Central Organizer John Bizzell opens the proceedings.

25oth Commu:

TORON TO — The Communist Party
of Canada’s 25th Convention at the
Holiday Inn here, Feb. 13-15, marked
the 60th anniversary of the party’s found-
ing, elected a new 71-member Central
Committee and gave an enthusiastic
welcome to fraternal delegates from nine
countries.

Two hundred and six delegates from
seven provinces greeted the keynote ad-
dress by party leader William Kashtan
(who was later re-elected in a unanimous
vote), which brought up to the moment
the party’s position on domestic and
world events. The address focussed on
peace as a priority matter, and dealt in
detail with domestic and international af-
fairs.

Delegates spent a major part of three
days in lively debate around the centre-
piece of the gathering, the draft political
resolution entitled: A New Course for
Canada. The document had been dis-
cussed in clubs of the Communist Party
and in seminars over a period of three
months prior to the conyention.

The delegates also discussed and ap-

proved a number of action reso
including one dealing with the impe
split of around 400,000 building
workers from the mainstream
Canadian labor movement. T'
solution calls on party members
building trades to encourage their i
national unions not to join in the split
actions of the U.S. dominated b

within the Canadian Labor Congreé!
have that body accept building tf
locals and councils who wish to affill’™
directly. Party trade unionists (%
comprised 45% of the delegates) W
also urged to fight for a no raiding ag
ment around this issue. a
In special sessions the delegates 4
brought forth resolutions to update pa
policy around work in the municiP-
women’s and immigrant fields.
Delegates adopted a special resolu!
to begin the process of re-working
party’s program, The Road to Socia!
In Canada, to reflect changes in
and domestic events including gi)
new attention to the national qu stil”

William Kashtan, leader and general
secretary of the Communist Party of
Canada, opened the party’s 25th Conven-
tion, marking the 60th anniversary of its
founding in 1922, on Saturday Feb. 13
with a keynote address covering the major
areas of work of the party. Pending its
publication in another form, we repro-
duce here excerpts from the address.

eS

The formation of the party 60 years
ago was an historical event in the polliti-
cal and social life of the working class
movement of Canada. It added a new
dimension, a new quality to the struggles .
of the working class. In these 60 years
our party has consistently upheld and
defended the interests of the working
class and working people of our country.
The Communist Party of Canada, de-
spite errors made in the course of its
varied activities, remained true to itself,
its class, to the real national interests of
our country, to internationalism. The
Communist Party always strove to cor-
rectly combine patriotism and _inter-
nationalism, and defence of the princi-
ples of working-class solidarity.

We take pride in the fact that for 60
years the Communist Party has upheld
the banner of scientific socialism, of
Marxism-Leninism, and sought to in-
tegrate Marxism-Leninism with the
broad labor movement.

Our party always stood firm in its
understanding of the historical signi-
ficance of real existing socialism in the
Soviet Union and what it means for so-
cial progress, for the cause of socialism,
for the cause of peace in the world. The
existence of the Soviet Union has
strengthened the communist movement,
served as the main bulwark of universal
peace, and created the necessary condi-
tions for more favorably influencing the
forms of struggle in the interests of the
working people and the cause of social-
ism in the capitalist world.

’ Our party travelled a long and difficult
road over these 60 years. Born in illegal-

ity, it underwent two further periods of
illegality as well as a 20-year period in
Quebec under the Padlock Law. It faced
a constant barrage of anti-communism.
But this did not and has not deterred.us.

In celebrating our 60 years of existence
we pay tribute to men like Tim Buck, an
outstanding Marxist-Leninist and inter-
nationalist, to other outstanding
spokesmen and spokeswomen and lead-
ers of our party who gave of their energy,
talents and their very lives in the cause of
socialism. We take pride in all those
comrades who were among the pioneers
of our movement, who built our party
and stayed with it through all the difficul-
ties and joys of struggle, of advance and
sometimes retreat. We pay tribute to all
those men and women who, in all kinds
of political weather, held high and con-
tinue to hold high the banner of our party
and of socialism.

War or Peace

Our 25th Convention meets at a par-
ticularly dangerous moment in history.

The main question today is the grow-
ing danger of war.

War or peace. This is the fundamental
question today. The very existence of
civilization depends on how the question
is solved.

Under Reagan a sharp change occur-
red in the policies of the USA. U.S. im-
perialism is prepared to take civilization
to the edge and over the brink for the
sake of its hegemonistic class aims. The
new military strategy it has adopted is a
program of material preparations for ag-
gressive war. The reactionary forces of
U.S. imperialism, unable to halt the pro-
cess of change throughout the world, in-
tends to use armed force and the threat of
nuclear war to halt this process. This is
behind the decision to produce the neut-
ron bomb, and to deploy the Cruise and
Pershing II medium-range missiles in
western Europe.

The prime goal of U.S. imperialism is
military. superiority over the Soviet
Union and othér socialist countries
based on a strategy of direct confronta-

tion between the U.S. and the Soviet
Union on a global and regional scale.

The global strategy of U.S. imperial-
ism ... threatens Nicaragua, Cuba and
Grenada with the use of force and
economic blockade. It intervenes militar-
ily in El Salvador to maintain a fascist
military group in power. It supports the
racist South African regime, Israeli
annexation -of the Golan Heights,
fascist-like regimes as in Chile.

This adventurist course of the Reagan
administration has led to massive up-
surges of peace action in western Europe
on a scale not seen before. These have
become powerful enough to shake
governments, modify international pol-
icy and compel heads of states in the
Western world to separate themselves
from the dangerous foreign policies of
the Reagan administration.

This reality, the recognition of the
danger of nuclear war, has given impetus
to the demands that Canada’s voice be
joined to the world peace forces saying
“No to nuclear arms!’’, that Canada be-
come a nuclear weapons-free zone; and
that the Canadian Government press the
U.S. administration to sign the Salt Two
Agreement.

This reality has likewise created a
wider basis for an anti-war coalition in
Canada, reflected in the more active in-
volvement of trade unions, churches,
scientists and intellectuals in the struggle

. for peace, and in the growing response of

young people as exemplified in the
formation of Youth for Peace Commit-
tees. It finds expression as well in ever
growing support to the peace petition
‘sponsored by the Canadian Peace Con-
gress, entitled ‘‘Peace Is Everybody’s
Business’’, and to the similar one circu-
lated by the Conseil Québecois de la Paix

End Arms Links

The United Auto Workers Union has _.

sponsored its own petition, whose con-.
tents are very close to the one initiatied
by the Canadian Peace Congress.

The New Democratic Party, also re-

sponding to the awareness of the n'
war danger, has at its last conv:
reaffirmed its opposition to Cana
membership in NATO and NORA Dd
spite the efforts of the right wing to Mt
this position changed. That conven ft
likewise called for Canada to becom,
nuclear weapons-free zone, and if
withdraw from the Defence Produce
Sharing Agreement with the USA.
corresponds with a shift withia ie
Socialist International to acl
involvement in the struggle for nue
disarmament.
All these developments show yi ‘
conditions exist for widening the p@uX
movement and making it majority set h
ment in Canada. As has been &n
phasized time and time again: The a0
of the people is now decisive in the 5
against the threat of nuclear war.
This 25th Convention of our
therefore, must give priority attenti
the struggle against the threat of Ww
nuclear disaster. The Communist F#
has an especially great mobilizing
organizing role to play here. Commu™
not only defend the vital interests:9
working people in the struggles 2
monopoly and the transnationals.
must at the same time be in the forefro™ ; .
the drive to save mankind from the ¢
of nuclear catastrophe. Communists
a special responsibility in helping
broaden the peace movements, in ¥
ing to clarify issues and in giving CoM, ne
answers to questions arising if ~
course of the struggle for peace.

Canadianization

The struggle for peace and détent
for an independent foreign policy |
Canada has become linked more *
more to the struggle for Canadian
dependence and the well-being 0
Canadian people.

. U.S. imperialism has stepped!

_ interference to prevent the Tru®

government from implementing q
Canadianization program in the fey

energy and with respect to fo!

vestments in Canada.