People's Voice May 1-15, 2010

The Spark!

Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada

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, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.

Articles include

“Introduction to a General Theory of Culture” (Barry Lord);

“Political & Economic Realities Behind Colombian Labour Relations” (Sacouman, Moore & Brittain);

“Treaty Process & Indian Nationalism” (Ray Bobb);

“Lenin: Heritage of the Socialist Market Economy” (C.J. Atkins);

“Nature of the State Under Bush & Harper” (Stephen Von Sychowski);

plus reviews, editorials, and more.

People's Voice deadlines:
MAY 16-31
Thursday, May 6
JUNE 1-15
Thursday, May 20
Send submissions to PV Editorial Office,
706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, V5L 3J1, pvoice@telus.net

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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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People's Voice

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1) A MESSAGE FROM THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA

PART 1 - Round 2 of the crisis: whose "recovery"?

     The corporate-owned mass media greet us daily with upbeat economic reports about how the global economic crisis is over and that `recovery is now well underway'. This is all very comforting, but it's also a gross perversion of the truth.

     In reality, there is no recovery for most working people in this country. Unemployment and job insecurity remain high, with over 1.5 million (8.2%) out of work according to official statistics; real unemployment is closer to 12%. Since 2003, more than 500,000 well-paying manufacturing jobs HAVE been wiped out, 290,000 in the past two years alone. Soon EI benefits will be running out for hundreds of thousands of these unemployed workers.

     Nor is there any recovery for young people trying to find work or to complete their education. Or for Aboriginal peoples who continue to suffer systemic joblessness and grinding poverty. Or for new immigrants and their families trying to build a better life. Or for pensioners and others on fixed income.

     So what kind of recovery is this? It's a recovery for the profits of the biggest banks and corporations, and for those who own and control them.

     Think back. For more than two decades, the largest banks and monopolies had been phenomenally successful in amassing wealth. Stock markets soared and net profits went through the roof. They achieved this through "restructuring" their activities - by laying off many of their workers, while making the rest work longer hours; by holding down real wages and benefits while increasing labour productivity; and by gouging consumers through inflated prices.

     And they were aided and abetted by right-wing, pro-corporate governments (whether `liberal' or `conservative') which brought in `business-friendly' policies like privatization and de-regulation, which weakened labour standards making it more difficult for workers to organize and defend their rights, and which cut corporate tax levels, shifting the tax burden more and more onto working people.

     But this set the stage for inevitable crisis. In due course, more goods and services were being produced than working people could afford to consume. To maintain high consumption levels to keep the super-profits rolling in, big business cajoled and forced working people to sink deeper and deeper into debt. And they went on an orgy of speculation to artificially drive the value of their assets even higher.

     Eventually, the debt bubble had to burst, and ever since the `meltdown' of September 2008, the largest transnationals and banks have been manoeuvring to protect their wealth and maintain profit levels by getting working people to pay for the crisis which their greed had created.

     Big business accomplished this by using their control of the media, their `think tanks', and their friends in government to convince everyone that the "sky was falling" and that governments had to come to their rescue in order to save the system of capitalism. As a result, over the past 18 months governments around the world poured trillions upon trillions (more than $10 trillion in the U.S. alone) into massive corporate bail-outs and buy-outs of `toxic' loans, while relatively little was spent on short-term infrastructural and other job creation projects. In fact the real purpose of these bail-outs was to protect the unsecured wealth of finance capitalists, rather than to stimulate new economic growth.

     And it worked out all rather well for monopoly, as shown by the spectacular rebound in their profit margins. Canadian corporations reported $60.1 billion in operating profits for the last quarter of 2009. The banks alone raked in some $15.2 billion during those three months, including $1.5 billion for the Royal Bank and $1.29 billion for TD Bank. The oil & energy giants made another $7 billion in profit over the same period. During 2010, corporate profits will likely top $250 billion.

     This `golden parachute' for monopoly - the largest single `theft' of public wealth in history - came at a heavy cost. The corporate bail-outs and subsidies, along with generous corporate tax cuts, are largely responsible for the massive government deficits and increases in accumulated public debt we witness today.

     One of the biggest gifts to monopoly has been the steady cuts to corporate and capital gains taxes, down from 28% a decade ago, to only 17% today. The Harper Tories plan to further reduce corporate taxes (to 15%) by 2012. In 2009/10, Canadians paid $108 billion in personal income taxes, while the corporations paid just $22.3 billion. The 2010 federal budget alone included $6 billion in corporate tax cuts. Right-wing provincial governments have also been guilt of cutting business taxes, to the point that Canada now has virtually the lowest corporate tax structure in any of the advanced capitalist countries around the world.

     And now we're entering Round Two of the crisis. The dominant sections of capital - the same ones who were so quick to urge state intervention when it served their interests - are now clamouring for governments to rein in their `free-wheeling' spending, eliminate operating deficits and control the public debt.

     That's what is behind the recent Harper federal and the provincial "austerity" budgets. Right across the country, pro-business governments are launching an attack on the public sector and on the wages and benefits of its workers. The ruling corporate and financial circles know full well that by driving down the wages and conditions of public sector workers, this will put more downward pressure on the wages of all workers in both the public and private sectors.

     This is the real strategy of the monopoly capitalists and their willing servants in governments, especially the Harper Conservatives. They want to further erode public services, gain greater access through another devastating round of privatizations into lucrative sectors like healthcare, education, and pensions. And they want to weaken and destroy the resistance of organized labour by attacking one of its main pillars - the public sector unions.

     Working people simply cannot afford to take this lying down. We need to respond in unity - "Enough is ENOUGH! We will not be forced to pay for your crisis!"

PART 2 - Resistance, not retreat!

     Faced with a long-term "jobless recovery" and the continued destruction of social safety nets, working people have two basic options: retreat or resistance.

     Big business and their minions in government constantly urge us to keep our heads down, give concessions to the bosses, and wait for "better days."

     This retreat strategy didn't work in the Dirty Thirties during the last "Great Depression," and it won't work today. The economic crisis has not hurt the wealthy, but they are using it as a club to drive working people deeper into poverty and debt. The same corporations which demand lower wages and pensions are reporting profits in the billions.

     To survive this attack, working people must fight back. Our sisters and brothers in Greece, Portugal and other European countries are showing the way, organizing mass demonstrations and general strikes to resist the corporate offensive.

     But there are many similar struggles right here in Canada. Most of this resistance goes unreported in the corporate media, but workers across the country are standing up for their rights, despite intensive pressure to surrender.

     The most powerful example is in Quebec, where the Common Front of public sector workers is battling the Charest Liberal government to win better wages and working conditions. On March 20, 75,000 public sector workers and supporters marched through the streets of Montreal. More huge rallies have followed, as the Québécois show opposition to the Charest government's pro-corporate budget. This massive struggle may well escalate into a Quebec-wide general strike.

     In British Columbia, the Campbell Liberal government is also in deep trouble with working people. A province-wide campaign is underway to force a referendum on the "harmonised sales tax" (HST) which would shift nearly 2 billion dollars each year from working people to the business sector. Angry protests have erupted across the province against brutal cuts to public education. The "Coalition to Build a Better B.C.", initiated by the trade union movement, has been joined by Aboriginal peoples, arts groups, seniors, students and many others, to build a strong, united struggle against the government's anti-people policies.

     Opposition is beginning to grow in Ontario as well in response to the McGuinty government's imposition of a wage freeze on provincial workers, to cutbacks in services, and plans for privatization.

     Solidarity is growing with the heroic struggle of the miners fighting Vale Inco in Sudbury, Port Colborne and Voisey's Bay, and with the Journal de Montreal journalists and clerical workers at one of Quebec's largest daily papers. These lengthy battles against highly profitable employers prove the determination of workers to stand up against attempts by the bosses to slash wages and wipe out gains achieved through decades of collective bargaining.

     In fact, there are many recent cases of working people across Canada who refuse to surrender to corporate blackmail. These are crucial struggles for our jobs, our families, our communities. This is a fight for our hard-won healthcare, education and other social programs, and indeed for the future of Canada.

     But none of these valiant struggles can be won in isolation. Our watchword must be "an injury to one is an injury to all." We can't succeed by fighting one battle at a time, against bosses and governments expert in divide-and-rule tactics. Today there is an urgent need to build a united, labour-led fightback at every level, including the grassroots. But we also need a Canada-wide response to the crisis. The leadership of the trade union movement can and must take the initiative, by convening a cross-Canada People's Summit of the entire labour movement and its many allies - Aboriginal peoples, youth and students, women, farmers, seniors and all democratic forces engaged in the struggle for peace, the environment and for labour, democratic and equality rights - to map out a united, coordinated and militant counter-offensive.

PART 3 - There are Alternatives! A People's Recovery plan

Stephen Harper and the big corporations want to make working people pay for the "economic recovery", through lower wages, higher unemployment, and huge cuts in social spending. We say: those who reap billions in profits must pay! Unite and fight for an emergency program to put Canada back to work and protect social programs. A genuine "People's Recovery" plan should include the following:

expand EI to cover all workers for the full duration of unemployment, with benefits at 90% of former earnings;

protect and expand manufacturing industries on the basis of a comprehensive value-added industrial policy, and introduce plant closure legislation with teeth;

stop evictions, mortgage foreclosures and utility cut-offs due to unemployment;

raise the minimum wage to $16/hr., and social assistance rates; increase pensions through the Canada Pension Plan to ensure a living pension for all retired workers;

take emergency action to improve the social and economic conditions of Aboriginal peoples;

invest in a massive public construction program to build affordable social housing, rebuild Canada's infrastructure, and protect the environment;

expand Medicare, invest in education and cut tuition, introduce a universally accessible affordable system of quality public child care.

Some would argue that we "can't afford" such radical changes. Here's how it can be done, without adding to the burden on working people:

shift the tax burden from working people onto the corporations and the wealthy;

restore the federal corporate income tax to 28% which would bring in over $30 billion annual revenue;

immediately withdraw from the disastrous war of occupation in Afghanistan and cut military spending by 50%, saving another $10 billion every year.

These immediate "people's recovery" measures should be strengthened by more transformative steps:

nationalize the big banks, insurance and other financial institutions and place them under public, democratic control;

nationalize the energy industry to guarantee domestic supply and to provide the material basis to rebuild Canadian industry and create hundreds of thousands of jobs, especially in renewable energy and mass transit;

place the "Big Three" automakers under public ownership and democratic control, and build a small, fuel-efficient, affordable and environmentally sustainable Canadian car;

immediately withdraw from NAFTA, and adopt a diversified, multilateral trade policy based on mutual benefit;

introduce a liveable, guaranteed annual income (GAI), and a shorter work week with no loss in take-home pay.

Such a plan would move our country in a fundamentally new direction, by placing the needs of working people and our environment before corporate greed, establishing a foreign policy based on peace and disarmament, and reversing the erosion of our sovereignty. And our efforts to forge unity around such a People's Recovery plan can give rise to a powerful People's Coalition of labour and democratic forces which can press for even more substantial social and economic transformation.

The Communist Party of Canada, the party that led crucial working class struggles which won unemployment insurance and other gains, pledges to do everything in our power to help build and win such struggles. We urge you to take up these issues in your unions, your workplaces and schools, your communities. If you agree with our proposals, contact us today. Join and build the party that combines today's urgent fightback with the vision of a socialist future, one in which unemployment, hunger, exploitation, racism and oppression, are ended forever!

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2) EUROPEAN WORKERS STRIKE TO DEFEND JOBS AND PENSIONS

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3) ONTARIO BUDGET: OPEN FOR BUSINESS

(The following article is from the May 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

By Liz Rowley, CPC (Ontario) leader

     The Ontario budget delivers on the government's promise to open the province up to (foreign) business. It includes a $4.6 billion corporate tax cut, another $4.5 billion cut effective July 1 with the implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax, elimination of the capital tax, and a small business tax reduction. Other items: a two-year public sector wage freeze, cuts to health and education, and a review of provincial assets for sale. For the poor, the budget eliminates the Special Diet Allowance, which allowed those with serious health problems a little extra for food on top of the pittance paid by welfare.

     The government tried to play down the horrible news by declaring that somewhere in the future its policies would generate new jobs and surpluses to fund social programs.

     In other words, pie in the sky when you die. Of course it's a lie, but most people don't know what to do about it. It's also a lie that "we're all in this together" as the Budget speech asserts.

     The news that corporate profits have recovered, and that CEOs and executives have had performance bonuses reinstated, has generated deep public anger.

     Some take comfort in the Liberals' decision to fund the 8,500 child spots that the federal government just abandoned, and in the funding of full day junior and senior kindergarten for 4 and 5 year olds. But the province won't cover the other $1 billion in federal spending on transit, housing, and health care that Harper has also abandoned.

     In fact, our self-styled education premier, Dalton McGuinty, continues to underfund school boards, universities and colleges, and allows tuition to keep rising. Accessibility? If students have money, they have access, says McGuinty. The budget anticipates plenty of money from international students, whom it plans to exploit generously. Apparently, that's the new funding formula for public education.

     Health care? The budget uses scare tactics, citing the rise in expenditures over the past 20 years, projected into the future. The idea is that Ontario can't sustain current levels of service. Figures don't lie, but liars do figure, as these numbers show.

     Data prepared by the Ontario Health Coalition shows that hospital spending as a percentage of health care has declined from a high of 52% in 1981 to a low of 37% in 2008. In other words, hospitals can't provide services because they're underfunded. Ontario spends less per capita than any other province on hospital service.

     Another round of hospital closures is upon us. The last one was directed by the Harris Tories, this one by the Liberals, both under the premise of "efficiencies". Both have eroded health care and caused deaths in overloaded emergency rooms, hospitals and clinics.

     These are "made-in-Queen's Park" crises. Both the Liberals and Tories are geared up to sell the idea of a spending crisis, and the conclusion that spending must be reigned in. But this is a crisis of inadequate revenue, not over-spending. Instead of more than $9 billion in corporate tax breaks, and the HST - a regressive flat tax that will hit working people the hardest - the government should increase corporate taxes. It should keep the capital tax, and expand it to cover all industries and business including underground mining. It should eliminate the HST, and introduce a progressive tax system that would put the load on the corporations, not working people and the unemployed.

     Progressive tax reform would generate the funds needed for universal health care, for quality, public child care, and for public and post-secondary education. Progressive tax reform would enable the delivery of public transit and affordable housing, while cutting property taxes in half.

     Instead, McGuinty's tax reform "of a generation" is a Big Business tax grab, and it's going to hurt a lot of people, as OPSEU President Smokey Thomas pointed out.

     The Liberals intend to pay for the corporate tax cuts with a public sector wage cut of at least 4% - about the rate of inflation over the next two years. That's equivalent to a week's pay, says Thomas, and that's a wage cut, not a freeze.

     OPSEU will be organizing demonstrations at Liberal fund-raisers, and will vigorously oppose Bill 16. They should be joined by the whole labour movement. There are stirrings in Toronto to mount a fightback that will focus on defence of social programs and services. This is welcome news.

     But it's disturbing that some unions are `holding back', thinking they can clear the two-year wage freeze before the next set of negotiations, or because they think they can hold their noses and live with the Liberals, but not with the Hudak Tories as the 2011 provincial elections approach.

     After NDP leader Andrea Horwath told the media she refused to be boxed in on the wage freeze issue, a lot of workers wonder if they can live with any of the parties currently in the Legislature.

     The attack on wages, pensions, and benefits started last year in the private sector with the autoworkers, municipal workers, and miners. Now it encompasses all workers, public and private sector, across Canada and globally. The austerity programs in Ontario are paralleled in BC, Quebec, Europe and around the world. So are the corporate tax cuts, the sale of public assets, the elimination of social programs, and the attack on free collective bargaining and the right to strike, organize and picket.

     "Open for Business" is the second shoe after the 2008 economic crisis, and it's just beginning. The right-wing is very active in Ontario in a way we haven't seen before, attempting to turn worker against worker, private against public, employed against unemployed, Canadian born against migrants and new Canadians, young against old.

     That's why the fightback of 75,000 protesters in Montreal was never publicized in English-speaking Canada, and why the heroic ten-month strike of 3,300 miners and smelterworkers in Sudbury, Port Colborne and Voisey's Bay is virtually unknown outside those communities. Heroic struggles like these could be lost without the whole labour movement actively intervening. Organized labour cannot leave this matter to a Legislature that is indifferent or hostile to working people. Nor can labour wait it out.

     The CPC (Ontario) is calling for a mass extra-parliamentary struggle for policies that put people's needs ahead of corporate greed.

     The OFL must pick up the challenge, flex its muscles, and show its power. Organized labour must lead a province wide struggle to block the right, defeat this corporate budget, and campaign for policies and government to bring in a recovery for people in Ontario.

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4) CAMPBELL LIBERALS CIRCLING THE DRAIN

(The following article is from the May 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

By Kimball Cariou

     The next B.C. election is three years off, but if a vote was held this spring, the Liberals would probably be reduced to a handful of MLAs in Victoria.

     The latest survey of voters showed the Liberals at just 29%, a startling 18% behind the NDP led by Carole James. The Greens are at 14%, and the provincial Conservatives - suddenly considered an attractive alternative by some business forces - are at 5%.

     The survey showed deep disenchantment with the current options. An overwhelming majority viewed the Liberals as arrogant and dishonest, but the results also found that if a new "centre-left" party was formed, it could have the support of 34% of voters, compared to 28% for the NDP and 23% for the Liberals.

     The news is particularly bad for Gordon Campbell, who is increasingly detested by voters.

     Probably the main factor is the "Harmonised Sales Tax", scheduled to take effect on July 1. Over 80% of voters oppose the HST, and a province-wide campaign to force a referendum on the issue may well succeed. This would require collecting the signatures of at least 10% of voters in every single constituency by early July, a task previously considered impossible. But the campaign is well on the way to completion with two months left to gather names. This could create a complicated legal situation, since the HST legislation is actually federal rather than provincial. But the exercise is widely seen as a de facto referendum on the Premier's moral and political authority to remain in office.

     Other issues are also dogging the Liberals, such as their announcement that the long-delayed Site C dam in northern B.C. will take the next step towards reality. This has further alienated many British Columbians, since the dam would flood valuable farmland solely to produce electricity for export. (More in an upcoming issue.)

     More immediately, underfunding of public education has further weakened the government. In an effort to divert attention from their policies, the Liberals recently appointed a "special advisor" to review the finances and operations of the Vancouver School Board, one of dozens facing huge budget shortfalls. The move is seen as an attempt to crack the whip over school trustees, by attacking the Board with the most consistent record of vocal criticism of underfunding.

     While the tactic may have confused the issue for some, it appears the government has already lost this public relations battle. Another survey, conducted in early April by the BC Society for Public Education, found that 80% of British Columbians want the government to increase support for the public school system. About 65% agreed that the government should end its ever-growing financial support for private schools, turning those funds over to the public system. The government did its best to cover up the findings; the pro-Liberal Vancouver Sun tried to muzzle its own education beat reporter, but the story was eventually reported.

     The survey may have prodded B.C. school trustees to shift gears during their recent AGM in Victoria. Historically, many trustees were reluctant to be associated with criticism of underfunding, but that changed dramatically at the April 23-25 meeting, marking a huge victory for the fightback movement in B.C.

     In one key vote, trustees resolved to "request the Ministry of Education to redirect to the public education system the public money spent on independent schools, other than band schools".

     The AGM backed school boards that are calling for more funding for public education, and passed another motion urging the province to "provide adequate, predictable and sustainable funding that includes additional financial support for newly mandated initiatives and existing unfunded liabilities".

     The trustees also called on Minister of Education Margaret MacDiarmid to release the report of the special advisor as soon as it lands on her desk. The Advisor, B.C. comptroller general Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland, has already admitted that her report cannot help with the VSB's underfunding crisis, since it will be submitted a month after the Board's April 29 budget vote.

     At press time, the outcome of that vote remained hard to predict. Parent, teacher and student groups have been sharply critical of the cuts in the budget, but put the blame squarely on the province. No group has called for the defeat of the budget, since this is widely seen as an invitation for the province to remove the popular Board. But the trustees face the very real dilemma of trying to protect education without adequate funding.

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5) THE CRISIS AND MAY DAY

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6) CHILLING REVELATIONS

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7) WASHINGTON'S DOUBLE STANDARDS

Gerardo Hernandez: two life sentences and the continued refusal for over 11 years to receive the visit of his wife Adriana Perez.

Rene Gonzales: 15 years and the continued refusal for over 10 years to receive the visit of his wife Olga Salanueva.

Antonio Guerrero: Life sentence plus 10 years, subsequently reduced in the fall of 2009 to 22 years.

Ramon Labanino: Life sentence later reduced to 30 years.

Fernando Gonzalez: 19 years subsequently reduced to 17 years and 9 months.

     The families of Antonio, Ramon and Fernando have to overcome one obstacle after another to visit the prisoners. All five have been kept in the worst conditions in an obvious attempt to break their spirit: Gerardo, Antonio and Ramon are kept in high security prisons, while Fernando and Rene are in FDC (Federal Detention Facilities).

     The original trial, coupled with the double punishment which consists of refusing appropriate family visits, violates US laws, jurisprudence and penitentiary rules. Regarding the holding of the jury trial in Miami, international law consists, amongst others, of article 14 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states in part that "all persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals. In the determination of any criminal charge against him, or of his rights and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law."

     Those who have taken a stand from around the globe include parliamentarians (such as 56 members of the Canadian Parliament from Quebec and Canada), heads of states, trade unions (such as the most of the main unions in Canada and Quebec), student associations such as the Canadian Federation of Students, ten Nobel Prize laureates, human rights organizations and innumerable personalities.

     On May 27, 2005 the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention also took a stand in favour of the Five. A record number of 12 prestigious "Friends of the Court" petitioned the US Supreme Court to revise the case which was brought to this highest court in the land by the Cuban 5 lawyers. However, despite the world-wide condemnation, the US Supreme Court refused to review the case in 2009. To add insult to injury, the Supreme Court did not give any reason for its denial.

     The Cuban Five committee in Quebec is called the Comité Fabio di Celmo pour les 5. Fabio di Celmo was one of the victims of the terrorist attacks in Cuba, the very type of activity that the Cuban Five were trying to halt.

     In 1997 the Miami-based terrorists organized a program to disrupt the tourist industry on the island. Fabio was in a Havana hotel when a bomb placed in the lobby exploded and killed him. Fabio di Celmo was a young Italian, living at the time in Italy as well as in Montreal. He had been granted residence status in Canada. At the time of his assassination he was awaiting Canadian citizenship. And so the Table de concertation de solidarite Québec-Cuba (the Concertation Table of Quebec-Cuba Solidarity) decided to name its special committee in honour of Fabio di Celmo. Some of his family live in Montreal, notably his brother Livio di Celmo.

     The self-admitted assassin of Fabio di Celmo and author of other actions such as the blowing up the Cubana de Aviacion airline flight in 1976 which killed 73 Cuban civilians is Luis Posada Carriles. André read out portions of a New York Times interview with Carriles in which he actually takes credit for these activities. Carriles and others like him presently walk the streets in Miami, free as a bird. He even actively takes part at this time in the current media campaign against Cuba.

     How is it that five Cubans are in prison for opposing terrorism, while avowed terrorists such as Carriles are in liberty? This and other similar examples show the double standard and hypocritical policy of the USA. The family of Fabio di Celmo is understandably outraged by this double standard on terrorism and human rights, demanding that justice be carried out: Carriles should be tried for his crimes.

     This frustrating lack of justice is all the more reason to support the work of Committees such as the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five which have organized a massive postcard campaign. Tens of thousands of cards are being sent from all continents in dozens of languages directly to Obama. In Québec, the Fabio di Celmo committee organizes monthly pickets in front of the US consulate in Montreal and is circulating a petition. These actions and similar ones in Canada such as in Vancouver and Toronto all have one main goal: to force president Obama to use his constitutional right to grant pardon and free the Cuban Five. With the stroke of a pen Obama can do so. In the meantime, committees, organizations and personalities around the world are demanding the granting of visas on a humanitarian basis to Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva so that they can visit their respective husbands imprisoned in the USA.

     (Arnold August is a member of the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five and the Comité Fabio di Celmo pour les Cinq of the Table de concertation de solidarité Québec-Cuba.)

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8) SOUTH KOREA'S STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS

(The following article is from the May 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

By Sean Burton

     Organized Korean workers do not beat around the bush when it comes to their working conditions and rights, and there have been numerous successes in their fight against South Korea's reactionary ruling circles in the past sixty years. Though present-day South Korea is hardly a beacon of social progress, conditions are considerably better than twenty or thirty years ago.

     Mass resistance to the detested military dictatorships flared up on a number occasions. One of the most notable events was the Gwangju Democratization Movement of May 1980. Following the assassination of General Park Chung Hee the previous year, South Korea's long suppressed democratic movement began to mobilize again.

     The new military government instituted martial law, and on May 15, 1980, over 100,000 people protested in Seoul. In response, the government expanded martial law and shut down universities and banned political activities. Troops were also sent around the country, including to university campuses. Fighting broke out in the southern city of Gwangju on May 18, and numerous civilians were killed. Instead of being cowed into submission, many people banded together and raided armouries and police stations to obtain weapons and form militias. The South Korean army eventually attacked the city in force and defeated the militias on the 27th, resulting in over two thousand casualties. The legitimacy of the regime was severely undermined, and the Gwangju Massacre became a rallying cry during the 1980s to end military rule.

     There have also been many attempts to improve labour conditions. It is hardly surprising that labour rights during the military dictatorship were quite limited. Labour activists put themselves at great risk, since complaining could be labelled as "unpatriotic", and perhaps "pro-communist". After Park Chung Hee's coup in 1961, there was only the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), and this was under the control of the government.

     The self immolation of Jeon Tae-il in 1970 was a notable catalyst for organizing independent labour unions in South Korea. Jeon, a tailor, had been particularly appalled by conditions at the Seoul Peace Market. These included many cases of tuberculosis due to poor ventilation, and forced injections of amphetamines to keep workers awake. Jeon's protests were dismissed by the government, and the exasperated 22-year old set himself on fire in downtown Seoul to demand enforcement of the labour code.

     Though various labour organizations sprang up afterwards, the FKTU remained the only legal federation of unions until 1999. Military rule ended by the early 1990s, but there were still many struggles afterwards. There was another self-immolation in the late 1990s as the government of Kim Yong Sam attempted to introduce a widely disliked labour policy. There was a strike led by the then-illegal Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), and clashes with the police.

     Where do things stand now? Few will forget the massive beef-import protests of 2008, and the nation's unions, particularly the KCTU, are in regular conflict with the staunchly conservative Lee Myung Bak government. And now Samsung, one of the south's most powerful corporations, is facing criticism for the working conditions in its plants. Late in March, a worker at one of Samsung's semiconductor factories died from leukemia. She began working there in 2004. According to the Hankyoreh newspaper, her job involved using "tweezers to place the semiconductors in a hot lead solution and other chemicals, remove them and use an x-ray machine to inspect them". She first fell ill in 2007 and briefly recovered after a bone-marrow transplant. A human rights group at the plant has stated that about twenty workers at two semiconductor plants have been diagnosed with blood-related cancers, of who eight have died. Samsung has also denied any responsibility.

     However, a former maintenance engineer recently came forward and stated that the company is lying about working conditions; that accidents were commonplace and dangerous materials were being improperly handled. In some cases, warning alarms were ignored and deactivated and managers kept silent. There have since been demonstrations demanding action from the company. Samsung did open up one of its plants for media coverage. However, the company only allowed access to two of the newer production lines, and for just thirty minutes. It is unclear what will develop from this and subsequent investigations, but the working people of South Korea still have a long battle ahead of them.

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9) NO "RECOVERY" FOR YOUNG WORKERS

reduced accessibility and privatization of education, transit, housing, dental care, and childcare;

even lower rates of youth unionization, ageist two-tier collective agreements, poorer wages;

and even more debt.

     The consolidation of these plans by imperialism are found on the state budget-level, and special trade agreements. Those hit hardest include Indigenous youth; youth from racialized communities; young women; youth in sub-Saharan Africa; youth in countries subject to imperialist wars, occupations and blockades.

     The intense ideological offensive designed (a) to divide the working class, including scapegoating, racism, anti-communism, etc, and (b) convince people that a recovery is in full-swing.

     Efforts to convince the youth through the corporate media and culture that "the crisis has ended" have broadened to include campaigning for the hearts and minds of the youth, for their vision of a better future. etc. The methods are sophisticated although the basic message is sometimes very crude, found in all media.

     ...On the other hand, genuine anti-imperialist efforts have been seen globally:

outpouring of support by the youth for the revolutions of Latin America, both on that continent and internationally;

the resistance of the youth in Honduras;

international youth support for the Cuban Five;

strikes and actions of the Greek youth and workers;

resistance of the German, Austrian and French students;

sharp criticism by the ANC Youth and Young Communist League of South Africa of neo-liberalism;

rejection by young Americans of Bush and the war in Iraq;

rise in youth support of the Japanese Communist Party;

global outrage by the youth about climate change, seen at militant protests in Copenhagen.

These fight backs on the surface have a strong spontaneous dynamic, but in fact are part of organized struggle. Often they are connected with the specific work of youth organizations.

The most advanced global expression of anti-imperialist resistance is the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY). We also express our hope for strengthening the International Union of Students. The continuation of the World Festival of Youth and Students movement is a terrific step forward. It should be greeted with the greatest energy and enthusiasm by our YCL-LJC.

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10) WHAT'S LEFT

BURNABY, BC

Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast - Sunday, May 9, 10 am-1 pm, (last call for pancakes at 12 noon). All you can eat, $10/person ($8 under 12), 5435 Kincaid St. Proceeds to People’s Voice, auspices Burnaby Club CPC. Info: Anna 604-294-6775.

VANCOUVER, BC

May Day activities - Sat., May 1, march starting 12 noon, from Clark Park (14th & Commercial), evening celebration at Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph St. For info, call VDLC, 604-254-0703.

Canadian-Cuban Friendship Assoc. AGM - Sun., May 2, 1:30 pm, Chilean Co-op, 3390 School Ave. (south of Kingsway & Tyne), with guests from the Federation of Cuban Women. Info: Ray, 604-254-1350.

Spring Bazaar - Sat., May 8, 11 am-4 pm, Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave.

Communist Party of Canada 89th anniversary, forum and celebration - 7:30 pm, Thursday, May 27, 706 Clark Drive. Sponsor: Vancouver East Club CPC, 604-255-2041.

Stop Harper’s War Now, antiwar rally - 1 pm, Sat., May 29, Vancouver Art Gallery, organized by StopWar peace coalition, http://www.stopwar.ca.

Left Film Night, Sunday - May 30, 7 pm, “From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks,” on ILWU leader Harry Bridges. Free admission, donations welcome, Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive. For info, call 604-255-2041.

EDMONTON, AB

May Day Cabaret - Saturday, May 1, 7 pm, Ukrainian Centre, 11018-97 St., featuring Notre Dame des Bananes choir and Maria Dunn, tickets $15 ($8 low-income), call Naomi, 465-7893.

TORONTO, ON

March for Status for All! - 1 pm, Sat., May 1, from Wellesley St. and Ontario St., annual march for workers’ rights organized by No One Is Illegal and other groups.

May Day 2010 celebration, solidarity with workers around the world - Sat., May 1, 7 pm, Greek Hall, 290 Danforth Ave. (Chester subway). Speakers, live music, food, ausp. People’s Voice, call 416-469-2481.

People’s Summit fundraiser - Mon., May 10, Steelworker’s Hall, 25 Cecil, including dinner, entertainment, speech by OFL president Sid Ryan. Tickets $25, proceeds to 2010 People’s Summit in Toronto, for details call Marya, 647.702.7914.

Bazaar & White Elephant Sale - Sat., May 29, 11-4, AUUC Cultural Centre, 1604 Bloor West (between Dundas and Keele). Arts & crafts, bake table, bingo, raffle, bargains galore, lunch and refreshments. Tables for rent $15. For info, contact Patricia, 416-604-8724.

G8/G20 rally and march - Sat., June 26, 1 pm, from Queen’s Park to Trinity Bellwoods Park, for info see page 3, or call 416-441-3710.

WINNIPEG, MB

Mayworks events:

Club Native - May 4-5, 7 pm, film on exclusion and attitudes that confront First Nations people, at Cinematheque, 100 Arthur.
The Best of the Left: 1994 to 2009 - Sat, May 8, 7 pm, with Winnipeg Labour Choir, at Gas Station Theatre, 445 River, call 774-8573.
General Strike Bus Tour - May 9, 1-4 pm, from Union Centre, 275 Broadway. $10 (limited seating), 947-2220.

MONTREAL, QC

May Day, rally at Metro Lionel Groulx - noon, May 1, march to Park St. Gabriel in Pointe St. Charles, food and entertainment. South Shore rally, gather 10 am at 30 Park St. Charles, march at 11 pm to Le Moyne Park. Evening event at Association des Travailleurs Grecs, 5359 Ave du Parc. For information: 514-279-3526.

Parti Communiste du Québec and Clarté Office launch - 1 pm, Sunday, May 9, at Association des Travailleurs Grecs Hall, 5359 Ave du Parc. Live music, refreshments, discussion on the Common Front and the fightback.

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11) PV FUND DRIVE: $50,000 IN 2010
$20,703 raised: 41.4%

(The following article is from the May 1-15, 2010, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers and overseas readers - $50 per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

We have now reached 41.4% of our target for 2010! As of April 22, we have received $20,703, with our supporters in Saskatchewan now out in front. Saskatchewan has sent in $550 towards their $800 target, or 68.7% of their provincial goal, much to the delight of our Saskatoon-born editor.

After that it’s too close to call, with four provinces around the forty percent mark. These include Ontario ($8750 out of $21,600, or 40.5%), Quebec ($200 out of $500, exactly 40%), British Columbia ($7980 out of $20,000, or 39.9%), and Alberta ($1350 out of $3400, or 39.7%). Not far behind the pack is Manitoba ($820 out of $2400, 34.2%), followed by Newfoundland & Labrador (20% of their $400 goal), and the Maritimes ($100, or 8.3% of their $1200 target). Another $900 has been raised by miscellaneous and overseas friends.

The May Day issue is always special to our readers. We are the only newspaper in Canada to devote an entire issue each year to celebrating the international day of the working class, reporting on our triumphs, our struggles of the past and present, and our fight for a socialist future. In this issue we print greetings from trade unions, progressive ethnic groups, anti-war organizations, Communist Party clubs, and others, all sharing the desire for a world in which people’s needs replace corporate greed as the motive force for decision-making. Your support every year makes it possible to continue this revolutionary tradition, and we thank all our readers and supporters for your generous solidarity!

We have several fundraising events coming up this month, starting with the May Day social sponsored by People’s Voice at the Greek Canadian Democratic Organization in Toronto - see the ad at right for details!

Remember to mark Sunday, May 9 on your calendars. That’s the Burnaby Club’s annual Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast, starting 10 am, at 5435 Kincaid Street. It’s just $10 (or $8 for readers under 12) for all the fabulous food you can eat. For
details, call Anna at 604-294-6775.

Greetings to Clarté, our sister newspaper in Quebec, which will host Montreal readers at the opening of their new office space on Sunday, May 9, starting 1 pm. Clarté is now located at the Association des Travailleurs Grec Hall, 5359 Ave. de Parc, Suite C. There will be refreshments, live music, and political reports on the Common Front union fightback in Quebec.

As a mark of appreciation for your generosity, we are once again offering supporters complimentary gifts. For each $100 in donations, you can choose one of these black and white portraits, mounted on card, matted and ready for framing: Che Guevara, Clara Zetkin, Augusto Cesar Sandino, Bhagat Singh, Gall (Sioux), Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Louis Riel, Jeanne Corbin, or Gladys Marin. Other choices include music CDs or a copy of our 2010 Women’s Socialist Calendar. ●

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May 1-15, 2010 Volume 18 - Number 8 $1

The Spark!

The Spark!

May 1-15, 2010
Volume 18 - Number 8
$1