; Meeting i = =<. —SweiauasrLTeazaase _ i lt tease eae ARN Red HII! Il Increasi niin Teasingly, an ever larger ing enc, Canadians are break- movin, the old-line parties and Polit; oe towards. independent leade action. The national TS of the Communist Party, cen Nn Toronto, discussed Manitoba on” of the B.C. and Some ® elections, as well as dates the widespread public eae taking place around econ Papers issued by Npp —S 4nd groups within the Vention to its national con- Natj ; muinist na leader of the Com- i enor William Kashtan, ites 8 t© the Central Com- Ove tnt, about the distinct tical ous independent poli- diang. “Th by progressive Cana- tion will us process of polariza- Signig, likely continue. No less Cant is the fact that the right wing in the NDP pushed that party to the right and away from a consistent anti-monopoly position in-the course of both provincial elections. In part it reflected the content of the radi- calization taking place at this stage which is not yet a socialist upsurge but directed by and large to getting everything pos- sible. out of the capitalist sys- tem. The NDP right wing adapt- ed itself to it, adopting a posture of respectability, a soft approach to moonpoly and U.S. control. This line led the right wing to push the trade union movement into the background, and to sep- arating the NDP from the basic aims of the working class, in- cluding its immediate struggles. This typically right wing social democratic approach while it ‘may achieve some temporary successes as it did in Manitoba, although not in B.C., cannot in the long run serve the basic in- terests of the working class and the anti-monopoly struggle. We need to note these developments and develop effective policies aimed at defeating right wing policy,” he said. Which way will the NDP go, Mr. Kashtan asked. Does it aim at being a loyal opposition, a bourgeois-reformist party which ties the working class to the capitalist system, or will it fight for a real alternative to capital- ist policies? He considered that the signifi- cance of the Watkins Manifesto, signed by 94 members of the NDP, just prior to its national convention, has essentially pos- ed these two alternatives before the NDP, and explains why the right wing is seeking to keep the trade unions as a base to defeat labor decisive : Be | left policies within the NDP. Our aim should be to win the workers for progressive and so- capitalist press has attacked the Manifesto all across the country. “The NDP convention will have to decide whether it will veer towards policies of bour- geois reformism and eventually land in a similar crisis as that afflicting the social democratic parties of Western Europe,” he said, “or undertake a consistent struggle against monopoly and for Canadian independence, in- cluding nationalization, an inde- pendent foreign policy, which includes withdrawal from NATO and NORAD, a new Canadian Constitution based on an equal voluntary partnership of the English and French Canadian people, solidarity with the strug- gles of workers, farmers and youth, and cooperation with all forces of the left, including the communists, for radically new policies for Canada. “We welcome the Watkins Manifesto as a mirror of an in- evitable process of differentia- tion between right and left pol- icies inside the NDP arising from a recognition that a radi- cal restructuring of Canadian society is necessary if the Cana- dian people are to advance, and real Canadian © independence won. Saying this is not to en- dorse the manifesto or to advo- cate an uncritical attitude to- wards it. That manifesto evades or sidesteps the central question of a genuine socialist policy: the attitude to the state and working-class power, the lead- ing role of the working class in bringing about social change, the over-riding necessity of working class and trade union unity and unity of the left in the struggle to achieve it. “Needless to say the struggle for genuine socialist policies can- not succeed around anti-com- munist banners. It can only div- ide the socialist forces and hinder the struggle for socialist aims and the socialist perspec- tive. This is why such a move- ment for meaningful social change if it is to seriously ad- vance the struggle for policy needs to unite with the revolu- tionary part of the working class, the Communist Party. Unity of the left for social pro- gress is in fact a necessary part of the struggle to help advance the overall interests of demo- cracy and the working class and win them for socialist policies. For our part the Communist Party will do everything in its power to open up a dialogue with the socialist and left cur- rents who are our closest allies in the broad labor and demo- cratic movement and work to achieve cooperation with them around common objectives while patiently discussing with them the ways and means of achiev- ing and building a socialist sys- tem of society. In the final analy- sis our ability to achieve such cooperation will be determined by the independent role’ and activity of the Party and’ by its organized strength.” ¢ Mr. Kashtan said that the trade union movement, both that section affiliated to the NDP, and the. unaffiliated, can and should play a vital role in the fight for a progressive direction in Can- ada’s policies.. He said, ‘The right wing is seeking to keep the, trade unions as a base to defeat _left policies within the NDP. Our aim should be to win the work- ers for progressive and socialist policies and thereby help shift the trade union movement to the left.” He pointed out that after the recent elections in B.C., the question had been raised by some trade unionists of whether or not support should continue to be given the NDP as “labor’s political arm.” “This question comes from the right as well as from the left,” he said, “al- though for different reasons. Some on the right draw the con- clusion that the NDP’s ties to the trade union movement was a source of: embarrassment to the NOP and lost it elections. On the other hand, some of the left believe the wishy-washy position of the right wimg in the NDP alienated workers, and led that party to electoral defeat; and that the trade union move- ment should dissociate itself from the NDP.” “In our opinion,” said Mr. Kashtan, “the raising of this question -in this way serves no useful purpose, and if carried out would only strengthen the influence of the old line parties over the trade union movement. A Gompers policy would be a step back for the working class.” e said, “The real question is. not that, but one of strengthen- ing the independent role.of the trade union movement and win- ning the trade union locals and the workers in them for inde- pendent political action and for progressive and socialist poli- cies . .. Placing the question this way emphasizes the difficult but necessary task communists face to bring class and socialist con- sciousness to the working-class.” SLIT TT Tree LUCEUUEADAOUCUEDEOLOOEOUEINEECUCCUUEEEROUCEUCUELODOUUUOCGAEEEEUOOUCRECEUUOOEOUEOOELEOEOEUCCEUEEOEEEEOCESEEROREECUOUCEEEOEEOECUCESEOEEOOEE CP adopts emergency farm program A : 3 Commi ne of the Central Pa; tee of the Communist Le held in Toronto, agreed to is Campaign for a new s deal with the econo- 1S on the prairies, caused drastic loss of wheat » and rapidly falling in- c Policy Mic or} YY the Markets Some, Th : mation meeting greeted the for- Union * the National Farmers’ iN the e an important advance Canag. U88les of the people of. f against monopoly, and - dee People’s Solutions to the ‘p- Og Problems of the day. five has approximately a hang Supply of wheat on SOcialigt 77 Once again, it is the the big Market which has been At Ree buyer of our wheat. ton --'Mgs between Washing- Were rea Ottawa, agreements have : ched as to price. These ton ae violated by Washing- CUtting ing the way in price Siong ~ 8 three different occa- Not; Culture © that this crisis in agri- «Rew ¢ a deeper-going and with Cent es than those of re- a ae the Central Com- es the Communist Party Place its program be- | Sibje. “Padians as widely as pos- <> to ‘ Bees for a mass dele- \ "s armers from western Ottawa; to work for joint labor-farmer actions to solve the crisis; and to appeal to the provincial premiers of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskat- chewan for special emergency fall sessions to deal with the current crisis. The text of the Communist Party’s Emergency Farm Pro- gram reads as follows: “We greet the opening of the wheat market with China and the Soviet Union, which will dispose of more than 200 mil- lion bushels of wheat, and per- haps more. With prospects of a sale to Poland, the market with the socialist countries is prov- ing to be the most stable for wheat and if, as the National Farmers’ Union proposes, the government would establish trade with the German Demo- cratic Republic and-other social- ist countries, a long-term mar- ket for Canadian wheat could be established. “In order to secure that mar- ket, the government must take all the steps necessary to estab- lish mutually beneficial two- day trade with them. “Such a policy makes more sense than the present knuck- ling-under to United States’ pressures, the behind-the-scenes agreements with that country, which Washington breaks when- ever it suits its particular pur- pose. “we condemn Prime Minister Trudeau’s arrogant disregard for the farmers’ problems, and the callous, inhuman proposals of his government to dispossess half the farmers from their farms, and its refusal to deve- lop a trade policy in the inter- ests of Canadians, because of its policy of continental integration with the United States. “To meet the desperate situa- tion on the prairies, we demand that emergency measures be taken by Ottawa, including: 1. The adoption of a new market policy by developing long-term, easy-credit two-way trade with all socialist coun- tries. The expansion of such trade policies to include the Middle East, Africa, Latin Ame- rica and Asia by the extension of credit, barter, or both. 2: Government _ agricultural planning, related to markets and potential markets, along with financial assistance, to aid far- mers to diversify in an orderly fashion, without losses to the farmers. 3. A moratorium on all farm debts so that no farmer.loses his holdings, machinery or stocks because of adverse market con- ditions. 4. Special assistance to rural- based small businesses. 5. Special government finan- cial assistance to all rural muni- cipalities so that there is no loss of services of any kind. 6. The sale of all grain under the Canadian Wheat Board. 7. Assistance to build on- farm storage, and make it pos- sible to liquidate costs through government payment of on-farm storage. 8. The government to guaran- tee $2.25 per bushel for all wheat sold. PDEANUEDUOUEEUEDEQEUAUODEEUEQUUUOUOEOQQUCCUOCCCEOLOUEEOULOREQULEESUOUUGUUUOOEOROOEGEROOUCUUOUEUEUCOEGCGUUEEOCOERSISOEGECUOOOUOUUOEOOEEERERE “We call for special sessions of the Alberta, Saskatchewan. and Manitoba legislatures, im- mediately, to deal with the crisis. A cut in defense spending, along with democratic tax re- form, would provide all the money this program requires. WE BELIEVE THE SITUA- TION WARRANTS, ONCE AGAIN, THE FARMERS TO TAKE THEIR CASE TO OTTA- WA IN THE FORM OF A MASS DELEGATION BACKED BY LABOR AND BUSINESS.” Moscow . “«" | of Peace SPECIAL OFFER Good Only Nill Oct. 30, 1969 — (1 MOSCOW NEWS (English, aia _ French, or Spanish). Weekly tabloid on Soviet events. Free supplements. Airmailed direct. $5 a year. MAIL THIS COUPON TO: PROGRESS SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE 487 Adelaide St. W. Toronto 2B Discount Price $4.00 PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 17, 1969—Page 9