' Convention ir proposal for a new con- stu on for yap begins _ q el of a new constitu- for Quebec,” said Sam president of the Com- Party of Quebec in des- a resolution on this issue will be placed before the tes at the Communist convention, opening in 0, April 4. fe do this,” he continued, ise it is our view that cannot negotiate with h Canada on the basis of under the present con- relations as codified the French Canadian na- ,” he said, “is in a position riority and cannot nego-- as equal. The federal-pro- ‘conferences held up until are proof positive of this. pre for Quebec negotia- ‘must be after deciding on Own constitution, proclaim- its sovereignty, its control ‘the national state. Quebec ‘decide on what question ‘Must control in order to tee the flowering of the Canadian nation, eco- . lly, politically and cul- d whether the Communist Y proposal was similar to of the Estates-General, Protesting against the British tion in Anguilla, some y from City Hall Square British government offices rsity Ave. ized by the Black Liber- Front of Canada, the ation was supported by humber of white citizens, in- u members of the Com- es! Party. leaflet issued’ by the spon- Ors listed the acts of suppresion popular movements and itaments in the Caribbean ‘“atried through by British imper- ‘in recent years, including ‘Overthrow of the popularly government of Guyana © sending of troops to that leaflet explained: ‘The ion of St. Kits, Navis and a is an unpopular one d by the British on the The idea of federation a good one provided it Tived at through full con- mOn with the mass of the ®. These imposed federa- Malaysia, Southern Ara- ® Caribbean and Central have never worked be: Protest British ove against Anguilla Walsh replied, “We, the Com- munist Party of Quebec, were the first political body to come forward with this proposition and this was endorsed by the Central Committee of the Com- munist Party of Canada. Since then the government has made it a matter of major concern and now the Estates-General has opted for a Quebec constitution. “However, there are two ma- jor differences between our pro- posal and that of the Estates- General. The latter assumes that sovereignty for Quebec is equal to separation and that relations to English Canada would be rele- gated to those as between sov- ereign countries, i.e. economic preferred nation basis. The Estates-General is almost exclu- sively middle and upper class Frerich Canadian and makes no proposals which would endow the government with the right to nationalize all foreign mono- polies. On the contrary it gives high priority to maintaining the rights of private property. Also the Estates-General, arising from its petty bourgeois nationalist approach, wants to deny to the English speaking minority, and particularly those immigrants who become part of the English speaking minority, the right to English as a language of instruc- tion, or any right to the English cause the people recognized them as imperialist manipulation to herd them together and ex- ploit them more ruthlessly. “We call on the people of the Caribbean here and overseas and progressive people everywhere to denounce this brutal act of aggression by imperialism again- st a peaceful and unarmed peo- ple, at a time when Rhodesian fascists under Ian Smith are bru- tally suppressing four million Africans and have for four years been openly defiant of the Wil- son government.” On the steps of ‘the British offices, the demonstrations heard Toronto writer Jan Carew charge that the aggression against An- guilla could not have been car- ried out if leaders of other West Indian governments had stood together against the British, in- stead of acting as “neo-colonial- ist stooges.” “In Britain, you have the Anglo-Saxons, in the Caribbean you have Afro-sax- ons,” he quipped. Himself a Guyanese of Negro and Indian ancestry, Carew made plain that Forbes Burnham, present prime minister of Guyana, is one of those who has made possible the attack on Anguilla. language. “Our position is that all spec- ial privileges heretofore acquired by the English speaking minority must be abolished, but that there should be no_ discrimination against the English speaking minority, or those immigrants who choose to be part of that minority to have the right to the use of English as the language of instruction. “The basic difference between our proposal is that between a working class approach to a con- stitution for Quebec and a petty bourgeois nationalist approach.” Asked. about the effect of Quebec deciding for itself what powers it must have before nego- tiations for a new constitution, Walsh stand. “The whole idea of negotia- tions,” he said, “is that each na- tion shall decide what questions it is prepared to grant to a con- federal government — what as- pects of foreign policy, customs, defence, postal service, mone- tary —and what tax resources the confederal government should have to support these res- ponsibilities. This is quite logi- cal. If what is to be negotiated is what rights each of the nation- al states insist upon keeping for themselves then there would be no genuine negotiations based on equality.” “Now,” he added, “there will be people in English Canada who will scream, and English Cana- dians in French Canada also, at DEMOCRATIZE ED Asked by the Tribune about the resolution on democratiza- tion of education that is coming before the upcoming Communist Party convention, Alf Stenberg, youth secretary for the Party said that it-was viewed as very important because of the im- portant changes that have taken place in relation to education because of the scientific and technological revolution. “Not only,” he said, “has the student population grown but also the general education level has risen sharply. The last ten years has seen a sharp move upward.” Asked about what changes the Communist Party is proposing in order to democratize education, Stenberg said, “The program lays stress on democratizing ac- cess to higher education, to re- move the financial barriers. We propose two main steps, the abolition of tuition fees and making financial support avail- able for all students—either sti- pends or increased brusaries.” “In addition,” he continued, “funds need to be made avail- able for adequate facilities, resi- dences, etc. for universities throughout the country.” Turning to another aspect of the problem, Stenberg said that there needs to be widespread re- form of elementary and secon- dary school education to ensure “eradication of ethnic, racial and class discrimination.” “There needs to be,” he added, “a considerable expansion of ‘night schools without tuition fees so that adults can update their education standards. There the temerity of the French Canadian nation to proclaim its sovereignty in this way, but can you suggest any other way of doing it without actually sep- arating beforehand?” To the question whether the Communists were opposed to se- paration, Walsh said, “We are not opposed in principle. It is a right of the French Canadian nation which must be not only upheld but fought for. It is not the only way in which sovereignty can be expressed. In the circumstances of Canada today both internally and internationally, it is not the best way of expressing sover- eignty because it is less advan- tageous to the working ple. “As a matter of fact At would work severe economic fardship, particularly on the woyking class and weaken the politi¢al unity of the working people in the strug- gle against monopoly, Canadian and U.S. imperialism. Therefore we are opposed to the separa- tists’ option at this time. and under the present conditions,” he said. What then is your position on the separatists, the Tribune ask- ed. Walsh replies. “We think we should fight shoplder to shoulder with them in all battles which defend the democratic and na- tional rights of the French Cana- dian nation. We should oppose them in their advocacy of nation- al exclusiveneBs and egoism and their efforts fo substitute dis- crimination against immigrants should be equality of opportun- ity even for students who are not full time.” Asked about the student pow- er movement, Stenberg pointed aut the following, “One impor- tant point in our program is democratization of control of education. At present universi- ties are governed i a most arbi- trary manner by the representa- tives of big business. As the Duff-Bardahl Report’ showed, it is businessmen and lawyers who predominate on boards of gov- ernors. “We think the present boards should be replaced by elected boards with representatives from the students, faculty and the public, and particularly the trade union movement. “The day to day running of institutions must also be demo- cratized. Students and faculty must have a meaningful say in such matters as course content, hiring, firing, evalution, etc. In order to achieve this there will have to be representatives of students and faculty on all bod- ies including the senate. curricu- lum committees and so on. “Finally, we feel that the arbi- trary disciplinary powers of the administration must be ended.” Asked how the present strug- gle on many Canadian campuses for democratization_was viewed ° by the Communists, Stenberg re- plied that “they must be viewed most positively. Incidents like those at Sir George Williams are played up by the Establishment press, but much less is said about the involvement of stu- dents in such things as the news- paper guild strike in Peterbor- ough or the efforts by students in Waterloo to assist in union organization in that city.” PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 28, 1969—Page 5 _- _ NEED NEW CANADIAN CONSTITUTION and the English Canadian minor- ity for the present discrimination against the French Canadian nation.” Asked about the federal gov- ernment’s role, Walsh said that the Party’s resolution contains a critique of the Trudeau’s admin- istration’s hard faced refusal to admit the existence of a French Canadian nation and to try to substitute language rights to be accorded to the French Canadian minority in English Canada for the right to sovereignty, to self-determination for French Canada. To the question about the position of organized labor on the constitutional issue, Walsh answered, “The CNTU has ex- pressed itself for this. The QFL will have its convention this fall and there will be no difficulty in having this adopted. We are quite sure that the main general form for the struggle for self- determination in the next period of time will be that of a Quebec constitution as an answer to the status quo policy advanced by the Establishment.” “The central labor bodies,” he added, “of Canada and not only of Quebec should take up the fight for a new constitution which will guarantee the equal- ity of the two nations, as a major part of their program. This will be of. decisive impor- tance in strengthening the fra- ternal bonds of the workers of the two nations.” UCATION “Objectively speaking,” he added, “the interests of the stu- dents more and more parallel, and are coincident with, those of the working class.” Asked about Communist Party organization on university cam- puses, he said that in some cases there are clubs, in others individuals but that in all cases Communist students are fully involved in the fight for student power, and seek to add ideolo- gical clarity by bringing forward the Marxist-Leninist point of view on questions. They also work to develop unity between the students and the working class. How about the problem of summer jobs, we asked. Sten- berg pointed out that in fact the Communist view was that it is not from summer employment that student education should be financed. He also drew attention to the fact that it is because of the economic domination of Can- ada from the United States, and the lack of all-rounded develop- + ment of the Canadian economy that results from this, that jobs for students are inadequate. “We must tackle the problem of U.S. control,” he said. Asked whether students were more conscious today about the need for socialism, Stenberg said that there is a “growing body of students, a growing minority, who are actively study- ing Marxism, who are concerned with social change and progress. I think in the present conditions of students this interest will grow and we can look towards an increase in the progressive and democratic forces at the universities, including a greater number of Communists among students.”