02) COMMUNIST CAMPAIGN GENERATES BUZZ IN BC

(The following article is from the May 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: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Kimball Cariou and Johan Boyden

For a small party, the Communist Party had a disproportionate impact in three ridings where its candidates were on the ballot for BC's May 12 election. Not surprisingly, the Communist vote was small (although higher than in 2005), and the party won many friends and new members.

     Party leader George Gidora ran in Surrey-Newton, near where he grew up and went to school. Familiar with local as well as provincial issues, Gidora was well received by voters at the major all-candidate forum where he took part. His message, combining a call to defeat the Campbell Liberals with the need for radical new policies to put the interests of working people first, resonated strongly with voters in this largely South Asian riding. The campaign team circulated 1,000 copies of the Communist Party of BC platform in Punjabi, as well as 3,000 in English.

     George Gidora also received a considerable amount of media coverage, such as an appearance on a popular Vancouver morning radio show. His commentary on the campaign issues was featured on the website of the widely-read Georgia Straight weekly paper, along with those of other party leaders. Early results gave Gidora about double the Party's total in another Surrey riding in 2005.

     Retired health care worker Peter Marcus, a second-time candidate in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, is well known to working people and political activists in his east side constituency. Marcus is a frequent participant in labour and community events, distributing People's Voice and presenting a solid working-class perspective in debates. His preliminary count of about 140 votes was just shy of 1%, also nearly double his tally in 2005.

     Marcus was on the platform for two candidate forums, one at Britannia Secondary School, and another on health issues at the 411 Seniors Centre. Unfortunately, a forum planned for the Carnegie Centre, in the heart of the lowest-income urban neighbourhood in Canada, was cancelled after some other candidates pulled out. Across the province, Liberals avoided all-candidate meetings where their record could be exposed to voters.

     In Kootenay West, Communist candidate Zachary Crispin took 150 votes, about one percent. His campaign was popular among young people, workers and trade unionists, and seniors.

     One major highlight was when Crispin spoke to six classes at L.J. Crow high school, his alma mater, on issues from raising the minimum wage to $16 an hour, to socialism. Youth were impressed by Crispin's demand to eliminate tuition fees. YCL Trail members got out and helped to flyer local malls, standing up to store managers and even police who tried to usher them off the property.

     Crispin's campaign also addressed a meeting of Interior BC peace activists chaired by J.J. Verigin of the Doukhobor community, where the Communist message of "fighting for a better world" struck home. After one public debate, campaign activists overheard several workers and trade unionists quietly praising Crispin's ideas, like reopening the closed mills under public ownership and banning raw log exports.

     Late in the campaign, BC organizer Sam Hammond visited the Kootenays to speak at a public event about the economic crisis and the fight for jobs. The meeting was attended by about twenty people. Hammond also spoke on two radio shows, including one hosted by the President of the Labour Council on Kootenay Coop radio. Crispin also received extensive coverage in the local media, as well as national CBC radio.

     The Kootenay West campaign connected the Communist Party with progressives, local activists, veteran militants, and young people, including new prospective members. Working families dug generously into their pockets to help the campaign, which included almost 50 bright red signs placed on front lawns and road sides, creating a buzz across the region.