(The following article is from the December 1-31, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

B.C. Labour Committee, Communist Party of Canada

The B.C. Federation of Labour (BCFED) held its 52nd Convention in Vancouver from November 24-28, on the theme "Organizing to Win". This Convention marked a significant shift to the left for the Federation. It is urgently important that we assess these changes and what this means for the trade union movement.

     The Convention was held while the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression is sweeping the capitalist world and the working class here in Canada and across the globe is suffering the brunt of the fallout from this crisis. It was held while the trade union movement internationally faces the all-out attack of capitalism. It was held at a time when the people of Canada and of the world are facing the threat of fascism and ever expanding war.

It would appear that these devastating conditions, taken with the hard work of left trade unionists including Communists, have begun to generate a higher level of class consciousness within the trade union movement.

     At this Convention it was not only the Communist Party who condemned the capitalist system. It was brother Jim Sinclair when he talked about how the free market system has failed, how we need to stop talking about how to fix it and start talking about how to replace it. It was brother Dave Coles when he spoke in favour of nationalization, stating that the capitalists had failed. It was Stephen Lewis who spoke about the horrors of the capitalist system and called for "democratic socialism" which, by his description, sounded significantly different and more advanced from the social democracy espoused by the current New Democratic Party (NDP) leadership. 

     While the mainstream of the debate still falls within the scope of social democracy this has also begun to clear the way for broader and deeper debate than seen in recent decades. It has put questions of nationalization and of capitalism vs. socialism on the table.

     This shift came as a surprise to the right wing, the labour aristocracy. Before the start of the convention it was predicted by many that a challenger to the right of Brother Sinclair would attempt to unseat his Presidency. This never materialized. Perhaps it was only rumour from the start. Or perhaps a challenger in viewing the mood on the Convention floor realized that the political cost of challenging from the right and losing was too great a risk.

     Before the start of Convention it was widely predicted that the bi-annual Policy Convention would be eliminated. While the BCFED officers almost unanimously stood in favour of this move, the Convention floor voted close to 2/3 opposed to the idea, far from the 2/3 in favour needed to pass. This was a major victory for union democracy which secured the right, for two more years at least, for the rank and file of the labour movement to democratically choose the policy and direction of their Federation.   There was also no advance indication that such progressive policies as the nationalization of the oil industry or solidarity with Venezuela's Bolivarian Socialist Revolution, or support for the War Resisters campaign would come to the floor. But they did and all were supported unanimously or close to it. The level of unity on the floor around these questions points to a situation where the rank and file delegates are increasingly trying to lead, or push, the actual Federation leadership into action.

     Unfortunately, Thursday's speech by B.C. NDP leader Carole James missed the mark and landed far to the right of much of the over-all Convention discussion. It was entirely based on the repetitive listing off of the evils of Gordon Campbell's Liberals, but made no hint of an attempt to link these evils to the capitalist system. It also made no mention of the role of the labour movement or the work it has done and will do, with the exception of going to vote for the NDP come election time. It is clear that to James, the labour movement is merely a large pool of potential NDP votes rather than an important movement in and of itself. While James' speech brought on thunderous applause as usual there was a higher than usual number of delegates who stayed in their seats throughout much of the speech and many dissatisfied comments could be heard from delegates afterwards. The NDP's rightward shift may soon come into serious conflict with the politics and values of the labour movement at the rank and file level if not at the leadership level.

     It is also worth noting that this Convention saw a concerted effort by many of the affiliates to increase the number of young worker delegates. This was a big success with almost 90 young workers. This was over twice as many as the previous year and made up nearly 10% of the Convention. On the whole, these young workers seemed to form a relatively progressive, militant and democratic minded segment of the Convention delegates.

     On the second to last day of the Convention it was announced that the Harper government was planning to enact legislation which would eliminate the right to strike for public sector workers, roll back negotiated wage increases and thereby attack the very right of working people to form a union and bargain collectively. This was among other absurd policies which he claimed would help the economy out of crisis. The Convention floor erupted with outrage.

     An emergency resolution was brought to the floor calling on the opposition parties to form a coalition government in order to oust the Harper Conservatives. This resolution passed nearly unanimously.

     The Communists supported the resolution tactically because the alternatives would be accepting Harper's drive towards fascism, or a new election which could lead to a Harper majority under the current conditions. However the resolution was missing something important. It was missing what the Federation would do if the opposition parties failed to form a coalition. What action would we take to protect the rights of workers?

     It was on this point that we Communists spent the rest of the Convention organizing. A statement was issued and work was done to try to help bring a new emergency resolution on this to the floor. Unfortunately this led to a clear expression of the iron grip of the right on the labour movement. The resolution was suppressed and discussion of the issue shut down by the chair. Another resolution on a windfall profit tax on oil companies was printed and distributed but then mysteriously disappeared from the day's agenda. And an important resolution from the Kamloops and District Labour Council, calling to open the discussion on capitalism vs. socialism, may have passed, but never made it to the floor.

     Meanwhile the final day of Convention was filled with resolutions which, although important, all pale in comparison to the importance of the labour movement developing a fight back program against Harper's assault on our basic and fundamental rights. Instead this crisis was simply deemed a matter of "political action" and was therefore handed off to the New Democratic Party. As a result the only defense that the labour movement in B.C. will have against this attack in the event of the opposition parties failing to form a coalition will be whatever plan of action is decided by the Executive. An item of such historical importance deserves the input of the rank and file at Convention. Instead the remaining items were referred to the Executive of the Federation without direction, thus closing the official debate on these issues within the BCFED until next year.  This points to the fact that the left forces at Convention missed out on a huge opportunity to build their ranks, organize around key resolutions and possibly raise a challenge to some of the more right wing leaders within the Federation. This is because no Action Caucus was organized to unite these forces so that they could work collectively to achieve these goals. This should be on the mind of every left wing trade unionist between now and the next Convention. We cannot expect the change we know the movement needs to come from the sky; it is up to us all to achieve it together.