Jeannette Walsh, Organizer of the Communist Party of Quebec, addressed well attended public meetings during the second week of March in Vancouver, New Westminster, Port Alberni and Edmonton. The Tribune publishes below excerpts from her speech and answers to questions in which she dealt with the relationships between the French and English- Canadian nations. In order to fight successfully against the repression and op- pression of my people it is very important to see the true rela- tionship between the French- Canadian nation and the English- Canadian nation. It is useless and dangerous to falsify this relationship in order to try to give a theoretical basis for sup- porting separatism at a time when such a solution is against the interests of my people as much as it is against the inter- ests of you people from English Canada. Prominent among such falsifi- cations is the theory proclaimed, _even by some who say they are Marxists, that Quebec is a col- ony within Canada. This is a gross error. , What are the characteristic relationships between an imper- ialist country and a colony? A colony produces raw mater- ials for the imperialist country and is a market for its manu- factured products. The imperial- ist country prevents the develop- ment of secondary industry in the colony by all means possible. The colonial people are robbed out-right by the imperialist - country of their national patri- mony. The colonial people have a state imposed on them which is not their own. That state ma- chinery of a colony is controlled directly or indirectly by the im- perialist state and is mainly de- signed to strangle alb resistance to the policy of robbery which prevents the development of in- dustry. + But Quebec is highly indus- trialized, with an urban concen- tration that compares favorably not only with English Canada, but also with any country in the world. Quebec is not forced to produce raw materials for the industries of Canada. What is true is that both Quebec and English Canada have a dependent relationship on U.S. imperialism. There has been a deliberate and conscious distortion of the economy both in Quebec and in English Can- ada in favor of the extraction and the primary treatment of raw materials for U.S. industry and the import of finished pro- ‘ducts from the U.S. Murder in HELSINKI — “World public opinion has been deeply shocked by recent revelations about the terror unleashed by the reaction- ary forces of Guatemala, with the “evident complicity of the coun- try’s government,” states a World Peace Council appeal. “In recent months, some 600 citizens of Guatemala have been murdered. ‘ “Their only ‘crime’ consisted of having spoken out as true patriots for the rights of the people, for the re-establishment of democratic liberties, for the elimination of the deplorable , standard of living and of the working conditions which affect JEANNETTE WALSH But this relationship was de- liberately chosen by the imper- ialist, monopolist bourgeoisie of both English and French Canada, choosing to develop as a bour- geois imperialist satellite and ready to sacrifice the economic, military and even political inde- pendence of Canada in order to align themselves with the ag- gressive and powerful imperial- ism of the U.S. What I have said about the relationships of Quebec to Can- ada and of Canada to the U.S.A. are incontestable facts. Why would anyone want to distort them, to confuse them and thus to confuse the working people? Certainly the workers of Quebec do not consider themselves as being part of a colony of Can- ada. But these people are deter- mined to make the people of Quebec believe that they must make a revolution for indepen- dence, for separation from Eng- lish Canada before beginning the struggle for socialism. This is national struggle without class content. According to them. we are a colony and our tasks” are those of a colonized people, regardless of class. And some of them pretend that even the communists must align them- selves with the petit bourgeois nationalists and separatists re- cognizing them as the vanguard of the revolution. But Quebec is not a colony. And this whole strategy denies the role of the working class and prevents it from becoming the vanguard in the struggle both for national and for social emancipation. This policy spreads confusion and must be thrown overboard. Quebec is not a colony of Eng- lish Canada. But there are incon- testible facts to show that ne- vertheless the French-Canadian nation is an oppressed nation. The French-Canadian nation is denied the right to self-deter- mination up to and including’ Guatemala the vast majority of the popula- tion and of having taken posi- tions for the emancipation of the country. © “The World Peace Council calls upon its national commit- tees and upon all individuals and organizations who speak in defence of human dignity, ask- ing them to voice their protest by sending telegrams or mes- sages to the President of the Re- public of Carlos Arana Osorio, Palace of the Nation, Guatemala; to Guatemalan embassies; to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, etc.” PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1971—PAGE 8 Guatemala, Colonel separation, if the majority so desires. This is the most serious weakness in the British North America Act. This cannot be cured by finding a formula to amend the BNA Act, especially when the formula provides that someone like Wacky Bennett can veto what the people of Quebec want to do. What kind of self-determination is this? Look what the British con- quest and the alliance which the English soon made with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church has meant in economic and so- cial inequality for my people— to this very day the carriers of water of the Canadian economy. Quebec has the poorest health level and the lowest life expec- tancy rate in the country. The tuberculosis rate in Que- bec is over three times as great as in Ontario. Of six hundred and ninety seven Canadians who died in 1965 of tuberculosis, 334, or half, were Quebeckers. The rate of deaths due to can- cer is higher in Quebec than it is in Ontario. Quebec, with 25 percent of the labor force of Canada, has 41 percent of the unemployed. Within Quebec itself French- Canadian workers earn 40 per cent less than their English- speaking compatriots. A study made for the Bi-Bi Commission on the relationship between eth- nic origin and income in Mont- real showed Anglo-Saxons sit- ting on the top. Far down near the very bottom were French- Canadians, followed by _ Italo- Canadians and Indians. Imagine that, if you want a job that needs skill or white col- lar work, you must be able to speak English. When General Motors has a branch in Ger- many, German is the language of work, but in Quebec it is not French. I was in municipal court a few weeks ago. The judge was English-speaking but understood French very well. Practically all the accused were French-speak- ing, but the judge insisted in speaking to them in English. In order for the progressive classes of the French-Canadian nation to battle successfully, on these economic and social ques- tions two conditions are funda- mental: : 1. The re-establishment and advance of democracy in Que- bec. , 2. Unity and solidarity of the people of English Canada and of English - speaking Quebeckers with the French-Canadians of Quebec. We do not believe that separa- tion is necessary or useful for the workers of Quebec. But the right to decide our future, the right. to self-determination, is absolutely necessary, and in this we need your support. For this reason we believe that we must negotiate a new confederal pact which will be based on the right to self-deter- mination for the two nations which compose Canada .. . We, the people of Quebec, are no longer content with the crumbs that fall off the rich tables of the bourgeoisie. We will not accept for long that our democratic right to resist should be trampled on. But just as in the struggle against the Padlock Law, unity and solidarity between English- Canadians and French-Canadians is indispensible for victory, for democracy. Our fight is your fight. English and French Class interests unite us “Disgraceful and reactionary” are the terms in which the Sas- katchewan Committee of the Communist Party: describes the resolution passed* by the Sas- katchewan Association of Rural Municipalities urging that Cana- da adopt “an English-language only” policy. The Party in a statement is- sued by its provincial leader, F. J. Schofield, declares that the. resolution “will do much harm to Canadian unity, and no good at all for the Canadian people.” It continued: It is this type of Anglo-Saxon chauvinism which divides peo- ple into “superior” and “lesser” categories that provides the jus- tification for the monstrous crimes being perpetrated by the U.S. military in Vietnam. If the SARM is concerned about increased costs, it is not in this direction they should look. With this narrow-minded, limited outlook, no wonder taxes keep going up. The problems of regional un- derdevelopment, the fact that the economic crisis is most severe on the prairies, is because of deliberate policies of the big monopolies, which keep the prairies as a special area of ex- ploitation. It is those identical monopolies who keep wages down in Quebec, try to keep the English and French workers divided, and to maintain Quebec as a special area of exploitation. It is in the common interests of Glimpses of China | | the working people of Quebé and English Canada to by hands in a struggle against th® monopolies. an The working people of 5S®is katchewan, who may speak Blip lish only, have more in comm Se with the working people of Qya bec, who may speak Frem only, than they do with the EME g lish-speaking big business ™ fa who run this country. ie Pi If we want a united Can@iyy strong, following an indepty th ent course in the interests of Bl ta Canadian working people: “iti from the political and econ domination of U.S. big busi™ it is essential that the just mands of the French Cané@ es eR uf VI di! t people for self determinallO” fa met, to provide the basis ai a stronger, more united, Cam it. To try to force French catty dians to speak English only a) some councillors advocate in J not achieve unity, and is Tic iscent of the old British E™ [ii Builder approach. oul | Saskatchewan citizens ay f" tt repudiate the decision ° ie SARM, and suggest that oom councillors would be bettel i} fe cupied in an attempt to find lutions to the big problem farm markets and jobs, 09 ji}, to overcome the problem la poor housing, and ina eit 4 educational, health and Fai) ational facilities—on he stop the depopulation of mise mh ral areas and, yea, the qh province. a uy Farms and factorié): WARSAW—Glimpses of de- velopments in China are con- tained in a report by Polish writer Zygmunt Slomkowski in the journal Zycie Literackie: China’s national program of agricultural development was adopted in 1956 for a period of 12 years, that is to 1967. Gener- ally, it envisaged an increase of grain harvests during this period from nearly 175,000,000 tons to more than 350,000,000 tons. But this target was not attained. Ac- cording to unofficial data that was not published in Peking, the harvest of 1967 described as a “record one” was 230,000,000 tons. Considering the natural population growth this means a very slight per capita increase of grain production. We were invited to an exhibi- tion of Shanghai’s industrial out- put. The exhibition is housed in a spacious building which was a gift of the Soviet government. When I was there 10 years ago it’ was called a Palace of Chinese- Soviet Friendship. Today the excursion guide only mentions the year when the building was erected but says nothing about the past. When you ask how -much or how many of an item on display is produced you get a standard reply: “As much as is needed by the state.” But then I get a more rational explanation: “We have in Shanghai many small _enter- prises with outdated equipment and large numbers of workers. The aim is to re-equip them, to make them more up-to-date and produce goods which are more necessary.” Hence the conclu- sion that small-batch production is regarded here as a test of maximum use of reserves in conditions of shortage of equip- ment, raw materials and funds. It should be borne in ve that labor costs are very, In giving this explanatitt gt guide made one more © ou teristic statement: “Of. rigs we can produce more at — i factories but we have nO ~~ to build them.” ; aa op This was the only i if our tour when big capil vestments were not ods among “revisionist. meth? ' We visited two large “of trial plants, a machine plat plant and a diesel engine & iif Both plants existed bef?” i eration and the gener y the mation given us at bot "A sy was of the same natu jo character of output 2° jf) determined back in thé yell fifties. At that time PrOU. was based on foreign Pipi Beginning with 1957-1 decided that the plant in capable of making their 4 ef signs. At first there W etl ficulties and in this Copel ke me ra a struggle was waged We two tines” Some (wh gs) described as “revisit oth wanted to continue the opt models, but others ha this “capitulation.” fot The people we talked 10 08 the Revolutionary eB of the two plants dé removal of “bourge0!S ~ ape from tle management rf ete the sources of their ac ne Under this term “old” engineers. The gineers remained at the ney at building plant — onlY © aml! 3 . if former chief engineés , oO them, who was terns {4 ter-revolutionary, W® F ferred to physical labor One felt in these om onl gh the obvious desire no ongite disparage the but to make of them.