_ - fleets the: strains: set ups by

' . monopoly capital. on .our

There are deep stirrings today in French Canada. What i is
the significance of these events and what is the Communist
Party attitude to them? In this article STANLEY RYERSON,

a leading Canadian Marxist and authority. on French Cana-
da, presents the Communist view in-a speech at the recent
17th Convention of the Party.

HE. “crisis-of national, pol-
T icy” is. both: part. of the
world crisis of imperialism
* and’a crisis of direction in the
entire life of Canada. It re-

the. everspreading — grip of

economy‘: between 1946 and
1959 the share of the huge
* plants with over -$1,000,000
annual output: (10 per cent: of)
all plants, in.’59) rose from .67 /
per cent to.81 per cent: of the
total. industrial production.
(Globe and Mail, Jan. 9
1962).

This crisis is the outcome
also of the incessant striving

of the “industrial - military
complex” ruling the United
States to plunder, envelop

| there

| readily

them is a growing, question-
ing -of big business -rule,
growing awareness of the
conflict: between the interest
of Canada:

Within this general setting
is not only common
ground; but also a deep-going
difference, in the--way: these
issues: present’ themselves in
life to.our two national com-

| munities — English-speaking

and French Canadian.

What is common to both is
understood: what is
less easy to: grasp.is the di-
vergence. in. the two com-
munities, the factor of ditf-
ference.

This is expressed in the ir-
sistent and swelling demand
for a change in the relation-

and annex the whole of Cana-
as its northern satellite
base for a criminal Armaged-
den.

The crisis of national policy
extends to the relations be-
tween. two nations in Canada.
It is undermining the found-|
dations and: historic structure |
of the Canadian state. Con-
federation can no longer be)
taken for granted.

Opposition to policies that
threaten us with thermonu-
clear war and resistance to
the surrender of our indepen-
dence to U.S. imperialism—
are profoundly present in
beth French and English
Canada. Interwoven with

da

Paper tycoon
says. Christ

was wrong

LONDON: The Bible’s
“eye-of-a-needle” dictum
was rejected by British
newspaper tycoon, Roy
Thompson, on a TV re-
ligious program recently.

Asked to comment on
Christ‘s teaching that it
was easier for a camel to
pass through a _ needle’s
eye than for a rich man
to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. Roy Thompson
replied: “I tremble to dis-
agree with that saying, but
I really do.”

He thought a rich man
could be a better Christian
than a poor man by the
very fact that he possessed
more resources and was
“able to do more for hu-
manity than is possible for
@ poor man.”

In fact, it was “very un-
fair’ to say that it was
easier for the poor man to
enter the Kingdom of
Heaven.

“TI agree.in theory a per-
son probably should. give
away all his wealth. But
then it, isn’t practical in
this day and age.” he said.

The man who owns 93:
newspapers, 72 magazines
and trade journals also
claimed “the first require-
‘ment of a newspaper is to
fell the truth.”

ship between French and Eng-
lish Canada. It stems froni

the fact of national inequality |
|as between the two Canadian)
| nations.

At one stage in the past,
was—or seemed to be—main-
ly a matter of social and
economic discrimination. The
lower wage-levels of French
Canadian workers, the condi-
tions of special backwardness
imposed on Quebec by a cleri-
cal-capitalist collusion, gave
rise to massive struggles for
equal wage-rates with On-
tario, for instance, struggles
that accompanied the rise of
a strong trade union move-
ment in Quebec.

WHAT IS NEW TODAY

Today, the economic and
social issues persist and some,
education and health for in-
stance, are the occasion of a
vast movement pressing for
radical reform. But what is
new today is that in the fore-
front of struggle for national
equality stands the political,

right of national self-deter-

Why the change?

For one thing, the break-up
of’ the colonial system, the
liberation of* close to half a
hundred nations, has made
tremendous impression on the
thinking and outlook of the
French Canadian: people.

The collapse of the struc-
tures of imperial rule around
the world has sent a tremor
through the creaky timbers of
the century-old British North
America Act. The terms of
that Act never did provide
for real recognition on a foot-
ing of equality, of the nation-
al identity and rights of the
French Canadian nation. To-
day it more and more appears
as an instrument of Anglo-
Canadian dominance, of de-
nial of full national rights.

a

that -90 per cent of the posts

it{/in the federal civil service

are held by others
French Canadians tend to be
linked with a situation in
which the wage differential
between Ontario and Quebec
remains: Ontario 12 per cent
above the national average,
Quebec 12 per cent below it.
In greater Montreal, a recent
study shows “low medium
wage leveis as more wide-
spread in areas with a high
proportion of French’’, where-
as ‘fone finds more wide-
spread high wages, and less
low wages,
high percentage of English’’.

The French Canadians make
up over 80% of the popula-
tion of Quebec, but they con-
trol less than 20% of its in-
dustry. All of this becomes
connected with the frustra-
tion of a “permanent minori-

the state question, of the

ty’, decisive questions

aimination for French Canada.

Conditions such as‘the fact}

in areas with a;

soa. ogalty for Frnh Canada

whose life are in the hands
of an alien majority—a frus-
tration leading to the ever
more explicit demand for “a
state of our own”...

But there is a further as-
pect. Anglo-Canadian: domin-
ance in Quebec ig at the same
time the vehicle Of. U.S. dom-
ination. The “U.S.- Canadian
big; -business. oligarchy” of
which: we speak has over the
past. quarter-century, with
Duplessis: eager help, gained:
a pervasive stranglehold on
the resources and economy ci
Quebec.

Because of this, resistance
to Anglo-Canadian domin-
ance, the demand for national
equality andthe right to na-
tional’ self-determination, -are
in: fact linked with and an in-
separable part of the Can-
adian-wide- opposition to U. s.|
imperialism.

THE TWO NATIONS
Recognition that Canada is
in fact a two-nation state is
an indispensable first step
toward equality of the two
nations. Denial of the bi-na-
tional character of Canada—
a denial usually expressed in
that the

French Canadian

| people constitute a nation.
than}

Assertion in law and in life
of the democratic right of self-
determination — the right of
the nation to arrange its own
affairs, to choose its own
form of state—is the second.
decisive step toward equality
of the two nations in Canada.
It is this step that requires
the re-casting of the BNA Act,
of Confederation—the nego-
tiating of a new, equal rela-
tionship between French and
English Canada.

It is noteworthy that the
NDP at its founding conven-
tion was under strong pres-
sure to embody in its Pro-
gram, recognition of the bi-
national character of Canada,
and of the right of self-deter-
mination for French Canada.
It failed to take a stand on
the latter, and made only a

English—is above all a denial}

mer. True, its Frogram
reference to “the two 2
which originally associa
/ship’. “pi 20); but
backs away from. ‘the
question.

Instead of calling for
casting of the Constitut
embody the right’ of
termination, the NDP
gram limits itself to d
ing “equal recognitio
respect for both the mai
tures of our country”. I
claims-that the existing
stitution: ‘‘guarantees. thi
tional identity of French
adians and the devel
of their-culture’”’. If it di
would not now -be witn
so broad and vehement
serge of French Canad
mands for a radical chan
|the existing federal strue@

We communists are
Separatists: de do not #
the secession ot Frenc.
da. But we do uphol
right to secede, shoul
majority so decide—be
denial of this right is Al™®
Canadian chauvanism, @
the main source of di
jand antagonism betwee
two national commub™

OUR FIGHT FOR. CANAG

Does support for this P
tion contradict our figh¥
Canadian independence
jour view it is an indi
able component in the
for the sovereign ind
dence of. our: country
stand for the safe-guardil®
Canada’s identity, for th@h
fense of her sovereign
the joint effort of the P
of her two nations,

There is still, howev!
vast lack of clarity on W:
involved in the national %
tion: and it is the parti
responsibility of Cana
Communists to carry |
Marxist-Leninist ‘expla
work, closely linked wi
campaigning in supjpo
our demand for national
/determination for

The following is an ed

the UFAWU paper heading

Unionism?
e

HE newspapers have made

headlines out of it. Joy

is being expressed in manage-

ment quarters. Labor leaders

who took part in the nego-

tiations are pating themselves

| on the back. Employers. will

no doubt describe them as,
labor statesmen.

We can’t agree on any.
count. The. 10 year no strike

+ agreement signed: by. the: ap-
| pointed officers of 17 inter-

national unions and: Peace
Power Constructors Ltd: is
little. better than a sellout of
Canadian workers for the

dues dollars the internation-

als will pocket. It reminds us
ofthe late Carl Berg and his
shenanigans.

itorial from The Fisherman

its editorial: Is This Trade

worker who will be employ-
ed on the project have a
word. to say about the con-
tents of the agreement: sign-
ed, sealed, and: delivered by
the: international representa-
tives. These men, of Course,
are not really: responsible to
their Canadian. memberships,
their allegiance: is to. the in-
ternational ;union headquar-
ters in the United. States
which: controls: their respec-
tive appointments,

What they have Sins | in
this instance is. give up- the
right to~ strike. in favor _of
arbitration at the very mo-
ment when: workers. employ-
ed by the B:C: Electric. are
fighting for that right. The

| internationals: have» given: up! contract provision that will
In no case did, a single; voluntarily what the govern-i make the wage levels achiev-

which comments on the 10-year no strike pact signed,
recently with the Peace Power Constructors Ltd. The
Pacific Tribune believes the terms of that pact justify

inj partial concession on the for-' Canada.

ls this trade unionism? -

ment has
force.

ery in another way.

ed at the BC Federation of
Labor wage conference and
undoubtedly expresing pious
support for Federation rec-
ommendations for a shorter
work week, pay increases,
longer annual vacations. and
greater job: security.

Some of: the international
representatives themselves
may have been on hand when

the targets set by those work-

Their
‘even more apparent by the

taken away by|

The 10-year contract is a
piece of undisguised chican-
; It was
obviously being negotiated
while the very internation-
als involved were represent-,

the very real issues facing,
BC workers were under. dis-
cussion. Now they have made

ers more difficult to attain
by their questionable tacties:|

cynicism becomes}

ed in other sections of
industry applicable 107
Peace River project. —
means the bargaily
strength of the esti®
6,000 potential employ’
being voluntarily dis¢
not by the workers, ?
their self-appointed
men. Any gains will
only as a result of strUy
by workers on other pro!

This is not trade uni
It is sheer opportunism
on carving up the opé
among. the crafts in
and adding to the secu
the international rep)
tives.

The: price for this
back-door dealing.
paids for by BC work!
their wage levels, th
of work, and other
tions unless: they thro
what can only be ré
as an utterly irres
and-morally: indefensiD
tract.

|

March 2, 1962—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—P