|wnomically and every other way. But there can be no genuine sovereignty om and independence for Canada without ion, tecognizing the right of national self et- determination and sovereignty for ern) Quebec, which must be embodied in a _ anew Canadian Constitution. They are and’ part of one battle. pe. All these questions, economic and ade} social, peace and foreign policy, U.S. ally; control and French Canadian and Eng- | of lish relations have been pushed for- list) ward another stage both by the results the =of the election and events which have ep Occurred since then. As we see, opposi- jon) tion to state monopoly capitalism and its its policies is growing on a whole num- ber of questions. Our task is to help pel’ Progressive forces in and outside Par- can| liament ought to unite their efforts. on-) Our Party seeks this cooperation be- in’ Cause it is only by the greatest pos- ant, sible unity of action by all progressive the | forces, that monopoly can be curbed, yrts| the vital needs cf the people protected ncil’ 2nd new advances made. Indeed it is ical| Along these lines that the conditions | will be created for building a demo- one » cratic anti-monopoly alternative which er | CaN _ effectively challenge monopoly wry, | and its parties. and| a) As you will recall the last’ Cent- tal Committee meeting advanced our na-| thinking ‘on election policy by declar- de-| ing that our Party will nominate can- un- didates wherever we can conduct an rth | effective campaign. This meant the re- of | moval of certain restrictions we placed on ourselves before, in not nominating an-| Candidates in constituencies held by the|the NDP, and making the only con- and sideration whether in this or that rid- list }ing we could mount an effective pub- jial lic campaign around: Party candidates. eit | It meantalso thatthe fundamental dif- red | ferences “between tHY' "NDP ‘and our ian | Party as ‘the Parti/of' socialism would ssé | be clearly established, while directing our main fire against the old line par- E ties. Not least we saw our participa- ftion in the elections as an essential N component of the over-all struggle for a unity of the left and for the election of ) a large progressive bloc in parliament. Looking back it can be said that g pour electoral policy as advanced at it that meeting was correct. It was well received within the Party and was is. generally. understood by the politically conscious sections~.of the working class: In the Party it generated enthu- ‘he | 'asm for our campaign with the re- [a that a creditable job was accom- jplished in bringing our position to ..4| large numbers of Canadians. ine} We also come up against resistance na-| tO our electoral policy among some he} Sections of the Party. In part it was }due to the short period we had at our ot | disposal to clarify our position in the he} Party. In part it was due to a one ch |} sided understanding of the united jf front which some comrades took to he; mean that under no circumstances 1u- | would we run candidates in seats held in-| by the NDP while other comrades un- | derstood our line to say we should not ve, run where the NDP has a chance of ist election. Still other comrades believed in-| we should not run at all and limit our- yn- | Selves to working for the election of ye | NDP candidates. The red thread running through these he | views has to do with our relationship tO} to the NDP, the united front and the il-| struggle to achieve it, of how the inde- c@ | pendent work of the Party should be da expressed. We nee a self critical, ap- le-' praisal of electoral. policy over the la} past period of time which created a \climate for such views and in effect ‘| weakened the Party ideologically, poli- | tically and organizationally. Such an }, appraisal is necessary so as to get at | the roots of the question and lead to - overcoming faully one sided thinking 2 . ¢ 2 combining it with further work on how to correctly link the struggle for im- mediate aims with the socialist pers- pective. While there were improve- ments made in this regard in the elec- tion much still needs to be done to achieve this synthesis. The enthusiasm generated in the fe- deral election campaign and the les- sons learnt from it must be used to good purpose in the municipal elec- tions where we should run candidates on as large a scale as we can effec- tively mount. This election showed that the active membership of our Party wants the Party to strengthen its public mass campaigning. What it expresses is the demand that the Party become a Party of Action, able to play an ever increas- ing role in the public life of the coun- try and in the various organizations of the people and above all, in the organ- | ized labor movement. To play that role requires a real turn in our work in a number of key areas. b) In the first place it calls for a turn to the basic sections of the work- ing class, the industrial workers. We have said this before and spoken about a policy of concentration. We now need to so organize our work and that of the Party to give meaning to this task. What. do we mean by a policy of concentration? It means rallying our maximum strength to reach out to and influence the most decisive sections of the working class — the industrial workers, who are to be found not only in industry but in the communities where they live. Placing it this way emphasizes the living unity involved in a policy of concentration and the rela- tionship between the problems facing workers in industry and in the com- ‘munity around a whole gamut of ques- tions. When ‘we speak of a policy of con- centration we are referring to the need to study deeply the processes going on in the working class and what new needs and demands are arising which need satisfaction. It is not too much to say that the more our Party is able to express these needs and demands the more the working class will turn to it. When we speak of a policy of con- centration it means putting the work- ing class at the head of all priorities and relating all our work to this cen- tral task. What we are in fact talking about is the strengthening of our class approach and basic orientation, basing ourselves on that class which is the driving force for fundamental change. This today is being challenged from many quarters, by those who claim the peasantry is the driving force of revol- ution, by those who claim the students and intellectuals are that revolutionary force, and by those who claim that the working class has outlived its histo- rical role in capitalist society. The powerful general strike in France no less than the growing strike movement in all capitalist countries shows that the working class is neither asleep nor satisfied with its position in capitalist society but rather that it is seeking for ways to challenge and curb mono- poly power. As a result of the sharp ening of the internal and external contradictions of capitalism and its efforts to resolve them at the expense of the working class we face the pros- pects of a sharpening of the class struggle. c) All this and more emphasises the need for the Party to anchor itself in the trade union movement, to organize the systematic sale of our press and literature, to improving the composi- tion of leading committees, so that they can better reflect the problems of the working class, to applying itself to a consistent policy of concentration which wiil begin to reflect itself in Party growth among industrial work- ers. For us the working class is the anchor of our policy, the leading force in the struggle against monopoly. and eventually the socialist transformation of society. Focussing on this basic fact is not to deny or negate the role the young generation are playing today as an important factor in the developing anti-monopoly movement and anti-im- perialist front. There are specific reas- ons impelling the young generation to move. These have to do not only with the impact of the crisis of imperial- ism on their lives but also from the fact that the technological revolution may well close the doors to economic opportunity for large numbers of young people. While the young genera- tion does not constitute a class they nevertheless represent a special and important force capable of uniting in pursuit of common interests. This explains why alongside the militant upsurge and strike movement embracing wide sections of workers a parallel movement is taking shape in the form of the movement for student power in the universities and to some degree in the high schools. Involved here is the demand for structural and educational reform, academic free- dom, free education, stipends for stu- dents, the modernization of education to make it relevant to the needs of society and the changes in society which are now necessary. University administrations and Gov- ernments are trying to head off this movement by minor concessions. At the same time the capitalist press is striving to distort the democratic pur- poses of this movement so as to alien- ate democratic opinion and undermine public support for a basic overhaul of education. In this they are objectively helped by pseudo radical and pseudo revolu- tionary statements on the part of some students. This however should not lead us to overlook what is at the bottom of this movement for student power, the growing questioning not only of the educational system but of the es- tablishment as such and its inability to deal rationally with the scientific and technological revolution and satis- fy the high hopes and expectations of the people. This questioning is leading more and more young people in the direction of fundamental change. Capitalist propaganda by focussing on certain aspects of the movement amongst students tries to hide the main social ~antagonisms afflicting ca- pitalist ‘society and makes it appear that not class struggle but the conflict between youth and age is the domin- ant feature of present day society. This view or its variant is shared by some who call themselves Marxists and who claim that it is not the work- ing class but the revolutionary stud- ents and intellectuals and the people of the third world who are the motive force for revolutionary change of society today. This denial of the his- toric and revolutionary role of the working class in practice leads to a denial of the need for an alliance with the working class and other progres; sive forces of society to advance the battle for democratic reform of educa- tion and structural changes in society as a whole. Our Party has a great responsibility here, to create understanding amongst students on the ways and means of achieving a more just and humane society and of the role of the working class in this process, and help develop a widening core of young Marxists grounded in the science and laws of social development. But more is needed than this. Our Party should formulate a comprehen- sive program of educational reform and make it an issue of public debate. The problem here is not only the stu- dents but the working class which is directly concerned with education in the conditions of the technological re- volution which places new demands on it. We should set up a commission which will get to work on such a program. Not least our Party must work to strengthen these trends and currents amongst students which will lead to growing cooperation between them and the organized labor movement. The alliance of workers, students and intellectuals is in fact a decisive com- ponent of the anti-monopoly coalition we strive for. Everything which strengthens cooperation between the labor movement and students facilit- ates this process. It is in labor’s inter- ests to work for such cooperation as it is in the interests of the students to do likewise. Drawing attention to the students and the movements developing amongst them is not to deny the need of strengthening the Party amongst working class youth who today are amongst the most militant sections of the working class. The Party must un- dertake systematic efforts to recruit and help develop a growing core of such young workers as public spokes- men of the Party. Together with this we need to take systematic steps to promote them into leading committees of the Party. d) Not least the fight for a real turn in our work requires a _ decided strengthening of the ideological work of the Party. In the past period of time there has been a serious neglect of this side of the Party’s work and we are paying a price for it. This is brought home by the complex events in Czecho- slovakia which caught a number of good comrades off guard and off base. These comrades failed to grasp the new tactics of imperialism in its strug- gle against socialism and did not see the essence of the question involved in these events, the threat of the socialist gains, the political power of the work- ing class and the leading role of the Party, that is the very foundations of the dictatorship of the proletariat, arising from creeping counter-revolu- tion, which necessitated action by the Warsaw Treaty countries in defense of socialism and peace, an action we be- lieve this Central Committee will sup- port. The roots of this confusion and dif- ferences of views arose from serious weaknesses in the ideological work of the Party in the recent period. This led to tendencies to slur over funda- mental questions and the erosion of the foundations of our Marxist Lenin- ist principles because of the possible tactical advantages to be gained. We need a critical and self-critical exam- ination of this question both with res- pect to our Program and other areas of work. What is clear is that we aré faced today with the necessity for a systematic and consistent fight against revisionist tendencies, a fight which must include a constant and continu- ing effort to creatively develop our policies and methods of work in the light of Marxist Leninist science and a deeper study of Canadian reality. The pressures of the outside world, the ideological offensive waged by im- perialism against socialism and Marx- ism, petty bourgeois radicalism and nationalism, all this emphasizes the fact that what we are faced with as a Party is not the undertaking of a ‘ short range campaign but the develop- ment of a clear and firm orientation in our ideological work over a fairly long period of time. We shall never become a party of action except on the firm foundations of Marxism Leninism, being firm on questions of principle and flexible on questions of tactics. Inflexibility in tactics and flexibility on matters of principle will never build a revolution- ary Party. pt PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 11, 1968—Page 5