November
16-30, 2009
Volume 17 - Number 19
$1
Prolétaires de tous les pays,
unissez-vous!Otatoskewak ota kitaskinahk mamawestotan!
Workers of all lands, unite
Contents
Printer-friendly articles
1) GLOBAL WAGES DROP DESPITE "ECONOMIC RECOVERY"
2) FEDERAL PENSION REFORMS A DROP IN THE BUCKET
3) BC FEDERATION OF LABOUR MEETS NOV. 23 IN VANCOUVER
4) HANDY-DART WORKERS DESERVE SUPPORT
5) B.C. LIBERALS ORDER PARAMEDICS "BACK TO WORK"
6) WHO ARE THE HATEMONGERS IN CALGARY?
7) COMMUNIST PARTY CONDEMNS CALGARY POLICE INACTION
8) CAPITALISM IN THE DOGHOUSE - Editorial
9) CLOSING CANADA'S DOORS - Editorial
10) COMMUNIST PARTY HITS TORIES ON FLU OUTBREAK
11) COPE/VISION DIFFERENCES BEGIN TO EMERGE
12) SUPPORT THE FORD WORKERS!
13) HMCS FREDERICTON SAILS TO FIGHT "PIRATES"
14) TWO MARTYRS REMEMBERED ON NOVEMBER 16
15) "CAPITALISM ERECTS MANY WALLS" - ALEKA PAPARIGA
16) WHAT'S LEFT
17) PODCAST OF PEOPLE'S VOICE ARTICLES
18) CLARTÉ (en français)
19) PV CROSSWORD
20) THE SPARK! (Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada)
21) INTRODUCING MARX
22) REBEL YOUTH
PEOPLE'S VOICE NOVEMBER 16-30 (pdf)
WOMEN'S SOCIALIST CALENDAR 2010 (pdf)
Printer-friendly articles
1) GLOBAL WAGES DROP DESPITE "ECONOMIC RECOVERY"
2) FEDERAL PENSION REFORMS A DROP IN THE BUCKET
3) BC FEDERATION OF LABOUR MEETS NOV. 23 IN VANCOUVER
4) HANDY-DART WORKERS DESERVE SUPPORT
5) B.C. LIBERALS ORDER PARAMEDICS "BACK TO WORK"
6) WHO ARE THE HATEMONGERS IN CALGARY?
7) COMMUNIST PARTY CONDEMNS CALGARY POLICE INACTION
8) CAPITALISM IN THE DOGHOUSE - Editorial
9) CLOSING CANADA'S DOORS - Editorial
10) COMMUNIST PARTY HITS TORIES ON FLU OUTBREAK
11) COPE/VISION DIFFERENCES BEGIN TO EMERGE
12) SUPPORT THE FORD WORKERS!
13) HMCS FREDERICTON SAILS TO FIGHT "PIRATES"
14) TWO MARTYRS REMEMBERED ON NOVEMBER 16
15) "CAPITALISM ERECTS MANY WALLS" - ALEKA PAPARIGA
16) WHAT'S LEFT
17) PODCAST OF PEOPLE'S VOICE ARTICLES
18) CLARTÉ (en français)
19) PV CROSSWORD
20) THE SPARK! (Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada)
21) INTRODUCING MARX
22) REBEL YOUTH
PEOPLE'S VOICE NOVEMBER 16-30 (pdf)
 |
WOMEN'S SOCIALIST CALENDAR 2010 (pdf)
 |
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
|
| People's
Voice deadlines: DECEMBER 1-31 Thursday, November 19 JANUARY 1-15 Thursday, December 10 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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(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By Kimball Cariou
The International Labor Organization reports global growth in real wages slowed dramatically in 2008 as a result of the economic crisis, and wages are expected to drop even further this year, despite signs of a rebound in profits and stock prices. In an update of its Global Wage Report, the ILO also warns of worse times ahead.
The report says the deterioration of real wages around the world calls into question the true extent of an economic recovery, especially if government rescue packages are phased out too early.
In a sample of 53 countries for which data are available, the ILO finds growth in real average wages had declined from 4.3 percent in 2007 to 1.4 percent in 2008, and the picture is projected to get worse this year. ILO Specialist on the Conditions of Work and Employment, Patrick Belser, says declining wage rates are linked to the levels of unemployment.
"The quite dramatic unemployment figures, which we now see in some of the countries, this strongly suggests that there will be greater pressure on wages in the future as more people will be unemployed, more people will be looking for jobs and the pressure on employers to raise wages to attract workers will decline," he said. "So, we expect that the second part of the year will not be very good in terms of wage growth."
The report finds more than a quarter of the countries experienced flat or falling monthly wages in real terms. They include, the United States, Austria, Costa Rica, South Africa and Germany.
ILO economists say some nations have come up with polices to lessen the impact of lower wages during the economic crisis. An example of these is work sharing with government subsidies. Under this scheme, the number of individual working hours is reduced in an effort to avoid layoffs. For this scheme to work, the government must provide wage subsidies to compensate for lost pay due to the shorter hours.
Besler says a second important finding in the report is that both developed and developing countries have strengthened their minimum wages in recent years.
"A large number of countries, including major economies such as the U.S., Brazil, Russia, and also Japan have increased minimum wages by more than inflation figures in 2008. And, these countries have also addressed their minimum wages further in 2009," said Belser. "The ILO considers that minimum wages are an important tool for social protection and that everyone should have access to a decent minimum living wage."
The ILO also says the United States is reporting slightly higher rates of unemployment than Europe. October figures show a 9.4 percent U.S. jobless rate compared to 8.8 percent in the European Union.
The report calls the link between productivity growth and wage increases "essential for economic and social sustainability". It argues companies should be able to achieve competitiveness through rising productivity rather than by cutting labor costs. And, it correctly stresses that workers should have enough bargaining position to defend their wages.
However, the ILO's argument is weakened by its failure to consider the contradictions of capitalist economies. As Karl Marx revealed in Capital and other groundbreaking studies over a century ago, employers are compelled by the dynamics of their own system to constantly attempt to expand the total mass of surplus value (profits) created by workers, and to increase the level of exploitation within each enterprise.
The rising productivity referred to by the ILO report can be achieved through various means, including savings on fuel costs, the reduction of raw materials required per unit, cutting expenditures on storage, transportation, etc.
But the most significant way to increase productivity is to produce more goods or services with lower labour costs. This can be accomplished by investments in new labour-saving technologies, such as automation of processes to reduce the numbers of hired workers. Or it can be done through speed-up, forcing employees to work harder and faster, or by lengthening the working day. Another option, of course, is to reduce wages and benefits such as pensions or paid vacation time.
The competitive nature of capitalism forces every corporation to use these methods, or else face bankruptcy. Workers are the targets of this process, compelled to constantly resist pressure from bosses to work harder and longer, or to accept wage cuts and other concessions. The threat of unemployment is ever-present ("we'll move the plant to South Iglesia if you don't take this pay cut").
In a society based on working class political power and collective ownership of the means of production and natural resources, rising productivity is a means of increasing the average standard of living - higher wages, improved health care and education systems, greater levels of social equality, and so forth. This was the case in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries for decades before the restoration of capitalism, and it remains the basic feature of Cuba's socialist economy.
But under capitalism, the drive for higher productivity pits capitalists against each other, and workers against other workers. The ILO's latest report gives a useful picture of the serious crisis facing workers on a global scale; however, its solutions fall far short of what is really required.
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
PV Ontario Bureau
The pension reform proposals announced on Oct. 27 with much fanfare by Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will only affect federally regulated private pension plans, representing about 7% of pension plans and 10% of retirement savings in Canada.
While the changes may improve the security of pensioners covered by these plans, it will do nothing for millions of Canadians who are not covered and whose pensions are evaporating in corporate bankruptcies and insolvencies, lapsed corporate contributions, and collapsing pension plan investments.
The Canadian Labour Congress responded to the announcement with a call for comprehensive reform to protect and improve the pensions of all Canadians, and a national summit bringing together governments and other stakeholders to do it.
"We believe the best way forward is to increase benefits available under the Canada Pension Plan, to improve benefits under the Guaranteed Income Supplement so that no senior lives in poverty, and to provide a national system of pension insurance. People who have spent their lives contributing to our country should not be left to fend for themselves in retirement," said CLC President Ken Georgetti.
Nortel Network workers, who have organized mass protests on Parliament Hill and Queen's Park through September and October in hopes of goading governments into action to save their pensions, will get no relief from Flaherty and the Tories. Like those of the vast majority of workers, their provincially regulated pensions go up in smoke when their employers go bankrupt.
Bankruptcy laws put workers' pensions at the bottom of the list, as corporate creditors move in to devour the carcass of the bankrupt company. After the big dogs have eaten, there's rarely anything left and the workers - whose pensions are their deferred wages - are left with nothing.
The Communist Party of Canada has been campaigning for more than a year, demanding the federal government take immediate action to protect the pensions, savings and jobs of workers all over Canada from the effects of the global economic crisis.
Like the Employment Insurance reforms, it's far too little, far too late, according to the CPC.
"What's needed urgently is a universal public pension plan with substantially increased pensions, and a reduced voluntary pension age of 60 for men and 55 for women", says the CPC. "In order to get it, Canadian workers and the organized labour movement will have to build a mass movement to fight for pension reform and to defeat this government which has done everything in its power to assist the corporate sector to cut workers wages, pensions and benefits. This is going to be a major battle for labour and the people's movements; the same as the battle to maintain and extend medicare and universal social programs in Canada."
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
Delegates to the 53rd Convention of the B.C. Federation of Labour will gather on Nov. 23 in Vancouver, on the theme of "Confronting the Crisis: An Economy that Really Works for B.C." The Communist Party of British Columbia sends its warm and militant greetings to the delegates, and our best wishes for your successful deliberations.
Workers in this province are sharp attack, as are our sisters and brothers across Canada and around the world. Using the economic crisis of the capitalist system as their justification, the bosses and right-wing governments everywhere are pressing to eliminate the hard-won gains of decades of working class struggles. Collective agreements are being shredded, wages rolled back, pension plans ripped off, social programs gutted at the stroke of a pen. Unemployment in the OECD countries will hit 60 million next year, and tens of millions more face the bleak prospect of survival on reduced hours and wages. Meanwhile, the profits of the biggest corporations are rebounding, and the outrageous gap between the rich and poor is growing even wider. In short, despite wide recognition that the neoliberal policies of capitalist employers and governments were a key factor in making the current crisis much worse, the only "remedy" offered by the ruling class is more of the same.
Here in British Columbia, the right-wing assault has similar features. Unemployment is now officially at 8.3%, and in reality much higher. Over 52,000 jobs have been wiped out in the last year. Wages are falling even further behind the high cost of living, and British Columbia now has the lowest minimum wage in Canada. Thousands of homeless people face a hard winter on the streets of our cities and towns, while the rich prepare an orgy of celebrations (and restrictions on civil liberties) after spending at least $6 billion to host the Olympics.
For the organized working class, 2010 will not be remembered for the so-called "Olympic legacy," but as the year of the next all-out Campbell Liberal attack on the public sector. The "back-to-work" legislation against the Ambulance Paramedics signals the government's intention to impose a wage freeze and to roll back working conditions, pensions and other benefits for some 200,000 public sector workers who are about to enter negotiations. The Liberals are fast-tracking their plans to privatise and contract out public services, and to slash spending on education, health care, and social programs.
The response of labour must be to build a powerful, united fightback. Only unity of the entire trade union movement can block the impending attack on the public sector workers, and only united action by labour with its allies - the movements of indigenous peoples, social justice groups, women, students, seniors, environmentalists, anti-war groups - can stop the neoliberal attack in its tracks. We urge delegates to the BC Federation of Labour to craft a fightback program to build such unity, and to mobilize all working people around a wide range of tactics and strategies, up to and including job actions against the Liberal agenda.
We also urge delegates to consider what is truly needed to create "an economy that works for B.C." There are no common interests between the bosses and working people. An economy that works for us must be based on public ownership of the resource sector and the banks. It must put people's needs ahead of corporate greed: rolling back the huge tax breaks given by the Campbell Liberals to the wealthy and the corporations, an emergency program to build social housing, a minimum wage of $16/hour, a massive expansion of low-cost public transit instead of more freeways, a dramatic increase in spending on public education and health care, and so on.
With such strategies, the 53rd Convention of the BC Fed can be a turning point in the fightback. The Communist Party of BC will do everthing in our power to help build this struggle!
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By Stephen Von Sychowski
On October 22, over 500 HandyDart workers in the Metro Vancouver area, represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) local 1724, issued a 72 hour strike notice to MVT Canadian Bus Inc.
The deceptively named MVT Canadian Bus is a California based company which took over the operation of HandyDart services in late 2008. HandyDart provides specialized public transit services for passengers with physical or cognitive disabilities which make them unable to use the other existing transit services.
Job action was set to take effect on October 26, but many ATU members were turned away when attempting to attend their duties on October 25, the day before the end of the 72 hour notice. The corporate media predictably launched into an immediate anti-worker frenzy, attempting to paint the ATU as a gang of greedy thugs more than happy to strand the disabled and elderly for a quick buck.
Meanwhile, back in reality the situation is quite different than in the imaginary world of corporate media. In fact, the ATU went to great lengths to avoid a strike which they knew could inconvenience the passengers they carry each day. The ATU attempted for over eight months to bargain with MVT, which met its workers with nothing but demands for unreasonable concessions which would destroy all the gains made by HandyDart workers over the last two decades.
These concessions include major cuts to benefits, reduction of shifts by as much as half, and elimination of the workers pension plan. It also fails to address the question of HandyDart operator's wages which are still below those of conventional bus drivers. All of this is nothing but a blatant drive to weaken the union and boost its own profits.
Under these conditions the members of ATU 1724 had no better option than to vote to strike. And so they did; an impressive 97% strike vote was achieved, giving a powerful mandate for job action against the corporate greed of MVT. At the same time, services are continuing to run at essential service levels for those who could otherwise face serious implications to their well being such as cancer therapy and kidney dialysis patients.
As events unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that this is not a case of "greedy" workers demanding more at the expense of the elderly and disabled. Rather, it is a case of a greedy U.S. corporation seeking to extract higher rates of profit by putting the squeeze on hard working unionized drivers who provide an important public service not just for the pay cheque, but also because they care.
In this struggle can also be found evidence of the negative effects of privatization and contracting out. This attack by MVT transit is cause for renewed calls for public and democratic ownership and control of public transit, for a democratically elected and accountable Translink board, and for increased transit funding leading to expanded service and reduced (and then eliminated) fares. All of this runs counter to the corporate agenda of the current Liberal government provincially and Conservative government federally.
With collective bargaining in the near future for other transit workers and the majority of the public sector in general, there is added urgency to the need to unite with HandyDart workers and help to see that their struggle is successful. If not, we may soon see how accurate the old saying that "an injury to one is an injury to all," really is.
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
PV Vancouver Bureau
About 400 labour activists rallied on Nov. 6 at the headquarters of VANOC, the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee which played a major role in the Campbell Liberal government's decision to impose back to work legislation on B.C.'s paramedics. Bill 21 was rammed through the legislature during an all-night sitting over the following weekend.
Health Services Minister Kevin Falcon admitted earlier that demands from VANOC helped lead to the legislation. Falcon had repeatedly claimed in the Legislature and to the public that the Olympics were not a factor, until CUPE released information described in a September memo from VANOC to the BC Ambulance Service and other government officials demanding "definitive confirmation" that "all required ambulance services will be provided as planned" for the 2010 Games.
The VANOC edict threatened that "If we are unable to obtain that guarantee (through either settlement of the strike or legislated "detente" for the Games), then VANOC will be required to initiate alternative contingency plans to avoid cancellation of the Games."
CUPE BC president Barry O'Neill said "the minister's story has certainly changed since we released contents of the memo, but what hasn't changed is this government's unprecedented attack on collective bargaining."
The move to legislate the paramedics "back to work" came while they were in the middle of voting on the Liberal government's latest offer. The 3,500 Ambulance Paramedics of BC have been on strike since April 1 for better response times, equipment, wages and staffing levels. They have continued to work throughout the dispute under essential services orders.
Labour leaders unanimously condemned the legislation in the Paramedics dispute at an emergency meeting of the B.C. Federation of Labour.
"This legislation is completely unnecessary," said Federation President Jim Sinclair. "Paramedics were on the job. They were looking after people. Worse still, the Paramedics were in the process of voting on the government's last offer. This legislation isn't about taking care of British Columbians, it's about Gordon Campbell going back to his old ways of ripping up workers' rights and legislating collective agreements. The labour movement will not stand for it. You can't bully workers into accepting collective agreements. This isn't going to create labour peace. This is going to create confrontation."
As John Strohmaier, president of the CUPE-affiliated Ambulance Paramedics, told the Nov. 6 rally, the legislation is intended to send a warning to the 200,000 public sector workers whose contracts are up for renewal following the Olympics. The Liberals have also sent a message to public sector employers, he added, that all they have to do is sit on their duffs and wait for the province to impose anti-worker contracts.
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
A recent report for the Southern Poverty Law Centre sheds important light on the hate group which is spreading its violent message in southern Alberta. The Intelligence Report by Sonia Scherr begins with a brief account of a clash last March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racism:
"Wielding `White Pride Worldwide' flags and wearing black combat boots, about 40 members of the Aryan Guard and their supporters strode through the heart of Calgary... to broadcast their message of hate at City Hall. But they never got there. Instead, they encountered several hundred anti-racist protesters, some of whom threw rocks, water bottles and even cans of vegetables at the group as traffic came to a halt and police called for backup. Police eventually herded the neo-Nazis onto a bus that returned them to their vehicles on Calgary's outskirts. Though no serious injuries were reported, the melee snared headlines across Canada and prompted Aryan Guard spokesman Kyle McKee - who has `Kill Jews' tattooed on his shins - to declare victory."
The Aryan Guard have spread fear and anger among Calgary's 250,000 immigrant and minority populations.
"Essentially a racist gang," writes Scherr, "the Aryan Guard is the most public hate group to appear in Calgary - which, like much of western Canada, has a history of such activity going back to the Klan of the 1920s - in the past two decades. These Nazi look-alikes have clashed with counter-protesters at rallies in the city's downtown, handed out white-power music CDs to teenagers in an attempt to bolster their membership, and perpetrated attacks on minorities despite espousing non-violence."
The Aryan Guard was founded in late 2006 with help from two former teachers: Paul Fromm of the Canadian Association for Free Expression, who lost his teaching certificate because of his white supremacist activities, and National Socialist Party of Canada leader Terry Tremaine, a former part-time university lecturer who in 2007 was fined $4,000 by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal because of his racist and anti-Semitic Internet postings.
"They were the main catalysts behind bringing these young fellows here," said Constable Lynn MacDonald, hate crimes coordinator for the Calgary Police Service.
MacDonald says the Aryan Guard now has roughly 20 full-fledged members, and another 20 to 30 supporters, including those belonging to the Valkyrian Legion, or woman's wing of the Aryan Guard, which consists mostly of the girlfriends of male members. The majority are in their early 20s.
The group began to draw attention in 2007, when members began distributing hate literature in Calgary and Lethbridge.
In August 2007, the Aryan Guard began disrupting anti-racism rallies. Two months later, they rallied outside City Hall to denounce Muslim women who wear burkas while voting. Since then, they have conducted sporadic demonstrations, including "White Pride Day" rallies held on the International Day for the Elimination of Racism.
As Scherr notes, "the Aryan Guard has found itself vastly outnumbered by anti-racist protesters, including members of Anti-Racist Action Calgary." While police say both Aryan Guard members and counter-protesters have been arrested for assaults, ARA spokesperson Jason Devine says no member has been charged in connection with any incident at an Aryan Guard rally.
Meanwhile, the Calgary Police Service admits that Aryan Guard members have been linked to several assaults, including one against a cab driver from North Africa.
Writing about this attack on the neo-Nazi Stormfront website, McKee boasted about getting the case dismissed: "The reason being was that they couldn't make a positive ID because apparently everyone there was all dressed in combat boots with white laces [and] black flight jackets and all had shaved heads. So let this be a lesson to anyone who wonders why on earth all us skinheads dress so similarly. [T]his is another great reason. lol [laughing out loud]".
In July 2008, a 17-year-old Aryan Guard member who had been making anti-Asian remarks followed a young Japanese woman as she left a bar and kicked her in the back of the head with steel-toed boots. He was wearing red laces - a skinhead symbol indicating he'd spilled blood for the movement.
ARA members believe that the Aryan Guard is responsible for the violent attacks against Jason and Bonnie Devine's home. Aryan Guard members have taunted the couple about the firebomb attack. "Is it hot in there?" they have asked during protests, according to Devine. "How are the kids? How's the house?"
And in yet another ugly case, four Aryan Guard members were charged with disturbing the peace after vandalizing a shopping mall and using racial slurs on a First Nations reserve near Calgary.
Scherr reports that two of the group's most prominent members, McKee and Dallas Price, faced assault and weapons charges in connection with a September 2006 confrontation in which one victim was hit with a wooden club and another was stabbed with a knife. Guard member Robert Reitmeier was charged with attempted murder in connection with a November 2006 assault on a man who suffered skull and facial fractures. Member Bill Noble was convicted in 2008 of posting hate material on the Internet that primarily targeted non-whites, Jews and gays. A judge sentenced him to four months in jail and imposed limits on his computer use for three years, though Noble continues to post frequently on Stormfront.
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
The failure by the Calgary Police Service to seriously investigate neo-Nazi violence against anti-racist activists is a reckless and shocking dereliction of duty which endangers lives. On October 3, the family home of Jason and Bonnie Devine and their four young children was the target of yet another such attack, in which windows were smashed and Neo-nazi graffiti was spray-painted on the front door: a swastika and "C-18", an obvious reference to the violent British fascist organization known as "Combat 18." In February 2009, the house was firebombed with molotov cocktails.
Fortunately, nobody was hurt in either incident, but the long history of email and telephone threats against the Devine family is ample warning that they remain in serious danger. The most likely suspects are in plain view - the Aryan Guard group which has been actively promoting racism and neo-Nazi ideology in Calgary for several years. Jason and Bonnie Devine have been in the forefront of community activists calling attention to the Aryan Guard. Both have campaigned as candidates for the Communist Party, and their courage has clearly angered the local fascists.
Despite its motto, "To maximize public safety in Calgary with vigilance, courage, and pride," the Calgary Police Service has ignored repeated public appeals to take action. Aryan Guard members are suspects in various other crimes, including the beatings of a homeless man, a gay community member, and a cab driver from North Africa, but no arrests have resulted. In the view of the Communist Party of Canada, this pattern has gone beyond neglect, into the territory of tacit encouragement of criminal activity. If serious injury or death results from further attacks, innocent blood will not only be on the hands of the perpetrators, but also on the hands of the Calgary Police Service which hides behind the feeble claim that "both sides are equally responsible" and that the Aryan Guard is simply "exercising its right to free speech."
The time has come for the City of Calgary and the Alberta provincial government to intervene in this crisis situation. Strong political leadership is required to replace Chief Rick Hanson with a police chief who is willing and capable of ensuring that swift action is taken to bring an end to these racist attacks. In the meantime, we extend our ongoing full solidarity to anti-racist activists and all democratic-minded citizens of Calgary who are standing up to the violent neo-Nazis in their community.
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
People's Voice Editorial
The ruling class has tried to whip up enthusiasm for its celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, but people across the planet are very sceptical about the private profit system. A new BBC World Service poll reports that only 11% of the 29,000 people questioned across 27 countries responded that "free market capitalism works well and increased regulation will make it less efficient." Only in the U.S. and Pakistan did more than one in five agree that capitalism works well as it stands.
Almost a quarter (23% globally) agreed that "capitalism is fatally flawed and a different economic system is needed". That is the view of 43% in France, 38% in Mexico, 35% in Brazil, 30% in Ukraine, and 27% in Spain. Here in Canada, 20% agreed, more than those who support the system as it stands. (Over 50% of Canadians support "regulation and reform" of free-market capitalism.)
There is strong support everywhere for more equal distribution of wealth. That view was backed by majorities in 22 of the 27 countries, especially in Latin America (92% in Mexico, 91% in Chile, and 89% in Brazil). In 26 countries, the majority want government to be more active in regulating business.
Interestingly, world opinion over the former Soviet Union is divided between the imperialist countries and the "global South." While the majority of Americans and Europeans agreed that the end of the USSR was "mainly a good thing" (79% in Germany, 76% in Britain and 74% in France), millions even in this region took a different view. On the other hand, 70% of Egyptians, 61% of Russians, 54% of Ukrainians, and an average of about 40% in Pakistan, India and Indonesia say the end of the Soviet Union was "mainly a bad thing."
"It appears that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 may not have been the crushing victory for free-market capitalism that it seemed at the time," said Doug Miller, chairman of polling firm GlobeScan which co-conducted the survey.
Too bad for the bosses, but from the viewpoint of the global working class, support for socialist alternatives to capitalism is on the rise!
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
People's Voice Editorial
The number of refugees gaining asylum in Canada has been slashed by over half since the Tory minority government took steps to close the doors against people fleeing desperate circumstances in other countries. Successful refugee applications have dropped a startling 56% since 2005, thanks to measures such as new visa restrictions. The changes have had a particularly dramatic impact on certain groups, such as Romas who face blatant racism and discrimination in the Czech Republic, and refugees from Mexico, where virtual warfare between the military and criminal gangs has become widespread. The Immigration and Refugee Board rejected over 90 percent of claims by Mexicans in the past year.
The Tory changes are called "immigration reforms," but as critics point out, the callous new strategy scraps legal obligations under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to provide people with a fair hearing before deportation. By setting lower targets for asylum acceptance, the Tories are condemning thousands of refugees to further delays in hearings, and to deportation back to torture, discrimination, and other forms of persecution. In one recent case, a 24-year-old woman was murdered in Mexico after being deported from Canada following two failed refugee claims.
After taking office, the Harper Tories left many Immigration and Refugee Board positions vacant for months while they searched for right-wing appointees, swelling the case backlog and limiting the number of hearings. There is now an 18-month delay between a refugee claim in Canada and an IRB hearing.
Canada is clearly turning a hostile shoulder to refugees. In a world where millions of people are displaced by imperialist wars and occupations, environmental catastrophe, and a wide range of forms of discrimination, this is yet another reason to dump the Harper Tories at our first opportunity.
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
November 4 - The Communist Party of Canada's Central Executive Committee has condemned the Harper Conservative government's inaction on the H1N1 flu outbreak, and called for vastly improved sick leave laws and for placing Big Pharma under public ownership. The CEC statement says:
The current swine flu outbreak reveals that after many years of underfunding by the federal and provincial governments, privatization, contracting out of services, P3s, and attacks on health care unions, Canada's universal Medicare system has been stretched to the breaking point, lacking the capacity to handle any significant increase in the numbers of people needing medical care.
The Harper government has failed to deal effectively with this outbreak. Relying on one, private and unaccountable pharmaceutical corporation - GlaxoSmithKline - to produce the swine flu vaccine is a giant abdication of responsibility by the Harper Conservatives. It has proven to be a mistake that may cost the lives of many Canadians.
Big Pharma's investments and production are based on profitability, not the health and well-being of the majority of Canadians. The swine flu vaccine shortfall is thus no accident, but a predictable outcome of the profit-driven interests of the industry.
This failure brings into sharp relief the need for public ownership of the entire pharmaceutical industry, especially the removal of the profit motive from the production of drugs and vaccines.
The government is failing to take other obvious steps that would reduce the spread of the swine flu and other infectious diseases.
- Workers who are paid to stay home when they are sick cannot spread disease through the workplace. Vastly-improved sick leave provisions are needed for all workers, a measure that would help the large majority of people.
- The giant increase in military spending is robbing the medical system of resources it could use to prevent and cure many diseases.
- The profit motive has corrupted the priorities of researching and developing drugs to cure diseases and disorders that afflict the most oppressed sections of the working class, such as tuberculosis and diabetes.
The Communist Party demands that the federal government create a comprehensive plan for the protection of people from epidemics, including:
- place the pharmaceutical industry under public ownership
- require employers to provide ten paid sick days per year, provincially and federally, an amount that could be extended by government decree based on expert medical advice in designated areas
- increase spending on research and development of drugs and vaccines to cure diseases that afflict - at epidemic levels - the most oppressed sections of workers, such as tuberculosis among Aboriginal peoples.
- improve housing and eradicate poverty to remove the underlying causes of many diseases.
- move agriculture and the food industry away from reliance on pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and other substances whose long-term safety is not supported by reliable evidence.
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
PV Vancouver Bureau
A year after sweeping the right-wing Non-Partisan Alliance out of office, Vancouver's tenuous centre-left alliance between Vision and the Coalition of Progressive Electors is looking frayed at the edges.
Unity between the two civic parties remains solid on the Vancouver School Board, where the four Vision and three COPE trustees have been a model of cooperation. Facing a wide range of new costs imposed on schools, the trustees have been at the forefront of resistance to the Campbell government's botched education policies. For the first time in memory, teachers, other school staff unions, parent groups, and school trustees are fighting for improved, guaranteed funding. That unity is directly linked to the advocacy campaign carried out by the VSB's chair, Vision's Patti Bacchus, and vice-chair, COPE's Jane Bouey.
But meanwhile, differences are widening between Vision's Mayor Robertson and his party's seven city councillors, and COPE's David Cadman and Ellen Woodsworth. The two groups still vote the same way on many issues, but some key splits have emerged.
One concerns the debate over civil liberties during the upcoming Winter Olympics. COPE's councillors have joined with free speech advocates to oppose sweeping measures to restrict criticism of the negative impact of the Olympics in Vancouver. While the Vision majority claims that these moves are intended only to block illegal advertising, the question of what constitutes "legal protests" during the Olympics remains up in the air.
Perhaps even more significant for the future of city policies is Vision's move to further shift the tax burden from businesses to homeowners. This strategy is historically the aim of right-wing civic administrations, just as resistance to higher taxes on homeowners has been linked to COPE and its allies in the labour and social justice movements.
An important example of how Vision's approach has alienated former friends has been the response of the Think City group, which has organized citizen dialogues since 2002 in Vancouver. Some Think City activists figured in the Vision group's exit from COPE during the 2002-2005 term, while others remained pro-COPE in their outlook, but most were strong supporters of the alliance which came together in 2008 to oust the NPA.
But recently, Think City has come out swinging against Vision's budget plans. An angry statement from the group's staff notes that "Vancouver's city hall is in the midst of the decision-making process for the annual operating budget during the biggest financial crisis in a generation. Millions of dollars have disappeared from city coffers due to out-of-control Olympic costs, downloading and transfer cuts by senior governments and reduced revenues from development. For the second budget in a row, balancing the books will include some tough choices to deal with the projected multi-million dollar shortfall."
In the face of this crisis, says the group, "council and staff have developed their plans in secret leaving little time or opportunity for citizens to have meaningful input."
While City Hall has been working on the 2010 budget since last Feb. 3, it took until Oct. 23 to announce that consultations would begin Oct. 25 and wrap up by mid-November, a mere three weeks.
Usually Vancouver's budget is completed in the spring, but due to the Olympics, the final decision on its $900 million annual operating budget will be taken this December, not next April. The city faces huge cost pressures from previous commitments, and the loss of nearly $16 million in development fees as a result of the economic crisis. Yet unlike higher levels of government, the city is not allowed to run a deficit.
Looking at a potential shortfall of $61.7 million, the city reduced that gap to $28.1 million by increasing user fees, permits and licenses by four per cent, reviewing services, and extending its hiring freeze for a second year.
On Oct. 20, city council instructed staff to come back with a revised budget that increases property tax by 2.3 per cent, and to find another $20 million through increased charges and service cuts. The city is also planning a further two per cent shift of taxes from commercial to residential properties. If the overall tax increase stays at 2.3 per cent, this will result in a 4.3 per cent increase for residents while businesses (or their landlords) will see a minuscule tax hike of 0.3 per cent.
The cuts may include shorter opening hours for pools, libraries and community centres, higher charges for senior centres, reduced cleaning of streets and parks, less road maintenance, higher parking fees and library fines, fewer police or reduced support for community groups.
Think City has recommended that rather than cut services, the city should suspend the tax shift for a year. Combined with a four per cent overall increase spread across all property classes, this would generate $22 million, and cost the average homeowner only $5.50 per month in extra property tax.
Other options backed by Think City include waiving the four per cent pay increase for senior managers (saving nearly $3 million), and extending parking meter hours to compensate for the $1.8 million in parking income the city will lose during the Olympics.
The final budget will come before council on Dec. 15.
In a commentary on the November 2008 civic election, People's Voice noted that "Cadman and Woodsworth have made it clear that they hope to work closely with the Vision majority to tackle the urgent problems of homelessness and inadequate public transit. But the two will also be free to stake out independent positions if Mayor Robertson and his caucus yield to powerful pressures from the developers and other business interests."
One year later, the Vision councillors are back-pedalling on the more progressive aspects of their platform. That makes the outlook for future centre-left unity cloudy, but it has given COPE renewed stature as the voice of working people in Vancouver. The balance of forces between the two parties may tilt in COPE's favour by the time of the 2011 civic campaign.
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By Zoltan Zigedy, Marxism-Leninism Today website
Confronting corporate power directly constitutes the sharpest, most challenging, and most politically advanced form of political struggle, of class struggle. At a time of compromise, half-steps, modest aspirations, and low expectations, these moments are unfortunately rare.
One such moment occurred with the determined, courageous efforts of the single-payer advocates in their effort to retire profit-driven insurance corporations from the field of health care provision. In the face of the predictable demonology of "socialism" and "government involvement", they have fought a relentless struggle - including civil disobedience - to put patients before profits. Single-payer, in its HR676 incarnation, attacks corporate dominance by financing health care from taxes on the rich as well as kicking out the private insurance companies. Where the compromised public option feeds the rapacious insurance industry and burdens the working class, single-payer is a direct assault on the interests of the ownership class, an assault benefiting the vast majority of US citizens. While victory is hardly assured, their efforts will continue to gather momentum long after any tepid, corporate-friendly legislation is passed by the Congress.
Now we have the stirrings of another - long overdue, but heartily welcome - counterattack in the war against corporate dominance. The union workers at Ford Motor Company have voted overwhelmingly to reject a concessionary proposal offered by Ford and urged by the United Autoworkers leadership.
Nationwide, over 70% of the Ford UAW membership voted against contract concessions that were demanded by the auto giant. The UAW top leadership which has negotiated and urged ratification of decades of concessions met a fierce resistance from the rank-and-file and local leaders. The head of the UAW's Ford division was booed and heckled at local meetings in Michigan and President Ron Gettelfinger's former local rejected the proposal by over 80% despite his personnel appearance and appeal. The happy message of "win-win" class collaboration fell on deaf ears this time. By rejecting these concessions, workers chose a different path - the path of class struggle.
Knowing full well of the relative advantages it enjoys, Ford argued that it deserved the same deal that the UAW accepted for its bankrupt competitors, GM and Chrysler. The US government granted each of the other two domestic auto makers a bailout in return for a promise to close plants, layoff employees, and shed brands and dealerships. The UAW sweetened the deal further by granting further concessions on its 2007 contract with GM and Chrysler. In fact, the UAW had accepted two sets of concessions to Ford since the 2007 contract, and this third group of demands spurred the membership's overwhelming rejection. This is in stark contrast to the French auto bailouts that required the domestic producers to retain jobs in order to receive government aid. In the case of France, a rabid conservative President Sarkozy was faced down by a militant labour movement and popular support. In the case of the US, a corporate-coddling government and a collaborationist union leadership kicked autoworkers in the teeth.
Cynically, Ford and the UAW International leaders agreed to schedule the concession ratification before the declaration of Ford's third quarter earnings so they could best make the case for "making Ford competitive" against the crippled competition. Nonetheless, the UAW members soundly rejected the contract concessions even before Ford announced net third quarter earning of over a billion dollars, the most since 2006.
Nothing shows the bankruptcy of the business union model better than this crass fealty to the corporate interests of The Ford Motor Company. Nothing shows an awakening rank-and-file militancy better than the overwhelming rejection of this offensive proposal.
After years of urging concessions that have stripped benefits and hourly wages, the UAW top leadership is now faced with a membership in open rebellion against its no-struggle policies. The membership recognizes, far better than the top officials, that it is now time to stop the retreat and use the power of working people to improve their future. For too long the union's top leaders have acted as a kind of third party linking the position of the workers to the continued prosperity of the corporations and "selling" that bankrupt notion to the members. The union belongs to the members and this vote demonstrates that they want it back. This is a banner moment for working class consciousness and anti-corporate action. The top leadership of the union should heed this or step aside.
For the left, this is a re-affirmation of the centrality of the labour movement in its confrontation with wealth and power. The action of tens of thousands of autoworkers rocks the corporate agenda far more than high-sounding electoral rhetoric or parliamentary horse-trading. As these early sprouts of emerging labour independence mature, the left must help nurture this movement into a powerful social force, a force worthy of the UAW's legacy. For some on the left, this requires shedding the illusions and comfortable ties with the top leadership of the labour movement. The reality is that the contradiction between the needs of working people and a complacent, corporate-accommodating leadership will grow ever more apparent.
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By Stephen Von Sychowski
Pirate costumes were popular again this Halloween. But few Canadians know that only a few days before trick-or-treaters hit the streets, the HMCS Fredericton departed Halifax on an "Anti-Piracy and Anti-Terrorism" mission in the Arabian Sea.
According to Canadian military websites, the HMCS Fredericton is a "multi-role patrol frigate," which carries an aircraft and 225 sailors. It is referred to as "Stalker of the Seas." It will be continuing Canada's role in Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG 1), which was formed in January 2005. As of late, SNMG 1 has primarily been deployed to fight pirates off the coast of Somalia.
Earlier this year, People's Voice reported on how the explosion of piracy off the coast of Somalia was a direct bi-product of imperialist activities in the area. Fishing villages once thrived on abundant fish stocks off the coast of Somalia. But today a desperate situation has been brought on by illegal over-fishing by foreign corporations which depleted the area's resources. The situation was severely worsened by the dumping of toxic waste by European corporations, which has destroyed habitat and had serious health implications for those living in affected communities.
These factors combined to effectively ruin the livelihood for many Somali families. This, taken with years of grinding poverty, lawlessness, war, and uncertainty, caused by imperialist exploitation and meddling have led many Somalis to turn to desperate measures to survive. For some of these impoverished former fishermen, these measures include what has been coined by the western media as "piracy," i.e. hijacking and/or kidnapping of ships and those on board for ransom.
While nobody wants to see working people put into dangerous and potentially harmful situations as a result of these kinds of actions, one must view the situation in context. This is not the good guy vs. bad guy situation portrayed by the corporate media. Somali working people have been driven to acts that put both themselves and the working people onboard the ships they attack at risk. They aren't doing this for the fun of it, because they want to be like Johnny Depp, or because they are just plain nasty folks. They are doing it so their families can eat. Meanwhile, the executives of the corporations and officials of the governments which have effectively manufactured the conditions which have caused this state of affairs rest easy, condemning piracy from their cozy mansions, where the chances of being hijacked are slim.
Working class, progressive Canadians should be outraged by the dispatch of the HMCS Fredericton to join NATO's "anti-pirate" mission. Military solutions which punish the poor of Somalia will do nothing to solve or alleviate the conditions from which this situation arose. Once again, the interests of the Canadian people, and of peace and justice, are proven not to be served by our ongoing participation in NATO.
If Canada is to play a role in the region it would be better served through humanitarian aid, and through applying pressure internationally for those responsible for robbing the Somali people of their livelihood to be brought to justice and for reparations to be paid. Such policies could be part of an independent Canadian foreign policy of peace and disarmament, which the Communist Party has long advocated, and which comes in direct opposition to the policies of the Harper Tory government and the imperialist ruling class it represents.
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By Gurpreet Singh
November 16 is the martyrdom day of a great Indian revolutionary, Kartar Singh Sarabha, who was hanged in 1915 by the British Empire that occupied his motherland until 1947. Although it's a matter of sheer chance that his martyrdom day coincides with that of Louis Riel, the Métis hero of Canada, the two men had one thing in common: they challenged colonialism at different times and in different forms.
Kartar Singh Sarabha was born in 1886 in Punjab, when India was under the British rule. He migrated to the USA in 1912 for studies at the University of California, where he came in contact with Indian revolutionaries who believed in armed rebellion to free India from the foreign invaders. He became an active member of the Gadar Party that was founded in 1913 and helped in running the party newspaper.
He later went to India to participate in an armed revolution and tried to incite Indian soldiers who worked for the British Empire to revolt. He had also participated in robberies to raise funds for arms and ammunition. While the planned rebellion failed, he was later arrested by the police with the help of an informer and hanged.
Louis Riel was born on October 22, 1844. Known as a founder of the province of Manitoba, he led two resistance movements, the first one being the Red River Rebellion, which established a provisional government that later negotiated the terms under which Manitoba entered the Canadian confederation. He was executed on November 16, 1885, after the second Métis resistance was defeated at Batoche. Although Riel was not the only person hanged for struggling for Aboriginal rights, he symbolizes the continued indigenous resistance in Canada.
The two men set an example for those who believed in social justice and equality. Their sacrifices have made some difference, but there is still a long way to go. The imperialist wars and the plunder of resources are still going on in the world. Colonialism in the garb of globalization is still posing a threat to the life and liberty of people, especially those belonging to economically weaker sections. And above all the exploitation of indigenous peoples continues shamelessly both in India and Canada.
Known as the world's largest democracy, India has witnessed systematic discrimination against the so-called untouchables or dalits, who are the First Nation of that country. In south India, the dalits were allowed to enter a Hindu temple after 100 years last month, and that too under the police protection. They were declared untouchables by the priest class centuries ago and are still not allowed to enter many temples. The Indian communists have now launched a campaign in support of the dalits seeking social equality. Ironically, Kartar Singh Sarabha's Gadar Party had denounced caste discrimination, yet this social ill is prevalent in free India.
In Canada, Aboriginal peoples are still struggling to retain the rights over their lands, rivers and cultural heritage. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has apologized for the abuse of the students in the residential schools, and US President Barack Obama has opened dialogue with First Nations on the other side of the border. Instead of making tokenistic gestures, these leaders should check institutional racism.
In both the secular and culturally diverse countries, right- wing thinkers and historians have always tried to demonize the First Nations as savages one way or the other. The Indo-Canadian pioneers used to call the natives Tae Ke (those belonging to the elderly uncle's family). This informal sense of association should be popularized to strengthen relations between the two communities. Progressive groups can make some beginning by organizing a commemorative event to mark the martyrdom of both these men.
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
The newspaper Working Russia, organ of the Communist Workers Party of Russia-Revolutionary Party of Communists (RKRP-RPC) - addressed the following question to the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), Aleka Papariga: "On the 20th anniversary since the fall of Berlin Wall we are witnessing an intensification of the anticommunist hysteria, of the attack on Communist Parties and communist ideals in Russia as well as in other European countries. What is your comment on this development?" Aleka Papariga gave the following answer:
"These days international imperialism continues and intensifies its campaign to distort the big contribution of the socialism we used to know, focusing on Berlin and the anticommunist events on the fall of the Wall. At the same time the governments and the bourgeois parties as a whole make persistent and coordinated efforts to present capitalism as an eternal system that ensures freedom and democracy and meets the people's needs as well...
The anticommunist attack is launched by those who 20 years ago characterised the counterrevolution as "world-historic event", by those who declared the coming of a new era of peace, security and prosperity. The experience accumulated over this period has reversed these proclamations, and proved that their content was fake. Let us remember what international opportunism, which still says that capitalism can be humanised, used to say in that period.
Over these 20 years many walls have been erected in front of the peoples. The intensification of exploitation, the unjust wars, the capitalist economic crisis, the restriction of basic rights, unemployment, poverty, the spread of drugs and criminality, the waves of immigration, the death of millions of people of thirst and diseases are the results of the capitalist steamroller whose god is profit and not the human needs. It is a huge lie to argue that the fall of Berlin Wall, the counterrevolution united the people of Europe and brought freedom. The only freedom it brought was that of the EU and NATO imperialists and all the capitalist organisations to attack the workers' and peoples' interests from better positions, to pass terror laws and shield the repression forces.
Socialism of the 2Oth century, despite the shortcomings and the mistakes that were made, was a superior social economic system; it has proved its superiority to capitalism. Workers' rights, that in capitalist conditions are just a pipe dream, were regarded as given in socialism. I refer to permanent and stable work for all, to the establishment of 8-hour and 7-hour working day for all, to free education and health-care for all, to free time, to decent life for the elderly, to the acquisition of a high cultural level, to the huge achievements made in a very short period of time in the field of science and art, to the conquest of space. I refer to the security that young people felt for their future.
Several years passed from the end of the Second World War until 1961, the year when the Wall was erected by the workers' state power and thousands of workers. This time period has its own explanation and cause. The borders between East and West Berlin (which was in the territory of People's Germany and few people are aware of this fact) closed when the tanks of NATO entered the territory of people's Germany and headed towards the centre of Berlin. It was in that period that the defence minister of West Germany, Franz Josef Strauss, declared that people should be prepared for a civil war in Germany. It was in that period that subversion and sabotages in the economy of People's Germany intensified. It was imperialism that imposed the erection of the Wall, the conflict between capitalism and socialism.
The socialism of the 20th century, which was constructed in the USSR and the other countries of Eastern Europe, had not been a society without shortcomings, while erroneous strategic choices especially in the 1950s and 1960s brought about destructive consequences for the workers' state power.
In its 18th Congress the KKE studied these mistakes and levelled criticism with the aim to contribute to the ideological shielding of the communist movement and improve its struggle nowadays. At the same time it does not submit to the bourgeoisie that demands the KKE stop defending the historical achievements of socialism, it does not "throw the baby out with the bathwater" as opportunists do.
We call upon the working class to search for the truth about socialism and reject the anti-communist propaganda that identifies socialism with fascism and aims to prevent the people from drawing true conclusions. We call the working class to struggle along with the communists and the popular strata in towns and villages; this struggle makes the capitalists tremble and put the communists on trials and prohibit their action in several countries. This struggle paves the way for the people's economy and power. Socialism is necessary and relevant.
(The following article is from the November 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers and overseas readers - $50 per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
VANCOUVER, BC
COPE Pub Night, beer andpolitics with COPE elected officials - Wed., Nov. 18, 8 pm, Original Joe’s, 500 W. Broadway .
Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, on a speaking tour to launch her book, Breaking the Sound Barrier - Thur., Nov. 25, 7 pm, Alice McKay Room, Central Library, benefit for college and community radio stations. Book sales by People’s Co-op, for more information see http://www.peoplescoopbookstore.com.
Women Speak Out on Palestine and Gaza - Friday, Nov. 27, 7 pm, SFU Harbour Centre, Room 1900 (515 W. Hastings). Speakers: Palestinian-American activist Huwaida Arraf, MP Libby Davies, Dr. Sunera Thobani, suggested donation $5-10, organized by Canada Palestine Association, http://www.cpavancouver.org.
Left Film Night, “The War on Democracy”, dir. by John Pilger - Sunday, Nov. 29, 7 pm, Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive. For info, call 604-255-2041.
WINNIPEG, MB
What is the Communist Party? Two meetings for people interested in joining, late November and early December, dates when most people can attend. Pre-register at 586-7824 or cpcmb@mts.net.
TORONTO, ON
Education Not Deportation! Support the right of non-status children to attend school, video launch, theater, assembly - Friday, Nov. 20, 10:30-12 noon, endorsed by: Education Not Deportation Ctee., Parkdale Newcomer Network, OSSTF-D12, Elementary Teachers of Toronto, No One Is Illegal-Toronto.
Community Discussion on Immigration- Sat., Nov. 21, 6 pm, Oakridge Community Centre, 63 Pharmacy Ave., Scarborough, presented by South Asian Women’s Rights Organization.
GAZA: Strength Under Siege, evening of solidarity for Gaza Freedom March - Friday, Dec. 4, 7 pm, Student Centre, Ryerson University, tickets $40 (students $20), purchase online: http://www.gazafreedommarch.ca/tickets.
Stars of Ballet, featuring dancers from Ballet Nacional de Cuba - Tue., Dec. 8, 7 pm, Living Arts Centre, 4141 Living Arts Drive, Mississauga. Tickets $25-90, contact 1-905-306-6000.
*****
Joya
Book Tour Afghan woman MP Malalai Joya, an outspoken critic of the NATO
occupation, is touring Canada to launch her new book, “A Woman
Among Warlords.” Her
itinerary includes:
VANCOUVER: Sat., Nov. 14, 7 pm, book launch at St. Andrew’s Wesley Church, 1022 Nelson St., organized by StopWar.ca.
VICTORIA: Sunday, Nov. 15, 2 pm, University of Victoria, David Lam Auditorium, MacLaurin Bldg. Hosted by Victoria Peace Coalition.
WINNIPEG: Monday, Nov. 16, 7 pm, University of Winnipeg, Convocation Hall, organized by Peace Alliance Winnipeg.
TORONTO: WEdl, Nov. 18, 7 pm, Trinity-St.Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor West (TTC Spadina), donation $5 to $10, Toronto Coalition to Stop the War.
HALIFAX: Nov. 21-22. Details TBA.
MONTREAL: Tue., Nov. 24, 7 pm, à la salle Marie-Gérin-Lajoie de l'UQAM (métro Berri-UQAM), Organized by Le Collectif Echec.
OTTAWA: Thursday, Nov. 26, 7 pm, Centretown United Church (507 Bank St), Ottawa Peace Assembly.
VANCOUVER: Sat., Nov. 14, 7 pm, book launch at St. Andrew’s Wesley Church, 1022 Nelson St., organized by StopWar.ca.
VICTORIA: Sunday, Nov. 15, 2 pm, University of Victoria, David Lam Auditorium, MacLaurin Bldg. Hosted by Victoria Peace Coalition.
WINNIPEG: Monday, Nov. 16, 7 pm, University of Winnipeg, Convocation Hall, organized by Peace Alliance Winnipeg.
TORONTO: WEdl, Nov. 18, 7 pm, Trinity-St.Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor West (TTC Spadina), donation $5 to $10, Toronto Coalition to Stop the War.
HALIFAX: Nov. 21-22. Details TBA.
MONTREAL: Tue., Nov. 24, 7 pm, à la salle Marie-Gérin-Lajoie de l'UQAM (métro Berri-UQAM), Organized by Le Collectif Echec.
OTTAWA: Thursday, Nov. 26, 7 pm, Centretown United Church (507 Bank St), Ottawa Peace Assembly.