ERITISH COLUMBIA ——

2%,

CP convention presses unity

COMMUNIST PARTY B.C. LEADER MAURICE RUSH. . .Peace is top priority.

ae top priority” for Communists is the
Tthe 3 for peace, the biennial convention
10, ‘C. branch of the Communist Party
Be Was told May 17.
ten Party leader Maurice Rush told the
lm 35 comprising some 70 delegates
ent Party clubs in the province, that the
iby, , Peace. events in Vancouver and
ie province last month show there
“nl “a massive development of the

Movement” in B.C.
, 2 I the main political report to the
ity, tn, said Communists in the peace
et Should “work to make this pro-
thy, 2One of peace by pressing the B.C.
Mig, ¢ “Dt to pursue an independent Can-
The reign policy.”
ay ain political report and the draft
I vag constituted the bulk of the con-
'§ 260 Work as delegates to the B.C. par-
Convention mulled over the
arising from the peace movement,
% eee and the need to defeat it, free
eh. ‘ Civic political alliances.
ial ree day convention at the Ukrain-
ty Tso nv ancouver also adopted a spe-
aes Ution on Native land claims and
€cting the battles — notably Meares
4nd Lyell Island — that have

ihe

Inthe t year.
fo Political report Rush outlined new
Nn, °' B.C.’s burgeoning peace move-

«
es ‘portant problem for the party in
hn growing nuclear threat in the
Nt, . Clic. The build-up of U.S. nuclear
ing g the North Pacific and the re-
int Japan and the build-up of mil-
nny ccs in South Korea makes it
“elon that measures be undertaken to
: @ mass campaign, in co-operation
k hPa forces...to demand that the
fed Cific be made a nuclear free zone,”
in also called for “widening and
Mpeg Ng the peace movement (with)
A men? Public activity to support the
| Mado of solidarity with Nicaragua, El
the 2chile and Libya and for action to
i »”Clous apartheid system in South

tego Portion of the report was
Strate B.C.’s Social Credit government
ins eles to defeat it in the upcoming

ae lection.
Gof pocial Credit government in B.C. is
© major bulwarks of right wing

policies in Canada — and in many respects
was a pioneer in translating into govern-
ment legislation policies enunciated by
right-wing agencies such as the Fraser
Institue and right-wing think tanks in the
US.,” Rush stated.

The Socreds’ long-range plans include
“turning the province into a haven for big
business” and transforming B.C. “into a
low-wage province with a weakened and
decimated trade union movement,” Rush
warned.

Noting that “the Socreds have brought
about a major shift” in who bears the tax
burden, Rush reported that in the last six
years taxes on individuals rose to 49 per cent
from 38 per cent as a percentage of the
provincial budget, while “tax concessions
amounting to many billions of dollars have
been given the corporations, in addition to
cuts in hydro rates, stumpage rates, timber
and mining royalties.”

In a warning to trade unionists, Rush
urged a united fightback against Socred and
other government and big business attacks
on trade union rights.

Rush said that in a year where more than
200,000 workers are in negotiations for 42
contracts, “The Socreds and large employer
associations...have undertaken to make
this the year of a major offensive against the
working class.” ;

But many in the top trade union leader-

_ ship are ignoring their members’ demands

for a united fight, he said, because they fear
the creation of an “extra parliamentary
force” viewed as a “threat” to the New
Democratic Party.

“The trade union movement should real-
ize that it is not a defenseless minority force
under seige, but they and their families con-
stitute a major part of B.C.’s population,
and united in economic and political action
...can halt and defeat the drive against their
interests,” Rush asserted.

Rush reminded delegates that the Com-
munist Party has put forward a program of
“real change,” involving nationalization of
key industries, restoration of social services
cutbacks, tax reform and new legislation for
workers.

The CP is running candidates in three
ridings. It has appealed to the NDP to
adopt a “minimum program of unity”
which, while ignored by the top leadership,
found favor among many NDP members,
Rush noted.

He said that “political reality” dictates
that the election of an NDP government is

tn provincial, civic races

the “only realistic alternative” to Socred
tule at this time.

“At the same time, the party will conduct
its own independent campaign. . around its
platform and run candidates in a limited
number of workng class ridings to bring
forward the Communist position on the
major issues facing the people,” he said.

Communists will give “critical” support
to the NDP campaigns — critical because
the NDP leadership “in its attempt to

appeal to the middle voters and sections ©

business has watered down its policies and
has failed to come forward with a strong
alternative program,” said Rush.

“We Communists realize that the elec-
tion outcome by itself will not solve the
major problems facing the working class

‘and people of B.C....we recognize that

mass pressure and unity will be required to
press an NDP government to act on these
issues,” he said.

Rush said the party will work to popular-
ize Communist solutions in each riding.

“We will do this while at the same time
associate our party with those broad forces
who want to see the defeat of the Socred
government and the election of an NDP
govenrment,” he said.

Fhis fall the party will expend much

effort to see the election of Ald. Harry Ran- ©

kin as mayor of Vancouver and ensure a
“progressive majority” of Committee of
Progressive Electors candidates and others
on city council, said Rush. But the Com-
munist Party should also work in all other
municipalities “to build broad civic allian-
ces of labor and progressive forces to con-
test (the fall) elections,” he said.

In calling for greater participation by the
party in the women’s and youth move-
ments, Rush urged Communists to “work
towards achieving an even greater involve-
ment in the peoples’ struggles, and to play
an even larger independent role.”

Rush said it was “vital” that the B.C.
party turn its attention to the question of
why there is little new recruitment at a time
when the Communist Party “has reached
out to wider sections of people (and) has
strengthened its mass connections.”

Rush said the desire for party growth was

- not “subjective”. but necessary to play a

“vanguard role in a period of growing mass
struggles.”

He said the party will soon rewrite and
update its national program.

’ is seen particularly in the Mulroney

Coalition
against
free trade
possible:
Kashtan

Canada’s economic and cultural
sovereignty is under attack — but
never in the country’s history has
there been a greater potential for uni-
ting all “pro-Canadian” forces to
repel it, says the leader of the Com-
munist Party of Canada.

CP General Secretary Bill Kashtan
told a convention of B.C. Commu-
nists that the federal Conservative
government is selling out Canada’s
economic interests and is integrating
the country into the United States’
military schemes.

But, he said to delegates at the 26th
biennial convention of the B.C.
Communist Party, there are forces
within the Canadian labor move-
ment, the peace movement and even
among the Liberal party which
oppose the general drift of the Mulro-
ney government.

“More and more people can now
see the Mulroney government is act-
ing as a front for American imperial-
ism,” said Kashtan, suggesting a
potential link between the peace for-
ces and “a parallel action not yet fully
united on a pro-Canadian basis.”

The threat to Canadian sovereignty

government’s upcoming free trade
talks with the United States. That has
sowed divisions among the ruling
class circles — with the Ontario
government opposing free trade
because it threatens Canada’s manu-
facturing sector — raising the possi-
bility of a “new political alliance”
against U.S. imperialism, said Kash-
tan.
Other provinces, most notably
western ones, support free trade and
the formation of an “all-Canadian
coalition against free trade” is not
immediately possible in the west at
this time, he said.

On the economic outlook, Kashtan
said that the recent recovery is merely
a sign that “‘the cyclical crisis of capi-
talism is resolved this time — but it’s
not of any benefit to the working
class.

“We are past the period of the
affluent society. If Canada was enter-
ing a period of a new welfare state,
workers would likely say, ‘No prob-
lem, we can live with that.’ But instead
of capitalism giving concessions to
workers, it’s demanding concessions
from the workers.”

Such developments mean _ that
there is a “new mood” for change
developing among the working class,
Kashtan said.

Those changes were reflected in the
recent Canadian Labor Congress
convention, he said, noting that
strong positions against free trade and
for the Canadian Peace Alliance were
taken. “The (CLC) leadership knows
they can’t get the crumbs they got
before — they must either fight or be
pushed aside by the working class,”
Kashtan asserted.

Kashtan said that in these devel-
opments, the role of the Communist
Party and other left forces is “crucial”.

“It places a big responsibility on
our party,” he said.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 21, 1986 e 3