hated HST. Quebec unions are moving to build a broader movement against the reactionary Charest Liberals, and similar struggles are emerging in other provinces.
These developments, estimates the CC, improve the possibilities to map out a united and comprehensive fightback plan, with a focus on opposing Harper's budget cuts and defending public services. Communists in the labour and people's movements will play an important role in building pressure on the CLC leadership to move in this direction. As several provincial elections begin this fall, Communists will be on the ballot in Ontario and Manitoba to demand people's alternatives to the right-wing agenda.
The CC meeting also looked at progress in party-building efforts across the country, such as big changes to the CPC's website which have been met with many compliments. Other improvements have been made in the party's ideological and educational work, and in the functioning of important commissions and other bodies.
The federal election interrupted plans for celebrating the Party's 90th anniversary this year, but these activities will resume in the fall, including a speaking tour by CPC leader Miguel Figueroa. The CC agreed that the deepening economic crisis opens up new opportunities to win members, calling for increased public visibility but also greater efforts to maintain political and organizational unity.
At the same time, the CC noted the rising anti-communist offensive by the ruling class, aimed at dividing working people at this critical time. One example was provided by Toronto city councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, whose vicious red-baiting was met with sharp condemnation by the CPC and other democratic forces.
Several special resolutions were also adopted by the CC meeting, including a call for increased anti-war actions on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the imperialist occupation of Afghanistan, a statement of solidarity with the "Sisters in Spirit" actions by Aboriginal women's groups, and a demand for public ownership of the steel industry.
One important resolution expresses the CC's view on the difficult situation within the Communist Party USA. The resolution, "Lessons from our History", outlines the struggle two decades ago to block an attempt by the Communist Party of Canada leadership of that time to liquidate the party. This episode, says the resolution, serves as a warning of similar ideological and political debates in today's international communist movement. Voicing agreement with criticisms raised by fraternal communist parties such as the KKE (Greece) and Mexico, the CC resolution warns that the political line of the present CPUSA leadership will objectively lead to its liquidation as a revolutionary working class party. The resolution pledges the CPC's commitment to its fundamental Marxist-Leninist principles, as contained in "The Road to Socialism" and the decisions of party conventions.
The full documents of the CC meeting are available on the Party's website, www.communist-party.ca or www.parti-communiste.ca.
(The above article is from the September 16-31, 2011, 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.)