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| Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the
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The Spark!
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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, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
Articles
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(Contents)
(Home)
1)
FOR A UNITED, MILITANT AND MASS STRUGGLE
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
May Day 2009
statement from the Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of
Canada
May Day Greetings to working people
around the world, struggling for peace, jobs, economic and social
justice, democracy, equality, sovereignty and socialism!
May Day
Greetings to the workers
in Greece, France, Ireland, the Caribbean islands of Martinique and
Guadeloupe, and other countries who have organized mass political
strikes against the national and transnational corporations (TNCs) and
their governments, which are responsible for global depression, mass
unemployment, hunger and misery.
May
Day Greetings to the people
of Cuba as they celebrate 50 years of working class power in 2009, and
to the people of Vietnam, who survived decades of continuous war to
defeat French, Japanese and finally US imperialism, to achieve working
class power and to build socialism. Holding their own against the power
of US imperialism, their example is helping to create a better world,
where people's needs trump corporate greed. Today, despite US
aggression and the economic blockade, Cuba has become the most
influential state in Latin America, a beacon to those struggling
against imperialism and neo‑colonialism, and a support to countries
embarking on a socialist path.
May Day
Greetings to all those
struggling against imperialism, for national liberation and
self‑determination, including the heroic Palestinian people, and the
people of South Africa, led by the alliance of the ANC, COSATU and the
SACP in their struggle for a non‑racialized and socialist future.
May Day
Greetings to all those
fighting against war and reaction, in particular the US‑led occupations
of Iraq and Afghanistan, where Canada is also deeply involved, to those
campaigning for the abolition of nuclear weapons and for collective
security; and to all those struggling to save our planet from
environmental catastrophe caused by imperialism's predatory
exploitation of nature.
Imperialism's Offensive Against Labour
The economic recession, which is
rapidly descending into global Depression, was caused by the insatiable
greed of the corporations, and by their governments, which adopted
neo‑liberal policies of free trade, privatization, deregulation,
corporate tax cuts, and attacks on labour and democratic rights. The
capitalist meltdown is devastating industries and communities across
Canada, such as auto and steel in Ontario, and forestry in Quebec and
British Columbia.
Deregulation
has freed the
transnational corporations (TNCs) of restraints, enabling them to
trample over national and international laws, risking the health and
security of nations and peoples around the world, with the objective of
increasing their super‑sized profits.
In Canada,
this agenda led to
the listeria outbreak and the Walkerton tragedy, which caused the
deaths of 30 people and permanent injury to hundreds more. In the name
of "cutting red tape", key parts of the health care system,
post‑secondary education, child care, social programs and
transportation have been privatized. The neoliberal drive has paved the
way for TILMA, giving corporations the right to strike down municipal
and provincial laws protecting public assets and programs built up by
labour over generations.
The attack
on civil, human and
democratic rights has gained momentum since the so‑called
"anti‑terrorism" legislation of 2001, in Canada and in other countries,
enabled police to seize people and hold them indefinitely, without
divulging charges or evidence.
The economic
crisis is now being
used to attack labour rights like a sledgehammer. Corporations and
their governments demand trade unions open collective agreements and
accept deep cuts to wages, benefits, and pensions, under threat of
bankruptcy and the loss of all jobs, pensions and benefits. This
union‑busting is happening in all the capitalist countries, carried out
jointly by governments and corporations. The aim is to break the back
of opposition to the massive redistribution of wealth from the pockets
of workers to the bank accounts of the global corporate/capitalist
elite.
Hammer or Anvil?
In Canada, the front line of the
attack on labour is in the manufacturing sector. The union on the line
this spring is the Canadian Auto Workers, traditionally the most
militant private sector union and still the most resistant to
concessions. The CAW is also still outside the Ontario Federation of
Labour, and therefore more vulnerable. Corporations and governments are
trying to turn unorganized, lower‑paid workers against organized
workers, falsely blaming the relatively high wages of unionized
autoworkers for the crisis. This campaign aims to pit worker against
worker, and to blur or erase the class divide between workers and
bosses.
While the
union is weakened by
these factors, and also by a tendency (since the Auto Pact was struck
down in 2001 by the WTO) to accept responsibility for the corporate
bottom line, the CAW has refused to make any further concessions
despite intense pressure from the Harper Tories, the McGuinty Liberals,
Obama and the Democrats, the Big Three automakers, and the unorganized
automakers including Toyota, Honda, and other Asian and European
automakers with plants in Canada.
This is the
cause that all of
labour must rally to, with the understanding that an injury to one, is
an injury to all. But this won't be just an injury. If the corporations
and their governments break the CAW, they set the pattern that federal
Labour Minister Tony Clement wants, a pattern that will break the back
of the trade union movement across Canada. This cannot be allowed to
happen. Labour and its allies must meet the challenge by mobilizing
workers across Canada to take mass independent labour political action
to protect free collective bargaining, which is what the CAW's struggle
now represents.
The ferocity
of the attack on
autoworkers and the CAW, and through them on all unions and all
workers, has exposed capitalism's authoritarian nature. The gloves are
off and the right to free collective bargaining, the right to organize
and strike, and virtually all labour rights are on the line.
Right‑wing, authoritarian governments like the Harper Tories are quite
willing follow the example set by "Iron Heel" Bennett in the Dirty
Thirties, when he attacked workers, jailed their leaders, passed
anti‑labour and anti‑democratic laws. Like RB Bennett, Harper is
prepared to do whatever it takes to save capitalism and corporate
profits.
Labour has
always been the main
target of this right‑wing, reactionary, corporate agenda. They know
that labour is at the core of the resistance to right wing policies,
and is at the core of the counter‑offensive to push forward a people's
agenda. Labour's militant action in France, Greece and in Latin America
and other places, has frightened the right, and made them more
determined to break the labour movement in North America before it too
takes militant political action including general strikes to fightback.
Organize! Educate! Resist!
There is a rich history of working
class struggle in Canada, including the Winnipeg General Strike, which
took place 90 years ago in 1919. In October 1976, labour again took to
the streets in a general strike against wage controls. Labour in
Ontario organized rotating political strikes against the Harris
government in 1996‑97, which were on the verge of becoming
province‑wide before being cut down by right‑wing leadership in the
trade union movement. Since then, sectoral struggles across the
country, especially in the public sector, have become more militant,
and more inclusive of labour's friends and allies. The call by the
Confederation of National Trade Unions in Quebec for widespread
protests on May 1 to fight for jobs and access to Employment Insurance
benefits is an important step in the right direction.
There is no
room for complacency
today. Instead of summit meetings with governments and employers, the
CLC must call together its affiliates and labour's friends and allies
to determine a course of militant, collective and workplace action.
This will open up a mass struggle against the corporate offensive, to
demand a People's Agenda: free collective bargaining, a Canadian auto
industry and manufacturing sector, good jobs and wages for all, secure
pensions, strong and universal Medicare, public and post‑secondary
education, social programs, and child care, massive investment in
affordable housing construction, progressive tax reform to put the load
on the greedy not the needy, fair trade not free trade, serious action
to cut greenhouse gas emissions and protect the environment, withdrawal
from NAFTA, and a foreign policy of peace and disarmament, including
the immediate withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan, reducing
the arms budget by 50% and redirecting to civilian spending.
The NDP
would be a stronger and
more effective opposition in Parliament were it to wholeheartedly adopt
these demands as its own, and support mass action, including strikes
and occupations by workers and unions, and the public, under attack.
For our
part, Communists in the
labour movement will continue to fight for a strong, united and
militant trade union movement and for independent labour political
action in defence of workers jobs, rights and standards.
The
Communist Party will
continue to work to build a strong and broad‑based People's Coalition,
including the labour and democratic movements, Aboriginal peoples, the
womens', seniors', youth and students' movements, and all those forces
opposed to the demolition of free collective bargaining, jobs,
pensions, and living standards, and the social gains of decades of
struggle. A People's Coalition which includes labour, NDPers,
progressive Greens, Quebec Solidaire, the Communist Party, and others
committed to a People's Agenda, can build a powerful front of
resistance, and campaign for a different future for working people in
Canada.
Mass
independent labour
political action in Europe and elsewhere is building up a strong and
united resistance. But it will take international labour unity and
solidarity to move labour and its allies onto the counter‑offensive to
turn back the corporate assault. More than ever the trade union
movement in Quebec and English‑speaking Canada need to raise the banner
of unity in the world trade union movement, advancing a common program
of action between the International Trade Union Confederation and the
World Federation of Trade Unions in defence of workers rights and
interests, and against war and reaction.
Unity,
solidarity and struggle! That's the job on May Day 2009.
2) OPEN FOR BUSINESS: ONTARIO BUDGET 2009
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By Liz Rowley
"This Budget also highlights the
government's recent announcement of Open for Business, an ongoing plan
to make government faster and friendlier for families and businesses,
while still protecting public safety."
This is the
description given in
the McGuinty government's backgrounder to the 2009 Ontario
Budget,
delivered March 26 by Provincial Treasurer Dwight Duncan.
The Harris
Tories would have
been proud to deliver this budget; in fact, Jim Flaherty, former
Ontario Treasurer and current federal Finance Minister, was both doula
and banker at the budget's conception and birth.
This Budget
has three key
features: first, deep corporate tax cuts and sales tax harmonization
that will raise consumption taxes 8% across the board; second,
real‑time funding cuts and the gutting of social programs, health,
public and post‑secondary education, cities, and social assistance that
inevitably follows; and third, rosy prognostications, with projections
that see economic recovery arriving this summer, leading to growth
rates of 3.8% per annum by 2011.
In a secret
agreement signed
earlier this spring between Flaherty and Duncan, the federal government
put up $4.3 billion in subsidies to grease the skids for sales tax
harmonization. Meanwhile, uneasy Liberal backbenchers were being
reassured by Premier Dalton McGuinty that no decisions had been made on
harmonization. The move will raise prices 8% across the board on most
goods and services, and could (and should) cost the Liberals the next
election.
Calling the
measures "tax
reform", the Liberal government has also capitulated to the far‑right
Tory agenda by cutting the corporate income tax (CIT) rate from the
current low of 14% to 12% on July 1, 2010, and to 10% on July 1, 2013.
It will also reduce the CIT on manufacturing and processing from 12% to
10% in 2010, eliminate the small business CIT surtax, and lower the CIT
rate on small business from 5.5% to 4.5% in 2010. The corporate minimum
tax (CMT) on small and medium business will be eliminated, and the CMT
on large corporations will fall from 4% to 2.7% in 2010.
These
unprecedented CIT cuts,
combined with the harmonized sales tax, will cut Ontario's marginal
effective tax rate on new capital investment in half. Ontario's
combined federal‑provincial CIT rate of 25% will be lower than the
average OECD CIT rate. The rate will be 15% lower than the US Great
Lakes states, and 11% below the average combined US manufacturing rate.
The Harris
Tories developed a
corporate tax strategy that they crowed would make Ontario the
jurisdiction with the lowest corporate tax rate in North America. Now
the Liberals' "tax reform" will give Ontario one of the lowest
corporate tax rates in the industrialized world.
That's why
the federal Tories
helped to birth this budget, which will hurt working people in Ontario
just as much as if the Harris government was still in power here.
The
immediate consequences will
be to cut purchasing power and to deepen the recession in Ontario, with
a ripple effect across Canada. An 8% increase in regressive consumption
taxes will cut spending on big items like housing and vehicles, at a
time when car sales have already dropped 40% due to mass unemployment
and income insecurity. The housing market has already dropped
precipitously, and in the Greater Toronto Area, where an average
detached home is already above $350,000, an 8% sales tax increase will
guarantee a further drop in sales.
The 8% tax
grab applies to all
things great and small, ensuring that the working poor and the
unemployed will plunge deeper into poverty. This is cemented by the
budget's 2% increase in social assistance - less than inflation, so
that those on welfare are destined to be even poorer next year.
The day
after the budget, the
Premier mused about reconsidering previously announced increases in the
minimum wage. This was greeted by such a storm of anger that he was
forced to confirm that the minimum wage will indeed rise next year to
$10.25. How is the government selling the budget? With the promise of
tax credits to offset the new sales tax (for an unspecified period),
and the promise of three cheques in the mail to every individual and
family in Ontario through 2009‑10. This is the prescription Mike Harris
used in the late '90s as he slashed health, education and social
programs to fund corporate tax cuts. It worked then as the vicious
Common Sense Revolution rolled out across the province. The Ontario
Liberals and federal Tories hope it will work today.
And then, as
now, there is the
budget promise to reduce the size of the public sector in Ontario by 5%
"through attrition". The government hopes this will appeal
ideologically to the right, and conform to their "P3" agenda on the
delivery of health, education and social programs - public-private
partnerships, or privatization in other words.
In almost
every area, the budget
holds the line, or cuts funding. Schools, hospitals, post‑secondary
institutions, and cities are all at the breaking point. The federal
government's refusal to pony up promised funds for child care will
result in the closure of spaces and centres, since the province has
pulled its funding as well.
For
unemployed workers in the
hard‑hit manufacturing and forestry sectors, there is nothing. Not even
requirements that companies about to receive big bail‑outs must
guarantee jobs and wages, or even continue their operations in Ontario
for a specified time. The government has not dealt with the issue of
companies using bankruptcy to restructure and rid themselves of wage,
benefit and pension obligations to former employees. The unemployed are
on their own.
In a
peculiar twist, the
provincial Tories are opposing this budget, complaining that the
province, like the federal government, is projecting big deficits
through 2016.
In the
pre‑budget consultations,
the Communist Party, the labour and democratic movements all put
forward proposals to help Ontario weather the economic storm, and to
protect workers, the unemployed and the poor, students and seniors,
women, Aboriginals, immigrants, and all working people.
Now is the
time for the OFL to
move into centre stage, pulling together these forces to mount a
fightback against this Liberal/Tory budget. This should be the campaign
that leads labour into the fall OFL convention. This should be the
fight that keeps the right-wing provincial Tories in the political
desert, and helps build the labour, left and progressive forces in
Ontario for a counter‑offensive.
For its
part, the Communist
Party will campaign to expose the great dangers the "tax reform" poses
for working people in Ontario. This is a budget which lurches
dangerously to the right. There's no time to lose.
(Rowley is the Ontario leader of the Communist Party.)
3) INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
May Day 2009
statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions
Brothers, sisters, the WFTU sends
warm militant greetings to the workers, the unemployed, the immigrants,
the women and young people throughout the world and calls you to move
forward on a course of a coordinated and dynamic counter‑attack of the
class-oriented trade union movement to defend our rights and our
achievements.
The true
face of capitalist
globalization is now clear. We see it in the injustice existing in the
world, an unprecedented concentration of wealth in the hands of a few
while the overwhelming majority of people live in poverty. Statistics
prove that 1% of the world's population possess 40% of total wealth
while 50% of world population lives in poverty, owning 1% of the global
wealth. In India, for example, 48 billionaires represent 30% of the
national income!
In the last
meeting of UNCTAD,
an African delegate described the situation in this continent saying
that what is happening now is a real "blood‑transfusion" in the
reverse. The blood is taken from the starving Third World countries and
flows to the advanced capitalist countries to the benefit of
multinationals and monopolies. Today, according to official UN data,
the average life expectancy in African countries such as Zimbabwe is 42
years, in Nigeria and Liberia 41 years, 40 years in Zambia and in
Angola and Sierra Leone 37 years. This picture shows the cruel
exploitation of the Europeans and American imperialists against the
Third World.
Also today,
in the period of
deep capitalist economic crisis that began in the U.S., passed over
into Europe and is spreading worldwide, the ILO estimates that the
number of unemployed will increase from 190 million in 2007 to 210
million in 2009. Workers are losing their jobs in all sectors but
particularly in the construction industry, banking, car‑manufacture,
metal, tourism. Part‑time employment with reduced salaries has become
the rule, worsening of working conditions, attacks on trade union
rights and freedoms, as well as the dramatic impact on migrants who are
forced to return to their countries.
In this
situation, the WFTU and
the class oriented trade unions do not stay with crossed arms. In the
workplaces, in every country, in every industry, we organize the
defence and counter-attack. We promote their just demands. We are in
conflict with the policies of the capitalists.
A very
important initiative of
the WFTU was the International Day of Action organized on April 1, in
55 countries worldwide with strikes, rallies and many other activities.
April 1, the international day of action against exploitation, showed
that workers all over the world, wherever they are, have the power to
develop common action and to walk with confidence in the fight, to be
united and well‑organized to face the exploiters because they have the
right on their side.
Workers,
this year's
International Labour Day should be a day for better organization of our
fight against exploitation. The crisis must be paid by those who have
caused it, not by the workers. Lay‑offs must stop and measures taken
now for the unemployed and the dismissed. They and their families have
also the right to live.
The WFTU
calls the workers and
trade unions around the world, to show confidence in their forces. We
can succeed. We can follow another way. The example of the Cuban
Revolution is bright. Fifty years they have beaten the imperialists,
fifty years of a heroic way with principles, values, ideals and
superiority. We have experiences and lessons that we cannot ignore and
that can guide us. There is a need for an international coordination,
international solidarity and militant action.
Workers,
unemployed, immigrants,
homeless, poor farmers: on Nay 1, the most important day for the world
working class, we feel the need to express our internationalism with
the struggle of the Palestinian people. We stand beside the people of
Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, struggling to kick foreign troops out of
their countries.
We stand
firmly with the people
of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, fighting to open new ways
for their future. We unite our voice with the peoples of Africa to
cancel the debt of African countries. We embrace the working class in
Asia and the Pacific living in difficult circumstances. We continue to
have common positions with the workers of Arab countries who are
fighting against the plans of U.S., NATO, European Union for the
so‑called New Middle East.
Dear
colleagues, within such a
complicated and difficult international environment we need militant,
class‑oriented and active trade unions. We need unions to be in the
front line for the lives of the people, for peace, democracy and trade
union freedoms. We need trade unions that will raise the consciousness
of the working class and pave the way to its liberation from capitalist
exploitation. On this difficult but beautiful path marches the WFTU.
Proletarians
of all countries unite!
(For more information, visit http://www.wftucentral.org)
4) BC COMMUNIST
CANDIDATES CALL FOR RADICAL CHANGE
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
PV Vancouver
Bureau
In our April 16-30 issue, People's
Voice profiled Zach Crispin, the organizer of the Young Communist
League club in Trail. Crispin is a candidate for the Communist Party of
British Columbia in the May 12 provincial election.
This time,
we report on two
Communist candidates in the Lower Mainland area, both of them long-time
activists in the labour and peoples' movements.
Surrey‑Newton candidate George
Gidora is 54 years old and the leader of the Communist Party of BC. He
grew up in Surrey, attending T.E. Scott Elementary and Newton Junior
High School, and graduated in 1972 from Lord Tweedsmuir High in
Cloverdale. Trained as a computer professional, he has worked for the
Surrey and Delta School Districts, and is currently employed by the
Coast Mountain Bus Company. He is a CAW member, belongs to the Fraser
Valley Peace Council, and is interested in environmental and social
issues.
"I have
witnessed the
development of Surrey from a rural environment to the present urban
landscape," says George. "Growth must be controlled with the best
interests of the residents and the environment in mind. Our priority
must be to protect greenspace and put infrastructure in place before
development.
"We need a
transit system that
does more than funnel commuters in and out of Vancouver or from mall to
mall. That means more buses, adequate shelters at bus stops, and
washroom facilities at accessible places along the system. These
improvements will encourage more use of transit and reduce cars on the
road.
"We call for
adequate funding
for health care, social services, and public schools, and to stop
giving taxpayer dollars to private schools. We need a worker‑centered
economic stimulus to keep our basic industries and to protect jobs.
Instead of rewarding executives of failed corporations, government
funds should be used to create publicly owned and
democratically‑controlled resource and financial sectors.
"Socialism
must be on the agenda
if we are to survive in this world. Socialism has proven its strength
in poor countries such as Cuba. Imagine what we could accomplish if
Canada had an economy for people's needs, not corporate greed."
Vancouver-Mount Pleasant
candidate Peter Marcus is a retired health worker and active in the
Hospital Employees Union. He is committed to fight for improving the
lives of working class people in the riding, which contains the poorest
urban postal code in Canada
"In the
Downtown Eastside, the
situation is worsening due to the capitalist economic crisis," says
Marcus. "We need a public housing program, better public social and
health services, improved inexpensive public transit and living wage
union jobs. We need to preserve and enhance our local industries. We
must support our public education system and improve our recreation
services. And we must finance this by taxes based on the ability to pay.
"Public
ownership of major
industries is longstanding Communist policy. Big Business parties, like
the Campbell Liberals, on behalf of their corporate masters, create
wars, economic catastrophes and environmental destruction. Our party
has a way out. A vote for a Communist candidate is a vote for a clear
alternative to capitalist politics."
To contact
the Communist Party
of BC candidates, call 605-254-9836, or drop by the campaign office at
706 Clark Drive, Vancouver.
5) ECONOMY GETTING
WORSE, NOT BETTER
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
People's Voice
Editorial
The gap between economic reality and
the cheery one-liners of right-wing politicians keeps getting wider.
During the Dirty Thirties, prosperity was alawys "just around the
corner." That decade did see the occasional brief upturn in economic
activity, but it took a world war and more than 50 million deaths for
the private profit system to climb out of its worst crisis.
Over a year
ago, "Dr. Doom," aka
NYU Business School Professor Nouriel Roubini, predicted an 18 month
recession followed by a classic "U‑shaped" recovery. Now, Roubini warns
that the recession may last 36 months, with a "more virulent L‑shaped
near-depression." His outlook received a gruesome confirmation with the
suicide of David Kellermann, chief financial officer of U.S. mortgage
giant Freddie Mac, which has lost some $50 billion during the financial
crash.
The latest
International
Monetary Fund report admits that "the global economy is in a severe
recession inflicted by a massive financial crisis and an acute loss of
confidence." The IMF projects a 1.3 per cent contraction of the global
economy this year and a 1.9 per cent expansion next year, "the deepest
post-World War II recession by far." More significantly, the IMF's
estimate is far worse than its January forecast for 0.5 per cent growth
in 2009.
For working
people, the message
is clear. Don't believe right-wing politicians selling snake oil. This
depression will not magically disappear with wage cuts and contract
shredding, remedies which will only shrink buying power and expand
corporate profits. The economy needs fundamental change, along the
lines of "people's needs, not corporate greed." And we need mass,
united, militant political action to win this change.
6)
STV NO REMEDY FOR VOTERS
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
People's Voice
Editorial
Voters in British Columbia get a
two-for-one deal on May 12 - one ballot to elect MLAs, and a choice
between the Single Transferable Vote and the current
first-past-the-post system. STV would create 20 multi-member
constituencies of varying size across the province. Voters would rank
candidates in order of preference, with the "next choice" votes of
successful candidates "redistributed" until 2 to 7 were elected in each
riding.
Input to the
Citizens Assembly
in 2004 showed strong public support for Mixed-Member Proportional
Representation (MMP). Instead, the Assembly recommended STV, arguing
that this system combines local representation and proportionality of
results. The first referendum on STV came close to the 60% necessary
for adoption, showing that most British Columbians do want electoral
reform.
But STV
falls far short of the
advantages claimed by its backers. For one thing, the 20 ridings are
huge. "Cariboo Thompson," for example, would be a five-member riding
stretching from the US border to Quesnel, with a population of 194,000
and an area of 140,000 square kilometers. Vancouver East, with a
population of 277,000, would also elect five members. The resources
needed by small parties or independents to campaign successfully in
such ridings would be prohibitive, and it would be extremely difficult
for elected MLAs to provide strong local representation.
Furthermore,
any consistent
element of proportionality would be unlikely, especially since
candidates would be grouped together by party affiliation on the
ballot. There might be a degree of proportionality in the larger urban
ridings of Victoria and Vancouver, but even this is far from certain.
In short,
STV would weaken local
representation - the only advantage of first-past-the-post - while
offering minimal progress towards proportional results. If STV is
adopted, any chance to achieve the preferable MMP system would be put
on hold for several terms. For all these reasons, we reluctantly urge
BC voters to hold your noses, pick first-past-the-post on May 12, and
then renew the campaign for proportional representation.
7) COALITION LAUNCHES
CAMPAIGN TO SAVE PUBLIC HEALTH CARE
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
Canadians are being misled by the
President of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) about the threat of
privatized, for‑profit health care, says Michael McBane, National
Coordinator for the Canadian Health Coalition (CHC).
Kicking off
a cross-country
campaign to save public health care, McBane charged that CMA President
Dr. Robert Ouellet is presenting a false picture of European health
care that could mislead Canadians about the threat posed by private
services.
"Dr.
Ouellet, who is also the
owner of a private for‑profit health company, knows that Canadians
reject American‑style two‑tier medicine," said McBane. "So he is
cherry‑picking bits and pieces of information from different European
systems to lull Canadians into accepting the idea of more privatized,
for‑profit services. Dr. Ouellet's vision of health care is `pay more
and get less.'"
McBane was
speaking on April 15
in Moncton, New Brunswick, at the launch of the Canadian Health
Coalition's campaign to save public health care. The campaign will
travel to communities throughout Canada to hold town hall meetings, and
a new website will encourage Canadians to get involved in the fight to
save public health care.
"We chose to
launch this
campaign in New Brunswick because it is a province teetering on the
brink of privatizing," said McBane. "Health Minister Mike Murphy is
looking at ways to introduce privatized for‑profit services here in New
Brunswick. Today we're challenging him to meet with us and to make a
public promise to keep the province's health care public."
McBane
pointed out that Dr.
Ouellet is promoting a so‑called "European model" of private/public
services that doesn't exist. "There isn't any one system in Europe.
Each country has different benefits and problems," said McBane. "Dr.
Ouellet's privatized, for‑profit vision won't solve a single problem of
our public health care."
Dr. Michael
Rachlis, a leading
expert on the Canadian health care system, was at the launch together
with Linda Silas, RN, President of the Canadian Federation of Nurses
Unions. They offered to meet with New Brunswick's Health Minister to
present public, Made‑in‑Canada solutions that maintain the principles
of public, universally accessible quality health care. Following the
launch, the team made presentations at two town hall meetings in New
Brunswick. Dr. Saideh Khadir, president of Quebec Doctors for Medicare,
joined the slate of presenters at the Bathurst town hall.
The Canadian
Health Coalition is
a not‑for‑profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting and
expanding the public health system for the benefit of all Canadians. It
includes organizations representing seniors, women, churches, nurses,
health care workers and anti‑poverty activists from across Canada.
For more
information, see http://www.medicare.ca.
8) WHO REALLY BUILT THE
RIDEAU CANAL?
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
"Labourers on the
Rideau Canal,
1826-1832: From Work Site to World Heritage Site," ed. Katherine M.J.
McKenna, 2008, Borealis Press, Ottawa, 135 pages, illustrations and
footnotes, $19.95, ISBN 978-0-88887-355-2
Review by Kimball
Cariou
Social justice activist Kevin Dooley
is a tireless advocate for the historical memory of the working class,
in particular Irish workers who crossed the Atlantic to North America
during the 19th century. After moving to Ottawa several years ago,
Dooley became deeply involved in efforts to commemorate the Irish-born
workers who played a major role in building the Rideau Canal, many
losing their lives on the job.
Thanks in
part to Dooley's
persistence, a new book provides insight into this story of bitter hard
work and tragedies. Labourers on the Rideau Canal is a slender academic
volume, but the two main essays in the book pack a powerful punch.
Death on the
job is a constant
reality for Canadian workers. Here in British Columbia, an estimated
700 Chinese labourers died building the 350 miles of CPR railway
connecting the west coast to the rest of Canada. When the Second
Narrows bridge in Vancouver collapsed during construction in 1958 due
to an engineering mistake, 18 workers were killed.
Similarly,
today's users of the
picturesque Rideau Canal, stretching 202 kms. from Ottawa to Kingston,
should remember that an estimated 1,000 workers died in the
construction of this engineering marvel. Conceived as a safe supply
route for the British in the event of war with the U.S., the Canal
proved a far more difficult and expensive project than originally
planned.
The first
essay, "Poverty,
Distress and Disease: Labour and the Construction of the Rideau Canal,
1826-32," by William N.T. Wylie, gives the reader a graphic explanation
of the problems faced by planners and builders. For much of its length,
the Canal took advantage of the rivers and lakes used as a
transportation system by Aboriginal peoples and then by European
colonizers. But at the narrow "Isthmus" between Rideau Lake and Mud
(now Newboro) Lake, extensive blasting was required to remove rocks
which turned were far more extensive than first believed. The Isthmus,
site of today's village of Newboro, was perhaps the worst scene of
disaster for canal labourers, many of whom perished in blasting
accidents or from malaria.
Wylie gives
a fascinating
account of the anti-Irish racism of the British authorities, the use of
the military to put down protests related to low pay and poor working
conditions, and the struggles between colonial authorities and corrupt
contractors over funds for the project.
The essay
examines the
demographics of the workforce, which consisted mainly of Irish migrants
(many from the northern Protestant areas) and French Canadians. Not
surprisingly, the colonial government and contractors did their best to
pit workers of different origins against each other, a tactic often
used by bosses in the succeeding two centuries.
Katherine
McKenna's essay,
"Working Life at the Isthmus, Rideau Canal, 1827-1831" focuses more
sharply on this particular location. Her equally interesting account
gives many details of the dangerous construction process, and of the
daily lives of the labourers and their families.
The book
also includes an
article by Bruce Elliott on "Tracing Your Rideau Canal Ancestors," with
useful suggestions on important historical resources.
Not least,
the volume features
over a dozen colour reprints of historic drawings and paintings from
the era, bringing to life the vivid text of the authors.
Labourers on
the Rideau Canal is
a well-written and superbly researched account of this important
episode in Canadian history, a fitting response to the bourgeois tale
of Lieutenant-Colonel John By, who supposedly "built" Ottawa and the
Canal. Readers should ask local independent bookstores and libraries to
order copies.
9) YOUTH ISSUES TO RAISE
ON MAY DAY
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By Johan Boyden,
General Secretary of the Young Communist League of Canada
International workers day is a time
to reflect on past struggles, and immediate battles. This May Day, for
many young workers that translates as: "will I have a summer job?"
Prospects
look grim. There will
be high competition from recently laid‑off workers. The majority of
these workers are not able to collect Employment Insurance and are,
frankly, desperate.
"Small
headline" stories tell
the bigger picture here - like the announcement from Distress Centres
of Toronto that calls to their lines have increased exponentially this
year from people who've lost their jobs or are worrying about basic
needs. Highly distressed or crisis calls including suicide calls have
doubled.
That's not
to say the economic
crisis hasn't already hit young workers. Among 15 to 24 year olds,
unemployment jumped to the highest in eleven years, 14.8% in March. In
Ontario it is 17%. Youth have experienced the fastest rate of decline
among age groups, with 122,000 jobs lost since October.
With
residence fees, tuition,
food, housing, car insurance and day care costs all going up, many are
also asking: will I get enough hours this summer? What about teenagers,
students, apprentices and others with little to no work experience?
A few years
ago, I wrote an
article in People's Voice about the "big, fat, dangerous great Canadian
summer job, where you work like a beaver, and get treated like a
hoser." After speaking to a number of youth looking for work across the
country, the conclusion was that you had to lie about your experience
in order to just get an interview.
With all
this considered, I'm
not surprised that the plight of industrial workers, who were
supposedly making fat pay cheques, seems distant to new job hunters.
Actually it
isn't. A good
example is the CAW Save Our Severance and pensions campaign. As Angelo
DiCaro with the CAW youth told me, "If these big corporations don't
live up to their pension obligations and the government doesn't provide
back‑up, what will be left for young workers - if they can retire?
Young workers are facing a very bleak future." And if one section of
the working class resists concessions and makes gains, youth (and all
workers) benefit.
Over half of
the jobs killed in
March were in manufacturing, particularly auto and parts, metal and
wood processing. Not one CEO has been asked to return a penny of the $3
billion slush‑fund Harper's budget created, but the government dares to
demand workers and retirees return pension benefits and slash wages.
Youth and students shouldn't fall for divide and rule: our stakes are
on the same side of the table as the industrial workers, and
diametrically opposed to the CEOs.
Politicians
are playing with
fire on these issues. Back in March, Ontario's Premier publicly mused
that, after granting corporations one of the lowest tax‑rates in North
America, the province couldn't afford to raise the minimum wage. After
mass public outcry, Dalton McGuinty did a one‑eighty.
What else
could we get them to turn around on?
Full‑time
minimum wage workers
in Ontario still make $3000 below poverty line. And Ontario has the
highest minimum wage in Canada, at $9.50, although if you are under 18,
you get $0.55 less per hour than general minimum wage. Next year it
will be $0.65 less. Huh?
Visit
endstudentminimumwagenow.ca, British Columbia (where the "entry level"
minimum is $6 per hour!) now ties with New Brunswick and PEI for the
lowest Canadian minimum wage. According to Canada Mortgage and
Housing's most recent rental market report, renting a two‑bedroom
apartment is $656 in Moncton NB, $660 in Charlottetown PEI, and $1,100
- almost twice as much - in Vancouver.
For the
record: on May 1st
Saskatchewan's minimum wage creeps to $9.25, and Manitoba's inches up
to $8.75. Newfoundland's reaches $9.00 on July 1, more than Alberta's
at $8.80. Quebec's is $8.50, Yukon $8.58 and North West Territories
$8.25. And in Trail, BC, Communist candidate Zach Crispin is demanding
a living wage of $16 in the provincial election.
I haven't
even mentioned the
injuries and deaths young workers sustain. Plus, as People's Voice
reported last issue, the Public Service Alliance of Canada is
challenging the federal government's definition of employee, forbidding
summer students from joining a union. Talk about cheap labour!
So if youth,
employed or
unemployed, needed another reason to join the growing fightback, this
May Day the signs are loud and clear.
10) SUMMIT OF THE
AMERICAS CONCLUDES WITH CONTROVERSIAL DECLARATION
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
ACN - The 5th Summit of the Americas
concluded April 19 in Trinidad-Tobago, with a controversial final
declaration rejected by several nations as insufficient and
unacceptable.
The document
was considered as
approved although it lacked the support of several countries, including
those that make up the Bolivarian Alternative for Our Americas (ALBA).
During the
closing ceremony,
Trinidad-Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning said that the
declaration has gaps due to the fact that the document had been
submitted to negotiations by technocrats for some two years. By that
time the world situation was different from today's, said Manning, who
explained that the document does not reflect the current hemispheric
scenario.
The final
declaration, to which
will be added some points, favours promoting the development of the
private sector. The document turns to the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), the Inter-American Development Bank and other regional credit
institutions to step up efforts aimed at expanding and developing the
private business sector. The objective stated by the declaration is
that by 2012, credit lines destined to the micro, small and medium
enterprises will double and the number of companies with access to
credit triple.
The document
also calls for the
production and exploitation of current biological fuels and those of
the next generation, including sugar derivatives. The declaration
promotes the production of more advanced second generation bio‑fuels,
which do not pose any direct competition for land, water or fertilizers
to other agricultural products.
Despite its
gaps, the
declaration admits the prevalence of deep and persistent inequalities,
particularly in the fields of education, income levels, health care,
nutrition, violence and crime and access to basic services. It also
admits the prevalence of exclusion against the most vulnerable sectors
of society, including women, children, indigenous people and the poor.
Ecuadorean
President Rafael
Correa said that the draft declaration "does not reflect the economic
crisis we are experiencing, which is not a temporary crisis but a
crisis of the capitalist system, and that the document suggests
solutions by legitimizing those responsible for the crisis, for
instance, the International Monetary Fund."
For Correa,
the alternatives are
going to the hands of the gravediggers instead of the hands of those
who want to revive the world, and he labelled the document as "light."
"We share a
firm position and I
do not think we have time now to change the content of the document,
and since we do not have time for that we will not sign it, I can speak
for myself and for the ALBA countries," said Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez.
The
Bolivarian Alternative for
Our Americas regional integration initiative, known by its Spanish
acronym ALBA, is made up of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Honduras,
Cuba, Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The ALBA
countries argue that
the declaration does not respond to the world economic crisis, the
major challenge that has faced humanity in decades and the most serious
threat of our times. They also say that the declaration excludes Cuba
without saying a word about the general consensus prevailing in the
region against the US economic blockade of the Caribbean nation and the
US attempts to isolate Cuba.
11) TEN YEARS AFTER
THE NATO ONSLAUGHT AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
Speech by Aleka
Papariga, General
Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece, at the "Belgrade Forum for
a World of Equals", held March 23-24
Ten years have passed since the
incidents that shocked our region, causing a conflict between the
people of a Balkan country and the strongest political‑military,
imperialist organisation of our era, NATO.
This battle,
which was
objectively unequal concerning the military forces, has not gone in
vain, as some may claim, due to the dominance of the modern "Holy
Alliance." On the contrary, it helped the people, especially in the
Balkans, Europe and generally to draw important conclusions regarding
their present and future.
First of all
it has been the
"source" for the awakening of the popular masses that had "fallen
asleep" over the previous years, after the overthrow of socialism in
the USSR and Eastern Europe, with the "lullabies" for the allegedly
"peaceful settlement" of problems, the "peaceful development" that
so‑called globalisation would bring about after the dissolution of the
USSR and the Warsaw Pact.
At the same
time, the struggle
of the Yugoslavian people ten years ago has revealed several myths
spread by the bourgeois system after World War II.
The global
capitalist crisis
affecting simultaneously the strong imperialist countries as well as
the regional rising countries, provides many revelations. In addition,
it proves how flimsy were the arguments of sustainable development, the
advantages of so‑called globalisation and the inevitable accession to
the regional inter‑state imperialist unions such as the EU.
Thus, the
role of the various,
only in words, "left" and "socialist" forces, the social‑democrat
parties, and the social democracy that aided the efforts to break the
resistance of the Yugoslavian people has been revealed. The governments
of the socialist and the allegedly "left" parties in Greece, Italy,
France etc. surrendered their countries for the realisation of these
imperialist plans. No matter if these forces are trying to present
themselves as "progressive", as "an alternative in favour of the
peoples," one thing is clear: there is no way for them to whitewash the
crimes they committed ten years ago at the expense of the Yugoslavian
people.
The
developments in Yugoslavia
have shown the particularly dangerous strategy of imperialist
interventions carried out in the name of the principles of so‑called
"self‑determination" and the supposed "protection" of minorities, which
have been used as a pretext for the establishment of
states‑protectorates, as in Kosovo, Bosnia etc.
Nowadays,
the imperialists
instigate existing and non-existent minority issues, not because they
really care for the rights of the ethnic and religious minorities, but
because they follow the well known and tested "divide and rule" method.
The promotion of political parties established on the basis of
ethnicities and minorities serves the same goal.
Apart from
the bourgeois
parties, the imperialists are unfortunately supported in this effort by
opportunist forces that turn a blind eye to these plans and often
equate the victim with the perpetrator.
Nowadays
international law, as
the peoples knew it in the period of the active presence and action of
the socialist system in international affairs, does not exist. It has
been fully substituted by the imperialist doctrines of "pre‑emptive
strikes" and the "war against terrorism."
The
reflections for the
so‑called "reformation of the UN," for "new security systems" in Europe
as well as the proclamations about the "multipolar world," reflect a
change of the balance of forces between the imperialist blocs, as well
as their common effort to conceal from the peoples the aggressive
character of imperialist unions and alliances. Opportunist views on the
alleged humanisation of capitalism and the democratisation of the UN
contribute to this effort. War, violence, blackmail and intimidation
are inherent in the exploitative character of the capitalist system,
even more so in its highest stage, imperialism.
Intra‑imperialist rivalries are
evolving on all levels - economic, military and political - and between
various groups of states as well. It is even being manifested in the
field of environmental policy, between transnational monopolies as well
as capitalist states.
The hotspots
of war that
appeared after the creation of new markets in the former socialist
countries are still hot, or at risk of being kindled anew. Rivalry is
intensifying, above all, to control the sources and pipelines of oil
and natural gas. Under these conditions, the US and NATO are deploying
new missiles in Europe, while the US fomented the Georgian offensive
against South Ossetia that provoked the response by Russia. The
Caucasus region is becoming a hot zone of US‑Russian competition,
entailing new dangers of a more general conflagration in the region, in
which the EU, NATO, Turkey and other forces are also involved.
Rivalry is
intensifying as
regards the military presence and political influence of various
imperialist centers in Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin
America, as well as in the Arctic. Military spending is increasing, as
are arms exports and plans to produce and deploy new nuclear weapons.
The hopes
spread concerning the
reversal of this situation due to the election of Barack Obama and the
beginning of US‑Russia talks, are false. In fact, a hard bargain is
driven between the old and rising imperialist forces, in the framework
of the world economic crisis. Their goal is to create new "axes" which
cannot negate imperialist rivalries for the control and transport of
energy sources, as well as the market shares for the monopolies of each
side. The peoples should not expect any positive result from these
consultations, nor take sides according to religious or language
particularities. These particularities may exist; however, they cannot
change the criminal class character of the big capital that determines
the stance of each imperialist power, no matter if it is Slav‑speaking
or English‑speaking, Orthodox or Catholic.
How can
people respond nowadays?
Some promote the following sleight‑of‑hand: they restrict imperialism
to the USA and NATO, and actually present the EU as a solution for the
people. They support the idea that the disengagement of the EU from the
USA and NATO can bring about progressive and socialist developments.
The fact that three‑quarters of the 27 EU member‑states are members of
NATO at the same time, proves that this argument is used to throw dust
in people's eyes. Besides, the disengagement of the EU, in other words
its independent role (towards NATO) entails the readiness of the EU or
a part of it, to claim new markets, even through armed interventions.
This has already begun to happen! It does not constitute a solution for
the peoples. The EU has shown its anti-people character: it played a
leading role in the dissolution of the united Yugoslavia, then it
recognised the secession of Kosovo; it intends to substitute the NATO
forces through the EU‑army and aids this structure with the deployment
of EULEX [EULEX Kosovo, the European Union Rule of Law Mission, is a
deployment of European Union police and civilian resources in Kosovo]
which manages the intervention of the imperialists in the region.
It should be
clear that despite
their statements, the imperialist organisations, namely NATO and the
EU, have nothing to do with security and peace. On the contrary, their
interventions intensify dangers for the peoples. Sixty years after the
foundation of NATO, the struggle against these imperialist
organisations should strengthen; for the disengagement of the peoples
from the imperialist wars and the occupation of countries such as Iraq
and Afghanistan, as well as from other dangerous plans, and for
disengagement from these organisation themselves.
Under the
conditions of the new
economic crisis, which is a result of the nature of the capitalist
system, there is a need to strengthen the struggle for recognition of
the right of each people to choose itself its own path of development.
This right can establish another development, in favour of the peoples,
outside of the imperialist organisations, with a prospect of a new
socialist/communist society that constitutes the only real alternative
for the peoples.
Nowadays the
capitalists and
their governments dread to hear the word "crisis". The peoples should
draw courage from this weakness of the system. The workers should
struggle and refuse to carry the burden of the crisis, and avoid new
wars that might be caused due to the rivalries and utilised as a tool
for the overcoming of the crisis.
Especially
in our region, the
"powder keg" of the Balkans, there is a need to strengthen the struggle
against the illusions that the accession of the Balkan countries to the
EU and NATO will bring peace, prosperity and equal chances for the
people, that it will protect them from the capitalist crisis and wars.
We assure you that the Greek people have a long, negative experience
that has led us to the reverse conclusion. We believe that communists
along with other progressive people should oppose the presence and
expansion of NATO and EU in the region, as well as nationalism and the
notions for a "Great Greece, Albania, Serbia, or Bulgaria" that use the
minority issues, the changes of borders, for the disorientation and the
dilution of the real class interests as well as the integration of the
people into imperialist plans.
Concerning
the issue that arose
between Greece and FYROM, I would like to underline that the main issue
is not the name of the country, but to safeguard relations of peaceful
cooperation, the development of good neighbouring relations, the
safeguard of inviolable borders and the avoidance of every irredentist
propaganda.
We would
like to assure you that
our party, as much as it is in our powers, will contribute to the
strengthening of a strong people's movement struggling against the
choices of NATO, EU and the new world order. This movement represents
the interests of the Greek, Serbian, Albanian people, the Balkan
peoples in general, as well as the Balkan working class.
12) WINNIPEG GENERAL
STRIKE MARKS 90TH ANNIVERSARY
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
‑ Resolution
adopted by the Central Committee, Communist Party of Canada, January
31‑February 1, 2009
The labour movement across Canada,
and especially in Winnipeg, will mark the 90th anniversary of the
Winnipeg General Strike this year. The Communist Party of Canada
welcomes these celebrations and will work for the success of these
important tributes.
The 1919
Winnipeg General Strike
is one of the greatest working class struggles in Canadian history, a
strike that combined the militancy, enthusiasm and solidarity of the
overwhelming majority of Winnipeg's workers against the capitalist big
shots who still trample on the rights and lives of workers.
Years of
hunger and misery
brought about by a war‑time government wage freeze and the crushing
lack of rights had already created enormous grievances and rising
militancy in Winnipeg's rapidly growing working class.
Socialist
and working class
activists from many lands had already organized for decades throughout
the burgeoning cities of Western Canada, among which Winnipeg was the
largest.
Adding to
the spirit of
resistance was a long list of recent struggles by the Métis
people,
farmers, trade unions, women and others against encroachments by the
Eastern industrial magnates who were behind the colonization and
exploitation of Western Canada.
After
witnessing the shattering
bestiality of imperialism's First World War (1914‑1918), the majority
of trade union activists in Western Canada embraced the 1917 socialist
revolution in Russia as a giant beacon for humanity and international
solidarity.
In the
months leading up to the
strike, large trade union conferences in Western Canada resounded with
demands for the industrial form of union organization and for a
six‑hour working day to reduce the devastating effects of unemployment
at the end of the War. Delegates advocated a general strike to back up
their demands.
They
overwhelmingly passed
resolutions of solidarity with the Soviet government, demanding the
return of Canadian soldiers sent to Russia to crush the revolution, and
for working class power in Canada.
Not even the
brutal suppression
of socialist and working class political organizations by the Borden
government's War Measures Act in 1918 could stop the impending
explosion.
The strike
began with the
refusal by employers to recognize the Metal Trades Council and enter
negotiations for a collective agreement. The metal workers struck on
May 1. Other unions voted to strike in solidarity and on May 15, 35,000
workers began a general strike which lasted until June 26. The first
out were 500 women telephone operators who left work at 7:00 a.m.
Women,
immigrants and other
highly exploited workers were solidly behind the strike. Nearly half of
all strikers were not members of unions. Veterans returned from the War
actively supported the strike. The strike's broad support created fear
and anger in the hearts of the bosses who used reactionary terror,
arrests and the Mounted Police to crush the strike.
On "Bloody
Saturday", June 21,
mounted police attacked a rally, murdering two workers and wounding 40
others. The government sent machine gun‑equipped army patrols onto the
streets. Soon after the shooting, the strike committee ordered workers
to return to work.
The full
weight of the
capitalist state was used to crush the strike, but the metal workers
won a collective agreement. The Strike was the high point of a sharp
and temporary Canada‑wide surge in organizing workers and efforts to
achieve legislated union rights.
At least 34
smaller sympathetic
general strikes took place in cities and towns across Canada during the
Winnipeg General Strike, mainly in the Western provinces but also in
Toronto and Amherst, Nova Scotia. An upsurge of all kinds of strikes
took place in every province and Quebec.
The Winnipeg
General Strike had
a positive influence on the labour movement for many years. Not only
did it shape the key demands of the labour movement, it educated
workers about the true nature of the capitalist state.
It took
until the 1930s for the
first sustained advances in organizing workers into industrial unions
and until after the Second World War to achieve similar advances in
legislated collective bargaining rights across Canada, rights which are
under threat from right wing governments in Canada today.
Some of the
demands of the
labour movement in Western Canada leading up to strike, such as for a
six hour work day and working class power, have yet to be realized.
The Winnipeg
General Strike must
be counted among the many important global working class actions
sparked by the crisis at the end of the War and inspired by the
tremendous example of the Russian revolution.
The
explosion of international
working class militancy was of decisive importance for the survival of
the Soviet revolution; objectively, it worked to support the popular
demand "Hands off Russia!" Many of the strikers recognized that their
sisters and brothers in Russia were fighting a common enemy, the
capitalists of Russia, who no longer had power, and the capitalists of
Canada.
But it was
the immediate aim of
the General Strike to alleviate the intolerable conditions for workers
in Winnipeg that the made the strike such a powerful blow against
Canada's wealthy elite.
The strike
galvanized
revolutionary workers to overcome arrests, deportations and illegality
to form the Communist Party of Canada in 1921, an achievement that is
still vital for the many international and national challenges that
confront the working class today.
13) WHAT'S LEFT (partial)
(The following article is from the
May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
BURNABY, BC
Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast - Sunday,
May 10, 10-1, 5435 Kincaid St., all you can eat $12 ($6 children),
organized by Burnaby Club CPC, proceeds to PV Fund Drive.
VANCOUVER, BC
Evening of Solidarity - Friday, May
1, 7 pm, hosted by May Day
Committee, at Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph St. Speakers, music,
refreshments, displays, proceeds to benefit Protein for People. For
info call Vancouver & District Labour Council, 604-254-0703.
FRC Spring Concert - Sunday,
May 3, 2 pm, Russian Hall, 600 Campbell
Ave., variety ethnic programme, invited guest artists, spring treats,
all welcome.
Spring Bazaar - 11 am-3 pm,
Sat., May 9, Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave., collectibles, books,
clothes, household goods.
SURREY,
BC
May Day Rally - Sat., May 2, 2
pm, street rally at 120 St. and 72 Ave.,
by the Earl's Restaurant. Sponsored by Fraser Valley Peace Council,
Lower Fraser Club CPC, and others, call Harjit at 604-543-7179 for info.
EDMONTON,
AB
Stand Up for Public Health Care -
rally Sat., May 9, 1:30 pm, at the
Legislature, for info call Friends of Medicare, 780-423-4581.
WINNIPEG,
MB
May Day parade - Fri., May 1. Assemble 6 pm at Joe
Zuken Memorial Park,
corner of Sutherland and Maple. Info from Winnipeg Labour Council,
942-0522.
50 Years of Cuban Revolution, panel
discussion - Sat., May 2, 7 pm at
Univ. of Winnipeg, Rm 104 Lockhart Hall. Manitoba-Cuba Solidarity
Committee, 783-9380.
Spring Concert, Assoc. of United
Ukrainian Canadians - Sun., May 3,
1:30-4:30 pm, concert with AUUC School of Folk Dancing, Yunist Dance
Ensemble, Winnipeg Mandolin Orchestra and the Festival Choir. Ukrainian
Labour Temple, 591 Pritchard. A Mayworks activity, tickets $5 at the
door.
United May Day banquet, Sun. -
May 3, 6 pm. cash bar, at Hotel Fort Garry. Tickets $25, deadline April
29; call Ken at 479-8089.
Rekindling the Spirit of 1919 -
Fri., May 8, 7 pm, panel at Knox United
Church. Sat., May 9, 9 am, activists exchange (pre-registration
requested), Knox United. Sunday, May 10, labour songs with Joe Jenks
and Anne Feeney, $20, Art Gallery, 300 Memorial. Sponsors: Canadian
Labour Congress and Mayworks Committee, 947-2220.
General Strike Bus Tour -
Sun., May 10, 12 noon, with tour guides, meet
at the Union Centre, 275 Broadway Ave. Tickets 947-2220 or 946-5241.
The Trial of William A. Pritchard - Tue.,
May 12, 7:30 pm, performance
of speech during the trial of a 1919 strike leader, at Mondragon, 91
Albert St. Tickets $5 available at Mondragon or Workers Organizing
Resource Center, 947-2220.
The Notorious Mrs. Armstrong, Thur. -
May 14, 7 pm, film on the
political career of an important figure in Canadian history, Helen
Armstrong, introduction by director Paula Kelly. Cinematheque, 100
Arthur Street, regular admission.
What if the holocaust never ended?
- May 14, 7 pm and May 15, 9:30
am-12:30 pm, with author Roland Chrisjohn, PhD Oneida (Iroquois
Confederacy), at Univ. of Winnipeg, Convocation Hall. Tickets $25, call
Trisha, 953-5820.
SASKATOON, SK
Political discussion & beer, all welcome to join Saskatoon CPC
members - third Monday of
every month, in the tv room at Amigo’s, 632-10 St. East.
TORONTO, ON
People's Needs, Not Corporate Greed,
celebrate May Day with People's
Voice and a wide range of progressive organizations - Friday,
May 1, 7
pm, Greek Hall, 290 Danforth Ave., music, food, cash bar, speakers, ph.
416-469-2446.
Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South
Asia, talk by author Ayesha Jalal on
present-day jihadi groups - 7 pm, Friday, May 15, Room 2-214,
252 Bloor
St. West (OISE), admission $10. Sponsors: Canadian Muslim Union, Ctee.
of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians, Left Institute, South Asian
People's Forum. Info: 416-536-6771, 416-284-4893.
The Economic Crisis, public forum
with Communist Party of Canada leader
Miguel Figueroa - Thursday, May 21, 7:30 pm, Greek Hall, 290
Danforth
Ave. (between Chester and Broadview subways). Call 416-469-2446 for
info.
HAMILTON,
ON
All out for May 1st, protest loss of
manufacturing jobs - Friday, May 1,
11:30 am, assemble at 350 Kenilworth Ave. N., march through the
industrial core, BBQ to follow. Organized by USW Locals 1005 and 7135,
call 905-547-1417.
$50,000
FUND DRIVE
Good
Progress on PV Drive
(The following
article is from the May 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35
CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
Almost $8,000 has been raised towards our People's Voice Fund
Drive targets across Canada since our previous issue, bringing the
total to $22,183, or 44.4% of our goal. This is good news as we get
ready to distribute our May Day issue to labour events, union
conventions, and activities like the annual Earth Walk in Victoria on
April 25. Look for us on May 1 at the labour solidarity evening in
Vancouver, the event organized by the Steelworkers in Hamilton, and the
annual celebration held at the Greek Hall in Toronto - see page 15 for
details.
Our Saskatchewan supporters have now raised
$500, or 62.5% of
their $800 target, followed closely by Ontario, with $12,069, or 55% of
their $22,000 target. Alberta is now at 39% ($928 out of $2400). The
Fund Drive has been temporarily suspended in British Columbia during
the provincial election campaign, but recent donations have lifted the
B.C. total to $7,706, or 37% of their target. Manitoba has raised 25%
of its $2400 goal, and about $500 has come in from other provinces.
Lower Mainland readers are urged to put
Mother's Day on your
calendars - Sunday, May 10 is the annual Pancake Breakfast organized by
the Burnaby Club CPC, at 5435 Kincaid St., Burnaby. Doors are open at
10 am, and last call for pancakes is 12 noon. Admission is $12, or
half-price for children under 10. It's "all you can eat," and it's
always delicious!
As you know, we are once again offering something in
return for your
generous solidarity. This year’s “PV Shopping Bag” includes the
following:
- a 12-month complimentary PV sub (keep it or give it
to a
friend);
- People’s Voice 2009 Calendar;
- People’s Voice “Karl Marx” Tshirt (tell us what
size);
- a surprise music CD - pick classical, oldies, or
folk.
Here’s
how it works. For a $100 donation, you will receive your choice of one
of these items. For each additional $100, you can choose another item
from our Shopping Bag. For a donation of $1000 or more, take the entire
Shopping Bag, and we will also give a lifetime subscription to you or a
friend.
Remember -
People’s Voice is your
newspaper, your voice in the information wars. Your contribution helps
us build it bigger and better!
Here's
my contribution to the PV Fund Drive!
Enclosed please find my donation of $_____
to the 2009 People's Voice Press Fund
Drive.
Name __________________________________
Address ________________________________
City/town ______________________________
Prov. ________ Postal Code _______________
Send to: People's Voice, 133 Herkimer St.,Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P
2H3
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MAY DAY 2009
GREETING ADS
To mark May Day 2009, People's Voice will print
greetings from a wide range of labour and people's
organizations in our May 1-15 issue, which will be
distributed at events across Canada. The deadline for
camera-ready ads is April 19; if PV is preparing the
layout, the deadline is April 17. Please check with us
about the format if your ad is being sent electronically.
Ad rates (based on 5 column page):
Send greetings to People's Voice at:
706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, V5L 3J1
Fax (604)254-9803 E-mail: pvoice@telus.net
One column-inch.......................................$10
One column x 2 inches..............................$20
Two columns x 2 inches............................$35
Two columns x 3 inches............................$50
Two columns x 5 inches............................$75
Three columns x 4 inches....................... ..$90
Two columns x 7 inches...........................$100
Three columns x 7 inches........................$150
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