By FRED WILSON

Those accustomed to hearing
Dave Barrett kick off an NDP
convention with a bombastic
speech to the party faithful might
have thought that the keynotre
address to last weekend’s conven-
tion seemed oddly out of place.
But it wasn’t.

Professor Walter Hacker,
head of the international depart-
ment of the Socialist Party of

Austria, read into the record a
‘one hour lecture on the ac-
complishments of social
~ democracy in his native Austria.
Only fresh delegates could have
remained quiet through the dry
treatise, but the placing of Hacker
as the keynote speaker was
motivated by decidedly more
political reasons.

The NDPisa party in search of
itself, with widely different views
held within the party on every
basic question of philosophy,
economic policy, and _ political
Strategy. In 1983 the party will re-
draft its constitution and state-
ment of principles at its federal
convention in Regina, a process

)| | Which is sure to provoke intense
)| | debate.

nt The provincial leadership of
a the NDP was determined to pro-

vide an ideological model for the
delegates, a model that would
distinguish them from’ the
Liberals and reinforce anti-
Communism. The job was given
to Hacker to enunciate the prin-
ciples of social democracy and to
prove their worth by the example
of Austria.

It is understandable why
Austria was chosen. It is the
showpiece of the Socialist Inter-
national since social democrats
are now in their 13th year of
uninterrupted rule and boast an
absolute majority of the popular
vote.

Most important, while Canada
and the rest of the capitalist world
remain hung up on the rocks of
the worst economic crisis since the
depression, Austria is sailing on
relatively sunny seas with 3.5 per-
cent unemployment and six per-
cent inflation.

That economic performance
combined with a list of social

| Austria cited as ‘model’
as NDP mulls its future

Yugoslavia and has extensive
trade relations with the socialist
countries which make up the
Council of Mutual Economic
Assistance, particularly with the
Societ Union. More than 150,000
jobs in Austria are considered to
be dependent on trade with the
Soviet Union.

Austria is also a country where
the trade union movement has
clout. Leading trade unionists
hold key cabinet posts in the SPA
government, and the head of the
trade union federation is the
chairman of the Austrian parlia-
ment.

In all of these areas — foreign

ANALYSIS

benefits that are part of the
Austrian welfare state represent
what Hacker called ‘‘the revolu-
tion without tears.’’ As Hacker
elaborated further on the objec-
tives and accomplishments of the
SPA it became clear he was
speaking of ‘‘a revolution
without revolution.’’ The
political and economic ideology
of this revolution is, he stated,
‘‘Austro-Keynesianism.””

There is, without doubt, a lot
that can be learned from the
Austrian experience. As Hacker
himself emphasized, Austria’s
economic performance is very
much rooted in its 1955 decision
to declare neutrality and in doing
so to spurn NATO and the arms
race. Austria shares borders with

~ Czechoslovakia, Hungary and

policy, rejection of the cold war,
and the influence of the labor
movement — social democracy in
Austria is far advanced over its
Canadian counterpart.

But it is here where Hacker’s
ideological appeal falls apart.

Hacker was brought to the
NDP convention to do an
ideological job, so it is understan-
dable that he did not discuss the
fact that Austria is a non-aligned
capitalist country with highly
developed capitalist relations that
Marxists would characterize as
imperialist. And Austria has the
exploitation and inequalities that
go with capitalism.

The public sector in Austria,
while extensive by Canadian stan-
dards, accodunts for only 25 per-
cent of industrial output. By far

“WALTER HACKER . .
Austrian economy.

the key sectors of the economy re-
main in the hands of private cor-
porations, mainly multinationals.
This is not a result of the struggle,
but the product of the social
democratic design. This is
“‘Austro-Keynesianism.”’

Hacker argued that wages in
Austria now exceed the European
average, whereas they were below
the average a decade ago. But
Austrian Marxists point out that
in spite of the low inflation rate
real wages have declined in recent
years and since 1978, labor’s
share of the national income has
dropped sharply relative to pro-
fits. Viewed over a longer period,
labor’s share of the Austrian na-
tiona! income has remained
basically unchanged over the last
25 years.

One basic reason for the falling
off of real wages in the last few
years is the ‘‘social contract”’ bet-
ween the SPA-dominated trade
union federation, the SPA
government and the business
community. The SPA has proven
what the NDP has been arguing
in Canada: it is possible to
negotiate with business to provide
jobs and a certain measure of
planning. However, the trade off
is a form of wage controls and

‘ hour-long address extols virtues of the

TRIBUNE PHOTO — DAN KEETON

declining purchasing power.

Thirteen years of social
democratic power in Austria has
not changed class relations. It is
shown by the fact that the portion
of students from working class
backgrounds in post secondary
education has remained static at
about 11.5 percent.

Following Hacker’s speech,
Dave Barrett ‘underscored the
relevance of Austria for social
democrats everywhere and
presented the professor with
several gifts. One was donated by
the regional council of the Inter-
national Woodworkers. As he
presented it, Barrett slipped out
the statement, ‘‘this is from the
IWA, with whom we have sort of
an unofficial social contract.”

That about wrapped up the
message. With a non-aligned
foreign policy and a tripartite
social contract, unemployment
and inflation can be reduced,
although not eliminated. We
could® call -it-“‘Ganadoe-
Keynesianism.”’

It is a model which labor
leaders in this country would
adopt at their peril, and it is an
ideological conception which can
not possibly inspire Canadian
socialists.

. Continued from page 1

Social Credit government.
Provincial leader Dave Barrett
Set the tone in a wide-ranging,
Powerful speech that drew several
Tounds of standing applause and
preciative laughter at the expense
°f various Socred cabinet
Ministers,
Barrett lambasted industry
Minister Don Phillips for his
arks a few months ago that
Te were no unemployed in a pro-
Ce that has almost 200,000 peo-
© On the street. And he attacked
ie Socreds for cutbacks to services
°r “the poor, the elderly and
dren”? instead of ‘cutting back
°n their own lifestyles.”
Significantly, the provincial
€r’s statements on cutbacks did
‘ot take issue with the notion of
_ Westraint per se. Rather, the Socreds
_ .&te chided for not accepting a list
_ ~* Suggested cuts to a variety of
80Vernment items which the NDP
- position had tendered over a
“ago,
heacticit financing by borrowing
: ly from American sources to
a. tune of $50 million a week was
a target of Barrett’s wrath. The
 ROven, Premier noted that when his
“hey Toment was voted out of office
975, they left the treasury witha
‘ he of $552 million in special

pratis was frittered away on such
cor as the ill conceived heroin
din €nt plan, Barrett complain-

\ listing a number of other
T Socred failures. But he never
Oned the millions squandered

Popularity and blunders of the -

on costly government mega-
projects, such as the B.C. Place
Stadium, that will likely never be
recovered.

However, the party leader did
make what amounted to a promise
to re-negotiate the contentious

Northeast coal project at Tumbler _

Ridge, so that the province would
get a better deal out of what has
been condemned by several
quarters as another sellout of
B.C.’s resources.

And he called for the ‘‘secon-
dary and tertiary development of
processing in our province,”’ by
which he meant that ocean vessels
and rail lines servicing the coal pro-
ject should be ‘“‘all Canadian.”

Whether an NDP government
would go further and oversee the
development of a steel industry asa
home-grown market for the pro-
vince’s coal reserves, Barrett didn’t
say. Nor did he shed any light on
the ownership — public or private
— of new manufacturing enter-
prises.

But in a couple of remarks he
summed up what might be termed
the right-wing social democratic
view of socialism.

“There must be a role for public
intervention in the economy,’’ Bar-
rett pleaded at one point. He
allayed private enterprise’s fears of
socialist takeover when he noted
that when his government ruled
B.C., “we never seized, nationaliz-
ed, or expropriated one business.”’
Instead, the NDP government ac-
quired failing businesses, and paid
for them as well, he said.

As if taking cue from Barrett’s
speech, the convention produced

Delegates demand halt to

few resolutions dealing with na-
tionalization. One that did make it
to the floor was the last on a list of
seven dealing with forestry.

It has been number four in the
resolutions book, and called on an
NDP government to ‘‘take over
one or more of the major forest
corporations in B.C. (making:it a
Crown corporation) in order to
prevent undue exploitation of our
forest resources.”’

That resolution came the closest
to revealing an ideological dif-
ference in the ranks of convention
delegates, who usually expressed
accord on most issues. It passed
narrowly in a standing vote, and
was opposed by most MLAs and
MPs who attended, including
federal members Lyle Christiansen
and Nelson Riis. ;

Another forestry resolution that
carried with significant opposition
from former forests, lands and
resources minister Bob Williams
and other delegates called for the
establishment of a Forest Land
Commission similar to the current
Agricultureal Land Commission.
The opposition pointed out that the
creation of ‘‘another bureaucracy”’
would enshrine the system under
which the multinational forest cor-
porations exploit the province’s
wood reserves.

A resolution that could have
rocked the convention with debate
‘was buried following the revision
of an earlier list of priorities from
the labor panel. It was borrowed
from the Constitution section of
the resolutions book and headed
‘the initial priorities list. .

But it was dropped to number

Cruise testing

five spot on the reserved list, and
never made it to debate on the con-
vention floor. The resolution, from
Local 170 of the Plumbers and
Pipefitters noted that the NDP
“was co-founded by organized
labor,’’ and therefore the party
should ‘‘clearly and vigorously
reaffirm its unqualified support for
the right to strike, and state that the
B.C. NDP, whether in government
or in opposition, should never in-
troduce or endorse strikebreaking
legislation.”’

The lessons of history appeared
lost on party leaders anxious not to
alienate either their most conser-
vative members or certain segments
of the electorate. Debate on the
resolution, however, might have
brought to light the argument that
enactment of strike-breaking
legislation by the NDP government
in 1975, or most recently the back-
to-work order issued by the former
NDP government in Saskatchewan
this year contributed significantly
to those governments being turfed
out of office.

Of the two labor-resolutions that
made it to the floor and were pass-
ed, the strongest committed an
NDP government to grant the pro-
vincial minimum wage to farm-
workers, pass legislation to protect
farm labor from pesticides hazards
and guarantee ‘“‘union access to
farm workers living on farms.”’

The other was a bandaid solu-
tion to the unemployment situa-
tion, by which the party would lob-
by for changes to the Unemploy-
ment Insurance Act to allow those
with greater seniority to chose

layoffs and save jobs for those with

lesser seniority, and still be eligible
for UI benefits. A better resolution
carried later in the emergency
resolutions period committed the
B.C. NDP to press for increased
benefits for UI recipients.

None of the resolutions on
fisheries — a hitherto unexplored
territory for the B.C. NDP — dealt
with the key question of monopoly
ownership and control of the key
resource. But several called for
greater government presence in
fisheries, from negotiations on
treaties with the United States to
the development and expansion of
fish processing in the province.

The party shone best on the
peace question. An emergency
resolution saw the convention
overwhelmingly oppose Cruise
missile testing in Canada, and urge
the federal NDP “‘to make stopp-
ing Cruise missile testing a top
priority issue.’’

NDP MP Pauline Jewett accus-
ed the Trudeau government of
“fueling the nuclear arms race.’
Jean Swanson, NDP candidate for
Vancouver-Little Mountain noted
the Cruise missile would ‘im-
balance the nuclear tightrope on
which we walk’’ and said Canada
should be a leader in the fight for
world peace.

A standing ovation greeted Bar-
rett’s words, during his speech, that
“there is no place in this country
for the Cruise missile . . . we must
demand the complete dismantling
of all nuclear: ns.’’ His sen-
timents were echoed by guest
speaker Walter Hacker from the
Austrian Socialist Party, and

’ federal NDP leader Ed Broadbent.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 3, 1982—Page 3

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