_ ANALYSIS ‘*Let me now speak about the vital question of leaving the talking stage and getting into the doing stage on the Matter of collective action as one of the instruments at our disposal in meeting the challenge of the eighties’’. '_ The quote is from the opening address of Dennis McDermott to the May 1980 Convention of the Canadian Labor Congress in Winnipeg. : Further: “I say this because reality, not illusion, is the name of the game in the 1980s. And I say that we will not stand idly by and witness the destruction of one of our own kind if there is a solution through the application of Collective action ... “And I tell you, once the political establishment wakes up and realizes that it faces a united front and gets to realize the consequences of a united collective action, then they will react as they have always reacted, by obeying and conforming to the economic, political and social climate that we as people collectively determine and impose upon them...” Strong words from Dennis McDermott in May 1980. Words that galvanized the convention of 2,600 delegates and set the tone for a united and militant convention of Canada’s Parliament of labor. This is Auguest 1981 and it is more than legitimate to ask how the deeds of the CLC and Dennis McDermott as its president have matched his words and the decisions of the convention. In his report McDermott referred to the threat to peace and detente and the need to resist pressures to be drawn into U.S. inspired cold-war plans. He referred to the Unique contribution the trade union movement must make to the constitutional debate and crisis. He referred to the fightback against the offensive of monopolies and governments against wages and social services. He spoke about the attack on public service workers and the right to strike. Po: The convention itself dealt with the energy crisis, Putting forward an alternative program for labor, it CLC 1980 convention — talk vs action sketched the outlines ofan alternative economic strategy to provide jobs, overcome inflation and combat high interest rates. Let me quote again from the convention document Battle of the Eighties: Trade Union Rights vs. Corpo- rate Power: ‘‘ The rise of conservatism is global in na- ture. It seeks to destroy the programs, policies and fun- : +a Labor in action ae | ‘William Stewart damental individual and collective rights and freedoms of workers and trade unions which represent them. It is part of a strategy to allow corporations to extend their own brand of dictatorship over the economy and work- ers. It is a growing cancer in the western industrial world that must be challenged and defeated. It must be fought and challenged in Canada and through the international agencies of organized labor. *‘At its most fundamental level the battle of the trade union movement in the eighties will be for trade union rights vs corporate power’. With less than eight months separating Canadian labor from the next CLC convention, trade union activists will be asking how well the actions of the CLC have lived up to the high promise of the convention. On the constitution the CLC has been silent, even ignoring a parliamentary committee receiving briefs on the matter. It remained for the B.C. Federation of Labor to be the sole y of the trade union movement to present a brief to the committee. . On international peace and detente the main preoccu- - member unions and Dennis McDermott is hemmed in by pation of the CLC, if it has had on., has «een with the Polish events, in spite of its protestations about resisting being drawn into the cold war. In a positive sense it can record its actions on El Salvador. It has shelved a resolution calling for exchange delega- tions with socialist countries and continued its boycott of such delegations in spite of convention instructions to the contrary. Its sole and positive venture into the area of collective action was the postal negotiations of 1980 and 81 with positive results. Aside from this it has stood aside from the energy crisis, making statements from the sidelines, but not initiating collective action. It has not emerged in any credible way campaigning for its economic alternatives. It stood by while the Ontario hospital workers were literally slaughtered, and now in a critical year of bar- gaining where big business is trying to cut real wages and push down living standards, the CLC is not to be seen or heard. Perhaps, one can argue, the CLC is dominated by its backward elements who do not want to pick up the mandate and instructions of the convention. If this be the case then let Mr. McDermott display the kind of almost perverse individualism for which he is famous and differentiate himself from such inhibiting elements. The situation labor finds itself in today calls for pre- cisely the kind of actions and solutions put forth by President McDermott and the CLC convention. The leadership of the CLC will be judged on its capac- ity to respond to this challenge and to inspire the working people across the country as they did at the 1980 Win- nipeg convention. 3 If this is done, the next convention of the CLC in Toronto will be able to build on the great programs of the 80 convention, rather than tear itself apart agonizing about what went wrong and who was responsible. _A reader drew attention to an edito- . Mal in the July 27 issue of the Toronto Star captioned ‘U.S. lacks foreign pol- Icy’’, The editorial draws the conclu- sion that the U.S. Reagan administra- tion does not have a foreign policy and that so far all Reagan has ‘“‘offered his ~ Akey element of U.S. foreign policy Marxism-Leninism Today —— ee fied the nuclear arms race. The im- mediate objective of this strategy is to halt progressive changes in the world, check the profound crisis wracking the imperialist system, and to change the world balance of forces in favor of im- perialism. The ultimate objective is to Own people and his allies is anti- establish U.S. hegemony on a world Sovietism.”* scale. somes otoeme ne formu Domination: The editorial cites a number of in- ; ‘ a Rae Reagan administration is gung-ho . Stances of U.S. policy decisions taken Reagan administration “‘lacks aforeign —_ing the aims of the capitalist state or to achieve U.S. military supremacy “‘in the name of anti-Sovietism’, which _policy.’’ The Star might not like it, and = combinations of such states. over the Soviet Union based on abso- one cannot fault. The main burden of we might not like it, but the U.S. has a Political philosophy, taken initsgen- lute nuclear superiority. In pursuit of the editorial is that ‘‘anti-Sovietism is foreign policy —and a very dangerous _eral application has its several variants _this objective, the American people and Neither foreign policy nor a political . one at that. — : and shades of differences, which find those of the NATO countries must be Philosophy.” The Star misleads its readers, and as_—_ expression in either right, centre or left conditioned to accept the concept of The editorial, noting that a vacuum ‘a result, disarms them when it claims —_ application. However, while the appli-__“‘limited’’ nuclear war based on a first exists in Washington’s foreign policy, _ that “‘anti-Sovietismis neither aforeign —_cation varies according to the political strike capability. Concludes in these words: policy nora political philosophy.’’ For, —_ hue of a given variant, the overall aim ee es “America’s allies, including Canada, . both anti-Sovietism and political remains the same. The differenceliesin _It is in this area that the cover of Would welcome a firm, coherent, far- Seeing foreign policy in Washington. The longer it is delayed, the greater is the damage done to the whole alliance, in terms of confidence and credibility.”’ _ Well put, we think, from the point of view of the USA’s reluctant allies. * * * Ee We consider the Star editorial to be a mee contribution to the mh ng 3 on .S. foreign policy presently taking Place on an international scale. It cor- rectly sounds a danger alarm about Where the U.S. is trying to take the World, and in this sense reflects growing alarm on a global scale. But, after say- ting this, we must add that the Star ’ dead wrong when it states that tue philosophy are key ingredients of Reagan’s foreign policy. For that mat- ter, they are ingredients of Canada’s foreign policy as well, because our pol- icy is tightly bound to U.S. policy in all its major aspect te Anti-Sovietism is the _ ideological base of U.S. foreign policy, just as anti-communism is the ideological base of modern-day capitalism. The func- tion of capitalist ideology is to protect and serve the economic base of capital- ism, whichis the exploitation of man by man and nation by nation. The function of the political philosophy of capitalism is to defend and uphold the political aims of the capitalists as a class, includ- the tactical approach. : *x* * * For instance, capitalist political philosophy as expressed by Reagan, is extremely reactionary both in foreign __ policy and economic policy, serving the interests of the most reactionary circles of the industrial-military complex in the USA. The policies of the former Carter administration served the same in- terests, but served them too “‘softly”’ to suit the corporate elite. The overall aim of U.S. foreign pol- "icy is directed to regain lost positions for U.S. and world imperialism. To serve this end the U.S. government has revived cold war positions and intensi- anti-Sovietism plays the key role. Under the administration, the big lie of a “Soviet threat”’ is bent in every which direction, to suit every possible situation in any part of the Unfortunately up to now the Star, in company with the media of the capital- ist world in general, has appeared as a willing accomplice in this mind-bending exercise. It is to be hoped that it will abandon the lie of a ‘‘Soviet threat’’, and throw its considerable influence on the side of negotiations for a moratorium on nuclear weapon de- ployment and development, pending agreement on controls and reduction. It’s the only sane course.