Quebec perspective 1969

On the occasion of New Year, the Quebec city bureau of
Presse completed a series of interviews with the heads of
principal political parties” of Quebec. The fact that

amunist Party of Quebec was not among the three in-
s the lack of perspective of La Presse, but does not pre-

eal us from asking Sam Walsh, president of the Party to

Be

answer the questions.

imme nore As not yet fully

‘are slowly connected to

, as they are all born
li crisis of the capi-
talist system. Those who con-
tinue to spread the illusion that
(in the period of

state monopoly capitalism) cre-
ates or can create a society in
which wealth can be shared
“democratically” or “justly” are,
consciously or - unconsciously,
to these movements

of demands which have a truly
potential content

Is there danger that this
movement of challenge will
grow? What means do you re-
commend to avert or divert any

of acute crisis?

Instead of averting or divert-
‘ny danger of acute crisis,
xert every effort to expand
pment in order to re-
acute crisis which is
the present system of
nm of man by man, re-
, it with a socialist

ing
we J

Do you not believe that this
en of demand is proof
of the inability of the existing
political parties, including yours,
to ity pence penetrate the Quebec
masses, and UT oarticulacty the
labor and student sectors?

For the bourgeois parties
(Liberal and Union Nationale),

yes! The Parti Québecois (Ed.
Note: the party led by René
Levesque), a _ petit-bourgeois
party, can penetrate the student
masses and possibly certain
levels of the more privileged
workers. As for the Communist
Party of Quebec, this pheno-
menon of challenge, of demand,
is the incontestable proof of our
ability to truly penetrate the
Quebec masses, especially
among the workers and stu-
dents.

At this time, these move-
ments need above all a mass
labor political party with the
support of trade unions (work-
ers, students and farmers) to
unify and to guide all these
movements towards the seizure
of power, without which any
proposal to “resolve” the crisis
is either reactionary or plain,
idle chatter. The Communist
Party of Quebec is making
every effort to realize such a
mass labor, federated political
party, within which we are rea-
dy loyally to collaborate as a
Marxist-Leninist party.

Are the commotions agitat-
ing Quebec society not having

jons within your own
party? Certain skirmishes have
been visible during the course
of the past year. What are the
major problems that you must
face, as head of the party, with-
in your own movement?

Of course, the unrest which
is agitating Quebec society is
reflected inside our _ party.
French-Canadian workers have
become the large majority of
our party since the workers be-
gan to exercise leadership in
the movement of challenge. We
are also attracting the students.

Sobell comes

By NORA NORTH
NEW YORK

The crowd scene at the Port
terminal, waiting for
the bus that was to bring Mor-
ay home after more than
— ae prison, could have
e president, or the

= al star.

Pacha was the central nucleus

of radiant people holding flow-
ts; his wife, his mother, his
son, his daughter, some friends
and supporters. From them out-
ward Was the sea of news peo-
; Cameramen, reporters,
hers, jostling each
other, Swearing, pushing, break-
ing out in fights, pressing ever
inward on the Sobell family.

The bus arrived at about 8
Dm. at Gate 10. The family had
*n taken out into the buslane
if€a so they could escape the

and receive Sobel alone.
They 3 never got the chance. The
ee e through even before
S arrived and once again
down on the family.
nowhere, a quiet-look-
with glasses walked up
My He came up be-
his wife, and suddenly
® was in his arms. It
orton Sobell.

He had

come in at another gate and
had gone looking for his wife
and family.

The crush that followed was
horrific, and it was all the fa-
mily could do to stick together
and get themselves into the
waiting cab. Then they drove
off. That was the way it hap-
pened, after the long years of
waiting.

Mrs. Helen Sobell, Morton’s
wife, had heard the news that
her husband was to be released
only hours before. Their 19-
year-old son, Mark, heard it an-
nounced over the radio while
he was at work. He called the
station for verification and then
called his mother at the school
where she teaches.

“I ran and told my col-
leagues,” she said. “They em-
braced me and I told them not
to expect me tomorrow, and
maybe not even the next day,”
she added, with one of the most
radiant smiles I’ve ever seen.

Mark then called the prison in
Lewisburg, Pa., but the authori-
ties there said they knew no-
thing of his father’s release and
would not let Mark speak to
him. An hour later Mark called
back, and the authorities said
that Sobell had already been

The main problems inside our
party are first, to attract and to
keep in our ranks the best
fighters for the workers and for
the French-Canadian nation,
without allowing ourselves to
depart from Marxism-Leninism,
from proletarian international-
ism, through petit-bourgeois ten-
dencies which they carry; the
advancement of young cadres
experienced at once in mass
movements and in the revolu-
tionary science — Marxism-Len-
inism—and having an unshake-
able confidence in the historic
role of the working class and of
its party.

Historians, sociologists and
political scientists consider that
French-Canadians, and particu-
larly Quebec political figures,
have a tendency to waste their
time in unproductive discus-
sions rather than getting to the
root of problems. It is often said
that many of our most intel-
ligent and competent compat-
riots could have done much
more for Quebec if they had not
confined themselves to the con-
stitutional debate. What is your
reaction to such assertions? Do
you believe, as some people
have suggested, that Quebec
political figures should concen-
trate all their efforts towards
settling the constitutional prob-
lem once and for all, so that
Quebecers could then work ef-
fectively for their economic and
social betterment?

The “constitutional” problem
is basically the non-recognition
of the French-Canadian nation
in. the Canadian constitution and
in life, and of its sovereign
rights as a nation. There is no
doubt this aggravates the eco-
nomic and social problems as
well as doing injury to the dig-
nity, the language and the cul-
ture of the nation. The “consti-
tutional” problem must there-
fore be settled. But with Eng-
lish-speaking Canada (and even
with our powerful neighbor, the
United States) we share econo-

home

released and was no longer on
the premises.

When asked if she felt any
bitterness, the slim, attractive
Mrs. Sobell smiled with her
dark eyes. “I don’t feel I can
afford to waste my internal re-
sources on being bitter’ she an-
swered,

Mrs. Sobell said it was appro-
priate that her husband should

be released on the eve of Dr.

Marthin Luther King’s birthday.
She spoke frequently of all the
thousands of wonderful people
who had helped her in the fight
to free her husband, and Dr.
King had been one of them.

Another source of the fami-
ly’s peace and strength was
clearly Mrs. Rose Sobell, the
diminutive 75-year-old mother
of Morton Sobell. With her
white hair and twinking blue
eyes, her alertness was second
to no one’s.

“I’m so happy to be alive to-
day,” she said. “I always was,
but not like this. My husband
didn’t live to see this day. He
died of hearthbreak when they
took him away, and I wondered
then if I would live to see my
son freed. He is innocent, you
know.”

Just before her husband’s ar-

mic and social problems which
originate in the capitalist sys-
tem, above all in its imperialist
stage. We don’t think it would
be useful to concentrate exclu-
sively on the “constitutional”
question, which concerns our re-
lations with English-speaking
Canada, while allowing the con-
tinuance and even the growth
of our subservience to Ameri-
can imperialism.

Do you believe that the evolu-
tion of constitutional thought in

will sooner or later in-

volve a regrouping of political

forces along a clear and simple

line of division: for or against

? Do you think

that it would be desirable for

such a regrouping to take place,

desirable in the sense that Que-

becers could then make a clear
choice?

I hope not. The people of
Quebec must make the choice
for or against sovereignty (that
is to say, for or against the
right to decide) themselves; but
in choosing sovereignty (the
choice of our party) one does
not necessarily choose indepen-
dence (in the sense of separa-
tion). Another sovereignty op-
tion is a new confederation
which would recognize the
right of separation of Quebec,
but in which the two nations
can freely agree on what powers
each would accord to a confe-
deral government. This is ex-
actly what Czechoslovakia has
done in a bi-national country.
Moreover, the regrouping of
political parties should not be
effected only in the light of
their constitutional policy, but
also and above all according to
the class interests they defend.
In this way we come back to
the proposal for the formation
of a mass labor political party.

In your opinion, what do
Quebecers of a reform
of the Canadian constitution?
Will they be content with lin-
guistic guarantees or do they
want, as some claim, the Que-
bec government to obtain more

rival, as had happened through-
out the afternoon, Helen So-
bell’s face turned solemn.

“My thoughts are also with
the Rosenbergs today” she said.
“Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
could never experience this mo-
ment. My husband is innocent

f PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 24, 1969—Page gs

power—that is, to become
stronger in the face of the Eng-
lish-speaking majority in Can-
ada? In what terms do the Que-
bec masses see the constitu-
tional problem?

Indeed, the problem is not
limited to the linguistic ques-
ion. This is part of the whole
problem of the oppression of the
French-Canadian nation. We be-
lieve the Quebec masses insist
on self-determination in all
matters—political, social, lin-
guistic, cultural, economic—as
any nation worthy of the name
would insist.

To begin with, it is necessary
to eliminate all special privilege
of the English language in re-
spect to French, the national
language of Quebec. The French
language should become the
principal and general language,
including and above all as the
language of work. Where par-
ents in a school region are a
sufficiently large group to jus-
tify and to submit a demand
for classes or for a school in
which English would be the
language of instruction, this re-
quest should be granted them,
provided each student is able to
speak and write French reason-
ably well before receiving a
diploma. A referendum in Que-
bec on this question is no more
justifiable in relation to the
English-speaking minority than
would be a Canada-wide refe-
rendum on the language rights
of French-Canadians. Democra-
cy between nationalities does
not express itself as a function
of numerical quantities, but in
the respect of the rights of all
without privilege and without
discrimination.

and should never have been in
jail, but at least he is coming
home. The Rosenbergs were also
innocent. But they never had
the opportunity to be reunited.”
She declared that the fight to
vindicate the Rosenbergs and
her husband would continue.