“Nu rts from the Main Renort to the,
12-13 Meeting of the Central
mittee, Communist Party of Can-
delivered by the Party’s general-
Wm. Kashtan. .
y, * & % :
ih ‘ty few people expected that the
Tals would come out of the federal .
on with a majority government, as
suf pew expected the serious setback
Ths by the NDP.
® shift in votes particularly from
P to the Liberal Party is directly
th to-what became the central issue
© Campaign — economic policy,
ry Nn and what to do about it. Fhe
Strategists made this the main
WN, believing as they did, that
Feould be the lever through which
'y the Liberals loose from Govern-
mane ring about a Tory minority
{ Vote, government. The solution
Mig 4 €red to inflation was wage and
the gi ntrols, This more open shift to
eet by the Tories met with strong
tion from the trade union move-
J indore workers generally and was an
t stant factor in determining. the
J Of the elections.

i . Trudeau Government accepted
i aoa as the central issue. of the
‘Dest; 8N rather than focussing on other
in US and came forward as the
i, -PPOnent of wage and price con-
* In this way they appeared to be
ing} left of’ the NDP, in fact, calcu-
Y So, with the aim of attracting

i oth and trade union votes. On
have i hand the NDP appeared to
id Opposite positions on wage
€ controls. Mr. Lewis, the leader

whi DP spoke against wage con-
4 ilst Messrs. Schreyer, Blakeney
| lols atrett seemed to favor such con-

em wet the Liberals could form a
hilt pent and prevent wage controls
ively he NDP could only elect a rela-
The all group to Parliament.
| Dp, paults were calamitous for. the
of lost 9 of its 11 seats in B.C.,
ine Its seats in Ontario and other
es,
epiention, another factor entered
Vote - Ure. The NDP caucus decided to:
hg nt the Conservatives in bring-
Notkin the election, an election the
| oy or 8 People, of Canada did not call
My tant. Despite the arguments of
}% do; Wis that the NDP was right in
| Oy ng, all the evidence points to the
| Rue AG Tactically there was little
Nong in forcing an election at the
The Bua. and for the wrong reason.
|r def, dget was not the. best reason
, {tte Going the Government. It gave
P aly mmment all the pluses and the
the minuses. There is no doubt
decision to force an election
Many votes,

RY LOSS A

st econ was undoubtedly a blow
€ drive to the right in Cana-
tics, a blow: against the cold

“hich sights” as a lever through
pple Co pursue these aims. —
: the: OMmunist Party can take some
tive, edit for the defeat of the
‘dust? tight. Prior to the election
baetunice the election campaign the
ign in ‘st Party waged a strong cam-
‘Hittatic and outside the labor and de-
be aan Movement, warning against
ag from the political right, and
Or the election of a minority
€nt and of a large progressive
& ‘ the best possible outcome of
Whig ular election.

ius Con, Overnment was defeated and
8 a Stitutes a gain for the working
ting. democratic movement and
4) 28ck People generally, the serious
ction @ufered by the NDP in the
Clas S also a setback for the work-
8nd democratic movement.

| Seeeee|| ESS

Tne, ere from that, working people .

lieve the drive from the right to —

What happened
to the NDP vote
ane
federal election

This -setback stems from the failure -

of the right wing of the NDP to mount

a clear, fighting and radical alternative

to the parties of monopoly, and from
its failure to come forward sharply and
clearly in. support of Canadian inde-
pendence and for an independent for-
eign policy. Mr. Lewis and the NDP
focussed on one issue — profiteering —
which is an important question, but too
narrow an issue, The failure of the NDP
to come forward in a decisive way for
Canadian independence and an indepen-
dent foreign policy narrowed down its
appeal when all the conditions appeared
to be present to expand its influence

The right wing in the NDP was main-
ly concerned with establishing its re-

xe ‘ eect
spectability. Its main appeal was direc :
a to the middle class, to the floating

‘voter, rather than to the working class

and working people on the basis of a
clear cut anti-monopoly program. It-act-
ed as if it had the working -class in
its pocket. As the election results show-
ed, this was far from being the case.
The roots: of these “classless” con-
ceptions has to do with the basic views
of the right wing of the NDP and of
the trade union movement, that their
aim and task is to reform and manage
capitalism rather than working to unite
all anti-monopoly forces In the strug-
gle to curb monopoly power through
radical reform measures and open the

’ door to bring an end to capitalism. This .

found its reflection in the continuation
of a policy of anti-communism, as €v!-
denced in the course of Mr. Lewis’ cam-
aign. History has alread v L
Coa cannot fight capitalism with anti-
communism. All you do is divide the
progressive and democratic forces and
engthen capitalism.

Se apauteay! a process of re-evalua-
tion is underway in the NDP as a con-
sequence of the setback it suffered, The

lready proven that .

right wing may well draw the conclu-
sion from its defeat that the NDP
should continue on its present course,
except. perhaps more so. This is evident
from the position taken by Mr. Stephen
Lewis at the Ontario NDP Convention.
At that Convention he did everything
he could to show that the NDP is not
“controlled” by the trade unions.

In line with this he redefined NDP
relationships with the trade union
movement as follows: ‘‘when the prior-
ities of the greater community clash

with the interests of a vested group, the

likelihood is far more often than not
that the NDP will opt for the com-
munity”. Apparently according to Mr.
Stephen Lewis, the trade unions have
become a “vested group”, a phrase
used by the mass media or its. most
reactionary sections. And when Mr.
Lewis states the NDP ‘‘will opt. for the
community”, what community is he
talking about? After all the working
class is part of the community. Mr.
Stephen Lewis believes these classless
concepts will help the NDP become the

cfficial opposition in Ontario, but on

that basis the question could be asked:
what value would it have for the work-
ing class and democratic movement?
The conclusions drawn by the right
wing of the NDP will inevitably bring it
into further crises. oe

The left wing in the NDP, in the

“trade union movement, amongst young

people, the working farmers, the Waffle,
may draw opposite conclusions: that
radically new policies are required
aimed against monopoly and its power
and based on unity of action of all
working class and democrafic forces in
an anti-monopoly coalition. These are
the only sound conclusions to draw.
With this in mind the Communist
Party calls for a dialogue with the NDP
on the path forward in the present
complex situation, Such a dialogue

These three pamphlets prese
present situati
\ they are a mus

nt the Communist Party's alternative to Canada's
on of inflation and crisis. Both for analysis and as mobilizing aids,
t for every trade unionist.

should centre on the policies required
today to help shift the balance of poli-
tical power in favor of democratic
advance and radical reform and
strengthen the forces of peace and de-
tente. Clearly, if the dialogue is to be
effective, it must exclude sectarian and
leftist attitudes towards the NDP with-.
out foregoing in any way a principled
criticism of opportunism in the labor

. and democratic movement.

_ DIALOGUE NEEDED

TO BUILD UNIT)

It is important to emphasize this be-
cause some views are being advanced
which hold that the NDP has become a
“spent force” and that a new political
formation is required today to replace
it.. This is a rather simplistic analysis of
the situation which does not represent
or correspond with reality. The dia-
logue we want is not on structure but
on policy, on direction, on perspective.
The end result of such a. dialogue
should be the achievement of unity of
action of all working class and demo-
cratic forces against monopoly and the
formation of an anti-monopoly coali-
tion which challenges monopoly rule.

The trade unions can and must play
a key role in the dialogue and in help-
ing to bring about such an anti-mono-
poly coalition of which the Communist
Party is part. Indeed, unity of action
of the Communist Party and the NDP
will be facilitated by the degree to
which the trade unions are won for
the left positions.

The dialogue is not a short term posi-
tion. It is part of the longer term.
struggle to defeat right wing ideology
in the NDP, in the trade unions,
strengthen the anti-monopoly and anti-
capitalist tendencies inside the NDP
and strive to evolve it into a consistent-
ly class movement of the working
people.

This dialogue should include all ‘so-
cialist-minded forces throughout the
country, While working for such dia-
logue we should do everything we can
to strengthen cooperation of the NDP
and Communist Party today on all is-
sues which advance the cause of peace
and democratic rights in Canada, the
vital economic and social issues of the
working people, and in defense of
Chilean democracy.

While monopoly will try to use the
changed composition of Parliament to
advance its own reactionary aims, it
would be wrong to assume that the
government will inevitably shift to the
right. There is no doubt that pressures
for it to do so will mount, but by the
same token, people’s mass pressure, the
unfolding of people’s movements head-
ed by the trade union movement on all
major issues, can compel Parliament
and Government to take note of the
vital interests of the people. -

The key here is united action of the
working class and democratic move-
ments. It would be equally wrong to
develop a non-class approach to the
government and overlook the fact that
it is a Party of monopoly and repres-
ents the interests of monopoly. The

recent Cabinet changes since the elec- ~
“tion have been interpreted in some

quarters as indicating a shift to a left
of centre position by the Government.

Only time and deeds will tell whether -

this is so or not. Here again the mass

~ movements and the struggle will decide

the direction taken.

The Communist ‘Party will determine
its attitude to the government based on
its position with respect to peace and
detente and the vital interests of: the
working people. Where the government
takes a correct stand on peace and de-
tente it will be supported. Where it
takes a position against the vital inter-
ests of the working people and the
struggle for detente it will be criticized
and condemned. At all times the Com-
munist Party will advance its demo-
cratic alternative to the policies of
state monopoly capitalism, and th
parties of monopoly.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY; OCTOBER 25, 1974—Page 7