The good papers of labour
(The
following article is from
the November 1-15, 2006
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
By Sam Hammond
ON SEPTEMBER 12, the Canadian Labour
Congress made a submission to the
House of Commons Standing Committee On Finance regarding the 2007-2008
Federal Budget. On October 2, the CLC published a paper called "A
Labour Perspective on the Fiscal Imbalance," followed on October 6 with
"Jobs: The Details Look Bad".
Then on
October 17, Barbara Byers, executive
vice-president of the
Congress, made a presentation to the House of Commons Standing
Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of
Persons With Disabilities. The CLC representatives were on their feet
addressing government committees who are notorious for sitting on their
hands.
It is obvious
the CLC and its analytical
people have been busy.
The research is of course quite good, on a common theme of a "people
over corporate" agenda. The figures are well known to trade unionists,
but to compress them together sometimes is very useful.
Some
capitalist think-tank ideologues, who
seem to live second by
second with figures and can establish a trend in moments when it suits
them, have been crowing about the momentary increase of 16,000
manufacturing jobs. This transient phenomenon resembles a transparent
gossamer veil pulled in front of a generation of corporate plunder,
political betrayal, lies and subservience.
The vaunted
16,000 jobs are mostly part-time
and self employed.
This figure parallels the loss in the same time frame of 15,000
full-time wage paying jobs. Both live within the spectre of the loss of
309,000 industrial jobs since 2002 in the goods producing sector. The
seasonally adjusted figures tell us that in September there were
1,131,000 Canadians who wanted to work but did not have employment. The
same month youth employment fell from 58.4% to 58.1%. This looks a lot
better than saying that youth unemployment is at 41.9%, but of course
it is.
To be part of
these figures you have to get on
the board. There
are probably hundreds of thousands who do not statistically exist. They
live in the shadow land of "never-having-worked" or of "been dropped
from the numbers," trapped in the quagmire of the semi-employed,
chronically unemployed or disqualified by old age. Consider also these
conditions against a backdrop of announced future lay-offs, and plant
closures that are known but not entered on the data board until they
happen. As the Canadian Labour Congress says, "The details look bad."
The alleged
gap between federal government
revenue/spending and
the provincial counterparts is called the "Fiscal Imbalance". In this
playground of political slogging, agenda implementation and half
truths, the CLC cuts through a lot of the BS when it states, ".... the
real issue at stake today is the role of government, and particularly
the federal government, in Canadian society."
This is where
the real class differences
become stark and painful.
Whether paid for directly by the feds, or by the provinces with federal
grant moneys or transfers, this is the playing field of public
ownership of social programs, education, health care, skills
development, child care - or the creation or repossession of these
vital services. Again from the CLC: "From the perspective of working
families, the real issue is how to finance and deliver a high, secure
and stable level of public and social services."
Conversely,
the Canadian Council of Corporate
Executives wants
smaller government involvement, a reduction or a complete withdrawal of
the federal government from financing, administering and policing of
social programs and public resources. They favour a "security agenda"
of deep integration with the United States. That means adjusting our
public ownership, both real and desired, to American standards, and
removing any government ability to preserve minimum standards (like the
Canada Health Act).
The result is
rapid privatisation and the
perennial race to the
bottom for quality of life. In any relatively sane environment, these
guys should be charged with treason. The future they have in mind for
our children is scary. In the Maritimes, their corporate counterparts
can't wait for the rest of the country to self destruct. They have a
little nasty of their own called Atlantica. Surprise, surprise -
Atlantica promotes the same Americanization, military, policing and
border integration as the CCCE mob. Same players, different inning.
But labour
wants massive investment in
community and
infrastructure. The goal is a knowledge-based economy to develop highly
skilled and thoroughly educated Canadians who fit into the cutting edge
of high tech modern production, the graduates of a top-to-bottom
publicly owned and operated educational system, nurtured by a
universal, public health care system. Sounds good to me.
The CLC
papers are basically sound, or even
better. Where we are
falling down is stirring up the working class forces that will fire the
first shots. We need a social dynamic of renewal and recruitment that
will create the leadership and forge the alliances to start a fight and
win it.
This is not
an easy task, but it is so, so
important. It is not
completely lacking in the ranks of organized labour by any means, but
the advocates of extra-parliamentary labour political campaigning have
been fighting a rear-guard skirmish since the cancellation of the
Ontario Days of Action by the OFL leadership.
This would
provide a refreshing and clear
answer to the
parliamentary confusion that is making the rounds of the navel gazing
crowd.... NDP or another social democratic movement to the left? The
answer is at street level. Let's see who performs and then we'll know
who to elect.
From the
realistic perspective of working
class needs, shouldn't
representation, alliances and coalitions be performance-based? It would
be hard to discuss this subject too much. What do our readers think?
Right-wing offensive in Toronto election
stalls
(The
following article is from
the November 1-15, 2006
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
PV Ontario
Bureau
TORONTO - After three years of
relatively progressive municipal
government, the right-wing has launched an offensive to take over City
Hall and the School Board.
Mayor David
Miller, elected to clean out the
lobbyists and the
cronyism connected to former Tory Mayor Mel Lastman, has made some
improvements - more modest than many hoped. However, even these are too
much for the developers, builders, corporate landlords and financial
interests.
Jane Pitfield
is backed by these interests,
but is increasingly
seen as not up to the job. Starting with a call to eliminate unions and
contract out municipal jobs, Pitfield has stumbled in public debates -
flip-flopping on policy while displaying temper and frustration.
Fortunately
for Miller, another right-wing
candidate, Stephen
LeDrew, was a last minute entry, reflecting divisions in the corporate
camp around Pitfield's performance.
While no cake
walk is expected, Miller looks
like he'll be
re-elected. Provincial and federal funding for public transit, social
housing, property tax reform and uploading the costs of welfare,
health, housing and transit are key issues for Miller, along with
waterfront development, the city airport, urban planning, and the
problem of disposing of Toronto's garbage.
The new
four-year term of office, pushed
through by the provincial
Liberals, has encouraged more candidates for Council, as well as the
School Board, where the honorarium has been raised from $5,000 to
$20,000 a year.
The new City
of Toronto Act, which gives
Council a little more
taxing power, carries with it obligations to create a super powered
executive body. This "super-executive" is to make the key decisions
over the city's future, while Council acts as the rubber stamp. If
Council does not establish the super-executive, the province has the
authority to impose it. This "sleeper issue" needs more debate, as a
continuation of the fight for civic democracy and autonomy.
Progressive
candidates (and voters) are facing
challenges from the
right-wing. But Joe Mihevic is also up against former Mayor and civic
reformer John Sewell, who played a key role in mobilizing against the
Tories' forced amalgamation of Toronto. Sewell's decision to run
against Mihevic, who has an excellent record on Council, is a big
mistake. Rather than fighting each other, progressives should work out
a division of labour so that the right-wing voices on Council are
diminished.
The Campaign
for Public Education (CPE) has
played an excellent
role, putting forward virtually a full slate of progressive candidates
across the city's 22 school board wards (each school board ward is
twice the size of the 44 Council wards). Comprised of parents,
progressive trustees, unions, and the public, the CPE operates year
round on the basis of progressive education policy and campaigns
directed at the provincial government and the School Board. A key issue
has been the funding formula brought in by the Tories, which the
Liberals promised to fix, but haven't.
Indeed the
Liberals, whose leader Dalton
McGuinty campaigned to be
the "Education Premier" in 2003, are proceeding as their predecessors
did with more cuts to both public and separate schools. Across the
province, School Boards have said they cannot balance their budgets
with the meagre provincial transfers. The biggest Catholic Boards
(Toronto and Peel) have flatly refused to make the cuts and are facing
provincial government Trusteeship - exactly what the Harris Tories did
four years ago.
The public
Toronto District School Board has
also resisted the
cuts, though as PV went to press the Board was considering a new
packaging of the $91 million in cuts that would shift $40 million from
the capital budgets to the operating budget, cut a lot of jobs by
attrition, substantially increase user fees and could include the sale
of assets.
Progressive
Trustees Elizabeth Hill, Stan
Nemiroff, Irene
Atkinson, Chris Bolton, Stephnie Payne, Rick Telfer and others were
expected to oppose the newly configured cuts, which change nothing but
could give the appearance of a solution to the provincial funding
shortfalls.
"These cuts
are real, and they can't be made
without huge damage
to the system and to the day to day education of our students", said
Hill, recognized as the leader of the left on the School Board.
Two-time
Board Vice-Chair Stan Nemiroff echoed
Hill's comments.
"This is smoke and mirrors aimed to help the Liberal government solve
the problem of failed promises about fixing the flawed funding formula
as they head into a provincial election next year," said Nemiroff.
"Make no mistake, these cuts are going to hurt kids and the public
should know that the Liberals are responsible for it."
Hill and
Nemiroff face major challenges from
Liberal and Tory
candidates with political machines behind them. both candidates are
asking parents, supporters and friends of public education to come out
and help as the race enters the final lap.
Volunteers and donations can be sent to
Elizabeth Hill at 209
Oakwood Ave, Toronto, M6E 2V3, elizzhill@aol.com
and to Stan Nemiroff at 338 Concord Ave, Toronto, M6H 2P8,
416-533-6479, email stan.nemiroff@primus.ca.
Softwood sellout deals - Editorial
(The
following article is from
the November 1-15, 2006
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
People's
Voice Editorial, Nov. 1-15, 2006
Parliament has ratified the softwood
lumber deal, paying a terrible
long-term price for some short-term trade dispute relief. Here's one
example, as researched by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The agreement outlines which Canadian products are subject to export
taxes, such as "coniferous wood, sawn or chipped lengthwise, sliced or
peeled, whether or not planed, sanded or finger-jointed, of a thickness
exceeding six millimeters." Wood siding, flooring and fencing are also
discussed in similar detail.
Yet "logs"
are not mentioned. As the CCPA
notes, "if a subsidy
exists - and various trade dispute panels have concluded it does not,
or if it does that it can't be quantified - then logs, the first
product generated after cutting down a tree, ought to be on that list."
This absence, combined with forest policy changes enacted to appease
the US lumber lobby, means that raw log exports will jump even more
sharply.
Under the
terms of the softwood deal, once
certain export or price
thresholds are reached, a 15 percent tax may be imposed on processed
lumber exported to the U.S. But not on logs!
And the price
paid by the big timber
monopolies for coastal logs
is falling, from $19.37 per cubic metre two years ago, to $7.68 per
cubic metre last year. As the CCPA concludes, "BC collects fewer
stumpage dollars, fewer men and women work in its sawmills and more and
more logs are shipped out of province to US benefit."
In two years,
either party can legally walk
from this deal. Here's
a prediction: the big U.S. lumber interests will launch another
challenge, and treacherous Canadian politicians will cave in once
again... unless we vote them out of office.
Eliminate all nuclear weapons - Editorial
(The
following article is from
the November 1-15, 2006
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
People's
Voice Editorial, Nov. 1-15, 2006
The recent DPRK (North Korean) nuclear
test raises critical issues, but
not those presented by the mainstream media. The corporate pundits say
the question is simple: how to stop the "evil madman," Kim Jong-Il? But
for most of the world, the madness of militarism emanates from the
White House and the Pentagon, not from Pyongyang. After all, it is the
United States which has repeatedly and illegally attacked sovereign
countries in recent years, and which threatens the first use of nuclear
weapons.
North
Americans rarely hear the historical
truth - that the DPRK
suffered devastating aerial bombing and germ warfare attacks at the
hands of the U.S. and its allies (including Canada) during the Korean
War. The United States keeps tens of thousands of troops in South
Korea, and sails its Seventh Fleet offshore. To undermine progress
towards reunification of the two Koreas and to maintain its foothold on
the Asian mainland, the U.S. engages in constant provocation and
demonization of the DPRK. Is it any wonder that the DPRK allocates much
of its national income on military defence?
Since the
early 1990s, the DPRK has faced the
collapse of its
trade with the USSR, and catastrophic floods and crop failures. The
DPRK signed a "Framework Agreement" with the Clinton Administration,
agreeing to drop its nuclear weapons program in return for fuel, food
supplies, and the construction of two light-water nuclear power
reactors. But the United States refused carry out these obligations,
and then ominously threatened the DPRK as part of Bush's so-called
"axis of evil," setting the stage for the latest rise in tensions.
The Bush
Administration must not be allowed to
whip up another
illegal war. The Canadian Peace Alliance has urged the federal
government to oppose sanctions against the DPRK, which would be a step
towards such a war. As the Alliance says, the focus must be on complete
elimination of all nuclear weapons, including the 10,000 such weapons
in the arsenal of the United States.
New victory for small parties raises further
issues
(The
following article is from
the November 1-15, 2006
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
By Kimball
Cariou
YET ANOTHER undemocratic electoral law
has been tossed out by the
courts, and now Canada's smaller political parties are taking aim at
discriminatory broadcast time rules.
On Oct. 12,
Ontario Superior Court judge
struck down a law that
provides registered federal parties with $1.75 annually for each vote
they received in the previous federal election. But the funding only
goes to parties which won more than two per cent of the total vote, or
whose candidates received five percent in particular ridings.
The law was
challenged by the Communist Party
of Canada, the
Canadian Action Party, the Christian Heritage Party, the Marijuana
Party, the Progressive Canadian Party, and the Green Party - which
received 4.3 percent of the vote in the 2004 election, enough to
qualify for public funding.
Their
successful legal argument was based
largely on the historic
and precedent-setting Figueroa case, in which the courts found that
discrimination against smaller parties was illegal. Launched in 1993 by
Miguel Figueroa, leader of the Communist Party of Canada, that initial
challenge to the Elections Act resulted in striking down the
requirement that parties must nominate a minimum of 50 candidates. The
Figueroa case also led to refundable candidate deposits and other key
victories for small parties.
Judge Matlow
based his ruling on two sections
of the Charter of
Rights: the Section 15 equality guarantee and the Section 3 guarantee
of fair voting rights. He said that voting rights involve "much more
than the mere right to enter a voting booth and mark a ballot that is
counted in an election."
He noted that
parties needed funding to make
voters aware of their
platforms and candidates, and that voters need information to cast
their ballots in a way that genuinely reflects their
views. He said
the law, which came into effect in 2004, made it difficult for members
of small parties to "play a meaningful role in the electoral process."
While the
amounts at stake are not huge, he
wrote that "such
funding would substantially increase the possibilities that such
parties could make voters aware of their platform and candidates."
"I consider
that the existence of the
threshold diminishes public
confidence in the electoral process and encourages a public perception
that the threshold exists only to benefit the major political parties,
who alternate, from time to time, in forming the government and are in
a position to maintain it," Judge Matlow said.
The money
will be awarded retroactively to
2003 and, including
interest charges, brings the total the parties will share to
approximately $500,000.
Tracy
Parsons, leader of the Progressive
Canadian party, told the
media that while she is not in favour of public funding of parties, the
ruling restores fairness to the electoral process. "If you're going to
fund any, you should fund all," said Parsons.
The lawyer
for the small parties, Peter
Rosenthal, estimated that
the Marijuana Party would get about $60,000 a year; the Christian
Heritage Party $70,000; and the Communist Party $8,000.
Based on
their vote totals in the January 2006
election, the
Conservative Party is eligible for about $9.2 million per year, the
Liberals $7.7 million, the NDP $4.5 million, the Bloc
Québécois $2.7
million, and the Greens $830,000.
Privy Council
spokesperson Myriam Massabki
said the government had
the judgment and "will review it carefully before commenting."
But political
observers believe the Matlow
ruling is certain to
survive any appeal. Just as significant, it raises the next critical
issue of electoral fairness - the allocation of free broadcast time
almost exclusively to the parties represented in Parliament, leaving
only one or two minutes of the 390 minute total for each of the smaller
parties. In effect, the wealthier parties, which already spend millions
on advertising, also have a near complete monopoly on free-time radio
and TV broadcasts during elections.
In a letter
to Peter Grant, Broadcast
Arbitrator, Communist Party
representative Liz Rowley noted that the ruling was handed down while
the annual meeting to determine distribution of broadcast time was
taking place.
"In our
view," stated Rowley, "this judgement
has immediate
bearing on your decision with respect to the division of Broadcast time
among 15 registered parties."
Her letter
draws attention to Judge Matlow's
decision, which
states that "Much of the information about the platform of a political
party is communicated to potential voters through the media and it is
very expensive to purchase political advertising..."
The decision,
notes Rowley, "is further
confirmation that the
courts regard democracy in a broader sense than do the large parties
who currently compose Parliament and draft and pass exclusionary and
self-serving election legislation... We ask that you consider Judge
Matlow's decision prior to rendering your decision on the division of
Broadcast time for the next 12 months. We believe that the
proposal to
divide the 390 minutes of free time equally amongst the registered
parties is well supported by this latest court decision."
It's hard to fly with a broken right wing
(The
following article is from
the November 1-15, 2006
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
By Sam Hammond
EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, something
happens that restores one's
determination and makes that uphill road a lot less steep. The
"Citizen's Rally and March" organized on Sunday, October 15, by
Ontario's resident redneck and Aryan bigot Gary McHale against the
people of the Six Nations was a tremendous, unmitigated, glorious flop.
Even the Canadian Press and especially the "righter than the rest"
Hamilton Channel Eleven couldn't conjure up a significant event out of
the dreary few who McHale summoned from all over Ontario and the
northern United States.
After
collecting donations from well-heeled
bigots through his web
site and passing the bucket to about one hundred scraggly supporters
who showed up in Caledonia, McHale did what charlatans and con men
always do.... he took the money and ran. Two of his wackier supporters
managed to get themselves arrested for accosting police, and two
unfortunate women who had been out partying got arrested for impaired
driving (nowhere near the Six Nations). It was a bright sunny Ontario
fall day, and the people who came to gawk along the roadside were not
necessarily supporters of McHale, so perhaps he didn't even have a
hundred supporters present. This attack by the extreme right,
anti-native, hate-driven McHalers didn't even generate enough momentum
to propel itself for a couple of city blocks.
Meanwhile, at
the Six Nations reclamation
site, perhaps the
world's largest "Potluck For Peace" was in full swing. There were about
1500 people on the site, about half of them Six Nations and half
supporters. There were Six Nations, trade union, and international
flags flying, and the festive mood was infectious with solidarity and
friendship. The longest First Nations land occupation in Canadian
history faces the upcoming winter with a wonderful back-drop of support.
October 15th
was a wonderful day for all
Canadians who support the
historic claims of the First Nations people for land, peace, national
rights and justice. Meanwhile McHale and his supporters have learned
that it is very possible to "clip a right wing" with friendship and
solidarity. The potluck was pretty good too!
(Labour activist Sam Hammond is a proud
supporter of Community Friends for Peace and Understanding with Six
Nations.)
Wages facing tough downward pressure
(The
following article is from
the November 1-15, 2006
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
By Clarence
Torcoran
THE NEW YORK TIMES reported on Oct. 15
("After years of growth, what
about workers' share, by Eduardo Porter) that "job growth is starting
to slow, and wages are barely keeping up with inflation. Five years
into a relatively robust economic expansion, it's understandable that
many American workers feel that they are not getting their fair share
of the pie."
The article
noted that "In fact, the share of
the economy devoted
to workers' wages and benefits has eroded in the United States over the
last five years," and that the trend is similar in other rich
industrial nations.
In the United
States, the slice of the
economic pie going to
workers, including wages, health insurance and pension benefits,
declined 2.5 percent from 2000 to 2005, to 56.5 percent of gross
domestic product, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The comparative figure for Canada is a 1.3% decline over the years
1999-2004.
Workers in
some countries have lost even more.
According to the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the workers'
share of GDP in Germany fell 3.1 percent over the last five years, and
in Japan, the decline was 3 points.
Meanwhile,
the bosses share has risen sharply.
Corporate pre-tax
profits now take a record-high share of Canada's national income -
14.6% of GDP compared to a twenty-five year average of 10%. In the
U.S., corporate profits have climbed to their highest share since the
1960s.
While there
have been periods when workers'
share has risen (the
second half of the 1990s in the U.S., for example) the overall trend
since the 1970s has been downward in most industrialized countries.
Porter found
economists to be "mostly
perplexed" by labour's long
decline. "It's a bit of a mystery why the labour share is falling so
much," said Alan B. Krueger, professor of economics at Princeton.
The mystery
is not really that deep. The
struggle between workers
and bosses over wages, conditions, length of the working day, and other
bread and butter issues actually pre-dates capitalism itself. Even
slaves found ways to resist the demands of their owners to work harder,
for longer hours, and for less compensation. Under capitalism, workers
have been able to win higher wages and better conditions when they
organize into strong unions. The labour movement in turn is more
effective in periods when leadership is given by militant,
revolutionary forces with the ability to integrate immediate shop floor
battle with larger political and ideological struggles. And the reverse
is true - at times when the left is relatively weaker, such as the past
couple of decades - the bosses are often able to go on the offensive
and push down wages.
But there are
also certain objective factors
in this process,
related to the internal dynamics of capitalism, and the changing
structures of imperialism.
For example,
Porter points to the composition
of the U.S. economy:
"In 1975, manufacturing accounted for 28 percent of output, while
finance accounted for 18 percent... By 1995, the relative importance of
these sectors had flipped - with finance accounting for 27 percent and
manufacturing for 22 percent."
In his
analysis, "this shift took a chunk out
of the workers'
share because banks and other financial companies use fewer workers
than manufacturers to do what they do, and they don't pay their workers
proportionally more."
To Marxists,
there is a clearer explanation of
this phenomenon.
Profits and wealth are not created by shuffling capital around the
planet, but through the exploitation of workers engaged in producing
commodities. Workers at the "point of production" (without getting into
lengthy debates about precisely which workers are in this category)
have the power to choke off the generation of profits. That power has
often been used to win higher wages than their fellow workers in the
service and financial sectors.
Porter's
article looks at other factors, such
as the expansion of
manufacturing in China and call centers in India, which have increased
the global competition for jobs. In essence, the bosses are expanding
the pool of workers they can exploit, faster than the working class has
been able to organize, at least for now.
Here in
Canada, the decline in manufacturing
has not been as steep
as in the United States, which may be one reason for the slower fall in
workers' share of the economy. But the decline is nevertheless
underway, and the labour movement in our country must find ways to
resist the downward pressure on wages and working conditions.
End Canada's occupation of Afghanistan!
(The
following article is from
the November 1-15, 2006
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
PV Vancouver
Bureau
THE U.S.-LED occupations of Iraq and
Afghanistan are increasingly
recognized as disasters, even at the top levels of the military.
General Richard Dannatt, the highest-ranking military officer in
Britain, has warned that the occupation troops in Iraq must be
withdrawn soon, since their unwelcome presence is exacerbating security
problems.
Here in
Canada, ever-wider circles of the
public are calling for
withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan. The latest to raise their
voices are a number of family members of the troops. The first Canadian
soldier to quit the military rather than eventually serve in
Afghanistan, Francisco Juarez, is currently touring the country
speaking at events to make the same demand.
With the
support of the Canadian Labour
Congress, the Canadian
Islamic Congress, the Canadian Peace Alliance, the broad Quebec peace
movement represented by the Collectif Échèc à la
guerre, the Council of
Canadians, and many other groups, rallies are being held in dozens of
cities and towns on October 28, all to press the federal government to
withdraw the troops now.
At a meeting
of its Central Committee on the
Sept. 30-Oct. 1
weekend, the Communist Party of Canada condemned the imperialist
foreign policy of the Harper Tories, "who are planning to involve
Canada in supporting ever more dangerous and predatory military
campaigns." The CPC resolution warned against the "threat of new,
dangerous aggressions by the U.S. against Iran and Syria, potentially
sparking a much broader conflict in the Middle East." Welcoming the
growth of the anti-war movement, the CPC resolution called for the
greatest possible mobilization on October 28 as "an important step to
build a broad and powerful movement to defeat the Harper Tories in the
next federal election."
Despite the
push by the corporate media, Tory
politicians, and the
top military brass, millions of Canadians remain convinced that the
troops should come home. Most opinion polls show that at least half of
respondents hold this view.
Grassroots
indications are even more powerful.
In the Vancouver
area, for example, the StopWar.ca peace coalition has been conducting
regular street polls, asking passersby to vote yes or no to the simple
question: should Canadian troops be pulled out of Afghanistan? In every
neighbourhood, the "yes" votes are at least 75%, in some areas as high
as 90%. The results might be somewhat different in other parts of the
country, but the bottom line is that the war is deeply unpopular.
As Murray
Dobbin wrote recently in the Tyee
online webzine, "This
military engagement will go down in Canadian history as one of the most
shameful betrayals of Canadian soldiers in our history. Canadian troops
are dying because neither their supreme commander nor their prime
minister has the courage to acknowledge what is actually happening.
They are dying so Stephen Harper can prove himself to George W. Bush."
The Senlis
Council, a Brussels-based security
and development
policy group, says Canada's strategy is "to unquestioningly accept
America's fundamentally flawed policy approach in southern Afghanistan,
thereby jeopardising the success of military operations in the region
and the stabilisation, reconstruction and development mission
objectives." For example, "Operation Medusa" was a complete waste of
resources, and lives, both Afghan and Canadian. This operation drove
some 20,000 Afghans out of their homes, generating even more anger and
resistance.
Captain Leo
Docherty, of the Scots Guards, the
former aide-de-camp
to the commander of the British task force in southern Afghanistan
resigned in September, describing a similar campaign in southern
Helmand province as "a textbook case of how to screw up a
counter-insurgency. All those people whose homes have been destroyed
and sons killed are going to turn against the British."
Canadian
soldiers are making refugees of the
people they are
supposed to be helping. According to the Senlis Council, there are
between ten and fifteen refugee camps in the provinces of Helmand and
Kandahar, each with up to 10,000 people, largely the result of Canadian
and British conventional war tactics. They are receiving "little or no
help from relief agencies."
Canada has
now spent over $4 billion on its
Afghan mission - 90
percent of which has been used in the military conflict. Even the
development aid that has been spent is often resented for the way in
which it is wasted. According to University of Manitoba professor John
Ryan "a recent report for the Overseas Development Institute, by Ashraf
Ghani, the chancellor of Kabul University and former Karzai finance
minister, has stated that in 2002 about 90 percent of the $1 billion
spent on 400 aid projects was wasted."
Many
Canadians still say that they are
reluctant to "cut and run"
without a strategy to help Afghanistan recover from decades of
conflict. But there are other alternatives. According to retired
international affairs professor Jack Warnock of Regina, Canada should
"Withdraw all military forces from Afghanistan and withdraw from all
projects being sponsored by the U.S. government and NATO [and then]
work within the UN General Assembly to develop a new project for
Afghanistan ... completely separate from any US or NATO project."
Communist Youth Union "Dissolved" by
Czech state
(The
following article is from
the November 1-15, 2006
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
The Communist Youth Union (KSM) in the
Czech Republic has been
"officially dissolved" by the government. As reported in previous
issues of People's Voice, the Czech state has been moving towards this
step for some time. The KSM is one of the largest youth organizations
in the Czech Republic. It is allied with the Communist Party of Bohemia
and Moravia (KSCM), the third-largest political party in the country.
The KSM
reports that on October 16, it
received a letter from the
Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic announcing that the KSM has
been dissolved, in spite of a campaign against the illegalization of
the organization of young communists.
Thousands of
citizens had signed a petition
against plans by the
Interior Ministry to make the KSM illegal. Within the Czech Republic,
the protest was backed by the organization of former antifascist
fighters, student organizations, political parties and civic
associations. The campaign also won wide international support.
Hundreds of youth and student organizations, trade unions and political
parties, together with thousands of people, demonstrated and sent
protests to embassies and consulates of the Czech Republic in their
countries. Solidarity with the KSM was expressed by members of
parliaments, famous intellectuals and personalities like Nobel Prize
winner Dario Fo, Zapatista leader Marcos, and singer Bono Vox from U2.
The World Federation of Democratic Youth initiated an International day
of solidarity with the KSM on February 27, 2006.
There have
been varying explanations from the
Czech state about
its crackdown. The Interior Ministry originally stated that the KSM was
engaged in activities restricted to political parties, then went
further to call the organization's behaviour "illegal" because it was
based on the theories of Marx, Engels, and Lenin, and on the necessity
of socialist revolution.
Speaking to
People's Voice on October 19,
Pavel Vosalik, the
Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Canada, brushed off concerns,
saying that dissolution was "not such a problematic issue," since the
KSM upholds Communist ideology. The main problem, Vosalik said, is that
the KSM engages in political activities, despite being registered in
the republic's category of a civic society. Further, he claimed -
without citing any specific examples - that the KSM's program violates
Czech laws by inciting violence and hatred against other citizens.
In an Oct. 19
news release, the Interior
Ministry said that "The
political program of (the Communist Youth Union) suggests an active
involvement in abolishing private property as well as in
collectivization of such a property. According to the Ministry of the
Interior any declaration or expressed intention to deny or to restrict
the right of a citizen to possess a property stands in a sharp contrast
with basic democratic principles. The right of property is guaranteed
in the Constitution of the Czech Republic (Article 9) as well as in the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Article 11)."
For its part,
the KSM says it "will carry on
the struggle for the
rights of majority of young people - students, young workers and
unemployed - and for socialism!" The KSM will also challenge the
Ministry's decision in court.
Across
Europe, there is a growing atmosphere
of anti-communist
witch-hunts and campaigns, including calls for the criminalization of
the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. The Interior Ministry's
action against the KSM was taken just one week before local and Senate
elections in which the KSCM is participating. While the Ministry says
that no action is planned against the KSCM, its statement that the
Constitution does not allow advocacy to restrict property rights is a
clear warning of intentions to impose state regulations on the party's
program and policies.
The KSM has
urged all supporters of democracy
"to stand up
internationally against this illegalization and criminalization of the
communist movement," by sending protests to embassies of the Czech
Republic. Copies of such protests should be emailed to international@ksm.cz
or faxed to: ++420 222 897 449.
Action and unity for a better Manitoba
(The
following article is from
the November 1-15, 2006
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
Greetings to Manitoba Federation of
Labour delegates, from the Manitoba
Provincial Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada
Delegates at the Manitoba Federation
of Labour's Nov. 2-5 convention
must consider some important challenges for workers in this province.
Underlying everything is the need for strategy and prompt action to
block the election of Conservative politicians in Manitoba both
provincially and federally next year.
The Manitoba
NDP's largely ineffective effort
to narrow social
divisions makes defeating the Tories even harder. The NDP has enriched
corporations and the wealthy through tax cuts and privatizations, while
low-paid workers, especially Aboriginal people and women, face a
struggle to survive.
Manitoba's
organized labour movement needs to
do its utmost to
defeat the Harper and McFadyen Tories, both parties of big business
with no sympathy for workers or the needy. The record profits raked in
by Canadian corporations over the past three years are all they care
about, the most selfish and narrow interest imaginable.
Despite the
intensifying attacks on labour,
Manitoba unions have
managed to block concessions and outright rollbacks. The province's
average wage increased eight cents an hour to $19.34 from 1999 to 2005
after taking inflation into account. If elected, Tory majority
governments would target union rights even more if union resistance
threatens corporate profits.
They would
ensure Manitoba remains a low-wage,
low-growth province
supporting every reactionary and imperialist venture by Harper or Bush.
The Harper Tories are moving now to cancel the Wheat Board's
single-desk selling for farmers, which for workers is like ripping up
every collective agreement in Western Canada.
Tory majority
governments will do nothing to
change the immense,
racist unemployment of Aboriginal people, keeping them as a vast
"reserve army of labour" that drives wages down since so many are
desperate for work. They will oppose settling land claims that limit
corporate power to control Manitoba's rich natural resources and that
open prospects for Aboriginal-led development in the North and
elsewhere.
Much more is
at stake, such as public health
and child care,
Canadian troops in Afghanistan, Canadian sovereignty, civil rights,
good paying jobs and the very right of trade unions to participate in
the political process. For example, the ban on union political
donations is a reactionary attack on workers and democracy.
Every day,
the parties of big business in
Manitoba are carrying out a broad and dangerous "drive to the right."
In the
corporate media they justify
privatizations and gutted
social programs. They blame the "selfish, lazy" poor, the unemployed,
and the victims of injustice for their own misery. They give
corporations "freedom" to save the earth from global warming with no
deadlines or limits. And they scare people into supporting war against
"terrorists," fomenting racism and xenophobia at home.
The surest
way to block the Right is prompt
and united political
action by Manitoba's labour movement, challenging the profits and
orthodoxy of big business, defending and expanding the public sector,
and making Manitoba a voice against war and aggression.
Because of
its numbers and organization,
Manitoba's trade union
movement has a crucial and independent role to play in defeating the
corporate agenda, without relying on or contracting out political work
to a political party such as the NDP.
An essential
part of isolating and defeating
the big business
parties is strengthening alliances with farmers (labour-farmer unity),
Aboriginal peoples, women, youth and students, and others. Alliances to
block the privatization of health care and to advance public child care
must be strengthened.
Blocking the
Tories in Manitoba will help to
open doors for
movements working for better wages, social rights and political
formations that do not bow down to corporate interests. As a political
party with the long-term goal of socialism, Communists will work with
all groups to defeat the Tories in the struggles ahead.
The Communist
Party wishes delegates a
productive convention.
Celebrate Canada's early struggle for
democracy
(The
following article is from
the November 1-15, 2006
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
By Betty
Griffin
"I die without
remorse; all that I desired was the good of my
country, in insurrection and in independence. For 18 years I have taken
an active part in almost every popular movement, always with conviction
and sincerity. My efforts have been for the independence of my
compatriots. Thus far we have been unfortunate.
"But the wounds of
my country will heal - the peace loving Canadian
will see liberty and happiness born anew on the St. Lawrence.
"To you my
compatriots, my execution and that of my comrades on the
scaffold will be of use. For then I die on the gallows the infamous
death of a murderer. I leave behind my young children and my wife, for
them I die with the cry on my lips- Vive La Liberte, Vive
l'Indépendence!"
Can any Canadian
identify the
writer of these lines? He
was one of twelve in Montreal and two in Toronto hanged for their part
in the 1837 Rebellion in Upper and Lower Canada, a rebellion that gave
birth to Canadian democracy, the separation of church and state, and
free public education. We are happy to celebrate rebellions and
revolutions in other countries but it is time we paid heed to our own
heroic struggles in the fight for freedom and justice.
Frustration
and anger boiled up with the early
settlers in
reaction to the huge land giveaways. It started in the Maritimes.
Newfoundland was declared an admiralty and no one was allowed to
settle, but the fishermen clung to their little settlements until the
commanding admiral in 1789 ordered the destruction of every building
that possessed a chimney. Not until 1819 was the settlers' right of
occupancy of their homes recognized as legal.
The whole of
Prince Edward Island was given
away to seventy
wealthy British aristocrats in one day. By 1838 half of New Brunswick
and most of Nova Scotia was similarly handed out. The 300,000
dispossessed from Ireland and Britain were literally dumped on the
shores of the St. Lawrence River where many died of disease and
starvation. There was no free land for them.
When 10,000
citizens petitioned in 1831 in
support of separation
of church and state (the church was one of the biggest landowners),
they were refused in no uncertain terms by the Family Compact, a
refusal considered to have been a prime cause of the Rebellion.
From May of
1837, protest rallies were held
the length and breadth
of Lower Canada. Montreal had joint meetings of French Canadians and
Irish democrats. More and more rallies expressed support for the
Patriotes led by Papineau. Their slogans proclaimed "Flee, tyrants, for
the People are Awakening!", "In Unity is Strength", "All honour to our
Patriote Women", "Death rather than enslavement", "Defend the People's
Rights and Liberties." And the first Canadian flag was flown -
horizontal bands of green, red and white adorned with a beaver, a maple
leaf and a maskinonge (a large pike found in Eastern lakes).
The mass
movements of protest reached a climax
on October 23 when
some 5000 gathered at St. Charles, the most militant gathering yet.
Speakers urged armed resistance although Papineau was reluctant. The
governor issued warrants for the arrest of leading Patriotes and
authorized troops to carry them out. The ill-armed Patriotes gathered
in the towns to protect their leaders and met defeat when 6000 British
troops marched against them, burning down whole villages as they went.
At the same
time, William Lyon Mackenzie and
his Reformers in
Upper Canada fared no better, in fact between getting their dates for
action confused, having no military plans and finally having their more
conservative members turn traitor, Mackenzie never did see the great
convention in York (Toronto) which was to proclaim responsible
government. He fled to the United States, but his friends Samuel Lount
and Peter Matthews were hanged, despite over 30,000 signed petitions
asking for clemency. Lount was offered his life provided he would turn
informer, but, as his wife said, "He will never expose others even if
it means his own life.: In spite of her pleas, his body, together with
Matthews, were consigned to Potters' Field.
In Montreal
twelve Patriotes were hanged, the
youngest aged 23. It
was DeLorimier who wrote the inspiring message above to his compatriots.
The fight for
democracy in Canada is still to
be won, especially
now when the powerful can again anoint their own man to be our glorious
leader, one who is intent on continuing the destruction of social
justice and Canadian independence.
If anyone
survives to breed future historians,
they will, without
doubt, study the memorials of our own era with shocked incredulity,
wondering what ghastly ignorance or ineptitude, led our citizens to
accept the rule of madmen.
