Canada says no to war! (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Statement of the Communist Party of Canada on the Days of Action for Peace and Global Justice, March 19‑20, 2005 THOUSANDS OF CANADIANS will participate in anti‑war protests on March 19‑20, the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. They are joining people in countries around the world in one of the larger global protests in recent years.      This is a truly massive mobilization in support of peace and global justice, the theme adopted for the days of action by the Canadian Peace Alliance, the World Social Forum and world peace movements.      The protests reflect growing and broad anti‑imperialist sentiments among wide sections of Canada's and the world's peoples, sentiments in support of people's sovereignty and against the impositions of U.S. imperialism.      Other forms of rivalry in the form of bitter trade disputes are showing millions of Canadians that free trade agreements with the U.S. are worthless. The whole purpose of U.S. foreign policy is to protect U.S. transnational corporations, not to create a fair or level playing field. Imperialism:  Source of the war danger      Capitalist imperialism is the source of the growing war danger. Canada is part of a small number of imperialist countries led by the U.S. that are plundering the oppressed nations and workers and nations of the world. These countries act for the giant transnational corporations that dominate the global economy.      Faced with growing crises, declining profits and other impasses, imperialism is increasingly turning to militarism, issuing threats, adopting aggressive military doctrines, and building the most dangerous weapons. Mobilize against war!      Mass anti‑war mobilizations in 2003 helped to keep Canada and several other imperialist countries out of direct involvement in the brutal U.S. occupation of Iraq. The Liberal Party's official policy of non‑participation in that war was a major reason why it won re‑election as a minority government in 2004.      Canadians are deepening their opposition to U.S. foreign policy, and have a growing awareness of U.S. militarism. The visit last year by U.S. President Bush to Ottawa and Halifax backfired when he tried to involve Canada in Missile Defense and future military adventures throughout the world.      Millions realize that U.S. Missile Defense is a dangerous plan to dominate the earth using weapons in space. That reality has forced the Martin Liberals reluctantly to back away from the plan.      But the Martin Liberals are pouring billions of dollars into the military, they have close military ties with the U.S., they are crushing democratic rights with so‑called anti‑terrorist laws, and during twelve years in office they have dealt blow after blow to workers and the needy.      These facts challenge everyone with a vision for a better future to build the peace movement. This is the task of our moment in history, just as the struggle to block fascist aggression was the critical goal in the 1930s. War is the greatest threat to a better Canada and a better world! International solidarity needed      Trade unions and people's movements around the world must meet this historic challenge, unite against war and imperialist plunder, and inspire the world's peoples with a better future. It is especially important to build solidarity and unity against imperialism in the international labour movement.      In Canada, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and Quebec's central labour bodies (the QFL, CNTU and CEQ) should all work together in support of making Canada a voice for peace, and to oppose Canada's involvement in expensive military preparations and aggressions.      They should all work together to build the global movement against war and imperialism. Only strong, united international people's movements against war will be able to confront and eventually prevail over imperialism and the threat it poses to humanity.      The days of action this weekend are another sign that the people's movements are starting to overcome years of disunity and despair. Imperialism will never find a weapons system or army that can defeat the people's movements emerging today. And weapons in space and new military doctrines like "preventive" war will never save the capitalist system from its long‑sought defeat. A World for People, Not Profit and War!      A people's alternative vision is urgently needed to build a world for people, not war and profit. The Communist Party calls for an independent foreign policy of peace and disarmament, based on upholding Canadian sovereignty in support of the urgent needs of our country and the world, including: - End the occupation of Iraq; prosecute those responsible for the invasion as war criminals; end Canada's military involvement with occupied Iraq - Withdraw Canadian and all foreign troops from Afghanistan and Haiti - Oppose the brutal U.S. sanctions against Cuba; support freeing "The Cuban Five" jailed in the U.S. for fighting terrorism - Oppose Israel's occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories; demand the immediate dismantling of Israel's illegal wall built in occupied territories; support a Palestinian state and the right of return of all Palestinian refugees according to U.N. resolutions - Reject the official "war on terror," a war that attacks democratic rights, incites anti‑Arab racism, and divides the international working class; oppose terrorism as dangerous and undemocratic - Work to ban weapons in space and oppose U.S. Missile Defense - Respect the United Nations' Charter and international laws that uphold state sovereignty and national self‑determination; strengthen the authority of the UN General Assembly in security matters - Oppose "preventive" war, the "first use" of nuclear weapons and other imperialist official military doctrines - Support negotiations to abolish weapons of mass destruction and achieve global disarmament treaties - Withdraw Canada from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; support dismantling all military alliances; ban arms sales to regimes responsible for genocide and crimes against peace - Abrogate "free trade" deals which undermine Canada's sovereignty, close factories, and fail to protect Canada from unjust sanctions - Promote trade relations between Canada and all countries on the basis of equality, sustainability and mutual social benefit; cancel the debt of Third World countries; increase unconditional aid by imperialist countries as compensation for centuries of slavery, colonial oppression and exploitation. - Strengthen and fulfill Canada's commitment to stop global warming contained in the Kyoto protocol; support processes started at the 1992 Earth Summit to address global environmental problems - Support the right of self‑determination for all nations which now are denied that right, including in Canada; promote equal and voluntary relations between nations deciding to remain in the same state. (Back) (Home) The Martin budget: giveaway to the rich (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Miguel Figueroa      The first federal budget put forward by the minority Liberals is a survival budget, crafted to ensure that the Martin government is not defeated. The passage of the Budget, thanks to the Conservative abstentions, achieved that goal for Martin.      But the Budget is more than simply an exercise in survival. It is intended to reassure Canadian monopoly capital that the Martin Liberals will deliver the goods.      Much has been made of the increase in social spending, and certainly there was some of that. The Budget include allocation of  $2.3 billion for the environment, $5 billion on childcare, and $3.4 billion on foreign aid, on top of the healthcare "deal-for-the-decade" with the provinces announced earlier, and some promised transfers of the gasoline tax to municipalities for infrastructure, transportation, etc.      But there are many problems with this Budget. The devil is in the details.      Take childcare. The failure of the ministerial summit in Vancouver in January showed that there is no real progress on Martin's promises for a national childcare program. There are no guarantees that this Budget's funds will be used for public, not-for‑profit, accessible childcare which advocates have been calling for, and which Canadian families desperately need. There is a growing danger that much of this funding will go to for‑profit corporate‑run childcare centres, as happens in the U.S.      On foreign aid, there is still no real action or move towards the target of spending 0.7% of Canada's GDP on such aid.      There is very little in this Budget for public, co‑op or not‑for‑profit housing, at a time when the crisis of homelessness continues to deepen in cities across Canada.      At most, this Budget includes just token steps to alleviate the grinding poverty which affects millions of people. Martin's increase in personal exemptions (up to $1200) will have a negligible impact on most working poor, and for the most impoverished Canadians, there is nothing of note.      Despite hopes for reforms to the EI system, including an increased percentage payout of former earnings, and expanded coverage for those who have no access, the only change deals with the calculations of former earnings - best 14 weeks, as opposed to last 14 weeks - to calculate EI benefits. This is a betrayal of the labour movement, anti‑poverty activists, and others who wanted the Martin Liberals to use the huge Employment Insurance surplus built up by workers' contributions to improve the system.      The real beneficiaries of this Budget are the wealthy and big business. Upper-income earners will be able to shield more of their annual income through substantial increases in RRSP limits. The corporate entities owned and controlled by the rich will benefit from the final elimination of the corporate surtax (which averages 1.12% of all business taxes, with the bulk of the benefit going to the biggest corporations), and through a drop of 2 points (from 21% to 19%) in the  basic corporate tax rate.      This is expensed out at $600 million over five years, but there is a big difference - the others are one‑time expenditures, but this mega-gift to corporate Canada will keep on growing with each passing year - the gift that just keeps on giving!      And then of course there is the military and "security," at $12.8 billion the largest single handout in the entire budget, the largest allotment to defence in 20 years or more.      In sum, this is a budget with "something for everyone" only in appearance. In reality, it is a neoliberal budget, much like Martin's own budgets during the Chrétien years, and then some.      This pro‑corporate giveaway comes at a time when corporate profits are rising sharply, especially for the banks, the oil and energy giants, and other sectors. Look at some recent examples: a 15% profit increase for BMO bank, and 28% for the National Bank.      Neoliberal propagandists have been claiming for years that "government needs to be downsized." What we are seeing under the Martin Liberals is yet another case of a government which wants to appear to be acting in the interests of the people, even while it concentrates on enriching the wealthy at the expense of working people and the poor. With another federal election widely expected in the next year or so, this Budget should be exposed as a sham and a deception.         (Miguel Figueroa's comments are based on the report he presented to the recent Central Committee meeting of the Communist Party of Canada.) (Back) (Home) The steel tapestry (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Sam Hammond When the King of Ithaca, Ulysses, left for the battle of Troy his wife, Penelope, started to weave a tapestry. Ulysses was away so long that he was feared dead, and about forty young men sought the Kingship by laying siege to the Queen. Poor Penelope, in a demonstration of loyalty that has survived the ages, said that she would choose a new husband when the tapestry was completed. For the next several years Penelope wove the tapestry by day and tore it out by night. Ulysses, who apparently was the kind of man who always took the long road home, eventually returned, killed all the suitors and put Penelope back on straight days.      The Steel Company of Canada, Stelco, has bummed around under bankruptcy protection for about a year and a half. During that time they have had their major debt/bond holder, Deutsche Bank, weave a tapestry of deceit that would make poor old Penelope look like the primitive Queen she was. This goes back to the "pension holiday" created by Bob Rae for the corporations in Ontario "who could never go bankrupt". They were allowed to stop contributing to the "safety valve" pension funds that guarantee workers pensions in the event of financial failure.      After years of wallowing in these new found riches, neglecting basic re‑tooling, neglecting plant upgrades, self-aggrandizement and just plain plunder by upper management, Stelco was $1.3 billion in hock to the pension and perhaps $600 million in hock to creditors. This model of private sector waste, neglect and theft should provide a strong argument for publicly-owned social programs and institutions.      However, that is another story. The capitalist state, if you are close to the ruling elite, provides a unique way out of the debt dilemma. Workers' contracts can be put in limbo, shareholders can be impoverished, suppliers/creditors can be cheated. The upper management and major bond holders can refinance at the expense of all the aforementioned and even give themselves big bonuses for their accomplishments.      This is called bankruptcy protection. Stelco has been in this state of corporate euphoria for about eighteen months now and it has been quite a trip.      Now we introduce the fly in the ointment. The Locals of the United Steelworkers of America have watched the U.S. version of this epic scandal south of the border for the last decade. Their American brothers and sisters have lost pension benefits, medical coverage and jobs big time as the corporations restructured, retooled and rationalized production at their expense.      The Steel locals went to the courts and challenged the company's claim of corporate poverty. They failed to stop the bankruptcy protection, but did succeed in making Stelco's inner workings and the absolute prejudice of the courts a topic of keen interest all over Ontario and beyond. Public consciousness soared and the inner workings of the capitalist state and its court was briefly exposed. This hit a raw nerve for the brass at the top, because objectively a workers organization temporarily represented the best interests of the smaller capitalists (suppliers), the shareholders, the salaried pensioners (their former bosses), the public at large and of course their own members and pensioners. This is a classic example of what is stable in society, and what is transient. That is another story also.      Stelco, like Penelope, needed a way to delay all the pressure while they concocted a plan to emerge from the cocoon and metamorphose into a new corporate glory. They decided to shop the world for suitors and offer up their industrial charms to the highest bidder, using Deutsche Bank as the match‑maker. Deutsche Bank offers up a minimum dowry and the race is on. The bids came rolling in from the far corners of capitalism. Russians, Americans, Germans, Belgians, even some Canadians all shared the equality and fellowship of the games.      During all this, the Ontario government notices that in all the dowries and proposed marriage contracts, in the new dawn, there is no provision for the owed pension benefits. There is no way that the government is going to shoulder the political fallout of about 18,000 angry pensioners and their allies. They panic and announce that any re‑structuring and corporate sale must include replacing the $1.3 billion pension benefits.      The suitors started to drop away immediately. There were only a few left when Stelco announced, wonder of wonders, that they aren't as bad off as they thought, so they will reject the remaining suitors, retool and restructure on their own. Stelco stocks almost double in value in a fortnight as the investment vultures on Bay street smell new riches and opportunity. The sun shines at night, rivers run uphill, new hope blossoms and the media develops amnesia.      Wow. Of course they still want bankruptcy protection. Let's not get too carried away. They made record profits all through this fiasco, but that is no excuse for demanding that they settle their debt to workers, shareholders and creditors. After all this is still capitalism.      Stelco wove the tapestry of deceit for a year and a half. They wept at times, mourned the cold world, put on make‑up and blushed at other times. Smoke and shadows of lies and deceit. Full page articles of the world wide "steel crisis". Media genuflection to the "restructuring team." "Can we really afford industrial pensions?" The goo‑goo for the last year has layered itself so thick that you can hardly see the profits.      The Steelworkers have carried a consistent line from the start. They represent their members, and what is good for their members is good for the community, the province and the whole country. Through this process there have been whispers, and sometimes shouts, that the workers are irresponsible and should negotiate concessions to keep the steel industry alive. Some of these came from within the labour movement. The whisperers are wrong. A lesser life is not an alternative, it is just a lesser life. This is a good lesson for everyone and should echo throughout the labour movement. It is better and more successful to fight for jobs than to attempt to buy them.      History is interesting, but it doesn't really repeat itself. Penelope was a good woman who fought for her husband using guile and is remembered as a symbol of loyalty and perseverance. Her tapestry was finished when her husband returned and killed her tormentors.      The Stelco tapestry continues to be woven every day. There is no Ulysses to return, but the Steelworkers in southern Ontario are tearing out the threads every night. As usual, good luck brothers and sisters. (Back) (Home) A pro-corporate NDP budget (The following editorial is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) People's Voice Editorial, March 16-31, 2005 At a time when working people want alternatives to the prevailing neo-liberal policies of most governments, they have a right to expect better from the NDP. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. The Manitoba government's March 8 budget continues the record of failure for workers and the needy by the government of NDP Premier Gary Doer. Manitoba's corporate leaders believe that the budget is "responsible" and "acceptable."      "No wonder," wrote former NDP MLA Cy Gonick recently in the Winnipeg Free Press, "the premier gets such a warm reception at the chamber of commerce. Business never had such a good friend (at the Legislature) since the days of Sterling Lyon."      Calling the budget "the largest decrease in taxes in Manitoba history," Doer said tax cuts over the last five years total $500 million. Since his election in 1999, Doer has lavished large cuts and tax credits on the wealthy and corporations. More modest benefits for farmers and home and business owners are worth little after inflation.      Doer has cut the corporate tax rate from 17 to 14 per cent and the small business rate from 7 to 4 per cent. This year the rate for people with taxable incomes between $30,500 and $65,000 will drop from 14 to 13.5 per cent.      Lower income workers get nothing, and a meagre 2,000 workers will avoid income tax because of a higher exemption. Welfare rates are untouched, having lost more than half their value since 1972. Modest increases in health care spending means that for now they want workers to be healthy and exploitable until age 65.      Last year, education property taxes on farmland were chopped 33 per cent. Doer amended the City of Winnipeg charter so it can do away with the business tax. The two measures mean $170 million more per year for farmers and Winnipeg businesses.      As Manitoba Communist leader Darrell Rankin said, "It appears that the largest corporations in Manitoba are the real power behind the Doer government. This direction means hardship for workers, plant closures, more impoverishment in urban and rural areas and increased control by transnational corporations. Organized labour and all other people's movements in Manitoba have a major challenge to build support for real change that puts people before profit." (Back) (Home) Vancouver dinner honours "A Class Act" (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Marj Kozeluk How often do you see workers happily fork over $45 to attend a banquet for their employers? Never?      That's just what happened on March 4, when Vancouver's seven COPE school trustees were honoured at a sold-out fundraising dinner attended by hundreds of school employees and defenders of public education. Even the Superintendent of the Vancouver school district sent a message of congratulations to the trustees for their outstanding efforts over the past two years.      The COPE trustees on the Vancouver School Board are Adrienne Montani, Al Blakey, Jane Bouey, Noel Herron, Angela Kenyon, Kevin Milsip and Allan Wong.      Organized by the Coalition of Progressive Electors and the Vancouver and District Labour Council, the dinner brought together parents, students, teachers, school support workers, trade unionists, community and education activists. The event raised an estimated $15,000 for COPE, which is trying to wipe out debts from its last campaign before this November's civic election.      "Our COPE school trustees have done a tremendous job defending public education and advocating on behalf of the students of Vancouver", said Labour Council President Bill Saunders. "We decided to call this dinner, `A Class Act' because that's what this School Board has been over the last two very difficult years."      The trustees faced immediate challenges after winning a majority in November 2002, starting with the arbitrary imposition of a new right-wing, anti-labour Superintendent by the former Non-Partisan Alliance majority just before the NPA went down to defeat. Rather than surrender to pressures not to rock the boat, the COPE trustees did what was soon widely acknowledged as a courageous and correct move, hiring a new superintendent with proven credentials as a strong advocate for public education.      That decision was expensive for the financially-strapped VSB, but it set the tone for a shift towards genuine consultation and open decision-making. The new Board surprised even COPE's strongest supporters in the education community by fully backing the teachers' unions in their work to advocate for the interests of students.      The COPE trustees stayed on that course with their first budget, in the spring of 2003, finding ways to minimize the impact of government under-funding by focussing on reduced administration costs and other innovative measures. The result was a budget that reflected the call by teachers, parents, and students to "keep the cuts out of the classroom."      The Board faced a more difficult test in their 2004-05 budget, as the full impact of the BC Liberals' refusal to cover the cost of teacher pay increases hit home. Despite intense efforts by parents, teachers, and trustees to lobby the province for more funds, the VSB had to deal with a shortfall of some $11 million in a $400 million budget, on top of more than $100 million in accumulated cuts over the previous decade. Some painful cuts were made, but the open consultation process ensured that most participants knew that Gordon Campbell's government was responsible.      This year, with a May 17 election looming, the Liberals were finally pressured to loosen the purse strings a bit. Rather than having to risk being fired for refusing to pass another hated "compliance budget," the VSB has the ability to maintain and even improve some programs for 2005-06.      Just as important as the budget battles, the COPE trustees have brought an unprecedented level of inclusiveness to the school system. The days of union-bashing by VSB management and trustees are gone, as seen in the banquet speeches by representatives of the Vancouver Secondary Teachers, Vancouver Elementary School Teachers, CUPE, and Operating Engineers. Trustees Angela Kenyon and Al Blakey won particular praise for their critical roles in this process.      Other COPE trustees also received tributes: Alan Wong for his tireless efforts to win provincial funding for seismic upgrading of schools; Jane Bouey for her work on anti-racism and special needs issues, and her ground-breaking leadership on the VSB Pride Committee as an advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning youth; Kevin Millsip for his important role in beating back corporate intrusions into the education system. Retired principal Noel Herron, a passionate defender of inner-city students, won a special "energizer bunny" award.      Not least, VSB Chair Adriane Montani was recognized by all for her leadership in transforming the VSB from an opponent of teachers and students into a valued ally of education supporters.      At a time when progressive activists often question the value of electoral strategies, the COPE trustees are a powerful example of what can be achieved through a combination of grassroots struggles and the election of visionary "people's politicians." The labour movement, teachers, parent groups, the LGBT community, and many other groups with an interest in better public education will clearly be on board this November, determined to help elect another COPE majority to the VSB. (Back) (Home) Chavez sees "Democracy in Action" in Bengal (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By B. Prasant, PV correspondent in India     Hugo Chavez made the first official visit by a Venezuelan President to India starting March 4. Continuing his government's policy of building up trade relations outside the domination of US imperialism, Chavez met with Indian officials to discuss a range of proposals on energy and other sectors.      But the human side of the Venezuelan leader was uppermost during the President's trip to the state of Bengal, which has been led by a Left Front government for over a quarter of a century.      On March 7, Chavez visited the Chandpur Gram Panchayat near Rajarhat to see, in his words, "participatory democracy in action." He was scheduled to stay in the village for 20 minutes, which easily stretched into a couple of hours.      The villagers at first were a little bemused and taken aback at the long convoy of cars entering in a whirlwind of noise and dust. President Chavez put the village folk, especially the children, at ease by waving aside the cordon of security men and going straight ahead to mingle with the people. The villagers, coming out of the daze, shouted, "Viva Chavez," and "Viva socialism!" Children went curiously up to the red‑shirted figure, and touched him.      Chavez started off by moving about the village. Striding ahead of his retinue, he went straight into the green paddy fields, pressed the stalks of the plants on his cheeks, smiled to himself, and then stood beside the banana plantation and exclaimed how "exactly similar" the ambience of the village was to the hamlet in which he had grown up far away from the bustle of Caracas. He gave a great photo‑op to the international press that had followed him from Caracas and Delhi, when he first hugged and then hoisted aloft a huge ripe pumpkin.      Chavez then visited the primary school and surprised everyone by taking up bucketfuls of boiled rice and lentil. He proceeded to ladle the food onto the shiny metal plates of the children, who thus received their mid‑day meal from the hands of the Venezuelan president.      And no, he did not make any symbolic gesture here. He distributed food to all 150 students, squatting down before each child, pinching cheeks, tousling hair, and speaking to them in a soft singsong voice. The language barrier melted away and the children were simply delighted, and so were the villagers who watched everything wide‑eyed.      Addressing the villagers as hermanos y hermanas ("brothers and sisters"), Chavez said that "our children of the world represented the future of our beautiful green planet." A nuevo mundo (new world) must be constructed while struggling against poverty, misery, and inequality, he said, stating that the 21st century belonged to the mass of the people of the world.      Chavez later enjoyed a brief cultural interlude as the children of the village presented a song‑and‑dance programme. At the end of the programme, Chavez clapped lustily and lifted up some of the younger children, twirled them round, and kissed them, to their squealing delight.      Chavez then visited the local community hall, and although in a sweat in the damp heat of the Bengal summer, attentively listened to the dynamics the women's self-help groups. He then walked along the village roads, dusty but full of vim and vigour, and looked closely into the details of the patta documentation.       The Venezuelan leader also visited flower bowers, nurseries, looked into irrigation facilities, asked a myriad of questions about the functioning of the rural Panchayat system. After exhausting his official interpreter, he ended by saying that he would communicate to the world about the new path of pro‑people village development as depicted in the Panchayat system. His parting words to the crowd were: "be good, my children, I leave my heart with you."      A day earlier, Chavez met and discussed various issues regarding industrial development, education, land reforms, and decentralisation of power with the Bengal leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which has led the state's Left Front government for a quarter-century.      During his discussions with CPI(M) Polit Bureau members Prakash Karat, Biman Basu, Anil Biswas, and Buddhdeb Bhattacharjee, Chavez was an animated talker as well as an attentive listener.      Later, Buddhadeb told newspersons that the Venezuelan president had agreed to building up joint ventures with the Bengal government in such sectors as leather goods, agricultural produce, marine food processing, and petroleum. The state LF government is producing an extensive note to be sent to the central government for approval. (Back) (Home) The FARC-EP strikes back (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By James J. Brittain, University of New Brunswick Several years ago Dr. James F. Petras released an excellent text entitled "The Left Strikes Back: Class Conflict in Latin America in the Age of Neoliberalism". Petras described the objective and ideological growth, substance, and power of movements existing throughout the region. Over the past decade, several such movements have abandoned their ideological positioning and the tangible need for objective protection and offensive measures. But one group has maintained its sociological and philosophical roots -the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC‑EP).      Further writings by Petras illustrate the military fortitude and armed capacity of the insurgency's ability to respond to the coercive and fascist activities of the Colombian state and the imperialist interests of the United States. The FARC‑EP has also been able to respond to the needs of the rural population (through protection from state/paramilitary forces, tactical operations, and in procuring above subsistence wages for the peasantry from rural-based capitalists). Apart from their military capacity, the FARC‑EP has also engaged in other lesser‑known cultural and political activities.      While it is difficult to go into full detail, the insurgency has, in many areas of Colombia, been the only force to engage in progressive methods of social emancipation. Within rural Colombia, the FARC‑EP has brought grass‑roots democratic processes and restorative justice. It has brought the redistribution of income in rural regions, through a class‑based taxation model in which the poorest elements of society are exempt from taxes and the petty bourgeoisie are obligated to give from 5% to 7% or in some cases 10% of their earnings to the insurgency. These taxes are indirectly or directly redistributed back into the community through monetary grants, infrastructure projects, health and educational services, and so on. The establishment of Juntas Accion Communalas has allowed regions to create non‑capitalist governing constructs to meet the needs of communities while securing intercommunication and non‑monetary subsistence trade relations with other regions.      While these are important, it is also necessary to understand that the FARC‑EP and their rural supporters are in the midst of a civil war being waged by the US and the Colombian state against the people. Plan Patriota (the government's military campaign aimed at the FARC‑EP and their rural support base which began in 2003), presented as a success through the corporate media, was merely a facade to cover the failure of the Colombian/US politico‑military activities.      Last year, I wrote an article in the Australian journal Green Left Weekly about the falsified image of conditions in southern Colombia, the primary location of the Plan Patriota campaign. In this article I wrote that while Plan Patriota may seem to have rooted out the FARC-EP from regions where it had established a presence, the "lack of an overt presence does not mean that the FARC‑EP has fully retreated from the countryside." One reason for the FARC‑EP's "passivity" was a very real possibility of a major military assault or insurgent campaign aimed against the government forces.      The insurgency may be planning to implement a large‑scale regional assault against the US‑Colombian state forces in southern Colombia. For over 20 years, the FARC‑EP has maintained its activities through guerrilla‑based warfare - strategic small‑scale attacks or armed missions against specific targets - and not as a formally organized army. More recently, it may have pulled back a large percentage of its combatant forces from the region, with the purpose of waging a major armed conflict against the Colombian army, paramilitary, and now, US forces. The FARC‑EP have in fact greatly expanded their forces within southern Colombia, and are undoubtedly preparing to respond to the imperial conquest of the US/Colombian administrations.      Plan Patriota has not diminished the power of the FARC‑EP. In fact, the rebel group's strength has actually increased. Between the years 2002 and 2004, the FARC launched 900 attacks, compared to 907 during the previous four years. While the Colombian Armed Forces and state‑supported paramilitaries have largely blocked the border regions of the departments of southern Colombia, the FARC‑EP is expanding its control of internal areas throughout the region.      In December 2003 alone, according to residents of one community, the FARC‑EP increased the size of its movement in the region by an average of 100 newly trained combatants per municipality. This extraordinary recruitment rate surpasses the rates of increases the insurgency has experienced in the past. In 1979, the FARC‑EP maintained a presence in less than 10 percent of Colombia's municipalities. By 2003, the rebel group was operating in all of the country's more than 1,000 municipalities.      No insurgent army can exist without the support of the people. The FARC‑EP continues to receive substantial support from thousands of Colombians in jungles, semi‑rural towns, and increasingly, the cities, allowing the guerrillas to thrive. While the FARC‑EP may well be preparing for a major military confrontation in southern Colombia, its rural supporters are quietly stationed throughout the country. Therefore, the eve of a full‑scale revolutionary war between the insurgent forces of the FARC‑EP and their rural support‑base against the Colombian/United States forces could be in the not‑too‑distant future.      As the military campaigns of February 2005 have shown, the "not‑too‑distant future" may be sooner rather than later. The "rebel attacks across Colombia" have demonstrated that the support, expansion, and power of the FARC‑EP have greatly increased. In response to Plan Patriota, the insurgency has (in less than a month) shattered notions that Colombia's main rebel group is on its knees and poses little threat. One commandante of the FARC‑EP recently stated that "this is only the beginning." After several months of Plan Patriota - the largest US/Colombian military counter‑insurgency offensive since Marquetalia - it is now the FARC‑EP's turn to strike back. (Back) (Home) Canadian public opinion rejects BMD (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Don Currie, Chair, Canadians for Peace and Socialism A majority of Canadians have rebuffed the Bush Administration's intrusion into Canadian political affairs and compelled the Martin Liberal Government to keep Canada out of US Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD). Prime Minister Paul Martin's retort to US Ambassador Paul Cellucci that Canada is a sovereign nation and will determine who is allowed to over fly its air space is noteworthy. This is the second time during the Bush Administration's mandate that Canadians directed their Government to stand up to US pressure. Canadian public opinion provided the Chretien Government with the necessary backbone to keep Canada out of the US war in Iraq.      Prime Minister Martin's assertion of sovereignty reflects the fact that Canadian public opinion has progressed from doubt to scepticism to disdain for the right‑wing policy of appeasement of the Bush Doctrine. There is a growing appetite among Canadians for a firm and consistent assertion of sovereignty and independence in relations with the USA. What started as a popular national democratic sentiment has evolved into a significant political force outside of the control of the old‑line parties, provoking a split in the Liberal Party and a crisis of credibility for the Harper Conservatives.      Canadian public opinion is differentiated from the right wing policy of appeasement by its steadfast confidence in the ability of Canada to conduct its own affairs without US government protection and guidance. Canadians know the difference between friendship and subservience. Canadians by and large value and uphold the principles of the UN Charter as the most reliable basis for collective security and for resolving international crisis. A majority reject the Bush Doctrine of pre‑emptive war and building coalitions of the unwilling outside the mandate of the UN aimed at forcing sovereign states to accede to US interests by the threat and use of military force.      The schism between the Canadian Government and the people on the issue of US‑Canadian relations has forced the Martin Liberal Government to review its foreign policy. This is the second review following the January 2003 review conducted by then Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham on the eve of the Bush attack on Iraq. The result of that exercise was the decision of the Chretien Government to stand aside from the Bush War on Iraq. The left, national democratic and peace forces must participate fully in the current review and articulate in the clearest possible terms a vision of Canada as a force for peace in international affairs. The right wing cannot be allowed to dominate the foreign policy debate or formulate its conclusions.      The political processes at work that have compelled the Martin Government to retreat from open support of BMD require analysis on many levels. The anti‑BMD peace forces won a victory because of its breadth. The loose but effective Parliamentary coalition embraced Liberal Parliamentarians opposed to BMD, the Bloc Quebecois, reflecting Quebec public opinion and the Parliamentary leadership of Jack Layton and the New Democratic Party caucus. The extra-parliamentary pressure of the Canadian Peace Alliance and in particular its role in mobilizing peace actions is significant. The fledgling and growing participation of organized labour in the peace movement is new and critical for future victories. Not least the role of such venerable peace groups as the Canadian Peace Congress headed by Dr. John Morgan and the Saskatchewan Peace Council, must be considered. The moral weight of innumerable religious peace groups and its affect on public opinion is important. The contribution of the Communist left and other anti‑capitalist pro‑socialist revolutionary voices helped to expose the root causes of imperialist war.      On a deeper level the decision of the Martin Liberal Government to forgo BMD reflects a weakening of US dominance over international relations resulting from the reckless rogue nature of the Bush administration and its contempt of the sovereignty of nations and the peace and well being of the planet. The decision also reflects the decline of US dollar imperialism and the rise of the EU and new peaceful markets in South America, Russia, China and India that no nation, including Canada can afford to ignore.       A majority of Canadians rejected BMD because they share the view of a majority of humankind that a new arms race in space and the doctrine of perpetual war is not a means to achieve national goals and solve social and economic problems. The task of the left is to give voice to what Canadians uphold, a peaceful, independent, democratic and progressive Canada. If we do that, no right wing cabal will prevail. (Back) (Home) Mike Harris linked to Wal-Mart union-busting campaign (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Charges against Wal-Mart Canada have been filed with the Ontario Labour Relations Board outlining the company's efforts to bust a union at a Windsor store a decade ago. The charges detail a paper trail leading back to the office of then Ontario Premier Mike Harris. The charges also reveal Wal-Mart's latest efforts to thwart a current organizing drive at the same Windsor store. The unfair labour practice charges were filed on March 7 by United Food and Commercial Workers Canada. According to UFCW Canada's national director, Michael J. Fraser, “Wal-Mart was up to dirty tricks in Windsor a decade ago the they're up to them again.” In 1997 the OLRB certified a union bargaining unit at a Wal-Mart on Tecumseh Road East in Windsor, after the board determined that the company had intimidated workers during an organizing drive. Soon after the Tory government of Mike Harris changed the Ontario Labour Relations Act, stripping the OLRB of its power to automatically certify a union in the wake of employer intimidation. An anti-union petition campaign eventually led to the Windsor store being decertified. Fraser said the charges include evidence from Wal-Mart workers who led the anti-union movement during the 990s that they received equipment, charge accounts and money to run the campaign. They also received airfare, and accommodations and $500 each for reimbursement of meals of less than $100, paid for by the Premier's office for appearing with Mike Harris the day he announced his changes to the labour act. “Some of those employees are still working at the store,” says Fraser, “and they have given evidence that the man who was the secret operative between them and Wal-Mart a decade ago has recently resurfaced and is behind a new campaign to make sure today's vote (March 7) at the Windsor store fails.” “We hope Wal-Mart's tactics don't influence the vote,” says Fraser, “including their recent announcement to shut a store in Jonquiere just after the employees unionized. We're also included that action as an unfair labour practice in our filing because what Wal-Mart did in Jonquiere was meant to frighten Wal-Mart workers everywhere about what could happen to them if they voted for a union.” (Back) (Home) BC women lose ground under Liberals (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) PV Vancouver Bureau A new report confirms what community and labour groups in British Columbia have said since Gordon Campbell was elected in May 2001: that women are further than ever from equality under his Liberal government. “Losing Ground: The Effects of Government Cutbacks on Women in British Columbia, 2001-2005,” written by UBC professors Gillian Creese and Veronica Strong-Boag, was issued on International Women's Day, March 8. The report stresses that since gender inequality is widely-known in Canada, the failure by legislators to address this reality is “tantamount to indifference to the welfare of half the population.” For example, the need for good quality daycare to allow women to seek employment is well-documented. Yet the B.C. Liberals have slashed funding for childcare centres, reduced subsidies to low income parents, and eliminated the $7 per day cap on 0re-and after-school care. They have undermined licensed facilities, particularly in poorer neighborhoods where some daycares have closed. More unpaid work has been downloaded to women, as the government reduced social supports for the elderly and forced staff reductions in hospitals and long-term care facilities. The summary of the report notes that “Health care restructuring has injured women – as workers, as patients and as unpaid caregivers. Reduced services associated with the centralization of health care hits rural areas especially hard, with especially serious consequences for Aboriginal women.” Another reality is that spousal violence ans sexual assault against women remain common, but the Attorney General has retreated from a zero tolerance policy and encouraged Crown Prosecutors to divert domestic violence cases away from the courts. Liberal cuts to community-based victims' services, legal aid, and women's centres further threaten women's safety.'' Women's access to justice has ALSO been undermined by the 40% reduction in legal aid funding, and the near-elimination of services for family, poverty and immigration law. Legal Services Society offices have closed, including 12 Native Community law offices, and one-third of the province's courthouses have gone. More women are appearing in family court without legal representation and immigrant women in abusive relationships are more at risk. Attacks on social welfare have increased under the Liberals. One-third of BC welfare recipients are single-parent families, 88% headed by women. As the report says, welfare benefits constitute between 32% and 49% of Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off in large cities. Single mothers no longer keep $100 of child support; earnings exemptions have disappeared; mothers are “employable” when their youngest reaches three years of age; welfare recipients may no longer attend university or college; those deemed “employable” can only receive time-limited assistance for 2 out of every 5 years. People with disabilities have been forced to re-qualify, including many women with so-called “invisible” disabilities that are less likely to be recognized. While the Liberals claim to support access to education, their policies have made training and higher education more costly. The Industry, Training and Apprenticeship Commission, with its mandate to include more women, Aboriginal and Visible Minority residents in trades and technical training, has gone. Enrollment in trades training has fallen, Tuition in colleges and universities has jumped by 76% since the former government's tuition freeze was lifted. Non-repayable grants no longer help low-income students dependent on student loans. The loss of childcare subsidies further compromises female enrollment. In the public sector, the government has cut over 20,000 jobs, 75% of which were held by women, mostly secure, unionized employment. The Employment Standards Act was revised to foster “flexibility” for employers while weakening safeguards for workers, particularly for the part-time, short-term and low-waged, who are largely women and recent immigrants. Enforcement of these standards has been reduced, with workers directed to “self-help kits” available only in English. The Equity and Diversity Branch was axed, the pay equity provision in the Human Rights Code repealed, and the BC human Rights Commission was eliminated. The Ministry of Women's Equality, with its pro-active mandate to “advance equality” for 'the diversity of women” has been replaced by a junior Ministry of State for Women's Services, which does not include quality or diversity in its mandate. All 37 women's centres in the province have lost core funding, eliminating an essential part of the support system for women in crisis. As the report's summary says, “the Liberal government may pretend that gender equality has already been achieved and policy formation can be indifferent to women, but abundant research demonstrates otherwise. Gender inequality is increasing even as BC Liberals promise a 'golden decade' in the pre-election Throne Speech. As we celebrate International Women's Day on March 8th, women and the men who support gender equality must demand a fair deal from those we next elect.” (Back) (Home) Prevent war against Iran (The following editorial is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) On the second anniversary of the illegal US/UK aggression against Iraq, millions are demanding an end to the occupation of that country, and prosecution of the war criminals in Washington and London responsible for this crime. Now, an even greater catastrophe may be arising, with the news that Israel has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Israel's nuclear programme was the trigger for expansion of the arms race in the Middle East, and its brutal occupation of Palestine is the main source of ongoing tensions in the region. If Israel accepted UN resolutions on the Palestine question and began to dismantle its nuclear arsenal, rapid progress towards peace in the Middle East could be achieved. But an Israeli attack on Iran would ignite horrifying consequences. For example, Iran is believed to possess missiles capable of destroying much of the US Fleet in the Persian Gulf. Can anyone believe that a sovereign nation under attack would refrain from such counter-attacks against US imperialism, the main backer of the Israeli state?  Such a scenario is disastrous. Israel and the U.S. Must be told: war against Iran is unacceptable. Let the people of Iran deal with their dictators, without foreign interference. (Back) (Home) CPC plans campaigns on Medicare, national question (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Special to PV Meeting in Toronto over the Feb. 25-27 weekend, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada agreed to launch two new political campaigns: the first to beat . . . resist corporate pressures for an end to universal health care, and the second on the unresolved “national Question” which is again moving to the forefront of the country's political agenda. Kicking off the meeting, CPC leader Miguel Figueroa presented a political report focusing on major recent developments, including the Martin government's new budget and its decision not to participate in the US Missile Defence plan. The following morning, CC members discussed and adopted overwhelmingly a special resolution on the national question. The resolution points out that “developments since the 1995 Sovereignty referendum, including the Constitutional Referral, the passage of the Clarity Act, and the Sponsorship Program, have served to exacerbate the national question as it relates to Quebec,” which remains far from a just and democratic solution. Contrary to the complacent view in much of English-speaking Canada that the Clarity Act ended debates over the status of Quebec, the resolution points out that the “national question has once again risen to the foreground of discussions and debates among left, labour and progressive circles” in Quebec society. These debates have included proposals within the Parti Communiste du Quebec (the Quebec section of the CPC for changes in the Party's program. The CC resolution restates the Party's view that a democratic solution depends on a new, equal and voluntary partnership of Aboriginal Peoples, Quebec, and English-speaking Canada. While stressing recognition of the right of nations to self-determination, up to and including secession, the resolution also upholds the conclusion in the CPC's Program that “The separatist solution would bring severe additional economic hardship to the working people of both nations and would weaken their political unity against the common enemy – finance capital, both domestic and international – and weaken the common struggle for fundamental change.” The Central Committee directed its Executive to implement an action campaign to step up the fight against big nation chauvinism, for the recognition of the right to self-determination of all nations in Canada, and in favour of an equal and voluntary partnership of nations. The campaign will take this message into the labour movement, leading up to the Canadian Labour Congress convention in Montreal this June. In a related decision, the CC approved the draft of an updated Labour Program, which will guide the work of the Communist Party within the trade union movement in the coming period. After final editing is completed by the CPC's Labour Commission, it will be printed in time for circulation at the CLC convention, and to union locals and labour councils across the country. At the present movement, the CC agreed, the debate over the future of Canada's universal, public health care system has become even more crucial. Over the next few months, the CPC will be printing and circulating a range of materials to help raise awareness of this issue among working people, demanding a reversal of the trend towards more corporate intrusion into health care. This issue could well become one of the key factors in the next federal election, widely expected within a year or so. Later in the meeting, the CC reviewed the recent political battle over Washington's demands that Canada join the Star Wars program. The CPC was one of many groups which took its opposition to “missile defence” to the streets over the past winter. While Canada remains within the NORAD tracking system and the US-dominated NATO alliance, the Liberal government's refusal to take part in Star Wars will encourage the forces of peace, sovereignty and independence to press for new victories. The meeting adopted a call for massive support for the March 19 anti-war actions across Canada and around the world, pressing the US and Britain to end the illegal occupation of Iraq. Another important part of the CPC's ongoing international solidarity work will be support for the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students, taking place this August in Venezuela. Members of the Young Communist League are playing a key role in publicising the Festival and in building a large contingent from Aboriginal peoples, Quebec and English-speaking Canada. The CC meeting heard a report on Festival preparations and the work of the YCL. Larger numbers of young people continue to join the CPC, and in fact 2004 was the best year for party-building in over 15 years. With this in mind, the Party's Education Commission presented a new study and reading outline, intended to help raise the level of Marxist-Leninist theory among new CPC members. (Back) (Home) Labour Debates:  Another look at sector density (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Sam Hammond, Chair of the Communist Party of  Canada Central Labour Commission Union membership is declining in Canada and there are a full spectrum of reactions to this phenomenon. These reactions are predictable and have political orientation and historical perspective at their roots. Reactions on the extreme right are pro-capitalist and do not seek to build any resistance whatsoever. To these elements within the working class, resistance is their enemy, because anything which weakens the capitalist state threatens the economic base of class collaboration and opportunism which translates into their financial rewards for helping to manage the working class. They can be found toiling for their masters under many guises. Quite a few leaders in the Ontario Building Trades Unions in unity with the Ontario Construction Association (employers) have their names as sponsors on a letter currently circulating to beef up support for a fundraising banquet for Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario Liberal Party. The notorious Harris Tories hired a former NDP cabinet minister (Clyde Laughren) to work on the privatization of Ontario Hydro. The Canadian Labour Congress, probably bowing to the pressure of some powerful affiliates, has just decided to legitimize the old line parties by sending official representation to their conventions, If labour presence was as evident among the poor and the dispossessed we wouldn't be discussing declining labour support, declining membership or sector density. But is isn't and we are. The whole issue is not basically an organizational problem, but one of political orientation, a problem of whose class interests are served. The current trend within the labour movement (with notable exceptions) is to build bigger unions by merger, cannibalism, and raiding. After the Steel-IWA-PACE merger, USWA president Leo Gerrard boasted that they had created the largest union in North America. The day after the merger there was not one more worker organized than the day before, the IWA criminal activity in the BC health field had not been addressed, and the thousands of U.S. Steelworkers dispossessed under bankruptcy protection still languished in poverty. So what was accomplished” This phenomenon is repeated on a smaller scale as unions scramble to maintain their base by consolidation while membership percentages drop and sector densities shrink. Another trend is to organize where it is easy, pick up members who do not require much service, and to stay away from smaller groups who cost more to negotiate for and service from a smaller dues base. This has had the effect of abandoning traditional sectors (manufacturing, extraction, highway transport) to organize or raid into non-traditional sectors (security guards, health care, administrative, etc.). This trend leaves the traditional manufacturing, preindustrial and transport sectors in such weakness that de-regulation and the decline in labour standards is accomplished more easily by employers and government. The private sector is currently organized at about 18%. If we consider the effects of free trade, de-industrialization, the revolution in technology (which ups production and reduces workforce), we discover some very frightening facts. There is actually an increase in the numbers of workers in manufacturing, but a dramatic shift in the goods they produce, the production methods used, and the size of the enterprises where they are employed. There has been some organizing in these new conditions but compared to the overall picture it is negligible. The shift has been to smaller shops, employing less skilled workers using high-tech simple machines and highly-skilled lower management or overseers – exactly the environment that most unions are avoiding. If the private sector is at 18% organized, the manufacturing part of it is probably below ten percent. The highway transport organized is probably down to about three percent. The working class is made up of stratas with different relationships to the means of production. The section of the working class at the point of production (extraction, basic industry, manufacturing and transportation) has the ability to bring the economy to an immediate halt merely by not showing up for work. A simple withdrawal of labour would throw the country into chaos hard to imagine. On the other hand there are hundreds of thousands of workers who are only relatively related to direct production, but are also a necessary part of it. Schoolteachers and education workers are a good example. There cannot be modern production without highly literate workers who require an educational system. But the withdrawal of labour in this sector would only be a hardship for the students immediately; it would take years to shut down industrial enterprises. The historic and courageous political strike by Ontario teachers against the Harris government was a good example. The teachers stayed out two weeks, by themselves, and went back to work without bringing down the government or getting major concessions. Last year's HEU strike in British Columbia, even though it ended badly, was an entirely different phenomenon. In BC the health care workers had expanding support from both the public and private sectors, developing towards a general strike that could have crippled the province. The fact that it was neutralized from within cannot conceal the lesson it so clearly demonstrated. That lesson is the key position held by private sector manufacturing, transportation and extraction workers in any extended struggle: the ability to close down the productive heart of the corporate state and bring it to its knees. That is the historical recognition by Marx, Engels and Lenin of the role of the industrial proletariat in struggle. Every set of negotiations and every small skirmish for benefits, contract renewal and quality of life is not a social revolution. But unless there is a social revolutionary perspective and symbolical movements that embrace liberation and the end of exploitation, the small skirmishes will be dealt with in isolation from each other and the results will be what we are experiencing now. This is what sector density is all about. In plain words we cannot resist without troops, and the unorganized sections of the working class will be very reluctant to join a movement in retreat. Life is hard enough without martyrdom. The industrial workers of Canada must be organized for us to force the issues of poverty, quality of life, universal medicine, education, peace and social well-being onto the agenda, to win victories and protect our gains. The private sector workers cannot carry this struggle alone, and indeed they stand out as a target if they are not supported by the direct economic leverage that only exists at the point of production. The recognition of these facts and their integration into social struggle is necessary to create the dynamic of a social movement that will swell the ranks of labour, reverse the decline, and set us back on the road to considering an alternative society. In particular this is an historic responsibility of Communists and Left Social Democrats. History will not be kind in judging us if we allow the people to suffer while we play out ideological differences. This should be, and will be, the basis of unity in action. (Back) (Home) Pay gap widens in Australia (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Women who work full-time are paid 18.4 per cent less than men, according to a pay equity report commissioned by the Australian state of Victoria. Issued on March 8, the report found that the gap between male and female earnings jumped from $230 a week in 1996 to more than $310 a week now. (Ed. Note: the Australian and Canadian dollars are about at par.) The working party's report said there had not been a substantial improvement in women's pay as a percentage of men's pay since 1986. It outlined 20 recommendations to bridge the gap, including amending the Equal Opportunity Act to give its commission greater investigative powers, incentives for workplace pay equity audits, reviewing the federal Workplace Relations act and considering legislation for equal remuneration for Victoria workers. According to the report, women earn less because they have weaker bargaining power, are more commonly employed in part-time and casual positions and in lower-paid occupations such as child care and retail. The chairwoman of the working party, Dominica Whelan, said the underlying cause was systemic discrimination. “We have men and women coming out of university with the same skills and same qualifications, but women are still earning less. The reason must be discrimination.” Victorian Industrial Relations Minister Rob Hulls said he would develop a pay equity plan, but said the Federal Government needed to change the Workplace Relations Act. “If we don't act to bridge the gap between men and women, it will take more than 70 years before women are paid the same as men,” he said. “We can't wait 70 years for justice. The Labor party's women's affairs spokeswoman, Tanya Plibersek, said the pay gap blowout of $80 in eight years was largely due to the increase in casual and insecure work, which had weakened women's economic position. Australian Congress of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow said it was shocking that men were still being paid more than women. “It's 2005 and we have had a revolution in terms of workplace participation of women,” she said. “The economy couldn't survive without women's work and yet we still have a pay equity gap.” (Back) (Home) Ninety-four trade unionists killed in Colombia (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Preliminary figures from the National Trade Union School, a European-funded research institution based in the Colombian city of Medellin, record a total of 94 trade unionists who were assassinated in Colombia during the last year. This represents an increase on the 90 trade unionists that both the National Trade Union School and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions registered as killed in 2003. The National Trade Union School has also reported an increase in forced “disappearances” and arbitrary detentions of trade unionists, in direct contrast to claims by the government that human rights abuses against trade union members are declining. Messages of protest can be sent to the Colombian authorities at the following addresses: President Alvaro Uribe Velez: ppdh@presidencia.gov.co Vice-President Francisco Santos: fsantos@presidencia.gov.co (Back) (Home) Grenades and poison: the CIA vs. Fidel (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) The Cuba Project: CIA Covert operations 1959-62, By Fabian Escalante, Ocean Press, New York, 2004, ISBN 1-876175-99-0, 195 pages, $23.50 Can. Reviewed by Steve Gilbert In 1947 the U.S. National Security Council granted the CIA authority to carry out “activity which is meant to further the sponsoring nation's foreign policy objectives, and to be concealed in order to permit that nation to plausibly deny responsibility.” Covert actions against Cuba were specifically sanctioned by President Dwight Eisenhower on March 17, 1960. Beginning with Eisenhower's directive, CIA operatives, Mafia gangsters and anti-Castro Cubans have violated international law, treaty commitments, and the Charter of the United Nations. For decades, U.S. Administrations have attempted to conceal and deny illegal acts of violence which they have authorized against the Cuban people. These have included physical acts of aggression such as terrorism, sabotage, chemical and bacteriological warfare, commando raids and provocation from the US naval base at Guantanamo. U.S. Aggression has also taken the form of diplomatic intrigue, economic blockade and propaganda campaigns by radio stations based in Florida. Most of these operations have not been reported by the U.S. Media and are unknown to the North American public. Fabian Escalante is uniquely qualified to write the history of U.S. Aggression against Cuba. Born in Havana in 1940, as a youth he was imprisoned for activities against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. After the Revolution he worked with the Cuban Department of State Security against Cuban counter-revolutionaries and the CIA. As Escalante makes clear, anti-Cuban operations were financed and carried out on a huge scale. He counts 638 (!) plots to assassinate Fidel Castro and estimates that some 3,000 Cubans have been killed during terrorist actions by the CIA and anti-Castro Cuban-Americans in Florida. The largest of these operations was code-named JM/WAVE. Established in 1961 and based in Florida, it had an annual budget of over $100 million and employed 400 U.S. Officers and more than 3,000 anti-Castro Cubans. To conceal its operations it created over 55 cover jobs ranging from market analysis to real estate agencies. A fleet of specially designed boats carried commandos to Cuba, where they committed acts of sabotage and terrorism while Bay of Pigs veteran and future Watergate burglar Frank Sturgis flew daily spy missions over Cuban air space in order to activate the Cuban coastal defense system. At the same time, at CIA headquarters in Langley a technical team worked on plans to strangle Cuba's economy. These included blocking foreign credits and contaminating the sugar crop, as well as diplomatic pressure on Cuba's European trading partners. The CIA also financed and supervised the infiltration of anti-Castro political agents who acted as spies and established subversive networks. The CIA smuggled tons of weapons and other military hardware into Cuba, accompanied by specialists who set up secret schools for terrorists. According to CIA planners, the Cuban people were supposed to join a popular revolt which would provide a pretext for U.S. Military intervention. An important part of these proposed operations were plans to assassinate Fidel Castro and other Cuban leaders. Escalante lists an amazing number of assassination plans: putting LSD in Castro's drink before a speech; using a depilatory powder to make his beard fall out; giving him a present of lethal exploding cigars; a gangland-style public slaying; placing a bomb triggered to explode under Castro during a public speech. Less imaginative schemes included firing a bazooka and throwing hand grenades at Castro during a public appearance. According to Escalante, the attempt which came closest to success was engineered in 1962 by deputy CIA director Richard Helms with the collaboration of Mafioso John Rosselli. The CIA supplied Rosselli with poison capsules, which he sent to counter-revolutionaries in Cuba. One of these was Santos de la Caridad, a waiter in a hotel frequented by Castro. One evening when Caridad was on duty, Castro came in and ordered a chocolate milkshake. When Caridad tried to retrieve a poison capsule he had hidden in a refrigerator, it stuck to the metal and broke when he tried to pry it loose. Castro drank his milkshake and left in good health. Some of the plots and schemes described by Escalante have been reported in other books, but his account is the most complete and authoritative to date. Especially valuable is his detailed chronology of events, which documents an almost daily harassment of Cuba by CIA trained commandos and terrorists. It starts with the victory of the revolution on January 1, 1959, and ends on December 24, 1965, when Cuban mercenaries captured during the Bay of Pigs invasion were freed in exchange for $54 million worth of medicine and food for the children of Cuba. A chilling feature of Escalante's book is the amoral, psychopathic indifference to human suffering which finds expression in CIA directives and the language of counter-revolutionaries. In describing their plans for commando raids they seem to be totally oblivious to the suffering their actions will cause innocent individuals. The Cuba Project is an invaluable contribution to the literature of the Revolution. Escalante (states) his purpose in the following words: “It is our duty to recover the historical memory of this underground confrontation, and make it known to the new generation of fighters for a better world, those who are against war and for peace. They must know about the Secret War which has already lasted 45 years.” In this he has succeeded admirably. (Back) (Home) “Rebel Youth” back in print! (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Jim Felix The first issue of the new Rebel Youth magazine has rolled off the presses, and you can get a copy for just three dollars. Published by the Young Communist League-BC, the 12-page magazine includes a number of interesting articles and features. “Fighting for a Better Life” gives a brief historical look at the early contributions of the YCL in Canada. A centre-spread article by YCL activist Stephen Von Sychowski gives the story of Fidel Castro's experiences as a young revolutionary, and the significance of the Cuban Revolution. “Class Enemy of the Month” reveals the Nazi background of billionaire IKEA owner Ingvar Kamprad. (Quote: “I preferred Mussolini to the other fellow.”) Other international reports include information on the World Festival of Youth and Students taking place this August in Venezuela, and an article by Miguel Madeira, president of the World Federation of Democratic Youth. In “Rebel Youth Voices,” YCLer Andy Cheverie argues that legalization of marijuana would be preferable to prohibition, bringing economic benefits and a cost effective treatment of pain and other medical problems. On the lighter side, “Dear Comrade” offers great personal advice to young revolutionaries dealing with “fascist parents” and relationship problems. And of course, it wouldn't be a youth 'zine without a cultural component. This issues includes a review of Total Annihilation's album, The Glorious Five Year Plan, which is ”a brief but excellent work of street punk art.... a call for working class unity in the struggle against capitalism and all its vile byproducts...” During the 1980s, the previous incarnation of Rebel Youth was published in Toronto by the YCL, reaching an impressive paid circulation of nearly 1,000. It's great to see this vitally important magazine back again. To get your copy, send $3 to YCL-BC, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1. (Back) (Home) Fund Drive at nearly one-quarter! (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Thanks to a number of very generous donations, our 2005 Fund Drive for $50,000 is off to a flying start. As of March 9, a total of $14,405 has been raised, or 24.8% of our target. It's already a close race for the lead, with Quebec at 40%, Alberta at 38.6%, and BC at 37%. By our next issue, we will have more up-to-date figures on donations from Ontario and Manitoba, where many donations are first made directly to provincial offices. Some fundraisers have already been held, and more are coming up. We invite Vancouver readers to the next Left Film Night at the Dogwood Centre (706 Clark Drive), 7 pm, Sunday, April 10. On the bill is a Latin American double feature: The Motorcycle Diaries and Y Tu Mama Tambien. Donations toward the Drive will be gratefully accepted. The importance of the working class press as a reliable source of information and analysis was underscored by a recent right-wing disinformation trick. Several mainstream media sources carried faked photos of the car carrying kidnapped Italian journalist Sgrena Guiliani to the airport in Baghdad after her negotiated release. Readers will recall that US troops fired on the car, injuring the driver and killing Nicola Calipari, the security officer who was protecting Guiliani. The photo circulated in the mass media showed no bullet damage to the body of the car, supposedly “proving” that the journalist had lied about the “hail of bullets” fired at the vehicle by the U.S. Military. Before long, however, the truth emerged. The photo actually showed the car from which Sgrena Guiliani was kidnapped on Feb. 4, not the one attacked on the way to the airport! As Nazi propaganda chief Josef Goebbels said, “The bigger the lie, the more often it's told, the more who believe it.” Our role is to expose such lies, and to win working people for the aim of a world without exploitation, oppression and war. Your contribution to the Fund Drive helps make this possible. Please send your donation today to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1. ************************************************ PV FUND DRIVE: March 9 report Area------------------Target------------Raised----------Percent BC--------------------$22,000-----------8,196--------------37.0% Alberta----------------$1,700--------------656-------------38.6% Saskatchewan-------$800----------------35---------------4.3%      Manitoba-------------$3,000--------------355-------------11.8% Ontario--------------$20,000-----------2,813--------------14.8% Quebec------------------$500--------------200--------------40.0% Atlantic Canada---$1,200--------------100----------------8.3% Other---------------------$800----------------50----------------6.2% TOTAL---------------$50,000----------12,405-------------24.8%           (Back) (Home) Communist Parties reject foreign intervention in Iran (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) The statement below, initiated by the Tudeh Party of Iran and signed by a wide range of revolutionary organizations and parties, has been endorsed by the Communist Party of Canada. We, the undersigned representatives of the communist and workers' parties note with concern the recent aggressive and irresponsible statements of the US administration threatening military attacks against Iran. We believe that the US policy in relation to Iran is in fact part and parcel of the US agenda to force the countries of the Middle East to accept its model of a “Greater Middle East” and submit to the political, economic and military hegemony of US imperialism. We believe any military offensive, full scale or limited, by the USA or Israel against any installation, nuclear, militarily or politically strategic, will be an utter disaster for the cause of human rights and democracy and for those campaigning for a democratic alternative in Iran. The people and democratic progressive forces fighting against the dictatorship strongly oppose any type of foreign intervention in Iran. We believe that the US continued policy of threats and intimidation is also designed to further the chances of pro-US forces in the Iranian regime that could pose as the “saviours of the nation” in the event of a US military onslaught. We believe any military attack against Iran or any other country of the Middle East will be a further major blow for world peace and the campaign by people in the region to win human rights, democracy and social progress. We oppose war and strive for peace and progress. We declare our support and solidarity with the popular movement for freedom and democracy in Iran. (Back) (Home) Message of Condolences on the passing of the great Revolutionary, Internationalist and Chilean Patriot Gladys Marín Millie (The following article is from the March 16-31/2005 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) On behalf of the Central Committee and all members and supporters of the Communist Party of Canada, we express our deepest sorrow at the untimely passing of comrade Gladys Marín. At the same time, we extend a revolutionary greeting to the workers and people of Chile, the interests of whom she so consistently defended and advanced, and to the socialist cause to which she dedicated her life. The fact that millions of people across her beloved homeland of Chile, and around the world – Communists, anti-imperialist fighters, feminists, activists in the labour, peasant, youth and popular social movements, democrats and anti-fascists, left-minded clergy – have come together over this past week to pay homage to her memory is a powerful testament to the high respect she commanded, and to the breadth of impact of her life’s work. A sea of progressive humanity salutes you and all that you stood for, dearest Gladys. From the earliest days of her political life, Gladys chose the path of liberation, and chose the side of the toiling workers and peasants of Chile in their struggle for justice, democracy and social progress. In 1973, the democratically-elected Popular Unity government led by Salvador Allende was brutally swept away by General Pinochet – with the encouragement and support of the “empire” – and a fascist, terrorist regime imposed. During those darkest moments in the country’s history, comrade Gladys continued to struggle side by side with her comrades and other democratic and progressive Chileans. Facing arrest, incarceration, torture and exile, she endured and continued to struggle. And then, during her final years, she rose to the challenge posed by years of fascist rule and in the aftermath of the historic setbacks suffered as a result of the demise of the Soviet Union and socialist governments in Eastern Europe to rebuild her beloved Communist Party – the Party of Luis Emilio Recabarren, Pablo Neruda and many other outstanding revolutionaries. The advances of the last decade are also a fitting tribute to her great capacities, energies and commitment. Today, the people of Chile, throughout Latin America, and around the world continue to face grave challenges arising, in the first place, from the relentless drive of transnational finance capital and its imperialist states – especially U.S. imperialism – to oppress the masses, to strip away their hard-won political and social rights, and to dominate the entire globe to serve its rapacious appetite for profit. The work to save our environment, to secure genuine and lasting peace and cooperation among all people, and to emancipate the working class and peoples from the scourge of capitalist exploitation and imperialist plunder and war continues. History will forever inscribe the name of Comrade Gladys Marín Millie in a most respected place in this titanic struggle for democracy, peace and socialism! We lower our red flag in her honour, and then raise it aloft once again for the cause to which she devoted her life. Viva Gladys! Viva el socialismo! Gladys Marin, presente! Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada March 13, 2005 (Back) (Home)