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February 1-14, 2011
Volume 19 - Number 3
$1
Prolétaires
de tous les pays, unissez-vous!
Otatoskewak ota kitaskinahk mamawestotan!
Workers of all lands, unite
CONTENTS
1) NATIONALIZE U.S. STEEL OPERATIONS IN HAMILTON!
2) LABOUR MELTDOWN
AVERTED, BUT FOR HOW LONG?
3) CAN WE ACCEPT A $172
BILLION REVENUE GAP?
4) CUPW ENTERS TOUGH
BARGAINING
5) SOLIDARITY WITH
TUNISIANS, NOT DICTATORS - Editorial
6) "THIS AIN'T CANADA
RIGHT NOW" - Editorial
7) "HOPE IN
STRUGGLE" AT WORLD YOUTH FESTIVAL
8) THE TUNISIAN
UPRISING: A GREAT VICTORY OF THE PEOPLE
9) STAND BY THE TOILING
PEOPLE OF TUNISIA!
10) AGENT ORANGE
CONTINUES TO CAUSE SUFFERING
11) ROMANIANS SAY
COMMUNISM WAS BETTER THAN CAPITALISM
12) THE IMPENDING
SYSTEMIC CRISIS OF IMPERIALISM
13) MUSIC NOTES
14) UNITY AND MILITANCY:
LABOUR STRUGGLES OF THE 1920s
15) WHAT’S LEFT
16)
CLARTÉ (en français)
17)
THE SPARK! (Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of
18) INTRODUCING MARX
19)
PV MOBILE
PEOPLE'S VOICE FEBRUARY 1-14, 2011 (pdf)
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The Spark!
The Spark! The latest issue of The Spark! theoretical
journal, is now on sale for $5 at Communist Party offices (see p. 8) or People’s
Co-op Books, Articles include
plus reviews, editorials, and more.
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Theoretical
and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of |
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People's Voice deadlines: February 16-28 March 1-15 Send submissions to PV Editorial Office,
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REDS
ON THE WEB |
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People's Voice finds many "Global Class Struggle" reports at the "Labour Start" website, http://www.labourstart.org/. We urge our readers to check it out! |
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(The following articles are from the Feb.
1-14, 2011, issue of People's
1) NATIONALIZE
By Liz Rowley
Fifty busloads and hundreds of cars and vans from all over
The "People vs. US Steel" rally is
to support 900 locked-out Local 1005 members, as well as 9,000 retirees whose
pensions will be de‑indexed if
US Steel also contracted with the Canadian
government, through Investment
Under pressure to protect steelworkers and the
Canadian steel industry, the federal government finally acted ‑ three
years after the deal was signed. Predictably, the company's response is that
the three-year term has expired, and it is no longer bound by the Investment
But Stelco was the last Canadian steelmaker to
be sold off to a foreign transnational corporation, and public opinion
supported the union's demand that the government hold US Steel to account.
Finally, the Attorney General sued US Steel in
a proceeding likely to go on for some time. Local 1005 and Lakeside Steel (a
competitor interested in purchasing the
In the court proceedings, the company has
acknowledged engaging in price fixing - filling Canadian orders with steel
imported from its
One of the biggest "costs" is at the
The century-old steel operations were
originally set up by what became the Steel Company of
This is the "Spirit of 1946" that
Local 1005 President Rolf Gerstenberger and the local union executive invoke in
the current struggle. Gerstenberger says the fight is not only about pensions
and collective bargaining, but about having a domestic industry to produce
steel for Canadian manufacturing and secondary industry. Nation‑building,
as the union calls it, or Canadian sovereignty and independence by another
name.
As the union correctly points out,
This cannot be left in the hands of a foreign
multinational interested only in profits, willing to blow off Canadian laws and
squeeze Canadian prices and production through illegal price-fixing and mill
closures, layoffs, and now flaunting provincial labour laws by refusing to
bargain a collective agreement with Local 1005. This
is politics at a high level. The company's clear message: stop us if you can.
The union's message: we will mobilize the people of
The union is doing its best to alert the
labour movement and to invite all those concerned with
After the earthquakes in the auto and auto
parts industries following the loss of the Auto Pact a decade ago, the
de-industrialization of Ontario and Quebec, and the vicious attacks on wages,
pensions and living standards in the private and public sectors, the time for
real political and economic change is overdue.
Nationalization under public control is what
governments at all levels should be addressing and implementing, says the
Communist Party. This must include key sectors: basic steel, energy and natural
resources, banking. Further, this must include production of a small,
fuel-efficient, environmentally sustainable Canadian car, as part of a
transportation plan to build rolling stock in
This is how to put the country back to work.
But since governments don't represent Canadian
interests, or Canadian workers, escalating mass, independent labour political
action must force governments to act. It will take the expanding action of the
whole community and the whole labour movement to win the struggle in
The pending federal election offers an
opportunity to make the lockout and the government's abysmal record a central
issue. Defeating the Tories would send a strong message to a new government
that Canadian sovereignty, an industrial strategy for
(Rowley is the
2) LABOUR MELTDOWN AVERTED, BUT FOR
HOW LONG?
By Sam Hammond
The dispute that NUPGE has been nursing with the CLC since 2005 or
perhaps longer, over the issue of raiding, motivated National President
James Clancy to announce in November 2010 that his union would withdraw from
the central labour body January 1st, 2011. The first shock wave was felt in
The BC Fed wisely decided that until January 1
they were affiliates and should be seated. Unfortunately, CUPE did not agree
and pulled 300 or so delegates from the Convention, although CUPE's largest
affiliate, the Health Employees
On the NUPGE website the reasons, as they see
them, for the withdrawal are articulated in a commentary, "NUPGE ‑
CLC dispute over raiding" presented by James Clancy. There is also a
discussion paper, "A Vision for the Future of Labour Centrals in
On January 5, the crisis was temporarily
halted when NUPGE was apparently invited into a conference call of the CLC
leadership and a deal was worked out. Although speculation on the content of
that discussion is running wild across the country, apparently the withheld per
capita will be paid and NUPGE intends to be seated at the next CLC Convention
in May 2011.
Whatever criticism or charges of
irresponsibility could be laid, it is now time for a breath of relief that a
major tragedy has been forestalled. But for how long?
The emergence of what has come to be known as
"business trade unionism" went through several stages since the early
1900s in the
In 1956, shortly after the AFL and CIO
compromised and re‑united into the AFL‑CIO, the TLC and CCL merged
into the Canadian Labour Congress. These mergers maintained both the business
union models and the newer and more progressive industrial union models.
Over the years business trade unionism has
developed and changed. While absolutist or stereotypical definitions are too
rigid, it is true to say that business trade unionism has penetrated the old
industrial unions and has a presence in their organizational and programmatic
operations.
The public sector unions, which emerged in the
late 1950s and continue to evolve and shape the labour movement, were born into
an environment where business unionism was already an expanding factor.
Although not business unions as such, they are definitely affected by its
strong presence. In some of their competitive struggles with each other, these unions
have adopted its ideology by some degree.
The lines of demarcation are blurred also by
the privatization of public sector jobs. In a struggle to maintain and
represent their members, public sector unions are forced into the private
sector, in turn becoming a target for opportunist raiding from some private
sector, even industrial, unions.
The left-oriented class conscious workers,
especially communists, who organized most of the large private sector unions,
were battered into a minority by a combination of the McCarthyite capitalist
state, the Cold War and the business union rejection of class struggle. The
problems of trade union unity, or the lack of it, can be traced back to the
attack on the class conscious left.
In the late '50s, raiding emerged in the
Canadian Labour movement as an instrument of anti‑communism inspired by
the McCarthyite attack on everything to the left, especially within the labour
movement.
This condition was imported into
Raiding as an instrument of pro-capitalist
interests to smash and divide was imported into the labour movement. This was
the biggest boost that opportunism and class collaboration had received, firmly
entrenching them as a feature expressed in business trade unionism.
Over the years the changing production methods
of industry and the resulting changing structure of the industrial working
class, the attack on trade unionism that escalated after the destruction of the
socialist states, and the de‑industrialization of large sections of our
country, have posed very serious problems for the trade union movement. The
loss of industrial jobs, the break‑up of large production units and the
hostile environment of the global neo‑liberal agenda, have depleted the
sector density of industrial and transport unions, and shifted the ratios in
favour of the public sector unions.
The private sector unions, because of the
dominance of business unionism, did not commit all their resources to fighting
back. They did not commit their treasuries to organizing the unorganized, or
restructure to reflect the new class demographics or replenish militancy. Where
it was easiest, workers were organized. If the numbers were too few, they were
turned away as "too costly" to represent with an insufficient dues
base.
Some unions began to lean towards the model of
self perpetuation, to maintain income and financial investment. The instrument
of raiding to maintain membership, the infusion of competition to lure workers,
the provider‑client relationship between leadership and membership, are
the conditions of business unionism. The provider-client relationship also
spawns the tendency of memberships to shop for unions, rather than shaping
their own to their needs.
Sector organizing and concentration has gone
largely by the boards. Steelworkers try to organize banks, public sector unions
and auto unions try to organize casinos, and are raided by Teamsters who have
largely left the transportation sector. Every large union moves to becoming a
labour centre competing with the others. Dragged more and more into the
impossible job of arbitrating disputes, while being ideologically neutralized
by warring affiliates, the CLC is ineffective in the real class struggle.
Fortunately this bleak picture, this bourgeois
model, is not and never will be complete. There are many fine trade union
officials in
The meltdown was prevented. That is wonderful,
but the conditions which threatened the cohesion of the CLC, and would have
bankrupted most Provincial Federations, severely damaged the
Raiding and competition will destroy labour or
turn it into an instrument of corporate capital. Raiding and competition are
spawned in opportunist leadership, and are a threat to the ability of working
people to form unified resistance and defense against the global onslaught. The
danger is imminent, and time is very short.
This last dispute was patched up. Thank
goodness the ship is still afloat but the patches are only temporary.
A general exchange of ideas in the People's Voice would be very healthy and
informative. Please consider this, dear readers.
3) CAN WE ACCEPT A $172 BILLION
REVENUE GAP?
By Kimball Cariou
For the political left, it sounds like a gift from a distant relative; apparently,
the next federal election will be fought over the issue of corporate wealth.
Stephen Harper and his chest-thumping Tories are ready to go the wall for their
right to keep slashing taxes for the benefit of big capital.
What a golden (excuse the pun) opportunity to
point out to working class voters that this will keep making the rich richer,
at the expense of the rest of us. Even voters who lean to the right may
question the Tory "deficit cutting" mantra, since Harper's gang are inflating
the deficit by reducing revenues, and ratcheting up spending on boondoggles
like the $16 billion fighter-jet purchase.
Ironically, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff
has grabbed the headlines, courageously pledging to resist moves for further
corporate tax cuts, down to 15% by next year. Ignatieff refrains from
mentioning that it was the Chretien/Martin Liberals who started slashing the
federal tax rate on corporate profits, which stood at 29% just over a decade
ago.
The NDP's Jack Layton does seem to realize
that this issue may resonate with Canadian workers, who remain battered and
shell-shocked from the global capitalist crisis. But the NDP has also signalled
that they may vote for a Tory budget which includes the next corporate tax
cuts. And the Greens, sadly, refuse to sound too critical of big business these
days.
That leaves it up to the Communist Party of
Think what this could mean for the federal
treasury. First, here are some figures to help comprehend the scale of the
corporate tax rip-off and the blatant transfer of wealth to the rich.
Just eight years ago, net corporate profits in
Remember, these figures don't include inflated
paycheques for CEOs. For example, Robert Gratton, CEO of Power Corp., received
$173.2 million in compensation in 2004, including $169.4 million in profits
from stock options.
However, wages in 1992 were 55.2% of GDP. By
2005, they had fallen to only 50.2%. That 5.2% difference represented a decline
of $71.3 billion in the share of GDP represented by wages in 2005.
And then things got worse. Heading into the
economic crisis of September 2008, profits kept skyrocketing, past the $250
billion mark per year. During the third quarter of 2008 alone, corporations
raked in an astounding $77 billion in pre-tax profits.
This profiteering hit a speed bump in 2009,
dipping about one-third thanks to the global capitalist meltdown, to slightly
below $200 billion - almost double the record set in 2003! Since then, profits
have ballooned again, hitting $61.5 billion for the third quarter of 2010.
Analysts project that corporate profits may zoom past $300 billion or more
within a year or two.
We have no crystal ball to forecast the
future, although we can say with certainty that the cycle of booms and busts is
built into the fabric of capitalism. It's also clear that the recent global
crisis is far from over, considering the ongoing currency wars and the enormous
levels of consumer and government debts.
But even if Canadian corporate profits
stabilized at about $250 billion over the next five years, consider what the
Liberal/Tory tax cuts will mean. The 29% rate advocated by the Communist Party
would bring in about $360 billion in total revenue. But the 15% rate set to
take effect next year would mean just $188 billion. That's a gap of $172
billion over the lifetime of one majority government - enough to lift millions
of Canadians out of poverty, to build homes for everyone, to dramatically
upgrade transit systems and cut greenhouse gas emissions, to make post-secondary
education and apprenticeship programs free for young Canadians.
There are other ways to calculate the net
outcome. Progressive economist Erin Weir notes the Finance
The ruling class argues that cutting corporate
taxes is "good for the economy". A new 36‑page report released
by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters says "corporate tax cuts create
jobs, boost investment and they make
But tax cuts to profitable businesses will not
necessarily increase investment or jobs. In fact, corporations are driven to
invest in labour-saving technology in order to cut costs and boost profits.
This explains why millions of Canadian and
Weir also notes another reason why the tax
cuts are ineffective at providing their supposed benefits.
"Much of the revenue forgone by Canadian
governments will flow not to enterprises operating in
Cutting corporate tax rates is good for a
handful of wealthy investors, but not for working people. That theme should be
driven home on the campaign trail, whenever the election is finally called.
(Kimball Cariou was the
Communist candidate in
4) CUPW ENTERS TOUGH BARGAINING
PV Vancouver Bureau
Facing resistance by
"We've taken this action because Canada
Post has to move from its hardline position on demanding significant concessions
from our members, even while it continues to post profits and spend money on
technological changes," said Denis Lemelin, national president and chief
negotiator for the union.
Management also insists on new work methods
that the union considers unsafe, based on huge problems and disruptions of mail
service in
One element of this round of bargaining is the
struggle to win equality for rural postal workers. Despite the Harper
government's claim to speak for the interests of rural Canadians, these workers
have lesser vacation times, sick leave, and maternity and adoption benefits
than their counterparts in the urban system. They are required to pay 50% of
drug plan premiums, when other
CUPW held "days of action" rallies
across the country in late January. A message from Denis Lemelin to union
members stresses that "By sticking together we can negotiate a good
collective agreement that provides equality, respect and the sharing of the
benefits of new technology."
In his New Year 2011 message, Lemelin pointed
out that "the struggles we are waging now at
"We've been saying since 2008 that we
will not be made to pay for a financial and economic crisis that was caused by
multinational corporations and their insatiable appetites for maximum profits.
We are the ones who, as workers, produce the goods and services required for
society as a whole. That needs to be recognized."
5) SOLIDARITY WITH TUNISIANS, NOT
DICTATORS - Editorial
People's Voice Editorial
The news that relatives of
Contrast Canada's welcome mat for these
wealthy crooks with the response to Roma people fleeing racism and persecution,
Mexicans and other Latinos escaping the violence and poverty of their
homelands, or Tamils who arrived here in the wake of Sri Lanka's devastating
civil war. The Harper Tories have used these refugees as scapegoats to whip up
racism and chauvinism, in an attempt to sow divisions at a time when working
class unity is vital to resist corporate attacks.
Acting in solidarity with the rich and
powerful everywhere, the Harper government has shamefully refused to welcome
the overthrow of Ben Ali, or to join other countries in freezing the assets of
the dictator's clique.
But working people across
6) "THIS AIN'T
People's Voice Editorial
It seems that police these days have difficulty in grasping a simple
concept: people who witness brazen violations of civil rights often record
these incidents for everyone else to see.
One such case concerns Officer 815, AKA Sgt.
Mark Charlebois, videotaped searching protesters last June 27 near the St.
Andrew TTC Station in
Another (we could list dozens) happened
recently in Kelowna, where an RCMP officer was filmed kicking Buddy Tavares in
the face after a phone call reporting that the victim had been sighted firing a
shotgun. Turns out Tavares actually works at the nearby golf course, scaring
geese away from the greens. Instead of admitting that the officer had made a
big mistake, the RCMP quickly invented a tall tale about domestic abuse.
Both officers are "under
investigation", still receiving their paycheques. Nobody knows what the
outcome will be. The fact is that police seem to be immune from prosecution for
violating civil rights. So, are we still living in
7) "HOPE IN STRUGGLE" AT
WORLD YOUTH FESTIVAL
A delegation of forty young workers and students from
across Canada travelled to South Africa last December for the World Festival of
Youth and Students - two weeks of conferences, sports, music, and politics
under the slogan of "Let's defeat imperialism: for peace, solidarity and
social transformation!" People's Voice coverage of the Festival continues
with this report on the issues of social transformation and
By Johan Boyden
My partner and I are sitting in our living room, taken over by
suitcases. Mixed between bags, hats, and clothes are posters, magazines,
address cards, and stacks of papers and pamphlets in Arabic, French,
Vietnamese, Spanish, and other languages. The mess of slogans and dirty socks
spills over the floor. The gift of a carved wooden statue has broken open. A
fine rain of tiny dead insects has fallen like dust in one corner.
We are not just making a two‑week
laundry pile. We are unpacking memories, making sense of two weeks spent in
another continent, another pace of living, another setting of political
discourse. We are not returning from a holiday, but from an intense and unique
experience. Looking out our dark winter window there is a silent shine of snow
and Christmas lights. Less than seventy‑two hours ago we were in
African dawn
"I remember that morning, the last
morning we were in
We stayed in modern university dorms, a maze‑like
complex of towers. Sometimes the music and partying seemed to reverberate
through the brick buildings.
"At 6:30 I was woken again by the bird
noises, probably peacocks. It was already light outside. I stood at my window
and I could see the full sweep of countryside."
I also remember that landscape. From the small
single‑story township buildings over on one hill, we could see four grey
wide-mouthed smoke‑stack towers of a local factory. More and more
buildings poked out of then green trees of the humid, subtropical climate, and
then were swept away under a pinky‑blue hue of low cloud.
Finally skyscrapers rose out of the cloud,
catching the sun, marking the financial district of downtown
Contrasts and struggle
The African continent is the birthplace of
humanity. Using binoculars we might have seen the United Nations Heritage site,
with some of the oldest hominid skeletons in the world. Millions of years have
moved over these lands where the festival came together. The last few hundred
have forged a new society, giving birth to a generation whose parents overcame
one of the most brutal regimes in human history: apartheid.
Look close at modern
"I was really taken by the spirit of the
young people despite what they were facing, their sense of community and
optimism," another delegate tells me over a bad cell‑line from
Each day in the streets between the conference
halls a chorus of chanting voices could be heard. Bold and rich, they were the
combined singing, clapping, crying and stomping of the militant harmonies of
anti‑apartheid struggle songs.
Re‑naming, re‑claiming
Except for the downtown, the
A struggle of re‑claiming is taking back
a country where many signs and names are still in English or Afrikaans. Now
there are over ten official languages in
"That means that if you are in a meeting
or a conference or something, and you start speaking your language, nobody says
`why is she doing that?'" explains Siphelele `Sphelly' Xulu, the residence
advisor where we stayed. "When I came, the white and black girls didn't
sleep in the same dorm rooms. We changed that."
Our building was a women's student residence.
The framed photos of sports teams in the halls illustrated Sphelly's story. The
photos go back to about 1994, the year of the first elections with universal
suffrage. In the first photos we see only white students smiling. Then black
women appear, but stand separately. Recent photos show young women huddled
together. Yet while today white people make up less than 20% of the population,
they are still significantly over‑represented in post‑secondary
education.
Free education
"When Apartheid was defeated and the
negotiations went on, the new constitution gave people the right to vote. We
won many of the demands of the Freedom Charter but not the land, not the
economy."
The speaker is from the South African Student
Congress. She is contextualizing the current struggle for free education during
an inter‑exchange meeting of students.
"Many lands were privatized," she
explains. "Large territories held by the apartheid government were taken
out of public ownership and given to private individuals. Even this Fair
Grounds is no longer public. To hold this event, this festival, we must enrich
a private individual."
In the South African context, what featured
large in the Festival debates over social transformation was the question of
free education. "Denial of education, ignorance, is a form of
oppression," a leader of the African National Congress Youth League,
Julius Malema, said in a speech to a mass arena.
You could sense the South African youth
listening closely to his words, catching his fiery rhetoric. They would discuss
his ideas and personality later. Malema is not without controversy. The next
speaker would be the Youth League president. Malema turned some heat on his
leader, making a passing criticism of the ANC government's work in this area.
National Democratic Revolution
Officially, the promise is to implement free
education for first‑year university, and then the first degree in
President Jacob Zuma's current term. Announcements have been made, but many
speakers insist they are too far from the objective. Already the discussion
about full emancipation is going further, to the question of ownership of the
economy.
Malema's call is to also nationalize the
mines. Mining investments have driven South African capitalist development for
decades. In the 1960s,
What everyone was describing comes under a
grand banner: the National Democratic Revolution. A brave, tortuous, difficult
process of winning freedom for
Bumps in the road
In the context of the economic crisis, does nationalization
mean enriching new black capitalists, some of whom have mistakenly purchased
mines exhausted of minerals? Malema himself is a wealthy businessman, a
striking contradiction that has drawn sharp criticism from the major labour
union central, the Congress of South African Trade Unions. Profiteering on the
side from government contracts and corruption is an endemic problem inherited
from apartheid.
Even at the festival, poor distribution of
food left many delegates hungry on some days. COSATU publicly called for an
independent audit of the organizing committee's finances. In a small way we
lived these contradictions, these bumps along the road. More serious were
problems like sexual harassment and sexism in the festival, a topic for a
subsequent article.
AFRICOM
In a festival unique for its significant
participation of African delegations ‑ over 300 youth came from countries
like Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and large numbers from Libya, Zambia,
Western Sahara, Swaziland, and Morocco ‑ the question of the next step
after de‑colonization came forward in different ways.
In the seminars, workshops and anti‑imperialist
tribunal, there was a kind of consensus, an agreement woven around grievances
against imperialism, the system that creates wars where rape is a weapon of
mass horror, establishes a US military base system in Africa, and still makes
off with the continent's resources and wealth on a vast scale.
Zimbabwe literally marched into the festival,
over 300 youth clad in green sports track suits and bright yellow hats,
announcing they will never again be a colony, fists in the air. Their
country faces hard sanctions by
The sanctions make it difficult for farmers to
get basic tools like fertilizer. "We disagree over the approach to
political dissent, such as of the labour movement," a representative from
the Young Communist League of South Africa tells me, noting that right-wing
opposition forces in Zimbabwe receive support from the United States. "But
we agree on the necessity of the land reform and the need to end the
sanctions."
In bi‑lateral discussions, the
Likewise
What next?
Where is
And here was a lesson, perhaps something we
could all relate to ‑ that even in moments that may seem bleak, there is
hope in struggle.
"We have had enough of this all, now we
have to get rid of capitalism" another delegate tells me. "This is
the policy of my union. We need socialism. We need control over our
economy."
Precise definitions, theories of different
models of socialism, of tactics and strategy ‑ these questions were on
the sidelines. The main concern of delegates was a break with imperialism. In
this sense we discussed social transformation at the Festival, within, you
might say, a broad sentiment against war and racism, and for our countries to
seek out a new destiny, one of democracy, solidarity, sovereignty and peace.
8) THE TUNISIAN UPRISING: A GREAT
VICTORY OF THE PEOPLE
Excerpts from the Jan. 16 declaration by the Tunisian Patriotic
and Democratic Labour Party
The Patriotic and Democratic Labour Party greets the people of Tunisia
for the prodigious work which it carried out by taking part in the general
uprising whose first spark burst in Sidi Bou Zid with the martyrdom of young
Mohammed Bouazizi, and which led to the fall of the dictator Ben Ali.
This uprising was truly a popular general
movement, initiated by the people and carried out by the people. Today, after
the escape of the tyrant and the fall of the most extreme elements of his
system, the Party makes a point of stressing the following tasks and urgent
points:
1. To mobilize all forces to bring to an end the plundering and terror
being carried out by the criminal gangs in the service of the most extreme
sectors of the Ben Ali regime.
2. To support and widen the "Citizens' Civil Defence
Committees" which have been formed in the districts to protect the
citizens and to ensure the safety of people and goods.
3. To mobilize all the means of the State to restore safety, so that
the army and police force can return to barracks.
4. To quickly create a national commission of inquiry on the recourse
to the shootings with live rounds; to pursue the persons responsible; to
replace the prefects, under‑prefects.
5. To quickly create a national commission of inquiry on corruption and
illegal enrichment, and to give it all the necessary means to pursue those who
acted in a manner to expropriate goods the acquired in an illegal way and of
restoring all seized goods to their owners.
6. To quickly create a national committee of democratic foundation, to
break with the iniquitous system which prevailed from 1955 to 2011, and to
found a new system that will guarantee freedom, guarantee transparent
elections, and consolidate the progressive gains that the people obtained by
virtue of the struggle.
7. To demand that the provisional Government answers the claims of the
protest movement of the people and the youth for coordination with the trade‑union
centre (UGTT) and the living forces of the country, and shuns the diktats of
the European Union about the liberalization of the economic exchanges and
services.
8. To demand that the provisional government recognizes the Patriotic
and Democratic Labour Party immediately, as well as all other parties and civil
organizations.
9. To call upon the provisional Government to cut the bonds between RCD
party and the State, and to immediately restore to the public domain the goods
which this party seized.
10. To demand that the provisional government offers all necessary
facilities to the Union of Students, the trade union of the journalists, the
association of the magistrates and the league of human rights so that they
provide structure to the citizens, and maintain the destiny of the country in
the hands of Tunisians, far from the interference of the foreign hegemonic
forces.
11. The Party declares that it will exert, in the connection of the
provisional government, a policy of positive critical opposition.
12. The Party affirms that it will continue to consolidate its
relationships with all national, democratic and progressive forces within a
framework of the struggle against imperialism, Zionism and reaction, for
national sovereignty, democracy and progress.
The Party thanks all those in the Arab world
and the in whole world who supported the struggle of our people and thus helped
it to carry out this great victory.
(While not a
Marxist-Leninist party, the Tunisian Patriotic and Democratic Labour Party has
warm relations with the South African Communist Party, and attended the 2nd
Conference for Democracy in Africa and the 1st Forum of Left movements in
Africa, organized by the SACP.)
9) STAND BY THE TOILING PEOPLE OF
Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Party
of Turkey on the ongoing developments in Tunisia
The Communist Party of
The Communist Party of
The dictatorial practices of the Bin Ali
regime are not unique, neither in the world nor in the
In order to maintain its hegemony in all
territories, imperialism gives support to many dictators like Bin Ali. Yet, the
same imperialism is also shifting its support rapidly whenever such political
figures fail to serve its interests further or become a hindrance to its
hegemony. It is evident that such imperialist manipulations have played a role
in the events ongoing in
In this respect, the revelation of the former
commander of general staff Rashed Ammar, receiving instructions minute by
minute from the U.S. embassy after the events broke out, is just an example of
such manipulation attempts. Likewise, the intrigues to plant a "new"
government that will brag about the so‑called "democratization"
of the country while pursuing the same pro‑market and Americanist
policies with the Bin Ali regime can be seen in this context as well.
However, the "intifada of the poor"
has given this game away. The revolt of the people and the struggle of the
progressive forces rendered the temporary government obsolete, which hastily
strives to hold an election without taking any significant step towards a
genuine change, and in which the officers of Bin Ali actively take part.
Moreover, the demands and actions of the progressive forces against looting
events that are intentionally organized to undermine the legitimacy of the
people's movement circumvented the acts of imperialism and the capitalist rule
in
In the heart of the events in
We declare our support to the demands of the
progressive forces of
Long live the intifada of the poor! Long live
socialism!
Communist Party of
10) AGENT
By Stephen Von Sychowski
The
Among these moving presentations was that of
the Vietnamese youth, who told of the terrible consequences of the chemical
substance Agent Orange, used between 1967 and 1971 by the
Agent Orange, code named for the orange
barrels in which it was shipped, was used as a herbicide and defoliant. The
chemical was used to remove the cover provided by forests to Vietnamese
liberation fighters, and to destroy crops in order to force peasants towards
the US‑dominated cities. The goal was to deprive the guerilla forces of
their base of support and food supplies in the countryside.
The
This alone would have made the use of Agent
Orange a crime against humanity and an act of terrorism, considering the mass,
indiscriminate use of dangerous chemicals on civilian populations. But Agent
Orange also includes a highly toxic dioxin compound called 2,3,7,8‑Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin.
About 4.8 million Vietnamese people were
exposed to Agent Orange. More than 400,000 people were killed, injured, or
disabled, and over 500,000 children were born with birth defects due to the
exposure of their parents. Some 1.5 million refugees were forced into the slums
of
Survivors, and their descendants, continue to
suffer from birth defects and deformities, high rates of cancer and skin
diseases, and other illnesses. Dioxin continues to turn up in the breast milk
and blood of South Vietnamese people. Dioxin- contaminated soil continues to
menace food and water supplies. The
The spraying of forests deeply harmed the
ecology of
Vietnamese complaints were ignored until 2002,
when the
In 2006, George W. Bush promised cooperation
with
In June 2010, a joint panel of
The use of Agent Orange was a crime against
both humanity and the environment. The efforts of
Today, the
11) ROMANIANS SAY COMMUNISM WAS BETTER
THAN CAPITALISM
From a commentary first posted on the 21st Century
Socialism website, by James Cross, October 2010
According to a recent poll conducted in
Conducted by the Romanian polling organisation
CSOP, the survey found that over 49% of respondents agreed that life was better
under the late Communist leader Nicolae Ceaucescu, while only 23% think that
life is better today. The remainder gave a neutral or `don't know' answer.
The reasons given by the participants for
their positive evaluation of the communist period were mainly economic, with
the availability of jobs cited by 62% and decent living conditions by 26%; the
provision of housing for all was referred to by 19%.
The survey was sponsored by the government‑funded
IICMER (the Institute for Investigating the Crimes of Communism and the Memory
of Romanian Exile), in order to help guide the institute in its work to
`educate' the population about the evils of communism. Among the most bitter
disappointments for that organisation were the answers given to a question
which asked whether the participants or their families had suffered under the
communist system.
A mere 7% of respondents said they had
suffered under communism, with a further 6% asserting that although they
personally had not suffered, a family member had suffered. Again, the reasons
given were mainly economic, with most of the small group who had direct or
family experience of suffering under Communist Party rule citing the shortages
which occurred in the 1980s when
Putting their best spin on the outcome of the
survey, the IICMER noted that pluralities of those polled (41% and 42%
respectively) agreed with the statements that the communist regime was criminal
or illegitimate. A substantial minority (37% and 31%) explicitly disagreed with
those propositions and the rest were neutral or gave no opinion...
Before the communists took power in
Achieving power following the Soviet victory
against Nazi
Buoyed by these successes, the government led
by Nicolae Ceaucescu went into debt during the 1970s, buying expensive
industrial equipment from the West to increase the country's economic growth
rate on the expectation that Western countries would increase their imports
from
In its analysis of the poll results, IICMER
noted that Romanians are far from alone in their generally positive evaluation
of 20th Century communism. According to a survey carried out in several Central
and East European countries in 2009 by the US‑based Pew Research Center,
the proportion of people in former socialist nations who take the view that
life under capitalism is worse than it was during the period of communist power
is as follows: Poland, 35%; Czech Republic, 39%; Slovakia, 42%; Lithuania, 42%;
Russia, 45%; Bulgaria, 62%; Ukraine, 62%; Hungary, 72%.
Particulary significant in the results of the
2010 CSOP/IICMER poll in Romania is that, as they acquire more experience of
life under the `market economy' people are becoming more negative about
capitalism and positive about communism. In the previous poll in 2006, 53%
expressed a favourable opinion about communism; the 2010 survey showed that 61%
are favourable towards communism.
The CSOP's survey findings are not altogether
surprising in view of what has taken place since capitalism was reintroduced ‑
increased poverty, the rise of unemployment and insecurity. Romania's health
system is currently in crisis, and public sector workers have recently had
their pay cut by 25%.
Information on the poll: 1133 people aged 15
and over were interviewed between Aug. 27 and Sept. 2, 2010. Interviews were
conducted based on a standardized questionnaire, face to face at home. Margin
of error: 2.9%.
12) THE IMPENDING SYSTEMIC CRISIS OF
IMPERIALISM
By Sitaram Yechury
Quite apart from the periodical crisis that will continuously erupt
under neo‑liberal globalisation, a much graver systemic crisis is
impending. The
Irrespective of such might, a crisis will,
necessarily, follow because in order to maintain the stability of its currency,
the
This is because the dollar is the stable
medium of wealth holding. This also happens because the
As of October 16, 2009, the total deficit of
the
This is not an inherently stable situation because
those holding the dollar would sooner than later wish to trade them for more
lucrative
The indications of this are already unfolding
with the dollar having lost over 11 percent in recent months. In order to
stabilise itself and the global capitalist economy, the US will now increase
the pressures on countries which hold huge amounts of its currency, like China
and other Asian economies, to revalue their currencies upwards in order to
cushion its own burgeoning current account deficits. This, in turn, if it were
to happen, would lead to a slump in the latter economies. Even if the
Therefore, irrespective of how the current
crisis is overcome, a major systemic crisis for world capitalism is in the
offing. The
Marx once remarked that the stability of a
ruling class is ensured only by the extent to which it presses the best minds
of the subordinate and exploited classes in its service. As both Marx and
Engels pointed out, the ruling ideas of any epoch are the ideas of the ruling
classes. The ideological war to establish the intellectual hegemony of
imperialism and neo‑liberalism has been on the offensive during this
period. Aided by this very process of globalisation and the vastly elevated
levels of technologies, there is convergence of information, communications and
entertainment (ICE) into mega-corporations.
For instance, the mega-publishing corporation Time had earlier merged with the
entertainment giant Warner Bros. The information giant American Online Ltd
(AOL) has now acquired Time‑Warner at a cost of $164 billion to become
the largest ICE conglomerate in the world. Rupert Murdoch now commands a
combined news, entertainment and internet enterprise which is valued at $68
billion. Likewise, Walt Disney has now acquired Marvel (of Spider‑Man
fame).
Culture here acts not as an appeal to the
aesthetic, but as a distraction, diversion from pressing problems of poverty
and misery. The cultural products that are universally created are bombarded
across the world garnering phenomenal profits.
This monopolisation of the sphere of human
intellectual activity and the control over dissemination of information through
the corporate media is a salient feature of this period that seeks to
continuously mount an ideological offensive against any critique or alternative
to capitalism.
Viewed in terms of class hegemony, the culture
of globalisation seeks to divorce people from their actual realities of day to
day life. Culture here acts not as an appeal to the aesthetic, but as a
distraction, diversion from pressing problems of poverty and misery.
Though imperialism has strengthened its
hegemony and heightened its multifaceted offensive all across the globe, as we
have discussed earlier, it is on the brink of a systemic crisis which could
prove far graver and more encompassing than the current global recession.
However, irrespective of the intensity of the
crisis, capitalism does not automatically collapse. It needs to be overthrown.
An erroneous understanding only blunts the need to constantly sharpen and
strengthen the revolutionary ideological struggle of the working class and its
decisive intervention under the leadership of a party wedded to Marxism‑Leninism
- the subjective factor without which no revolutionary transformation is
possible.
This period has also seen the rising
resistance to such growing imperialist hegemonic efforts. But it must be noted
that much of the struggles launched by the working class and the exploited
sections have essentially been defensive in nature, i.e., defending their
existing rights from greater encroachment by neo‑liberalism. Resistance
in the nature of mounting the assault on the rule of capital is yet to take a
decisive shape.
In Latin America, the sharp rise in the
distress caused by neo‑liberalism has led to big movements of resistance
that have resulted in electoral victories of the anti‑neo‑liberal
forces in at least eleven countries. Some like
It is the strengthening of the parties wedded
to Marxism-Leninism along with the sharpening of class struggles through the
mobilisation of popular masses under the leadership of the working class that
the strength and success of the International Communist movement in the 21st
century will be determined.
Sitaram Yechury is
a member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of
Steelworker Remo Cino sings for
Hamilton
At a time when locked‑out Hamilton steelworkers are on the front
line of a fight crucial to all Canadian working people, one of their union
brothers has recorded a powerful song, set it to an equally strong video and
posted it on YouTube, where it's received almost 10,000 views. Remo Cino worked
for 10 years at the former Stelco plant until he was laid off in November 2008.
Sometime later at the union hall he heard a child read a poem that moved him to
write "Everything Comes at a Price." The song touches a lot of bases:
the feeling of being laid off, the effect on the local economy, the pride of
Lawyer seeks arrests in Victor Jara
murder
A Chilean government lawyer is seeking the arrest of four retired army
officers for the murder of Victor Jara. The renowned folksinger was executed
shortly after the U.S.‑backed coup of September 11, 1973 that overthrew
the socialist government of
Cubans pay homage to John Lennon
On Dec. 8, early risers in
Musicians donate food to
Sound Strike, a musicians' organization that calls for the boycott of
Ochs: There But For Fortune Phil
Phil Ochs, one of the outstanding radical folksingers and songwriters
of the 1960s, is a relatively obscure figure today, but a new film about his
life and times may change that. "Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune"
opened in
Nova Scotia Mass Choir honours Dr.
King
Martin Luther King's birthday, a federal holiday in the USA since 1986,
is celebrated unofficially by many Canadians. On Jan. 15 in
14) UNITY AND MILITANCY: LABOUR
STRUGGLES OF THE 1920s
During 2011, the 90th anniversary of the
Communist Party of
Since its origins, the Communist Party of
The years following 1919 became a period of
"disorderly retreat" and bitter disputes for the labour movement.
Many prominent OBU leaders joined the Communist Party (known publicly as the
Workers' Party until 1924) and supported its stand for wider working class
unity. But others with an anarcho-syndicalist outlook rejected this position,
reflecting the radical views widely held among sections of the working class in
western
At the 1922 Workers' Party convention, this
issue sparked a heated debate, ending with overwhelming endorsation of the call
for broad trade union unity on the basis of industrial unionism and class
struggle policies. While this led to antagonisms between Communist and
anarcho-syndicalists, the eventual outcome was clear. By the end of the decade,
the influence of anarcho-syndicalism had waned, and the OBU became a shadow of
its original self.
Meanwhile, the communist trade unionists
channelled their energies into building the Trade Union Educational League, an
international formation which became active in Canada in April 1922. The TUEL
was not a separate federation or union body, but instead carried out
agitational and educational activities. The program of action adopted by the
Canadian section of the TUEL included 12 key points:
1. Organize the Unorganized Workers for Higher Wages, Shorter Hours.
2. Organize a Powerful Minority Movement Within the Trade Unions.
3. Organize Shop Committees.
4. United Independent Labor Political Action.
5. Canadian Trade Union Autonomy.
6. Affiliation of Every Functioning Trade Union to the Trades and Labor
Congress of
7. Affiliation of Every Local
8. Build a Workers' Press.
9. Nationalization of Industry.
10. Amalgamate the Craft Unions.
11. International Trade Union Unity.
12. The Abolition of Capitalism.
To overcome the impact of the widespread split
in labour, the Communist Party helped to persuade radical workers to support a
"back‑to‑the‑unions" movement, countering the
"mistaken worship of secession" among Canadian radicals. The party's
early organizers were simultaneously the initiators of campaigns to organize
the unorganized, and to reunite in one union workers who had become divided in
the course of the class struggle.
Workers increasingly sought out the advice and
assistance of the Communists. Party leaders like Tim Buck, Annie Buller, Beckie
Buhay and Jeanne Corbin went into every mining camp in
The campaign to reunite the radicals with the
masses of the workers in the old unions had important results. All over
When the convention of District 26, United
Mine Workers of
Not surprisingly, the right-wing leaders of
the craft unions in the TLC actively obstructed campaigns for amalgamation,
Canadian autonomy, and militant policies. One response was the formation in
1927 of the All-Canadian Congress of Labour (ACCL), based mainly among
independent Canadian industrial unions. In other cases, secessionist tendencies
grew within the Canadian sections of unions affiliated to the American
Federation of Labour.
Despite red-baiting and other attacks, left
wing labour activists continued to struggle for unity. But the class
collaborationist approach of the leaders of the TLC and even the ACCL finally
compelled a change of tactics. In 1929, the TUEL was reorganized as the
Workers' Unity League, with a mandate to organize the unorganized into powerful
industrial unions under rank and file control. The stage was set for a new era
in Canadian labour history.
(Continued in
our Feb. 15-28 issue.)
Honour Dr. Darshan Gill, Feb. 6, 2-5 pm, Strawberry Hill Library, Indo Canadian Workers’ Association
and Radio India public meeting to honour secular Punjabi writer Dr. Darshan
Gill. For info, call Gurpreet Singh, 778-862-2454.
Left Film Night, “The Cradle Will Rock,” Tim Robbins film on 1930s cultural upheavals in
Jose Marti Anniversary Celebration, Sun., Jan. 30, 2-5 pm, Peretz Centre, 6184 Ash St. Featuring the
documentary Sin Embargo, on how
Cubans cope with the
Open Pit Imperialism: Canada at Home
and Abroad, launch of “Imperial Canada” with author Todd Gordon, and forum on Canadian mining
companies with Tria Donaldson and Bayron Figueroa (UNRG Canada), Tue., Feb. 1,
7 pm, SFU Harbour Centre 7000, 515 W. Hastings. For info, email antigoldcorp@gmail.com
20th Annual Women’s Memorial
March, honour missing and murdered women,
Monday, Feb. 14, 12 noon at Carnegie
Centre, Main &
Wars, Lies and Wikileaks, Thur., Feb. 17, 7 pm, public forum with Gail Davidson (Lawyers Against War) and Micheal Vonn (BC Civil
Liberties), Room 1800, SFU Harbor Centre (515 W.
COPE Winter Gala, Sat., Feb. 26, 7-11 pm, Coalition of Progressive Electors masquerade
ball at
available), email cope@cope.bc.ca or 604-255-0400.
Keep Resisters in Canada, fundraising dinner Feb. 12, 6 pm, with war resister Joshua Key,
Ethiopian vegetarian food, 411 Cumberland Ave., tickets $20, call KRICC,
792-3371.
Annual Jose Marti Dinner and Dance, Jan. 29, 2011, 7 pm,
Get on the Bus to the “People vs.
Never Again for Anyone, hear Auschwitz survivor Dr. Hajo Meyer, writer Lee Maracle, and Khaled
Mauammar, President of Canadian Arab Federation, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 7-10 pm,
Winchevsky Centre, 585 Cranbrooke Ave., $10 or PWYC. Info: www.neveragainforanyone.com.
Why We Need the Canadian Boat to
Norman Bethune Day Dinner, Sat., Feb. 26, 7 pm, 290 Danforth Ave., tickets $5. Media sponsor People’s Voice. Door prize; one-week
all-inclusive trip for two to
Global Crisis, Fiscal Restraint and
Public-Private Partnerships, 2011 Clarke Memorial Lecture with
John Loxley. 7 pm, Thursday, March 10, Ryerson University, Oakham Lounge, 2nd
floor, 63 Gould St. Co-sponsored by Ryerson CUPE Locals 233, 1281, 3904,
Hospital Unions/CUPE. Info: Bryan Evans at 416-979-5000 x4199.
The People vs.
Get on the Bus, Sat., Jan. 29, join Niagara Labour Council on a free bus to the
“People vs. US Steel” rally at
Whose Security? Countering the
National Security Agenda, Feb. 4-6,
Palestinians And Jews United, Boycott-Disinvestment- Sanctions picket, every Saturday 1-3 pm, outside
Le marcheur at Duluth & St Denis.