Communists call for united
action in post-controls fight

The monopoly system’s ef-
forts to manipulate splits and
breakdowns in the labor

movement are being intensi-

fied, it was shown at the recent
Communist Party of Canada
Central Committee meeting.

General Secretary William

Kashtan put forward in his
introductory remarks, Com-

- munist Party solutions to the’

many-sided «crisis of state-
monopoly capitalism, while
pinpointing the outright as-
saults by the capitalist parties
on the working class, which

will increase in the “post-—

controls” period. Excerpts
from his remarks follow:
Unemployment Enemy No. 1
‘Despite continued stagna-
tion and dangerously high un-

employment the government _

continues to say that inflation
is enemy number one. . . under
growing pressure of public
Opinion the government has
undertaken some measures
such as reducing the bank rate,
undertaking some direct em-
ployment programs and re-
Stricting textile imports, mea-
sures which are not likely to do
much in the way of reducing
unemployment.

“Tn addition the government
is tinkering with the idea that
the coming Budget include
special tax changes for the
corporations, to stimulate in-
vestment: ;

- “This is an old argument,

that higher profits would lead”

to expansion of the economy

and thereby provide more

jobs. The evidence, however,
does not point in that direction.
The tendency is for these pro-
fits to be invested in other
countries, including low wage
countries.

“Faced with a stagnant
economy, high unemployment
and continued inflation, the
government as well as mono-
poly are on the horns of a di-

lemma. How to reduce unem-
ployment without stimulating
inflation? How to prevent the
working class from trying to
‘catch up with what it lost
through Anti-Inflation Board-
imposed wage settlements?
How to run the economy with-
out high inflation recurring
once controls are lifted al-
together?

“Both the government and
monopoly aré wrestling with
these questions, questions
whose answers have .eluded
the wise men of state mono-
poly capitalism, and will con-
tinue to elude them as long as
they ignore the need to take the
decisive sectors of the
economy under public owner-
ship, . place monopoly under

democratic control and under- ~

take a genuine redistribution of
the national income in favor of
the working people. Mono-
poly, as already. indicated,
.wants to get rid of the some of
the controls while continuing
to sit on the working class.
‘‘For example, the (Toron-
. to) Globe and Mail, Mr. Earle
McLaughlin, chairman and
president of the Royal Bank of
Canada, Mr. Darcy
McKeough, provincial
treasurer of Ontario, Finance
Minister Donald Macdonald
have all joined in, behind the
‘new theory’ that the public
sector is the source of inflation.

In line with this they propose

WILLIAM KASHTAN

that while wage controls be
removed gradually in the pri-
vate sector, mandatory con-
trols be established over the
public sector. Not excluded is
the possibility of legislation to
restrict the right to strike in the
public sector. This is a calcu-
lated ploy to split and divide
the working class and needs to
be fought against by the trade
unions.

‘*NDP leader Broadbent has

circulated a petition in parlia-

ment calling, not for an end to
the wage and price control
program, but for its review. In
this he was followed by Mr.
Clark, leader of the Conserva-
tive Party.

Macdonald Threatens Taxation

““Mr. Macdonald, minister of
finance, has already warned
that even were controls re-
moved, taxation policy will be
used to pick up ‘surplus wages’
beyond the guidelines. Clearly,
monopoly will do everything in
its power, backed by the gov-
emment and by the AIB, as its
watchdog, to prevent the
workers going beyond the
guidelines. Despite this the
working class,. if it acts un-
itedly and determinedly, can
break through the guidelines,
and defeat these aims of
monopoly.

“The wage movement this
year could achieve a break-
through and compel the gov-
ernment to withdraw the wage
restraint program. Indeed, this

should be one of the aims of the

trade union movement in this
year’s negotiations. To this
should be added the struggle to
win new economic policies of
full employment and a voice
for labor on all questions of
concern to it.
‘‘What is involved here is
the central quesiton — that of
strengthening the role of the
working class and trade union
movement at this stage. The

inflation ...”

“By being unemployed we are saving ourselves from ruinous

battle to win a voice for labor
on all questions of concern to it
leads in that direction. The
Communist Party will continue
to support the struggle for this
objective. :

“In the debate between the
CLC and the NDP the mass
media has chosen to take the
side of the right wing of the
NDP. The mass media appa-
rently do not fear the NDP with
its present policies; but are
fearful of the increasing role of
the working class and the de-
mands it is raising.

‘“‘The crisis of relationship
between the CLC and the NDP
in reality reflects the basic
question of how the working
class. can. effectively combat
the developing capitalist crisis
and become the leading force
in the fight for new policies.
Under right-wing policies the
working class is being tied to
capitalism and to the costs of
capitalist crisis.

Build Unity

‘‘This is at the heart of the
drive by the right wing against
the left and Communists in the
trade union movement.

‘Bearing the above in mind

the left and Communists need
to work around the clock to
build effective and durable al-
liances, check and defeat the
right-wing offensive.

‘‘The NDP right wing con-
siders that the trade union
movement has nowhere to go,
that in effect it is captive, a
prisoner of the NDP. This is a
wrong assumption. The trade
union movement has a place to
go. It must work to help bring
about a democratic coalition
around an anti-monopoly pro-
gram, a democratic coalition
which includes the Communist
Party? 1.

‘‘The Communist Party,
while continuing its criticism of
right-wing policy will strive
day in and day out to achieve
unity of action with the NDP.
In the shops and trade unions,
in. people’s organizations, in
discussions with members of
the NDP, we ... popularize
our Appeal for Unity in the
struggle to achieve a demo-
cratic solution to the crisis.

‘The key question today is
the development of broad
people’s movements to compel
governments to. act.’’

‘Dissidents’ in socialist society

Marxism-Leninism in Today’s World

The Toronto Globe and Mail carried
a story on February 22 by Hedrick
Smith from the New York Times Ser-
Vice, headlined ‘‘Single Voices Are
Key to Soviet Dissent’.

The article champions the alleged

causes of ‘‘political liberties’ and
“human rights”’ in the Soviet Union. In
the course of the article the author at-
tempts to equate ‘‘dissidents’’ like
Sakharov, Ginsburg, Orlov and Vio-
Nich with intellectual giants like Push-
kin and Dostoyevsky.

* ok OK

This is an impossible task, for Pushkin

and Dostoyevsky were representative,

of the liberal-democrats who under the
Tule of the tzars in old Russia, cham-
Pioned the cause of democratic social
Progress against reaction and obscura-
tism. In other words, the cause of the
Overwhelming majority of the people
against the autocratic feudal rule of a
Corrupt but powerful minority.
While the ‘‘dissidents’’ according to.
T. Smith are “‘a tiny band among a
hation of 257 million people, with some
Private sympathizers among the intel-
ligentsia but scorned (our emphasis) by
_ the overwhelming mass.’’ And further
0n,‘‘The hard core probably numbers
No more than 1,000.”
This comparison reaffirms what has
n the history of man since the dawn

of human society. It shows that there

exists in every new social formation
‘‘dissidents’’, out of tune with reality,

who dream of rolling back the wheel of .

social progress. And, on the other

hand, there are ‘‘towering giants’’ such

as Marx, Engels and Lenin whose en-

tire lives are committed to organizing

the masses to ensure that the wheel of

social progress keeps moving forward.
: * Ok Ok

Marxism-Leninism teaches that the

development of human society as a ~

whole progresses in an ascending line
— that despite temporary setbacks,
moves forward from lower to higher
forms of social formations. Marxism-
Leninism proves also that the measure
of a given social formation is the stage
of the development of the productive
forces, i.e., progress made in the pro-

duction of the means of human

existence.

As the productive forces have devel-
oped, so the culture of working people,
their class consciousness and organiza-
tion have increased. As a result, the
social and political activity of the mas-
ses, their role in the life of society, has
grown from one social formation to the
next. So, in such manner did human

society pass from its most primitive
form to slave society, then to feudal
society, and on ‘to capitalist society.
The last three formations being class-
divided societies.
* * O*

Because the development of the pro-

ductive forces is the root of social pro-

_ gress, the forward movement of socie-

ty, the direction of its movement, is
inevitable, is a historical necessity. For
this reason, neither individuals nor
classes can halt this movement, or

change its direction at will — ‘‘dissi-

dents’’ notwithstanding.

In our times, social’ progress is in
separably intertwined with the transi-
tion to socialism. For, capitalism has
used up its possibilities for social pro-
gress. Its production relations have be-
come fetters on the development of the
productive forces. And further, the
frantic designs of the defenders of im-
perialism to preserve the capitalist sys-
tem are becoming more and more
costly and dangerous to society.

* ok Ox

Social progress, while rooted in the
development of the productive forces,
is brought about by the actions of
people. In exploiting societies the driv-

ing force is that class which, according
to the place it occupies in the produc-
tion process, is historically destined to
replace the ruling class of the older so-
cial formation. Thus, the feudal land-
lords replaced the slave-owners, the
capitalist class replaced the feudals,
and now, in.a number of countries the
working class has replaced the capital-
ist class, for socialism has replaced
capitalism as a higher social formation.
* * *

Every higher social formation has
had its ‘‘dissidents’’ — hangovers of
the former social order who dreamed of
reversing the wheel of social progress.
And so, the ‘“‘dissidents’’ within social-
ism dream of the return of socialist
lands to capitalism, needless to say with
the help of world imperialism. Equally
needless to say, their dreams will be as
futile as were those of their historical
predecessors.

Imperialism uses the ‘‘dissidents’’
within socialist states to hinder the pro-
cess of détente. It uses the fraudulent
issue of ‘human rights”’ within socialist
countries as a new form of anti-
communism in order to divert attention
from the arms race, the deepening crisis
of capitalism, and the achievements of —
socialism. :

Imperialism poses the real threat to
human rights and political liberty.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 11, 1977—Page 9