November 1-15, 2008
Volume 16 - Number 19
$1

Prolétaires de tous les pays, unissez-vous!
Otatoskewak ota kitaskinahk mamawestotan!
Workers of all lands, unite
Contents
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1) OBSERVE OR INTERVENE: WHAT IS THE ROLE OF LABOUR?
2) ONTARIO LIBERALS FORECAST DEEP CUTS, MORE PRIVATIZATION
3) CSN AND FTQ SIGN ANTI-POACHING PACT
4) GLOBAL CAPITALISM "ON THE EDGE OF ABYSS"
5) EDUCATE, ORGANIZE AND FIGHT BACK
6) FOUR DIRECTIONS WALK LAUNCHES JUSTICE CHARTER
7) HOUSING TOP ISSUE IN VANCOUVER ELECTION
8) ABORIGINAL AND METIS RIGHTS BENEFIT ALL WORKERS
9) COMMUNISTS NEAR 5% IN STUDENT VOTE
10) DUMB-OCRACY AT ITS BEST
11) CAPITALISM AND CRISIS - Editorial
12) EDUCATION IS A RIGHT! - Editorial
13) THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, GEORGIAN INTRANSIGENCE AND THE PEOPLES' PLIGHT
14) DEFEND ANC UNITY AND THE REVOLUTION: SACP
15) WHAT'S LEFT
 16) PV CROSSWORD
17) PODCAST OF PEOPLE'S VOICE ARTICLES
18) CLARTÉ (en français)
19) THE SPARK! (Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada)
20) INTRODUCING MARXISM: A COMMUNIST PARTY STUDY COURSE
21) REBEL YOUTH

NOVEMBER 1-15, 2008 PV


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:
NOVEMBER 16-31
Thursday, November 4
DECEMBER 1-31
Thursday, November 27
 Send submissions to PV Editorial Office,
706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, V5L 3J1, pvoice@telus.net





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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1) OBSERVE OR INTERVENE: WHAT IS THE ROLE OF LABOUR?

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Sam Hammond, chair of the Central Trade Union Commission, Communist Party of Canada

     In the World Trade Organization, from the very beginning the world's largest banks, insurance companies and financial institutions based in the imperialist countries have ruled the roost and bullied acceptance of their neo-liberal global agenda. Wearing silk suits and carrying battle maces, their lobbyists have blackmailed and threatened developing countries and junior imperialist supplicants like Canada into acceptance of the myth that their General Agreement on Trade In Services (GATS) and General Agreement on Trade & Tariffs (GATT) are beneficial to them.   This spawned NAFTA and threw away the Auto Pact, amongst other deep penetrations and acquisitions of our economy. It was and is the basis of the destruction of our manufacturing base and the transition to a supplier of cheap energy and resources, the export of jobs, attacks on public social programs, falling wages and general impoverishment of very large sections of the Canadian working class.

     But the worst is yet to come, as these policies of deregulation and unfettered flow of capital impact internationally and sharpen the traditional antagonistic contradictions of capitalism. As millions starve and more millions totter on the brink, as pension funds bleed billions in losses and people watch their quality of life and their jobs disappear, where are the perpetrators of this calamity?

     They are sitting in their offices, waiting for government bail-out cheques, money ripped from our wages, pensions or social assistance, to purchase their failed assets. They will receive hard cash for worthless paper, which we now must work for the next generation or so to give value to so they can steal it again. We have purchased their deregulated crimes with the future of our children.

     The wordsmiths of barbarity and exploitation have re-christened us as "collateral damage". Under-utilized as the identifier of a few thousand murdered civilians, this cute literary phrase now develops its full potential as the moniker of the entire global non-capitalist population. But the movers and shakers of the WTO, GATS, GATT and the World Bank have not gone to confession, because they do not admit their sins.

     Consider this quote from a Briefing Paper authoured by Ellen Gould for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA): "Former advocates of deregulation are conceding that given the severity of the sub prime crisis, new regulations will have to be imposed on the financial industry. But even as these regulations are being drafted, a deregulation agenda is being advanced at the World Trade Organization... Governments are under pressure to remove conditions on foreign entry into their financial markets and to impose `disciplines' on their regulations."

     The cat is out of the bag, the wolves will remain wolves. But will the people of the world willingly remain at the bottom of the food chain? Not according to the people of Latin America, but more on that later.

     The auto companies globally are symptomatic of the problems of imperialist rivalry, mutual corporate plunder, super-exploitation, migration of capital and relative over-production. In other words, a deregulated Shangri-la that they have turned into a dangerous vehicle of ruin. They are also big bankers (GMAC, Ford Motor Credit and Chrysler Financial) who deal in auto loans and leasing the way other bankers and speculators deal in home mortgages.

     Japan, the United States and China are the three largest auto producers in the world (in that order), and Canada is ninth. There were 73 million vehicles produced globally in 2007 (2.6 million in Canada). Through their financial institutions, the auto makers still own a large percentage of the vehicles which they have out on lease. As people default on leases or auto payments, the cash flow dries up, and the same financial crisis develops that we see in mortgages, for the same reasons.

     Of the $700 billion bail-out package approved by the U.S. government to buy debt with public funds, $25 billion is slated to the auto companies, but not one penny to an unemployed auto worker.

     To add insult to injury, GM has requested an additional low interest loan of $10 billion from the Feds, to justify a bank loan of another $10 billion. For what purpose? So they can purchase Chrysler LLC, rationalize production with plant closures and layoffs, and service a shrinking market with one less competitor. This has another inverted twist: Chrysler is owned by Cerberus Capital Management, which also owns 59% of GMAC. If this isn't financial incest, what is?

     There are comparable bail-outs in Canada. Despite the crisis in manufacturing - auto in particular - and despite our own slight-of-hand artists and the global-U.S. spillover, our "deeply integrated" Harperites are in a state of blissful tranquility, oblivious to the suffering around them.

     It is increasingly necessary for our social justice movements and Labour to react to this crisis and find new methods of resistance to protect the Canadian working people. We have the analysis, and we know the cause and effect. The question is what to do.

     The Canadian Labour Congress made a strong statement on the crisis before the end of the federal election. Then on Oct. 21, a press release headed "Labour Leaders Demand a Say in Federal Economic Plan" was published from a meeting of the CLC Executive Council, which includes the country's largest unions along with provincial federations, the Quebec Federation of Labour and territorial federations, but unfortunately not the CNTU.

     The release (see page 7 for more) contained some useful material, some rather sharp finger-pointing and a demand for an immediate meeting with Harper before the upcoming international summits. Other demands made it clear labour wants to be included and consulted on measures to protect private pensions, expand public pensions, make Employment Insurance available to laid off workers, and cap executive compensation.

     This is good, but also in the release were some rather strange twists. Ken Georgetti stated that working people "need to know that the people working on solutions to the economic crisis are on their side." Another quote: "At the heart of the Labour plan is economic activism on the governments part through investments in infrastructure, renewable energy and greater energy efficiencies, rebuilding the manufacturing and forestry sectors, and reforms to employment and labour laws." And another: "Working people know there will be sacrifices. They should not be expected to make them all, or any for that matter without consultation."

     The labour demands are just and minimal. There is a problem in perception when the expression "on their side" is thrown in as a qualifier. Are these brothers and sisters serious? That will only happen when we have a socialist government, because that is the measuring stick of which class is in power. We should be prepared to force reforms whether they are on our side or not, no peace without justice.

     The second quote on investing in infrastructure, etc., with the exception of "reforms to employment and labour laws," could be lifted out of any corporate demand for handouts. It is unreasonable to demand public investment without public control and ownership. Labour must sharpen up its agenda and put our interests at the top. Why say "working people know there will be sacrifices" in the future tense, when we have been hemorrhaging for years? Who gave permission to the CLC to advise that we would make some sacrifices if we are consulted?

     Perhaps the labour leaders of Canada could consider something like this: "We warn the Harper minority government that the organized working class will not be pushed another step backward and we will not pay the cost of the neo-liberal corporate-created crisis. We are prepared to organize resistance in defense of our people, our sovereignty, our social programs and all our hard won gains in unity with all democratic Canadians. We demand employment, housing and access to the wealth of our country under public ownership and control. We demand just settlement with Aboriginal people. We demand withdrawal from Afghanistan and Haiti and investment of the military expenditures on rebuilding our infrastructure and manufacturing base."

     Labour must be prepared to sound the alarms and champion a people's response to the crisis. There must be a sense of emergency that will recruit the social justice movements, the Aboriginal peoples' organizations, and every labour centre and union in this country, affiliated to the CLC or not. In particular, great pains must be made to form alliances with the CNTU to make a genuine unified response and fightback possible.

     We must always remember the legacy of capitalism is to solve crisis on the backs of the working people. Human suffering, the horror of war and the plunder of nations are on the first page of their recipe book. Instead of a descent into barbarity to preserve a social system that has outlived its right to exist, we need peace, justice and socialism.

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2) ONTARIO LIBERALS FORECAST DEEP CUTS, MORE PRIVATIZATION

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Ontario Bureau

Faced with massive job losses in manufacturing, and bare cupboards after years of corporate tax cuts, the McGuinty Liberals will cut services to deal with declining corporate revenues, and run a $500 million deficit.

     Provincial Treasurer Dwight Duncan, presenting his Fall Economic Statement Oct. 22, noted early and often that the government will not raise corporate taxes to deal with the deepening recession. Instead the Liberals will cut transfer payments to municipalities, universities and colleges, school boards and hospitals, and shelve commitments to hire 9,000 nurses - a promise that helped them win the 2007 provincial election.

     Trying to allay public fears that this is actually the Tory agenda for Ontario, Premier McGuinty opined that it is neither "the tax and service cuts of Mike Harris", nor the "free-spending of (NDP Premier) Bob Rae".

     But in fact, with the exception of the small deficit the government will run, it is the Tory agenda. It will translate into further privatization in municipalities, health care and hospitals, and into a major confrontation in the education system as school boards continue negotiations with ETFO (elementary teachers).

     The Harris Tories passed balanced budget legislation in the 1990s forcing public institutions to institute deep cuts to services, as provincial transfer payments were simultaneously slashed. The resulting crises in service delivery led to public-private-partnerships, the main instrument for privatization of Ontario hospitals today.

     Because of the massive public outcry, elected hospital boards have been increasingly critical of provincial funding cuts and restructuring. Now the Liberals are eliminating the boards and replacing them with LHINs (Local Health Integration Networks) appointed and solely accountable to the provincial government.

      These new cuts will see hospitals reduce services to the point where some will likely be reduced to regional clinics, opening the door to private, for-profit hospitals to open and operate in everything but name.

     The annual meeting of the Ontario Health Coalition, on the heels of the economic update, has made privatization of hospitals a major focus of public campaigning in the year ahead.

     For universities and colleges, the cuts will mean sky-rocketing tuition increases and reduced accessibility for working class students. Other impacts will include more attacks on wages, working conditions and staffing (and more strikes like the historic Windsor University Faculty Association strike in September), and more corporate intrusions into Canadian campuses.

     For municipalities, the cuts will mean reduced services, increased property taxes and user fees, the shelving of transportation and infrastructure renewal, and more pressure to liquidate public assets, including very profitable municipal hydro utilities.

     School Boards are also being pressured to liquidate valuable properties in downtown locations across the province, as enrolments drop in some areas (a cyclical issue as enrolments continually rise and fall from one year to another). Long delayed capital projects including new school construction in areas like Peel (one of the most rapidly expanding regions in the country), and structural repairs in aging school buildings across the province, have again been shelved.

     While the government says it will deliver Junior and Senior Kindergarten programs promised in 2007, it won't be at least until 2010 or 2011. Childcare and public transportation investments are also on the back burner.

     As to the crisis in affordable housing, expanding and deepening poverty, and the massive job losses in manufacturing, the government has nothing to offer.

     The OFL, CUPE and other trade unions in Ontario have attacked the government for the absence of any action to protect working people from the recession and the US credit crisis, which threatens pensions, mortgages and savings as well as jobs and wages.   

     Communist Party (Ontario) leader Liz Rowley called on the government to reverse the service cuts and expand investment in health care, hospitals, public and post-secondary education, municipalities, and to move now to establish a system of universally accessible, affordable and quality public child care in Ontario.

     "Massive public investment in social programs and in job creation - including a massive social housing construction program across the province and infrastructure renewal - is what's needed now", said Rowley. "This should be paid for by corporate Ontario through reversing tax cuts, restoring corporate taxes reduced or eliminated by the Harris Tories and the McGuinty Liberals, and by introducing wealth taxes. Canada is a very wealthy country, and Ontario is one of its most wealthy and productive provinces. And anyone who says different is lying."

     Rowley urged other policies, such as plant closure legislation, abrogating NAFTA, pulling out of the SPP negotiations, and investing in value-added manufacturing and secondary industry. "That's the way to go to mitigate the worst effects of the recession which could turn into a full-fledged depression if the government doesn't reverse course," she said.

     She called for a new policy in the auto industry: "Ontario should invest in a publicly-owned Canadian car that's small, fuel-efficient, and environmentally sustainable".

     The Communist Party is also calling for immediate action to raise the minimum wage to $15, to increase ODSP and social assistance above the poverty level, and to raise pensions substantially. It says the federal government should be pushed to expand EI to cover all the unemployed for the duration of unemployment, and to increase payouts to 90% of previous earnings.

     "These demands aren't socialism," Rowley said, "though surely the depth of the global capitalist economic and political crisis raises the question of a new economic and political system socialism - in a sharp and immediate way.

     "But even these demands, all projected to protect working people from the worst effects of this capitalist crisis, will require a massive and united fight to win them. We need emergency action by the labour and democratic movements to defend the interests of working people who are being told by the Liberals, the Tories and the transnational corporations that they have to pay for the crisis by giving up their jobs, wages, pensions, savings, social programs, and living standards.  

     "The answer must be a decisive NO! People's needs, not corporate greed... that's what must shape a united opposition now!"

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3) CSN AND FTQ SIGN ANTI-POACHING PACT

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

The presidents of the Quebec Federation of Labour of Quebec (QFL-FTQ) and the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CNTU-CSN), Michel Arsenault and Claudette Carbonneau, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which aims to develop stronger union solidarity.

     The Oct. 26 memorandum bars "poaching" between the two organizations during the period of "change of allegiance" leading up to bargaining for the next collective agreements covering some 400,000 public and parapublic sector employees.

     "Such a protocol has no precedent in Quebec," Claudette Carbonneau told the media. Instead of soliciting public sector workers to switch unions, she said, unions should focus elsewhere.

     Michel Arsenault added that "Unity is strength. If we are together, we are much more likely to succeed than if we squabble in the months preceding the negotiations."

     The FTQ and the CSN want to regain their full rights to collective bargaining in the public and parapublic sectors. Those rights were severely limited by a unilateral decree of the Charest government in December 2005.

     Now, the money and energies that were deployed by the FTQ and CSN in poaching each other's members will focus on organizing non-unionized workers. The FTQ and the CSN will conduct a joint campaign to promote trade unionism and labour action, and to win new members. "There is still space. There are plenty of non-unionized workers, especially in the private sector," said Carbonneau.

     The two labour leaders also hope that their unity will help reduce the impact of the global economic crisis on Quebec workers. Both point out that the Quebec finance minister, Monique Jérome-Forget, talks about the size of the provincial surplus, which was achieved largely on the backs of public sector workers.

     Carbonneau wants a "Keynesian wind" to blow away Quebec's zero-deficit law, which she says will plunge the provincial economy deeper into recession. "This is the time for major funding programs to revive the economy," she argued, a sentiment echoed by Michel Arsenault.

     Meanwhile, other sections of the Quebec labour movement, including the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), the Federation of Health Interprofessional du Quebec (FIQ) and the Alliance of professional and technical personnel of Health and Social Services (APTS), have built their own alliance. They are not covered by the CSN-FTQ protocol.

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4) GLOBAL CAPITALISM "ON THE EDGE OF ABYSS"

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Commentary

In an Oct. 21 statement noting that global capitalism is "on the edge of the abyss," the Canadian Labour Congress says that "dramatic recent events have thrown into sharp relief some chronic and long-standing problems of our global and national economic system: an over-developed financial sector which has fuelled rampant speculation rather than productive, job-creating investments in the real economy; huge returns for senior executives and corporate insiders while the wages and the incomes of working families have stagnated; rising household debt instead of a fair sharing of productivity gains with workers; over-reliance on the export of raw resources; a deep crisis in our manufacturing and forest industries; and massive global financial imbalances driven by unbalanced and unfair trade."

     "The age of deregulated neo-liberal global capitalism is over," the CLC says, adding that "Financial collapse has led not just to the discrediting of an ideology, but also to a major reassertion of the role of governments in maintaining systemic financial stability."

     The CLC calls for a co-ordinated international response to "avoid future financial crises by strengthening government

regulation of the banks and other financial institutions, and by extending the scope of government regulation to include hedge funds and private equity groups."

     Other measures advocated by the Congress include restrictions on capital flight, deeper cuts to interest rates, and a transactions tax on all securities trading to discourage short-term speculation and to raise government revenues.

     More government assistance to the Canadian banks, says the CLC, should be given "only in return for an equity position, with a view to increasing the power of the federal government to regulate and supervise the banks on an ongoing basis" and to help ensure lines of credit.

     Rejecting the "myth that Canada has not experienced a housing bubble," the CLC says the CMHC be able to draw upon government funds to refinance distressed mortgages at lower rates.

     Another reform advocated by the CLC is public reviews of all major corporate mergers and acquisitions, with approval dependent on real investment and employment.

     Responding to the wave of corporate greed which helped fan the crisis, the CLC calls for restrictions on stock option compensation to executives, a surtax on very high incomes, and full inclusion of capital gains in taxable income.

     Predicting that the only real question is "how deep and prolonged the crisis will be," the CLC rejects right-wing demands for budget slashing.

     The Congress advocates an immediate emergency fiscal stimulus of at least $10 billion over each of the next two years, mainly directed to energy efficiency and renewable energy projects including building retrofits and public transit, to create at least 200,000 jobs. Priority should also be given to public infrastructure and affordable housing projects.

     The CLC also urges "sectoral economic strategies to rebuild our industries, particularly the hard-hit manufacturing and forestry sectors. Further corporate tax cuts should be cancelled and replaced by direct government support for new private sector investment in machinery and equipment, research and development and training."

     Turning to the social sector, the CLC proposes "major investments in child care and early learning, home care and long-term care and high quality public education. Post-secondary education and training programs must be expanded to help upgrade the skills of laid off workers."

     The current Employment Insurance system, it says, "will leave many Canadians out in the cold, unable to qualify for benefits... With an accumulated surplus of more than $50 billion in the EI Account, the federal government must maintain and increase benefits, and also expand spending from the EI Fund to pay for labour adjustment and training programs."

     The Congress warns that "the financial crisis, combined with a major recession, threatens to produce a severe pensions crisis as companies in major difficulties face large pension fund deficits." It urges a national pension guarantee fund supported by a financial transaction tax, and limits on investments in hedge funds, private equity and other risky assets.

     Pointing out that "the roots of this crisis lie not just in the excesses of finance, but also in the fundamental imbalance of power between workers and employers," the Labour Congress says that "when people earn decent wages, all parts of the economy do well. As was shown in the 1930s, this will be achieved not just through more government intervention in the economy, but also by building strong unions and increasing the bargaining power of labour." This should include anti-scab legislation, protections for new union organizing through card check certification, and first contract arbitration.

     The CLC statement is noteworthy for its forceful condemnation of the capitalist crisis, although the wide-ranging measures it advocates to soften the impact do not include any mention of genuine public ownership and democratic control of the economy. Given the social democratic orientation of most of Canada's trade union leadership, this is no surprise.

     Perhaps more to the point, while the statement correctly notes the need for a stronger labour movement, the CLC has not initiated any plans for a major public campaign on the economic crisis. As job losses mount and Canadian workers face an uncertain future, it is to be hoped that the CLC and the Quebec trade union centrals will take the lead in launching such a mass fightback - sooner rather than later.

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5) EDUCATE, ORGANIZE AND FIGHT BACK

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

At their October 21 monthly meeting, delegates to the Vancouver and District Labour Council adopted the following resolution on the global financial crisis:

BECAUSE the global financial crisis is triggering an economic recession, which may ultimately spread to the Canadian economy affecting many workers and their families, and BECAUSE the "free market" program of privatization, de-regulation and globalization has so clearly failed workers and their families; and
BECAUSE unregulated market greed and excess are the causes of the current financial crisis and could provide a basis for necessary economic reform and social change if the lessons are properly learned and understood,
THE VANCOUVER & DISTRICT LABOUR COUNCIL WILL:

1. organize educational events and seminars to help workers and the public to understand the current economic situation and develop progressive solutions, and
2. fight any attempt to put the burden of this crisis onto workers' shoulders; and

3. organize coordinated support for the unions that are targeted, if asked to do so by those unions, and promote coalitions between unions and social justice groups to push for the necessary economic and social change to prevent this happening again.

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6) FOUR DIRECTIONS WALK LAUNCHES JUSTICE CHARTER

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Manitoba Bureau

Over seventy people rallied at the Manitoba Legislature on Friday, October 17 for the unveiling of the Justice Charter for the eradication of poverty in the province. A Four Directions Walk preceded the rally with twelve walkers, some starting from Winnipeg's perimeter.

     The process for the Charter's ratification will be important for the next five months, ending in a Constituent Assembly in March, around the time of the International Day for the Elimination of Racism. The organizing committee received a positive response from a wide range of anti-poverty, women's, student, union and other organizations to participate in the activities after the Walk.

     The rally included a good range of speakers from groups representing people with disabilities, Aboriginal people and students. Most important, almost all of the people at the rally signed up to build the anti-poverty movement. The Charter contains many demands, such as a guaranteed annual income above the poverty line, a massive investment in public housing, pay and job equity for discriminated groups and recognizing Aboriginal nations in a new basis in Canada, with full national rights and equal nation to nation relations.

     The federal elections prevented more ambitious preparations for the Walk, but close to 1,500 colourful posters were put up in the poorest neighbourhoods, mostly in the two days after the election.

     A government minister cancelled the Harvest potluck in the Legislature that was to follow the rally due to "public health concerns," but there was a good spirit and optimism about the launching of the Charter. All elected federal and provincial politicians and Winnipeg City Council were invited to receive a copy of the Charter.

     The people at the rally applauded the two elected politicians who were present: Jon Gerrard, leader of the Liberal Party in Manitoba, and Shelly Glover, elected in St. Boniface as a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party three days earlier. Flor Marcelino, NDP MLA for Wellington, sent her regrets in writing, being under the weather.

     Besides People's Voice, there was no media coverage. The organizers received a rude phone call from the Winnipeg Free Press but did not provide any information, since the newspaper is on strike. When inviting the union to speak at the rally, they were informed that the caller was a top manager at the paper.

     The organizers can be reached at FourDirectionsCommittee@gmail.com or 204-792-3371.

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7) HOUSING TOP ISSUE IN VANCOUVER ELECTION

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Kimball Cariou

Housing has emerged as the number one civic election topic in Vancouver, where renters and homebuyers face skyrocketing costs, and the numbers of homeless people keep rising. The latest count shows that 37 percent more people are now living on Vancouver's streets than in 2005.

     Of course, this issue is Canada-wide in scope. More than three million Canadians are in "core housing need", living in less than adequate housing or forced to spend over 30 percent of their income on accommodations. But British Columbia and Vancouver have the highest numbers in core housing need - about 20 percent of Canada's total. The situation is most acute for Aboriginal peoples, especially those living in Vancouver and Lower Mainland urban centres, where almost 75 percent are in need of core housing.

     The problem has become steadily worse since the 1990s, when the federal government and most provinces abandoned their role in funding social housing. When the Campbell Liberals came to power here in 2001, their first cuts included the province's social housing program, one of the last remaining in the country.

     Ground zero for the crisis is Vancouver's Downtown East Side (DTES) area, the lowest-income urban neighbourhood in Canada. The 2005 Vancouver Housing Plan for the DTES correctly warned that "Homelessness will likely increase unless existing low-income housing is preserved or replaced." The City calculates that a net increase of 800 units of social housing per year is needed to meet the demand for low-cost, supportive housing.

     Many of Vancouver's homeless people live in the DTES, but of 2,154 market housing units either built or planned in the area between 2005 and 2010, only 557 are social housing. Since the start of 2008, almost 375 single occupancy rooms have been removed from the housing stock of the DTES.

     The issue has been debated extensively by the two leading mayoralty candidates, Peter Ladner of the NPA and Vision's Gregor Robertson. Ladner has tried to appear sympathetic to those most negatively affected, but his record of opposing social housing destroys his credibility.

     The most comprehensive platform on the issue has been released by the Coalition of Progressive Electors, which is running incumbent David Cadman and former councillor Ellen Woodsworth for city council.

     "It costs about $55,000 a year to provide services to a homeless person, but it only costs $7,300 to $13,370 to provide supportive, social housing," notes Woodsworth.

     Cadman adds that "Vancouver residents are, frankly, embarrassed that homelessness is growing and affordability is disappearing. This NPA council reversed a policy of one third low income at South East False Creek and have stood by while slum landlords allow their properties to fall apart necessitating their closure. It's unacceptable that good housing stands vacant while people sleep on the sidewalk." Cadman was referring to the 200-unit Little Mountain housing project, built in the post-war years; most of the residents have been forced out of the complex in preparation for redevelopment of the area, leaving the units unoccupied.

     COPE's 10-point homelessness plan includes:

- using Little Mountain's 200 empty units for social housing.

- requiring developers to incorporate 20 percent affordable housing in new developments.

- a replacement policy for the Downtown Eastside, so that for every unit of market housing built, an equivalent unit of affordable social housing is also constructed.

- actively protect, maintain, and improve the existing low-income housing stock, through vigilant enforcement of existing regulations and bylaws.

- lobby the provincial Government to increase welfare rates and the minimum wage, and to remove barriers to accessing income assistance.

- lobby the province to create a more effective and accessible residential tenancy dispute resolution process.

- allocate funding to meet the official target of 800 units of affordable housing a year for the next four years and re-establish a Residential Tenancy Office in Vancouver.

- lobby the province to increase subsidies to low income renters.

- use the City's Property Endowment Fund to build affordable housing.

- freeze conversion of rental accommodation to strata title condos.

     If the NPA is returned with a majority on November 15, the next three years will likely see more hollow promises but very little progress from City Hall. But if Cadman and Woodsworth are elected as part of a working Vision-COPE majority, social housing advocates will have a much greater chance to press the city to use its limited powers to address the crisis, and to demand that higher levels of government come through with funding for a dramatic expansion of social and low-income housing.

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8) ABORIGINAL AND METIS RIGHTS BENEFIT ALL WORKERS

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Excerpts from a speech by Cheryl-Anne Carr on behalf of the Métis Federation of Manitoba, to the Public Service Alliance of Canada National Aboriginal Peoples' Conference in Winnipeg, Sept. 19.

(T)hrough Canadian history we have gone from being the demonic, the savage, the unknown, to the enemy, the radical, the crazy, to the forlorn, the scorned, the victim, the robbed, to a place where we are just another piece of "Canadian" culture under the Maple Leaf flag....

     The racism that drags us down acts like a giant anchor on the wages of our non-Métis and non-Aboriginal sisters and brothers, our huge pool of super exploited workers creates super profits for the wealthy and corporations, and allows corporations to get away with paying workers less because they know non-Aboriginal workers will sell their labour power even more cheaply because we are around. We are the first fired, last hired. But we are not the enemy of the non-Métis, Non-Aboriginal workers.

     The anchor argument is a compelling reason to use in building active anti-racism campaigns in the union movement, for having unions carry out campaigns in public - campaigns that are independent, your own. This is not an issue that can be contracted out to a political party. No one should be saying "we are your voice in Parliament, we will speak for you, you don't need to say anything and keep quiet since we are here."

     Unions need to have their own voice to the public. The broad mass of people need to hear from unions that we have a common interest in fighting racism. A common interest in fighting for all kinds of issues. A healthy, vibrant society cannot do without active, political peoples' movements, especially the trade union movement.

     The capitalist system is what it is - it is where racism in all its forms is a necessary tool. The Métis Nation will never progress within the confines of this imperialist, settler state.

     If being Métis means loving freedom, if we dream of a Canada where all nations are equal and respect each other, then the state is against us. At our best we are compromised and must be a quaint and charming addition to multi-culturalism.

     We must, if we long for change, actually change. We cannot work with a system that would allow people to live jobless, hopeless and helpless for generation after generation.

     In this election as in all elections who are we trying to kid when we hold up one old party or another who in over 100 years has done nothing at all tangible to relieve the suffering of thousands of Aboriginal People? Even Dr. Phil tells us to look at past behaviour to predict future behaviour.

     The Conservative Party of John A. MacDonald established the same RCMP that was used to suppress the Métis. The RCMP are suppressing the people of Haiti who had their democratic government overthrown by our Canadian military. There really is no separation of domestic and foreign policy in Canada or any other country. What happened to the Aboriginal people in the U.S. also happened to the peoples of Vietnam, Cuba, Chile and so on.

     The Canadian government presents our country as a model of human rights, but the racist reality is far different. The same image is projected in foreign policy, that we support the United Nations and the replacement of failed states that are not mature enough to take care of themselves, in a kind, benevolent way or by force if necessary. We have been treated as wards of the state of Canada, so who do you believe about the real nature of our foreign policy? The government or your own experience?

     If we had our land claims settled fairly, would we be free peoples happy with occupying Afghanistan and Haiti?

     Paper liberation is no liberation at all. Voting means nothing if you will not vote for people who mean to truly replace and overturn the system.

     Education is worthless if it teaches the same answers that have never solved problems.

     Resource sharing, resource ownership, land redistribution, economic deals are still evil if the only change is that brown people are now in charge of destroying the planet.

     I cannot see a renaissance of Métis culture unless the system is changed and I do not see the system allowing change without a real fight. Can we fight this battle alone, half starved, half blind, our shoes nailed to the floor and one hand tied behind our back by racism, divided from all our non-Métis sisters and brothers who are also victims of this discriminatory, consumer oriented, wasteful, pro-war, violent, selfish, narrow, dominating capitalist system with a growing prison population?

     Of course not. We can't fight alone. We must band together with the other Aboriginal Peoples who need the system to change as well and not just them but other organized groups who are disaffected.

     Women, immigrants, people of colour, people with disabilities, the movements for peace, student rights, the poor and homeless, the LGBT community, family farmers, every group in society that is suffering from the consequences of the unsustainable and disastrous consumer society that we live in, dominated by a handful of wealthy and powerful people.

     And where will we find the organizers, the leaders, the people of vision to use their collective power to make sure this common voice gets heard? The workers, the unions. We need to start with you, since you are the most organized section of Canada's big working class.

     The largest part of the working class in Canada, the non-Aboriginal workers, would have the firmest ally in their struggle in a call for unity if they add to the call that we need unity of workers and all nations in Canada denied their full national rights, their land, their culture!

     I want to add this: the non-Aboriginal workers will only gain, not lose, if the rights of Métis and all Aboriginal People are respected and resolved. It is the wealthy and elite who will pay.

     There, I've said it. Capitalism. The working class. This I hope has not been a speech about saving middle class values in a world gone and going wrong. We need to advance humanity's agenda, not the agenda of a handful of people who are narrow and selfish.

     In contrast to the hopelessly narrow and selfish aims of our corporate leaders who make promises they don't keep, our aims need to be broad and emancipatory...

     Before I close let me tell you what was said about May Day at the Kateri Aboriginal Catholic parish. The annual parade was announced after Mass. People responded well to the idea that Aboriginal people are Canada's original workers. One elder yelled out "Yes, we've been working for thousands of years!"

     People who participate in May Day parades in other countries have a saying - "Workers of all lands unite!" It is often forgotten, but the saying continues "You have a world to win!" The way things are going recently, you have nothing left to lose but your chains.

     Unite and lose those chains! Win that world!

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9) COMMUNISTS NEAR 5% IN STUDENT VOTE

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Commentary

In the Oct. 14 federal election, votes remained low for the 24 Communist Party candidates, despite clear public support for many of the policies in the party's platform. As in other recent campaigns, this outcome reflects the near complete media blackout of "alternative candidates" in most areas.

     Another factor is the "first past the post" system which pressures voters to support candidates with a strong chance to win; under a proportional representation system, the vote for smaller parties would be much greater.

     The outcome is also affected by the constant ratcheting up of ID requirements, an effort which is almost becoming a campaign against the right to cast a ballot, especially for youth, poor people, Aboriginals, new Canadians, and those such as the elderly who are less likely to have a valid driver's license. Not coincidentally, these sections of the population are also relatively more inclined to vote against the big business parties.

     The Communist vote averaged about 150 per riding, up slightly from 2006. Among the Communists, Jason Devine was the front runner, where his 323 votes were 1% of the overall total in Calgary East.

     The results were much different among Canada's students. The results of the "Student Vote", conducted in about 4,000 elementary and secondary schools across Canada, are very interesting. Despite the failure of most school officials to contact the Communist Party for literature and information, the Communists received about 0.5% of the 483,710 votes cast by students in these parallel elections. In ridings where Communist candidates were on the Student Vote ballot, their average share of the total was nearly 5%. That compares to 26.5% for the Conservatives, 24.6% for the Green Party, 23.7% for the NDP, and 19.2% for the Liberals.

     Initial reports on the Student Vote website http://www.studentvote.ca wrongly state that Young Communist League of Canada leader Johan Boyden received 47.74% of the vote in his riding of Toronto Centre, which would have seen him "elected". Correct results have not been posted yet.

     Here are the results for Communist candidates by province, except for Toronto Centre and for Québec, where only a few schools took part.

BRITISH COLUMBIA: George Gidora, 6.0% (Burnaby-Douglas); Harjit Daudharia, 5.64% (Newton-North Delta); Mark Haley, 4.86% (Kelowna-Lake Country); Kimball Cariou, 2.36% (Vancouver Kingsway).

ALBERTA: Jason Devine, 5.95% (Calgary East); Naomi Rankin, 3.59% (Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont).

MANITOBA: Frank Komarniski, 5.30% (Winnipeg North); Lisa Gallagher, 4.67% (Brandon-Souris); Darrell Rankin, 2.01% (Winnipeg Centre).

ONTARIO: Martin Suter, 8.11% (Kitchener Centre); Ramon Portillo, 7.91% (Kitchener-Waterloo); Catherine Holliday, 7.53% (Don Valley West); Dimitrios "Jim" Kabitsis, 5.06% (Brampton-Springdale); Alex McDonald, 4.81% (Ottawa West-Nepean); Miguel Figueroa, 4.25% (Davenport); Ryan Sparrow, 4.15% (Hamilton Centre); Sam Hammond, 3.69% (St. Catharines); Liz Rowley, 3.16% (Windsor West); Drew Garvie, 2.26% (Guelph).

     These results point to one further conclusion. Lowering the voting age to 16, as the Communist Party advocates, would increase overall participation in the electoral process, and it would probably mean a higher vote for the Communists and other progressive candidates.

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10) DUMB-OCRACY AT ITS BEST

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Post-election roundup by David Tymoshchuk, PV Manitoba Bureau

TORONTO - Voters in Eglinton-Lawrence went to the polling station shown on their election cards, a church that wasn't there. It had been torn down.    Earlier in October, Liberal supporters who had lawn signs noticed that their cars had the brake lines cut or/and an "L" keyed on a car door or other body panel. Some had their homes spray painted with anti-Liberal slogans. Many supporters were intimidated by the vandalism, which was akin to fascist tactics. Some asked that the signs be removed after hearing the news.

SUDBURY - J. David Popescu, an independent candidate, stated at an election debate at a high school in front of students that "homosexuals should be executed". Students booed and called for him to be pre-empted but he was allowed to continue on other topics. On Oct. 2 he said during a radio broadcast that Egale Canada's director Helen Kennedy should be executed. He is under investigation for hate crimes. Popescu has discredited himself before. He has stated music stores should be closed because they "promote satanic music" and that dragon boats invoke the devil. He was living off his mother's pension and was found guilty in 2003 of assaulting her.

MONTREAL - On Sept. 28 and 29, Westmount Public Security removed election posters of Communist Party of Canada candidate Bill Sloan from public poles in the riding of Westmount-Ville-Marie. The recently posted signs, duly authorized by the registered agent of the Communist Party, put forward his positions on Canadian policy concerning Afghanistan and Israel. In one case, "CANADA OUT OF AFGHANISTAN" and the other, "END CANADIAN SUPPORT TO APARTHEID ISRAEL". The signs were removed by the Westmount administration without giving either the candidate or the Party notice. Sloan learned of the City's actions when the Westmount Independent published a story on the issue, mentioning that "Offensive" posters had been taken down by Westmount public security.

     "I called their public security on October 9 and spoke to the Director, Mr. Richard Blondin," says Sloan. "He confirmed that his service had indeed removed my posters on September 28 and 29, but did not tell me what they had done with them. He declined to explain for what reasons or under what authority they had acted. The next day I read a press release from Marc Garneau, Liberal candidate in the riding where he joins the Canadian Jewish Congress in denouncing the election campaign of the Communist Party of Canada, and alleges that my signs `may be' illegal because of their content!... The electoral laws allow an advertising message that promotes or opposes a registered party or the election of a candidate, including one that takes a position on an issue with which a registered party or candidate is associated. They were so sure of themselves that they filed a report with the Montreal Police (SPVM), leaving them a pair of each of the `offending' posters. As though I were the criminal.

     "This is a flagrant violation of freedom of expression, which the Supreme Court reminds us is at its most precious during an election campaign. These shameful acts, committed not by anonymous vandals, but by a public authority, must be punished and remedied in a public fashion."

SURREY - RCMP physically blocked and removed reporters from interviewing Prime Minister Steven Harper during the election, on the orders of a Harper aide. A similar scene with reporters and the RCMP took place in St. Eustache, Quebec. In addition, the Conservative Party gave gag orders to its candidates, most of whom did not show up at all-candidate meetings or talk to media for the duration of the election.

WINNIPEG - The city had more campaigning by activists than by politicians as sit-ins were a regular event. At 10 am on Sept. 20, anti-war activists staged a sit-in at the campaign office of Conservative candidate Trevor Kennard to make known that Canadians were not pleased with his party's policy towards war resisters. The office occupation was in opposition to the planned deportation of Jeremy Hinzman and his family to face persecution in the U.S. Students from the University of Manitoba had a "study-in" simultaneously at three campaign offices in Winnipeg to protest the lack of funding towards students, Aboriginal students especially.

     On Oct. 14, the electoral engineering done by a Harper- overhauled Elections Canada made itself known as many Aboriginals, youth, students, homeless and workers who frequently move were turned away at polling stations across Winnipeg's North and West Ends.

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11) CAPITALISM AND CRISIS

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial, Nov. 1-15, 2008

During the early 1980s, Canada was hit by a severe economic downturn and sky-high interest rates, costing millions of people their jobs, homes and economic security. At the time, William Kashtan, leader of the Communist Party of Canada from 1965 to 1988, made the following points about the crisis. His comments remain highly relevant to the current economic meltdown:

     "One must also see the other aspects of the crisis, those that are advantageous to the financial and industrial oligarchy and which serve its economic and political purposes. First, by ruining mainly the mass of the petty and middle producers, the crisis promotes the concentration of capital and the consolidation of the positions of the ruling groups of the financial and industrial oligarchy, the growth of their economic strength on a process not unlike `natural selection' within the bourgeoisie to ensure the survival of the strongest and most predatory, those who are best adapted to the new conditions of the competitive fight. For instance, in the ... capitalist countries, there has been a snow-balling of bankruptcies, with a simultaneous growth in the concentration of production and the wealth in the hand of the monopoly elite.

     "Second, and most important, in the atmosphere of crisis, the big bourgeoisie expects to have additional opportunities for weakening its main adversary, the working class, to resist its socio-economic and political demands more effectively and ultimately to tighten up the screws of exploitation and entrench its domination. The owners of capital and their servitors are trying hard to use the crisis above all to deprive the working people of their socio-economic gains which they won in the preceding period through bitter struggles."

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12) EDUCATION IS A RIGHT!

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial, Nov. 1-15, 2008

When students hit the streets on November 5th in cities across Canada demanding "Drop Tuition Fees," they will again receive 110% support from the Communist Party of Canada and the Young Communist League (YCL).

     Now is the time to mobilize and make the call "education is a right." The new Harper Tory government is likely posed to strike hard at social programmes in response to the global tidal waves of the capitalist economic crisis hitting our shores.

     Tuition fees are soaring faster than inflation. Increasingly, students face a debt sentence. (Student loan debt was one of the many sources flaming the fires of the current spreading financial crisis). This debt load cuts working class youth, particularly students of colour, out of post-secondary opportunities. Aboriginal post-secondary education is a scandal, with funding still capped for treaty First Nations. And international students are used as cash-cows.

     The basic issue is who pays for education. Corporations depend on trained workers to make profits. But big business doesn't want to pay the bill, and drops the burden on the people. The goal is US-style education for the rich only.

     The drive to "corporatize" education has been coupled with attacks on academic free speech. During the last academic year, disturbing heavy-handed police responses at UQAM, UBC, and U of T united students in demands against restrictive "codes of conduct," while McMaster tried to ban the phrase Israeli apartheid.

     Education is not a business venture. The Communist Party and the YCL demand freezing, reducing, and eliminating tuition - and that ultimately students should receive a stipend for lost wages during school. Socialist Cuba does this, and so does capitalist Norway.

     We need to increase federal support for universal, quality public education at all levels. Funding and access to training and apprenticeship programs must be significantly raised as well. Not least, governments must shift from loans to grants for student assistance. On Nov. 5th - Drop Fees Now!

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13) THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, GEORGIAN INTRANSIGENCE AND THE PEOPLES' PLIGHT

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By B. Prasant, PV correspondent in India

     The recollection of being in the midst of that terrible internecine killing amongst the Serbs, the Croats, and the Bosnian Muslims in what was then Yugoslavia is still fresh in my memory. A recent visit to Tbilisi - the tragedy of the recent Russian-Georgian impasse overarching the scenic beauty of the city - reminded me again bitterly of the unfinished business left behind by that perennially anti-US power (now, alas, relegated to the position called the former Soviet Union) on the important issue of the right to self-determination.  

     I had personally witnessed the tragedy overwhelming the peoples of Ingushetia and Chechnya not many years back. Again, the issue involved the notion and perception of self-determination, with a large dose of the geo-political ambitions of the "land of the free" ladled on. The Russian-Georgian conflict belongs to a different chapter of a more straightforward history, without the sideshows the other ethnic conflicts had produced.

     The corporate media have done their level best to portray the Russians as the brutal attackers on "innocent" Georgia, and the leading victim as the US-leaning president of that country, he of the "rose revolution" and the south-of-the-Mason-Dixon-line twang-and-drawl, Mikhail Saakashvili. A classic strain that meanders through the powerful body of works of Karl Marx concerns the nature of a revolution: who benefited, he said, was more important than who sparked it off. The same historically immutable principle also applies to war.

     Who started the Russo-Georgian war that took in its stride nearly 2000 casualties and thousands of refugees? The answer is Georgia. Why Georgia did provoke its powerful nuclear neighbour? The answer is even more palpable. In a world where the Warsaw Treaty no longer exists, the US-Britain-France-Germany "sign of four" wanted NATO-leaning Georgia to provoke Russia on three of its weakest geo-political points: ethnicity, security considerations, and borders.

     The cold war, (mes) frères, has not ended, just restructured. We hold no brief for Russia, nor for the Putin-Medvedev power clique after witnessing a nation run to political, economic, ethnic, and social ruination by its military-former KGB/OGPU-former perestroikans who make up the ruling oligarchs.  

     The point - nagging and awkward - does remain, however, as to the clear ambition of the Georgian president (who practised law in the southern US) to swallow up the Russian-majority south Ossetia, and Abkhazia (both rich in untapped oil resources), and to line up at NATO's welcoming portals at the same time.  

     Why should Russia, its foundations already shaken to the core by poverty and social unrest, allow this to happen? Would Sarkozy's France see Strasbourg join hands with Angela Merkel's Deutschland with the anti-national slogan of "language is uber alles?" Would Brown and his chums allow Scottish nationalism to raise its Connery head beyond the Pennines? Would Merkel allow south German provinces and enclaves to lean towards der osterreich? Then why should we single out Russia as the villain, just because Bush would have us shout it out?

     I shall only draw the attention of People's Voice readers to four pointers that may help clear the fog of uncertainty in explaining the bloodshed to the south of Russia.

     A succession of Georgian ruling elites under Gamsakhurdia, Shevardnadze, and Saakashvili have fomented ultra-Georgian nationalism against the Russian-speaking regions of south Ossetia (north Ossetia is in Russia), and Abkhazia.  

     Then again, recall the eager manner in which Georgia provided all sorts of help to the Chechen and the Ingushetia rebels a few years back when south Caucasus again bled heavily.  

     It is very apparent that the US wants to muscle in directly through Saakashvili into this oil-rich region, where it already has an understanding on oil supply (the so-called Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pact) bypassing Russia's vital energy interests.

     Finally, what is covered up in the corporate media is the sad fact that a low intensity conflict has been in place in the south Ossetian and Abkhazian regions ever since Georgian troops invaded the two enclaves back in March of 1990, and were beaten back by the local militia with a generous dose of ammunition and "commissars" from the USSR that was soon to get perestroikaed under Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Co.

     The conflict has thankfully been brought to close in a manner long anticipated. Russia has recognised the two "breakaway regions" as independent states, and speaking in a voice that reminds us of Tsarist times, the present Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has justified the act "of protecting our own against ethnic discrimination" as one based on "universal values." Is Crimea the next theatre of the absurd? In the meanwhile, "members of parliament" from both south Ossetia and Abkhazia have started to be present with voting rights at the 34th session of the Russian Parliament.

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14) DEFEND ANC UNITY AND THE REVOLUTION: SACP

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

The recent open split from the African National Congress has brought a sharp rebuke from the South African Communist Party, as the sidebar report on this page indicates. On October 14, SACP leader Blade Nzimande addressed the National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa, a major affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. Like the SACP, COSATU is part of the alliance with the African National Congress, which has governed through the post-apartheid era. We reprint parts of Nzimande's speech, dealing with the struggle to defend the unity of the ANC and the Alliance, and to advance a radical national democratic revolution in South Africa.

     Your Congress is taking place at very crucial domestic and international conjunctures which may seem distinct but are deeply interrelated developments: the global crisis of finance capital and the splinter group from the African National Congress. I say these are related because we are part of a global capitalist system, whose impact on our shores go beyond just the economic realm, but has had disproportionate influence on our politics as well.

     Although there were some systemic dips, generally in the post-1994 period the global capitalist economy appeared to be going through a relatively sustained expansion. This was certainly the orthodox belief here in South Africa and our fixation became how to link up, catch-up and generally benefit from what was supposedly a guaranteed path to growth and all things good. The SACP constantly warned against this illusion. But after 1994 the government pursued policies of rapid opening up and liberalisation through drastic tariff reductions (far ahead of what was even required by the GATT agreements) and the dropping of exchange controls. Impressing foreign investors became more important than developing a national industrial policy, or addressing our skills challenges.

     We warned against these neo-liberal measures, but we were scoffed at by many in government, not to mention the financial commentators. However, by 2007 even the always-cautious Bank for International Settlements, the club of rich country central bankers, said in its Annual Report that the world was "vulnerable to another 1930s slump".

     That warning now no longer looks alarmist as the wave of bankruptcies and forced mergers of banks, mortgage providers and insurance companies mainly in the US and the UK rolls on...

     Should we be celebrating that there is a global capitalist crisis? Yes, but not when this is not accompanied by sustained working class offensive against the system itself. We can only celebrate if progressive forces world-wide are able to seize the moment to force through a major change in the direction of global accumulation. Without such a change, the crisis will impact mainly upon workers and the poor, and especially those in the South.

     In South Africa we will certainly be affected negatively. Global recession will impact upon our export earnings. Our current account (the difference between what we earn from exports and what we spend on imports) is already in a fragile situation. The dip in oil prices is unlikely to be sustained and we are very vulnerable, due to our distance from major markets, to transport costs. As a country, until very recently, we were a net food exporter. In the recent period, thanks to GEAR-related policies and agricultural liberalisation, we have become a net food importer. Key sectors of our industrial economy have all but been wiped out as a result of tariff cuts without a clear industrial policy in place....

     What is to be done? If we remain stuck on our current trajectory there is a very serious danger that we will be forced to go to the IMF. This must be avoided at all cost. Once trapped in the IMF we will lose sovereign control over our economic policies and our new democracy will be become redundant...

     In this period one critical task of the trade union movement is to make sure that the second decade of freedom benefits the workers and the poor. Part of this struggle includes precisely the struggles that have been taken up by COSATU, struggles against poverty, against high food, fuel and electricity prices, against HIV/AIDS, against women's exploitation, against narrow BEE, and indeed against the capitalist system as a whole.

     ...It is also important for the trade union movement to properly understand the current moves by some to splinter from the ANC. Again no progressive trade union, aligned to the ANC, and part of the Congress tradition, can stand aside from the task of defending the unity of the ANC and our alliance on the grounds that trade unions must stand aside from political battles.

     In line with what is contained in the Communist Manifesto, what we are actually seeing happening with this splinter group must be properly understood from a class perspective and in its historical context.

     The SACP, since about 2006, had characterized the problems in the ANC as a manifestation of the simultaneous rise and subsequent crisis of a particular class project in the movement and the state, which we correctly referred to as the 1996 class project. This project we said is a class alliance between sections of global and domestic capital a certain cadre in the state, together with the emergent sections of the black sections of the bourgeoisie. This has been a project highly dependent, for its success, on the control of the ANC and the state in order to achieve its objectives.

     Polokwane [the ANC's December 2007 policy conference] marked the severe dislodging, albeit not total defeat, of this class project inside the ANC. Therefore this splinter group is nothing else other than the continuation of the objectives of the 1996 class project by other means, now that it has been severely weakened inside the ANC... 

     Therefore NUMSA and indeed the working class as a whole must defend the unity of the ANC and our alliance from this renewed offensive of the 1996 class project. An attack on the unity of the ANC and the alliance is an attack on the working class. These splinter forces must therefore feel the full might of the organized working class.... We are convinced that NUMSA will rise to the occasion and to the challenges of our time!
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15) WHAT'S LEFT
(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)


VANCOUVER, BC

Revolution Then and Now, videos on the October 1917 Revolution, discussion on economic  crisis today - 1-3 pm, Sat., Nov. 1, snacks and refreshments, by donation, Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave. Call BC Committee, Communist Party of Canada, 604-254-9836.

COPE Campaign Office Opening - Sat., Oct. 18, 3-5 pm, 585 E. Broadway.

Who’s Minding the Store?, panel forum on privatization of long-term care - Wed., Nov. 5, 7-9 pm, Unitarian Church - 949 W. 49th Ave., sponsored by Canadian Doctors for Medicare, BC Health Coalition, and BC Association of Geriatric Care Physicians, info at 604-681-7945.

Bruce - The Musical, by Bob Sarti, the story of community organizer and city councillor Bruce Ericksen - Nov. 6 to 16 at the Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave., tickets at Theatre in the Raw box office (604-708-5448), on-line at http://www.theatreintheraw.ca/tickets.html, or at the door but arrive early! $15 for general admission, $10 students/seniors, and $5 under/unemployed.

Anti-War Conference, marking 90 years since WW1 - Nov. 8-9-11 at the Maritime Labour  Centre, 1800 Triumph St. Organized by the World Peace Forum.

Left Film Night, Sunday - Nov. 30, 7 pm, at the CSE, 706 Clark Drive, “PERSEPOLIS,” film based on the graphic novel of a  young girl in post-1979 Iran. For info, call 604-255-2041.

SASKATOON, SK
Political discussion & beer, all welcome to join Saskatoon CPC members - third Monday of every month, in the tv room at Amigo’s, 632-10 St. East.
TORONTO, ON

Drop Tuition Fees, Student Day of Action across Ontario - rally 12 noon, Wed., Nov. 5 at  Queen’s Park. For details on local actions, contact Canadian Federation of Students, 613-232-7394.

War-Free Schools, forum challenging Harper’s plan to recruit Canada’s youth to war in Afghanistan - Friday, Nov. 7, 7 pm, Multipurpose Room, Ryerson Student Campus Centre, 55  Gould St. (Dundas subway). Organized by Educators for Peace & Justice and peace, solidarity and anti-racist groups. For information, contact  http://www.operationobjection.org.

A Conversation with Tariq Ali, author & commentator, on the current situation in Afghanistan,  Pakistan and Central Asia - OISE Auditorium, 252 Bloor St. West, Friday, Nov. 14, 7 pm, tickets $10, contact Abbas Syed, 416-284-4893 or 647-637-1891.

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