T2 VIETNAM crisis’ has fought to the fore a num- _ét of questions we need 8ive thought to, ] é aiile the forces of social- al Pee liberation and so- ee continue to grow ct a Must note the : ie alism’s offensive ly : vise intensified, particu- Be ust the national libera- eade pe cnt. World reaction en ste DEUS. imperialism has ations pens UP its offensive in _S Parts of the world. en tvents. in Vietnam are , y e. hot isolated incidents. orld. ‘em from a worsening flan uation which finds its th ean Asia, Africa, Latin » In the Middle East; : Tetinuing efforts of U.S. an to integrate West aS y Into NATO’s nuclear st In the resistance by With 80vernments to get nd in 8enuine disarmament; € crisis in the United ne remeath these dangerous Merial Is the effort of U.S. “ally aa and reaction gener- Ours. * alt and Teverse_ the ecteg World history. Jt is ae at all national libera- cla Vements, at the work- SS and democracy in the t countries and at the States, “this” Cannot afford to ‘ignore Parijs.” Situation which im- ‘ Manes ond peace and social Vhere for the peoples every- : Thug ° . co the fight. for a teed Settlement in Viet- atten 1S to be at the centre tion of all those con- oe peace, it should be .’ relation to the more ag- © tendencies of imperial- e@ ded by the USA, which Manifested themselves in aa Period. The continued Buon on the struggle a and its extension must Wal 44, CCUPY Our entire con- attention, hiphigr’® Vietnam crisis has ration’ the Johnson admin- oe S shift to the right and Oma to which it ignored ate Pledges and the man- Pe ec it by the American agi, US shift to the right is 0 growing resistance x >Position on hb part_ of €rican people. © Pearson government, It is to support of the 4 Mtal positions, to the Mligy S and objectives of U.S. dep = Vietnam, has been Speake? Criticism for failing thadg Up in the interests of | Pus ;,. 2 this crisis. It is this, &fforts to get U.S. policy 0k, which explains its sof a “pause at the time in U.S. air attacks Bt Vietnam. This qualifi- ig 4the Pearson govern- lig} typical of its fear to ofassociate Canada from Thm Se - By this approach the s Ut hopes to do two Create the impression for peaceful Cannot use that it is critical of U.S. policy while continuing to support it. The studied misrepresentation of the nature of the conflict re- quires a better understanding of the relationship of the -national liberation movement to the fight coexistence and peace. Every struggle for na- tional liberation strengthens the cause of peace, while the strug- gle for peace stimulates the na- tional liberation movement. This is neither understood nor accepted by Paul Martin, minis- ter for external affairs, who. has chosen to call the national liber- ation movements a form of “armed aggression” and there- fore contrary to the principles of peaceful coexistence. Peaceful coexistence, however, has to do with relations between different. social systems and states. It does not nor can it mean maintaining the status quo and preventing social change whenever the peoples of. any country desire it. This in fact is the crux of the question in Viet- nam today. Martin has chosen to call this aggression and by mis- representing the question the Canadian’ government lines up with U.S. imperialist policy which is directed at crushing the national liberation movement. Our party needs to fully understand the relationship be- tween the struggle for national liberation and for peaceful co- existence. They do not contra- dict but complement and rein- force each other. Peaceful co- existence is being violated: today by U.S. aggression in Vietnam. Our party has the great task of rallying the labor movement and all those concerned with the cause of peace to actively sup- port the right of the peoples to be masters in their own house and to oppose U.S. imperialism which has undertaken military intervention and aggression against other peoples. 4) We face a complex and dangerous situation made more difficult by differences in the world Communist movement. It could well be that had unity been maintained, above all be- tween the Soviet Union and China, U.S. imperialism would not have dared to undertake its act of aggression in Vienam. At a meeting of the national committee of the Communist Party in April, the party's na- tional leader, William Kashtan, reviewed the present international situation and its danger- ous implications for world peace. Published here are excerpts from Kashtan's report to the meeting. There is do doubt that the U.S. government has taken ad- vantage of these divisions to step up its armed attacks against \V.etnam and on other areas of the world, in the belief that it could attack with impunity. This, however, is a dangerous calculation. The statements is- sued separately by the Soviet Union and by China with re- spect to their preparedness to send volunteers to North Viet- nam, if they are asked for, point up the determination of the so- cialist states to give every as- sistance possible to a sister so- cialist state, no less than they draw attention to the dangerous policy of escalation and provo- cation pursued by the U.S. gov- ernment. Above all they point up the need for common action by the socialist states, the world Com- munist movement and all pro- gressive forces against imperial- ism. At this crucial stage of his- tory no ideological difference must be allowed to stand in the way of achieving such common action, for what is at stake is the preservation of world peace, : the right of peoples to their freedom and independence, the -defeat of imperialist acts of ag- gression. It is this approach which per- meated the consultative meeting of Communist and Workers Parties when it met in Moscow on March 1 and 2 this year. The purpose of this meeting was not to excommunicate any party but- rather to develop new ways by which to advance the cause of unity of the world Communist movement, to seek out what unites the parties in common action against imperialist ag- gression . while leaving aside what divides the parties for the time being. This does not mean that one should close one’s eyes to the differences in the world Com- munist movement on both theor- etical and tactical questions. “Better hurry, before that chap Goldwater catches up to me,” was the caption on this prophetic cartoon by Eccles of the British Daily Worker. It was drawn last summer, before the U.S. election. Since his inauguration in January, President Johnson has out-Goldwatered Goldwater. May 28, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7 ‘coexistence’ prevent social change As the communique adopted by the consultative meeting empha- sized, however, “even though there are differences over the political line and many impor- tant problems of theory and tac- tics, it is quite possible and ne- cessary to work for united ac- tion in the struggle against im- perialism, in the matter of en- suring all-round support for the liberation movement _of the peoples, in the struggle for world peace and the peaceful co- “existence of states — big and small — with differing social systems, and in the struggle for the vital interests and historical goals of the working class. Con- certed action in the fight for these common goals is the most effective way of overcoming existing differences.” From the foregoing it is clear that our main task is not to lay emphasis on _ ideological and other differences in the world movement but, while upholding _Marxism-Leninism, to find a way of overcoming those differ- ences and working for the soli- darity of the world Communist movement. What we need to concentrate on. is to seek out what unites us, regardless of - other differences, so that the ag- gressive and reactionary im- perialist offensive can be check- ed and defeated. It was in this spirit that the consultative meeting adopted a statement of solidarity on Viet- nam, emphasizing at the same time the international responsi- bility of every party, big and small, in Strengthening solidar- ity support for Vietnam and heightening their sense of inter- nationalist responsibility gener- ally in this crucial period of world history. The consultative meeting not only sought out new ways of achieving unity of action, it also emphasized the importance of helping to create an atmos- phere in which unity of action and differences on theoretical and tactical questions could be resolved. The continuation of public polemics aggravates the situa- tion while continued interfer- ence in the affairs of other par- ties and the pursuit of a split- ting policy prevents unity from being re-established. The consultative meeting urged an end to such activities and proposed that, as_ preliminary steps leading to a world confer- ence, bilateral and multilateral discussions be held between various parties on a regional or any other basis, all leading in the direction of such a world conference at the appropriate time. Thus, in opening up new ave- nues and new ways of restoring unity in the world Communist movement, the consultative meeting performed a useful ser- vice to all parties. We welcome and support the communique and statement adopted by the meeting.