What Communists

Stand for in

this election

The leader of the Communist Party of
Canada had some strong words for the
policies of the old-line parties, Liberals
and Tories, and a critical appraisal of
New Democratic policy in an exclusive
interview a few days before May Day.

William Kashtan said there are four
questions which can be put simply,
which ‘‘ought to be at the centre of this
election campaign.”’ Yet, he said, except
for the Communist Party, no one had
come forward with them in a full way.
They are: :

1. How to put Canada back to work;
what economic policies are required to
do that.

How toachieve atruly united Canada.

3. How to liberate Canada ‘from the
control of the multi-national corpora-
tions, and thereby ensure the strengthen-
ing of the independence of our country.

4. What role should Canada play to
strengthen detente and achieve disar-
mament, and thereby -strengthen the
security of Canada itself.

**These questions have not been ad-
vanced in any full and serious way by the
old-line parties,’’ Kashtan said. ‘‘And it
must be said that the New Democratic
Party, likewise, has avoided coming to
grips with these questions.”’

He said that Broadbent, ‘‘while speak-
ing of the need for ‘Canadian’ control,
has evaded the central question of Cana-
dian control — public ownership. How
can you have Canadian control except
under public ownership?”’ he demanded,
given the domination of Canada byxthe
multi-nationals.

The Communist Party, he said, was
calling for the election of a progressive
majority, including Communists, to par-
liament, so that new priorities could be
put into effect, and the needs of working
people attended to.

Noting that the international day of
workers’ solidarity and struggle falls
midway through the election campaign,
Kashtan said: “May Day will be an im-
portant part of the mobilization of the
working class and democratic forces, for
the kind of effective fightback that is
necessary. It’s necessary on the
economic front, the political front, and at

the same time, strengthens the bonds of |

international solidarity. These bonds are
Vital in the struggle for peace, and to
achieve the victory of the forces of na-
tional liberation in Africa and else-
where.”’ :

The Communist leader deplored the
fact that while ‘‘the election campaign is
now half-way through, it has not gotten
off the ground because the old parties
have evaded the issues.

“Trudeau’s proposal is that people
buy stocks,”’ he said. ‘‘What good are
stocks to the unemployed, to the poor, to
the pensioners, not to speak of the aver-
age working man or woman?

“Instead of selling stocKs,”’ Kashtan
challenged, ‘the Prime Minister should
be. advancing a program to deal with
unemployment, to put Canada back to
work. The so-called decade of develop-
ment means nothing until every person in
Canada is ensured a job as a right.”’

He observed that. at the same time .

Clark’s focusing on mortgage interest
being deducted from income tax, had re-
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 4, 1979— Page 6

ceived a great deal of publicity, despite
the fact that the beneficiaries would be
the mortgage companies, developers,
banks and the well-to-do.

“‘Clark’s program will not result in the
construction of a single house for those
who need them,’’ Kashtan charged.
**And there we have mirrored,”’ he said,
“the failure of the old-line parties to
come to grips with the nature of the crisis
of unemployment and inflation.”’

Prime Minister Trudeau had said that
national unity was the main question be-
fore the people. Clark and Boardbent
had put economic questions as the main
questions to be tackled.

**All of them are wrong in placing mat-
ters as they do,’’ Kashtan said. ‘‘The
question of a united Canada and of
economic policy are closely intertwined.
They are one package, two sides of one
coin.

“Sound economic policies are needed
for the assurance of real Canadian
unity,’ he said, ‘‘and real Canadian
unity is needed to deal with the economic
problems which confront people. Instead
of leadership from: the big business par-
ties, there’s an effort to deceive people
on the main questions knocking at the

‘door of Canada.” He said he urged vot-

ers to read his party’s election material
“not because everyone will agree with
us,’’ but to be reminded of the main is-

‘Sues and of ‘‘the solutions we propose.”’

The Communist leader, who is the par-
ty’s candidate in Toronto’s Trinity rid-
ing, responded at once to a question
about what would be the first things an
elected ‘‘progressive majority’? would
do, starting on May 23.

‘The first thing, I would say, ts that it
should come to grips with three ques-
tions: One — the creation of a program

-for jobs; two — the advancement of mea-

sures to curb inflation and protect the
living standards of the working people;
three — adoption of a made-in-Canada
Constitution along the lines that we have
indicated for several years.

‘These would be the immediate mea-
sures, while preparing the ground for the’
longer term measures that are neces-
sary,”’ he said.

“It’s clear now that inflation and
unemployment’ are’ embedded in

. Capitalism. ‘The government and the

monopoly interests they represent are
Striving to maintain a high level of
unemployment to establish a permanent
reserve army of jobless, as a means of
holding down wages and depressing liv-
ing standards of working people.
“Under the guise of combating in-
flation,’’ Kashtan charged, “‘they are out
to redistribute income in favor of the
corporations at the expense of workers.”
He gave as evidence the 30% after-tax
profit rate of the banks this year. Other
corporations’ profit was 21.9%, this
year, and some reached 25%. The food
processing industry also made profits. At
the same time the income of workers
declined by between 2 and 3% because of
the government's anti-inflation program.

TRIBUNE PHOTO — BURT CAPONE

They are wrong in plac-

Oe gy ow Nahant

That too, is calculated policy. to enrich
the corporations,-Kashtan said.

He estimated that working men and
women would lose ‘‘between $183 and
$400. this year through inflation.”’

They “would also be the losers if
Canada were to break up, he said. ‘‘Buta
united Canada needs to be buttressed by
sound, national policies, democratic
policies, economic policies — precisely
the policiés the Communist Party has
been pressing for.

“‘Where is there a shred of evidence,”’
he asked, ‘‘of a sound policy for a united
Canada, other than in the program and
platform of the Communist Party? Such
unity can be achieved only through self-
determination and equality, and more
concretely; on the basis of a made-in-
Canada Constitution, founded on the
equal, voluntary partnership of the two
peoples (French Canadian and English-
speaking Canadian) in a_ bi-national
state.”’

ing matters as they do, the |
uestion of a united
anada and of economic
policy are closely inter-
twined. They are one
package, two sides of one
coin. : i
Sound - economic
policies are needed for the
assurance of real Cana-
dian unity and real Cana-
| dian unity is needed to
| deal with the. economic .
problems which confront

people.

The issues of peace and foreign policy,
which are not being touched by the other
parties, are very much a crucial issuefor
‘Canadians, Kashtan stated.

“There is an alternative to the Tories and Libétals” — William Kashtan.

‘‘What is involved is the winning ofa
peace which could prevent the outbreak
of world nuclear war. The government
has shown by its actions, by its decision
to review its relations with-Vietnam, by
the speed with which it recognized the
Uganda:Government, by its cover-up for
South African and Rhodesian man-
oeuvres, that it’s not really advancing a
fully independent foreign policy, but in
many respects, echoifg American
foreign policy.

_ “The Prime Minister has spoken
about the need to suffocate the arms race
at the same time as his government has
decided to increase arms expenditures to
$4.4-billion annually,’’ the Communist

leader charged. He called Tory leader

Clark’s intention to boost the arms
budget and the military manpower, a

' “dangerous proposal’.

‘The issues of peace, detente and dis-

armament “‘can’t be separated from the —

election campaign,”’ Kashtan sgid. ‘‘be-

cause it’s a question of guns or butter.”’ _

He accused Trudeau of opening the

door to a Tory victory by his shifting of

politics to the right. The ‘shift also in-

volved Tory flirtation with Social Credit

in Quebec, in an effort to make Social
Credit rather than the NDP the balance
of power in case of a Liberal minority.

‘*Working people need to be conscious

of this (shift to the right). The trade union ©

movement needs to be conscious of this.

Democratic opinion needs to be con- —
scious of it. It lends weight,” he said, ‘‘to

the call of the Communist Party for the
working class and democratic forces to
unite for the achievement of a progres-
sive majority, including Communists, in
parliament.”’ :
Such an achievement would effect a
change in “‘the balance of power in favor
of the working class and. democratic

forces, in and out of parliament. It would

create Conditions for the defeat of the
right wing, and open the way to advances
for the working people.

eefsce